Q. Will Arctic Monkeys make it to Glastonbury for their headline set??!!
A. Yes.

And there’s a massive crowd here to welcome them! KS pic.twitter.com/E7xiUGoumX

— Glastonbury Live (@GlastoLive) June 23, 2023

Perhaps rumours of frontman Alex Turner’s acute laryngitis- forcing the group to cancel on what is arguably Britain’s largest platform- were exaggerated to say the least but the apprehension the possibility caused was proof enough of how much the Arctic Monkeys mean to the hundreds of thousands strong at Worthy Farm.

And Turner was in fine vocal form. Amidst the dark, brooding opening notes of “Sculptures of Anything Goes,” the band slowly emerged within the smoke filtered lights of the stage-any doubts that Turner himself might not be operating at 100% quickly banished with immediate effect. Like many infamous acts through the ages, it is perhaps the strength and mere presence of the band’s frontman that have set them apart and earned their lofty position on Glastonbury’s hallowed stage.

Getting the crowd well and truly hyped, the Arctic Monkeys quickly moved into “Brainstorm” and Glastonbury was ready to rock. But it may be because Turner commands the stage as a character, an almost caricature-like alter ego of his real self that sometimes feels as if the audience is just slightly removed from being in on the act. Evident every time Turner would take a quick minute to address the crowd-his silky cool, almost flippant comments ringing a bit hollow with the adoring crowd-it could be felt that the Arctic Monkeys viewed their position in the Glastonbury ranks as just another set.

What cannot be denied is the band are dead set on doing things their way with a set list that mixed time honoured hits with crowd lulling tunes such as “Crying Lightning” whose, if one didn’t know better, muted response would have many wondering if members of the audience stole a quick toilet break or made a quick dash for refreshments.

Thoughts on Arctic Monkeys Glastonbury set? pic.twitter.com/l0j180e6ZV — The Rock Revival (@TheRockRevival_) June 23, 2023

Of course the crowd were with the band-it is an Arctic Monkeys headlining set at Glastonbury and the band duly treated the masses with fan favourites “Do I Wanna Know?” and “Mardy Bum” before a rousing encore finishing with “R U Mine?”

Headlining Glastonbury is, quite literally, rock royalty and although the Arctic Monkeys have taken pains over the last few years to distance themselves somewhat from their chart topping alt-rock anthems to dwell instead on more sweeping introspective tunes, one cannot help but feel that, at least on stage, the setlist comes across occasionally as uneven.

Many have expressed the feeling that Arctic Monkeys may not have delivered an era defining chest-thumping set that will see them go down in Glastonbury history, but fans will surely have not left the Pyramid Stage disappointed either.

The band confirmed the news they was at Glastonbury festival prior to their surprise set on stage, posting a picture to their Instagram of a bunch of flags, with one saying ‘’CHURN IT UP.’’ The picture was captioned ‘#Glastonbury2023.

The Foo Fighters were welcomed to the stage by a sound wave of cheers. As Dave Grohl spoke to the crowd, he said, ‘’You guys fucking knew it was us this whole time, didn’t you? We’re happy to see you guys. It’s nice to see you guys after all this time.” During their performance, Dave Grohl brought his daughter, Violet, to the stage to sing one of the band’s new songs from their recently released album, ‘’But Here We Are.’’ He explained that the song, called ‘’Show Me How’’, was written as a tribute to his late-mother.

As they performed their final song, ‘‘Everlong’‘, the band dedicated the song to their late-drummer, Taylor Hawkins, who passed away last March at the age of 50. Grohl said,”Lets sing this one loud and sing for Mr Taylor.” The Glastonbury crowd cheered as he continued by saying, ”Sing it for T.” The Foo Fighters drumming spot has recently been taken over by Josh Freese. He was announced as the new drummer on a live stream of the band performing in early May on the app, Veeps. Josh Freese has worked with iconic bands such as Weezer, Nine Inch Nails and Glastonbury 2023 headliners Guns N’ Roses.

Foo Fighters sang some of their greatest hits during their Glastonbury set, including ‘’Best of You’’, ‘’My Hero’’, ‘’Learn To Fly”, ”All My Life” and ‘’The Pretender.’’ Dave Grohl also confirmed the band will be returning to the UK next summer to embark on their highly anticipated tour. A release date for the tickets or any confirmation of where they will be performing is still yet to be announced.

To re-watch the Foo Fighters Glastonbury Festival 2023 performance, to replay other performances or watch live across the weekend, click here.

Following on from Billie Eilish’s blistering Friday night headline the night before, McCartney 60 years her senior, proved to be ageing like a fine wine with all the stage presence and personality of someone significantly younger than him emanating through the screen with ease. To be there in person must have been something else entirely. The man is about as iconic as it gets, and despite slowing down a little on his feet compared to Billie’s sprightly acrobatics, he owned it. You can catch some of the fans reaction below:

It didn’t come without some controversy, in a star studded list of invitees, McCartney brought on Bruce Springsteen, Dave Grohl, and notably included a video of his close friend Johnny Depp during his performance of 2012 track “My Valentine“. There was some confusion and even disgust at the inclusion of the video expressed by viewers of the show, with people taking to social media to voice this. One Twitter user stated: “For anyone who says Johnny Depp is innocent remember that he wasn’t the one on trial. And I suggest searching for the texts he sent to Paul Bettany to get a taste of the man he is. Wish @glastonbury had stopped this. And @PaulMcCartney can do one.”

Conversely, some people expressed support at the inclusion of the video, with another Twitter user posting a clip of the performance with the caption: “Johnny Depp on the big screen Saturday night during Paul McCartney’s performance of ‘My Valentine’ at Glastonbury ❤️”

With records being broken on back to back nights as Eilish became the youngest person to headline Glastonbury at just 20, and Paul the oldest to headline at 80, the festival has so far enjoyed a historic comeback after 2 years of covid cancelations knocked around their plans to enjoy it’s 50th year in business.

McCartney even managed to pull off a Beatles reunion from beyond the grave by duetting with John Lennon on “I’ve Got A Feeling“. The late singer’s vocals were isolated from their rooftop performance in 1969 and played back over the Pyramid Stage’s speakers in 2022 to provide onlookers with an emotional and modern tribute to The Beatles icon. It summed up a passionate and uncompromising performance from one of the greatest songwriters of all time and a true British legend. Sir Paul, we salute you.

Despite being heavily linked with the Saturday headline slot at this year’s festival, which has since been filled by Metallica, Prince fans will seemingly be unable to catch their hero perform live at Glastonbury due to issues regarding social media. In an interview with The Guardian, Eavis revealed that though a point had been reached at which they were able to discuss the possibility of Prince performing at the festival, talks broke down due to “all the social media chit-chat now about who might be playing”.

Eavis continued by addressing the leaking of acts, disputing the belief that the festival advertises certain acts early because “there’d be no point to us leaking details because the tickets sell out in an hour in October, before the headline acts are announced. People come for what the event means to them, not the headline acts.”

However, The Sun today featured a piece which suggested that Prince appearing at Glastonbury may not be entirely off the cards. However, other reports including a definitive statement from festival-runner Emily Eavis would suggest that Prince is most definitely not going to be taking to the Pyramid Stage any time soon.