(Pilton) Tens of thousands of festival-goers flock to Glastonbury, in the south-west of England, on Wednesday for the legendary musical event which closes this year with Elton John’s farewell to the British public.
The first festival-goers arrived on Tuesday evening with their backpacks and tents, before the doors opened on Wednesday and the performances of the main bands on stage from Friday.
For the summer solstice, they were greeted by showers that threaten to turn the site into a vast patch of mud, although the weather forecast is better for the end of the week.
The event will mark Elton John’s last UK concert this year. After a stint in Paris, the multi-successful star of Rocket Man To Tiny Danceris due to end its long international farewell tour on July 8 with a concert in Stockholm, Sweden.
This is the first time that the exuberant 76-year-old English singer has taken part in the event, which takes place every year near this small medieval village. He will go up Sunday evening on the Pyramid Stage, the most important stage of the festival, to close the 51e Glastonbury edition.
“It’s the first time I’ve been asked” to play at Glastonbury, he revealed at the end of May during an interview with the BBC. “It comes at the right time, I believe in fate and it’s the most magnificent way to finish in England.”
Other big names this year include Arctic Monkeys and Guns N’Roses, scheduled for Friday and Saturday respectively on the Pyramid Stage.
The festival had drawn criticism from fans for not scheduling any female headliners on the main stage this year. Blondie, Lizzo and Lana Del Ray are on the program, but in the first part of the evening or on less important stages.
Arctic Monkeys, who played three concerts at the Emirates Stadium in London this weekend, are due to play on Friday, but had to cancel their concert scheduled for Wednesday in Dublin, Ireland, the band’s lead singer Alex Turner suffering from laryngitis.
“Brand new” show
Glastonbury, a mythical meeting place since 1970, which has seen the biggest stars in the world, closed its 2022 edition with Paul McCartney, who at 80 had ignited the festival by taking over Beatles classics. Soul legend Diana Ross was also in attendance.
At the start of November, more than 100,000 tickets sold out in just over an hour for the five days of the 2023 edition, despite tickets approaching 400 euros ($577). More than 200,000 people are expected.
The festival promised “unforgettable farewells” with “Sir Elton” – he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1998 – who announced a “brand new” show for the occasion.
“I’m starting with a song that I haven’t played for ten years, so we’ll see how it goes,” he told the BBC, adding that he had planned surprise guests.
Half a century after his debut, the English star born in the north-west suburbs of London has sold more than 300 million records worldwide and still tops the charts from time to time by joining forces with the stars of these last years.
In 2021, his title cold hearta duet with singer Dua Lipa, was ranked number one in singles in the UK, as well as Merry Christmas, a collaboration with Ed Sheeran. And last August, he dusted off his classic Tiny Dancer to release a new title, Hold Me Closerin duet with Britney Spears.
The singer’s farewell tour, baptized Farewell Yellow Brick Road and originally scheduled to run for three years, kicked off in 2018 with over 300 dates scheduled. But she has been disrupted due to the coronavirus pandemic, hip surgery in 2021 and testing positive for COVID-19 last year.