SZA’s putting set didn't set Glastonbury alight

After Dua Lipa and Coldplay’s smooth and environment friendly units, Glastonbury’s Sunday evening headliner had a tricky act to comply with.

After a rumoured look by pop queen Madonna fell by means of, the slot ultimately went to US R&B star SZA.

Some of the-streamed artists on the earth, she’s a vibrant, assured performer, whose advanced, messy dissections of contemporary relationships have endeared her to millennial followers.

However their ardour didn’t ignite any magic on the Pyramid Stage.

The star drew the smallest viewers I’ve ever seen for a Glastonbury headliner, in additional than 20 years of coming to the competition.

It did not assist that, for not less than the primary half an hour, her microphone was each distorted and muffled – a problem for an artist whose attraction lies within the precision of her lyrics and the fantastic thing about their jazzy vocal runs.

The 33-year-old additionally dedicated the competition sin of failing to deal with the group. Her solely interplay within the present’s first act was to ask if any of her “day one” followers have been current.

“You realize I want you, proper?” she mentioned, maybe acknowledging that this was not her pure viewers.

By the point she acquired to her largest hit – the darkly comedian homicide fantasy Kill Invoice (1.9 billion Spotify streams) – folks had already drifted away to look at units from The Nationwide, James Blake and London Grammar elsewhere on the location.

That is to not say that SZA placed on a nasty efficiency, or that the hundreds who stayed to the tip of her set have been disillusioned.

She has spectacular vocal command, projecting to the again of the sector with out sacrificing intimacy.

In direction of the center of her set, she performed No one Will get Me – a devastating ballad about her wrestle to let go after breaking apart along with her fiancé. It was by a long way essentially the most susceptible, shifting efficiency I noticed from a Pyramid Stage headliner all weekend.

Younger followers within the viewers clasped their arms to their chest and mouthed alongside silently.

Different highlights included the brittle, rock-infused F2F and the 80s-infused pop smash Kiss Me Extra – which she fused with Prince’s Kiss.

It was a visible feast, too, divided into three distinct sections that mapped out the method of getting over a damaged coronary heart.

She began in a dingy cave, the metaphorical fortress of her personal solitude, surrounded by stalactites and performing Drew Barrymore whereas perched on an enormous ant.

For the second part, dubbed “robotic world”, she struggled with conflicting feelings, concurrently pining for her ex and wishing ache upon him, in songs like Snooze, Kill Invoice and I Hate U.

The ultimate phase was titled “Coming Residence”. SZA, sprouted wings, climbed a tree, and performed a few of her extra liberated, feel-good songs – together with Saturn (about escaping the earth for a greater life) and the self-explanatory Good Days.

Her last tune was 20 One thing, a declaration of solidarity for anybody else going by means of the turmoil of their third decade and he or she climbed down from her elaborate set and sang in communion along with her followers within the entrance row.

“Glastonbury, I used to be so nervous about right this moment,” she mentioned. “I am so grateful. You’ve gotten my deepest love and my deepest respect. God bless you and please get residence safely.”

With sinuous choregraphy and a compelling stage presence, SZA’s set was a elegant present within the unsuitable venue – an issue that has repeatedly blighted this 12 months’s Glastonbury.

Beloved acts like Sugababes, Fred Once more and Avril Lavigne have been booked into areas too small to deal with their followers; whereas the Pyramid Stage struggled to draw ample numbers for compelling, muscular units by PJ Harvey and Janelle Monae.

In the long run, it is a disgrace that these performances, like SZA’s will go down in historical past for the unsuitable causes.

After the set, the singer posted a message that appeared to acknowledge the unfavorable response.

“The bravery required to be alive in public is outstanding,” she wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

“S/O [shout out to] everyone doing that.”

• PSA
• Love Galore
• Damaged Clocks
• All of the Stars
• Promenade
• Backyard (Say It Like Dat)
• Drew Barrymore
• F2F
• Forgiveless
• Ghost within the Machine
• Blind
• Shirt
• Kiss Me Extra
• I Hate U
• Snooze
• Kill Invoice
• Low
• Supermodel / Particular
• Open Arms
• No one Will get Me
• Regular Woman
• Saturn
• Wealthy Child Daddy (Drake cowl)
• The Weekend
• Good Days
• 20 One thing

Elsewhere on Sunday, Shania Twain performed the coveted Legends slot, delivering large, brassy anthems like That Do not Impress Me A lot and Man! I Really feel Like A Lady! whereas conveying a wide-eyed disbelief on the measurement of her viewers.

“I discover moments like this very life-changing and I imply that very sincerely,” she mentioned, choking again tears in direction of the tip of her set.

Over on the Different Stage, Avril Lavigne was just as popular, inflicting main visitors jams as followers clamoured to listen to era-defining pop-punk hits like Difficult and Sk8r Boi.

She kicked off with the brilliantly snotty Girlfriend, and the cartoonish sneer remaining plastered throughout her face for the subsequent hour.

“I can’t imagine it’s taken me 22 years to play Glastonbury,” she mentioned. “It’s about time”.

Janelle Monae performed a good, funky set on the Pyramid Stage – going by means of a number of costume adjustments, together with a reproduction Michael Jackson swimsuit.

Lithe and limber, she celebrated her sexual freedom on songs like Pink, Yoga, Lipstick Lover and Make Me Really feel, whereas dedicating her set to the queer group, within the last hours of Pleasure month.

Later, she expanded that dedication to different marginalised and persecuted teams around the globe.

“I’m proud to face with you as you combat again in opposition to genocide,” she mentioned. “As you combat again in opposition to the criminalisation of homeless folks. As [politicians] usher in legal guidelines to [regulate] our our bodies.”

She went on to name for an finish to violence in Palestine, Sudan and the Congo – whereas additionally calling out anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.

“These are our folks. So once we see injustice, we all know,” she declared.

It was a robust second, expressed extra eloquently than a lot of this weekend’s onstage protests.

She was adopted onstage by Nigerian star Burna Boy, in party-starting temper as he raced by means of Afro-fusion hits like Sittin’ On High Of The World, Ye and Final Final.

Flirting with the viewers all through, he ultimately eliminated his prime and invited everybody else to comply with swimsuit. If it had been hotter, they may have obliged.

Headline units got here from French dance maestros Justice on the West Holts stage and indie-pop group London Grammar, who drew an infinite crowd to the hillside Park Stage, regardless of singer Hannah Reid’s misgivings about being scheduled in opposition to SZA.

However the largest headliners, when it comes to viewers measurement, have been US indie band The Nationwide, who immersed The Different Stage with epic guitars, wealthy horns, and Matt Berninger’s emotive confessional phrases.

From the intimate Mild Years, to the pounding Abel, their grown-up sound and intense supply capped off an uneven Sunday, as Glastonbury ready to close up store for one more 12 months.

The competition will return in 2025, Emily Eavis has confirmed, earlier than taking a fallow 12 months in 2026.