Glastonbury Blog - FROM: Pyramid Stage

Happy birthday to you, happy bi-irthday...

2010-06-27T22:54:00Z

What better way to bring Glastonbury to a close on its 40th anniversary than to see Stevie Wonder bring Michael Eavis on to the Pyramid Stage and launch a mass sing-a-long of Happy Birthday!

We were already in party mood, dancing and singing non-stop to an hour and a half of Stevie classics – “Superstition”, “Uptight” “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing”, “Sir Duke” – track after track met with cheers and chants of “Stevie! Stevie!”.

The Pyramid arena was full-to-burst. People were climbing up poles and dancing by the food vans. After a stunning, sun-filled few days, it was the perfect end to a brilliant Glastonbury.

Forget England - the real heroes are here

2010-06-27T17:14:00Z

Tom and his mates from London didn’t make it to the football and weren’t that disappointed. “We’re here for the music anyway,” he said as Jack Johnson played on the Pyramid Stage. Here’s Tom:

"Where do we go, where do we go now..."

2010-06-27T15:00:00Z

It was tough deciding what to watch this afternoon – but those who opted for Slash at the Pyramid Stage were glad they did. And not just because of the England result. The metal legend treated the packed, charged audience to a blistering set including classic Guns N’ Roses anthems like “Sweet Child o’ Mine” and “Paradise City”.

Muse triumph with an extra special Edge

2010-06-26T22:35:00Z

“That was the best performance from a live band I have ever seen, ever!” – that’s the verdict from Ben from Shrewsbury as he and the Pyramid Stage crowd flock away from a spectacular show from headliners Muse.

For one hour and 45 minutes they kept hard-core fans and part-timers happy with a mixture of classic tracks and new stuff from their latest album – and then they pulled a big surprise when the Edge from U2 joined them to pay tribute to the fallen headliners with a version of “The Streets Have No Name”, Bellamy’s voice sounding not too dissimilar to Bono’s. They finished with a final treat of Knights of Cydonia – which left us wondering: ‘Can Stevie top this?’

Crowd go wild for Kylie's unofficial Glasto debut

2010-06-26T20:03:00Z

She wasn’t on the Glastonbury line-up but Kylie Minogue provided one of the highlights of the festival so far when she walked on to the Pyramid Stage to sing with the Scissor Sisters.

A huge cheer went up as she joined Jake Shears and Ana Matronic to perform Any Which Way, a track from the band’s new album.

It was Kylie’s long-awaited Glastonbury debut – she had to pull out of the festival in 2005 after being diagnosed with breast cancer.

When Shears asked her at the end of the song how it felt to be here she looked happy and emotional.

She kissed both of them, waved to the crowds and after she left the stage Ana Matronic told the crowd: “Just so you know, her hair smells terrific.”

She added: “There’s only one way to follow that”, and the band burst into I Don’t Feel Like Dancing.

From start to finish it was a brilliant, happy, party atmosphere – check out the gallery …

Damon does it for the second year running

2010-06-25T22:18:00Z

The sun’s gone down but the heat’s still incredible – and the crowds are heaving – as Gorillaz close the first night on the Pyramid Stage. Damon Albarn has assembled an amazing all-star line-up with the likes of Lou Reed, Mark E Smith, Shaun Ryder and Snoop Dogg coming on to the stage to join him alongside Clash legends Mick Jones and Paul Simonon in nautical attire.

It’s a very different show to last year’s barn-storming Blur reunion – and some in the crowd look as if they don’t know what to make of it – but festival-goer Rob says: “Damon Albarn is a genius – this generation’s Bob Dylan. Some of the stuff he does is amazing. He’s really leading the way”

The crowd goes Bonkers at the Pyramid Stage

2010-06-25T19:04:00Z

Dizzee Rascal’s fast becoming a Glastonbury Festival favourite. Appearing on the Pyramid Stage just before headliners Gorillaz, he opened his set with World Cup single Shout for England and immediately had the crowd jumping.

Loads of kids were on their parents’ shoulders and the younger girls were weaving their way to the front, getting pulled out of the crowd by security and shuffled out through a side exit, only to rejoin the crowd and start pushing to the front again. Cups of water were flying all over the place, which probably didn’t do much to cool off a very hot and excited crowd.

Florence joined Dizzy on stage towards the end of the set to do “You got the Love” – a brilliant re-run of their Brits performance.

Living legend launches Pyramid Stage action

2010-06-25T11:45:00Z

There’s no question who Dan and Jess have come to see – Rolf Harris has become a Glastonbury legend, and this morning a huge crowd of fans gathered to sing along as he kicked off the main music action on the Pyramid Stage.

Dan and Jess were inspired to pay tribute to the great man after their parents went to a party last week dressed as Rolf. So all together now: “Tie me kangaroo down, sport … “

Grabbing the front row for Gorillaz

2010-06-25T08:00:00Z

Sam and Haydon are keenos – they’ve arrived at the Pyramid Stage at 8am so they can bag a front-row slot for the main act tonight.

“We had a heavy night but we really want to see Gorillaz. We’re waiting for them to take the fences down so we can get right to the front.”

Goal! England's glorious Glastonbury gig

2010-06-23T16:04:00Z

The sun is shining, the gates of Glastonbury have been open for just over seven hours – and Jermain Defoe has just scored against Slovenia.

A huge crowd gathered in front of the Pyramid Stage to watch England go through to the knockout stages of the World Cup with a 1-0 victory – which means the next big match will potentially be against old rivals Germany at 3pm on Sunday, the final day of the festival.

Glasto crowd attempts a new world record

2010-06-23T14:10:00Z

This is the moment we set out to attempt a new world record for the most people tagged in an online photo.

A huge crowd gathered in front of the Pyramid Stage to watch England’s crucial World Cup match against Slovenia – and during half-time we got on to the stage to take a series of high-res photos that will be turned into a giant 1.3 gigapixel image here on the site when the festival ends.

It took over seven whole minutes to complete the massive photo, and the atmosphere was electric as the camera panned around the crowd with everyone cheering and raising their hands into the air.

The huge crowd shot will be available to view on Tuesday and, if you were there, you’ll be able to zoom around and in and out of the photo to find you and your friends in the crowd.

Once you’ve spotted yourself, you can connect to Facebook and ‘tag’ the photograph. We’re hoping it will create the most-tagged photo in the world.

The photo will be available here next week. If you were at the Pyramid Stage for the England match, don’t forget to come back and tag yourself. Even if you were stood right at the back, you’ll be able to zoom right in and spot your face in the crowd.

Vuvuzelas at the ready for the big match

2010-06-23T13:20:00Z

It’s a mass exodus to the Pyramid stage for England versus Slovenia. With 30 minutes to go before kick-off the vuvuzelas are out. Matt, Ben and Paul from Oxfordshire joined the crowd early to get ready for the big match.

The crowd are roaring, the pre-match build up has just been put on to the big screens. Come on England!

Faye leads the charge as the gates open

2010-06-23T07:07:00Z

8am on Worthy Farm and Glastonbury is go! Faye Kowalewsky from Wisbech (above) was one of the first to arrive, having left home at midnight to make sure she got here as the gates opened.

A lot of the early arrivals were festival veterans who knew exactly where they wanted to camp and who they wanted to see this weekend. Stevie Wonder seems to be top of everyone’s list.