Glastonbury 2017: Saturday evening with Katy Perry, Solange and Foo Fighters – as it happened

Phoenix are now looking tight, both musically and trousers-wise, so I’m going to leave this blog right here. They’ll be reviewed later. Thanks for keeping me company. See you same time tomorrow for the titan of rock that is Ed Sheeran. Good night!

It’s washed away by Warpaint doing the fabulous song Undertow. There’s also a Grohl link in the way it seems to nod to Nirvana’s Polly.

Lauren and Huw are on the TV in their zone by the Park stage, and they’re introducing Tom Walker, who sounds like a cross between James Blake, Adele and Paolo Nutini – in other words, just a bit contrived.

I’m persevering with BBC2 for a bit, but Alt-J aren’t making it easy.

And here come the fireworks as they come to a halt, three minutes past midnight. They’re taking a well-deserved bow. Whatever you think of the songs, they gave that performance all they had.

Despite all the sniffy comments and smug elitism the foos prove you wrong where it matters. Emotion and a crowd that stays to the end.

richbravedart25 June 2017 12:06am

“We never really say goodbye, we just say this,” says Grohl as the band mounts an assault on Everlong.

“I feel loose, I feel good – this is the fucking big one, man, I’m into it,” Grohl tells the crowd. “Thank you for sticking around with our band for 22 years.” The UK, he says, is “Where we became a band.”

This is the perfect cover version for them – crowd-pleasing, epic, extravagant – and they knock it out of the park.

Dave Grohl’s off to play the drums while Taylor Hawkins sings. They’re doing Queen and David Bowie’s Under Pressure.

Dave Grohl annouces that he was told by a journalist that you’re not allowed to swear at Glastonbury – presumably because of the BBC broadcast. Grohl adds that Adele holds the record for the most “fucks” in a live broadcast and then breaks it by singing the f-word about 50 times. It’s juvenile, but also funny and charming coming from him, the nicest man in rock.

Regent Sounds of Denmark Street in London is getting some great publicity thanks to Taylor the drummer’s vest, which advertises it. It’s a real place, too.

Johnny Depp is much in evidence this festival:

Meanwhile Dave Grohl says “This is exactly what I hoped would fucking happen tonight.” Everyone is chanting the “woah” riff from Best of You.

A reader writes, and fair enough:

Dave Grohl showing how to headline a festival.......give them what they want......and then give them some more.

Excellent stuff!

Kdbur x24 June 2017 11:26pm

After appealing to the crowd to stop thinking about going to the “EDM tent”, Dave Grohl hits them with Best of You. It’s exhilarating, but not quite as great (so far) as Prince’s version at the Super Bowl back in 2008.

After some expert teasing of the crowd, asked repeatedly whether or not they want a break, Foo Fighters hit them with a brutal Monkey Wrench. Meanwhile, according to WhatsApp, the Guardian’s features posse are at the Jacksons, who are currently playing Wanna Be Startin’ Something by Michael Jackson, who died eight years ago tomorrow.

I can remember it vividly, because I was at Glastonbury. It was the Thursday night and I was having a nice chat with my friend Richard. Neither of us were entirely sober.

Another friend, Alan, came up and said: “Have you heard that Michael Jackson’s died?” I dismissed it as a Glastonbury rumour. Then, 10 minutes later, he came back and said it again.

Richard checked on his Blackberry (that dates it) and bloody hell, Jackson actually had died. I stumbled into the Guardian Portakabin to start to configure the web response – meanwhile the Guardian staff in London rushed back into the office having been at a boozy leaving do.

I quickly wrote this piece; the rest of the weekend involved chasing pop stars around for quotes about the legendary performer. But Glastonbury has a way of smoothing over the vicissitudes of the rest of the world, and by Sunday, it seemed like old news.

Shame he never played, mind.

Back to the Foos, and it’s their debut single, This is a Call. I’m old enough to remember Steve Lamacq playing this on the radio for the first time, back in the Cretaceous period (OK, 1995).

It’s loud, vigorous and anthemic, but I remember at the time thinking there wasn’t that much depth to it, and my views haven’t changed in the intervening 22 years.

I have to say at this point, though, that Dave Grohl was an integral part of one of the best Glastonbury performances I’ve ever seen (in fact one of the best shows I’ve ever seen full stop). He played drums with Queens of the Stone Age in 2002 – Mark Lanegan and Nick Oliveri were also part of the band – and the sheer vicious power of it, coupled with some classic songs, virtually ripped my face off.

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They played one after the other, earlier tonight, and Hannah J Davies was there.

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She writes:

Now for a tale of two grime artists - Wiley and Stormzy - who received very different receptions tonight at Worthy Farm. Godfather of the genre Wiley segued from his mainstream hits (Wearing My Rolex, Heatwave) to his grime-naissance tunes (Speakerbox, 25 MCs, Can’t Go Wrong), all while inexplicably wearing a Barcelona tracksuit.

Having recently backpedalled on comments he made in 2013, when he went on a Twitter tirade about how “tight” Glastonbury was among a smattering of more explicit language, he garnered a decent-sized crowd. Even so, he couldn’t inspire the sort of frantic fandom bestowed on Stormzy, who followed him sonically and literally, playing after him on the Other Stage tonight.

“I was on the Sonic stage in 2016, and there were about 400 people there,” the Gang Signs and Prayer supremo said, full of disbelief and head to toe in trademark Adidas. “And now there are thousands of you!”

As well as his breakthrough hit Shut Up, he whizzed through most of his new album - Cigarettes and Cush and Big For Your Boots proving to be highlights. There was also space for some politics, too; he touched on Grenfell Tower, unzipping his tracksuit top to reveal a tribute T-shirt, before singing his verse from the newly-released charity single, and telling the crowd that “we must have justice” (cue another burst of the weekend’s biggest anthem, “Oh Jeremy Corbyn”).

Wiley did a decent job - and turned up on time, quite the rarity for him - but, by contrast, his set felt more like a slice of 00s nostalgia than a comment on the trials of today.

And the hits keep coming – My Hero this time, which went down like a raw steak in a tank of piranhas.