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Ben Beaumont-Thomas
This fantastically dressed pair – half gladiator garb, half Berlin fetish wear – had the best hands-in-the-air reception of the weekend so far, purely by firing a Karcher pressure washer into the crowd.
Glastonbury 2025 – punters shoot a pressure washer into the crowd Photograph: Ben Beaumont-Thomas/The GuardianShare
Jalen Ngonda reviewed!
Ben Beaumont-Thomas
Park stage, 14.00
The nebulous and ever-quested-for “festival vibes” cohere quite spectacularly here, as the England-dwelling US retro soul singer fires a beam of pure crowdpleasure across the baking hot Park audience. His high croon sounds like something dug up by a boutique cratedigging label from the late 60s midwest, boyish and even androgynous in tone, and he puts it to use on a series of genial, gently funky songs.
The tempo switches, though, as he shifts to solo piano for a rapturous cover of The Look of Love, trading the slight timidity of Dusty Springfield on the original for a full-throated, almost desperate declaration of love. It’s stunning, and more than one audience member flings their arms wide, seemingly involuntarily, at the beauty of it all. Ngonda has been touring his album Come Around and Love Me for a couple of years now and you rather hope he gets back in the studio soon – but he could easily do another two years of acclaimed festival dates with a set as pan-generationally appealing as this.
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Ca7riel and Paco Amoroso reviewed!
Safi Bugel
West Holts, 13.00
Until very recently, the Argentine duo Ca7riel and Paco Amoroso were little known in the UK. Then came their Tiny Desk session in October, which brought them practically overnight fame. This afternoon’s performance at West Holts (one of a 53-date global tour) is testament to that impact: it’s packed out with fans who sing along to their funk-tinged, meme-referencing pop songs word-for-word, despite almost all of the lyrics being in Spanish.
Framed by two huge chad-filtered images of themselves, the pair swagger out in gigantic PVC trousers pinned up by superstenders. As in their famous Tiny Desk, they sing and perform understated yet silly choreo from their stools for the first half of the set, while their rhythm section (also in matching outfits) waltz through their silky-smooth, percussive instrumentals. They keep chatter to a minimum, but their quiet charisma and catchy songs are enough to keep things energetic: tracks like Baby Gangsta and Ri Forra are already received like classic hits.
About half-way through, the tone switches: the stools are taken aside and their sunshine-ready rhythms are swapped for Project X-ready EDM bangers. The pair take it in turns to perform their previous solo material: Mcfly for Ca7riel, Todo El Dia for Paco Amoroso (the latter leads to the most endearing mosh-pit I’ve ever seen). Throughout, they uphold their signature mock-bad boy personas, flexing their muscles and holding their crotches as they sing about ‘Raris and Louis V, “chauffers and hoes”.
In many ways Ca7riel and Paco Amoroso’s music is perfect for the chronically online: they rap knowingly about hashtags and OnlyFans; their hook-heavy tracks rarely push beyond the 3-minute mark. But despite the in-jokes and commitment to the bit, the music is strong; they deliver a tight, confident performance for the full hour, which frequently climaxes in their frenetic percussive breakdowns. And when the music drops and the audience join in for a full-blown acapella, you know they’re bona fide popstars.
Ca7riel and Paco Amoroso wearing waders at West Holts stage. Photograph: Jonny Weeks/The GuardianFans watching the Argentine duo. Photograph: Jonny Weeks/The GuardianShare
Updated at 15.48 BST
BREAKING: Ammar Kalia ran into Mel C at the Supergrass show. He asked “Do you like Supergrass?” and she replied “Yes.” You heard it here first, folks!
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Myles Smith reviewed!
Jason OkundayeMyles Smith performs at Woodsies. Photograph: Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP
Woodsies, 12.45pm
If ever there was a formula for breaking beyond the constraints of the term “TikTok artist”, Luton-based singer-songwriter Myles Smith has found it: his career is the result of a winning combination of timing, exposure and unmistakable talent. Blowing up online after posting acoustic renditions of songs by Hozier and the Neighbourhood, Smith has since drummed up over half a billion streams for his viral track Stargazing, picked up a Brits rising star award, a spot on Obama’s annual end-of-year playlist and an opening slot on Ed Sheeran’s tour. Smith, palpably excited, tells the crowd: “I’ve been on tour with the ginger prince but nothing beats Glastonbury man!”
Smith skips onstage carrying a guitar and immediately launches into Wait For You. There is a child-like zeal and cheer in his face, which makes his bold, soulful vocals feel all the more effortless. He has evidently built a strong discography and the crowd is familiar with it – Behind, Whisper and Solo all meet knowing hand claps and whoops. And if you’re unfamiliar, Smith wears his influences well enough that you have points of reference – Sheeran, of course, but also Green Day, Mumford & Sons, George Ezra and Tom Odell.
At moments though, despite Smith’s obvious soul, it feels as though real emotion is lost to the folksy feel-good vibes: there is no real difference in mood between a song about heartbreak and one about being at the side of a lover. That also means that tracks soon begin to feel impersonal, derivative and bland: River with its nondescript lyrics “you’ll never be alone, I’ll be by your side” feels like it could soundtrack the most romantic moment of an Ice Age film.
That is not to dismiss the strength of the performance or of Smith’s talent. The sunshine folksiness is the perfect aperitif. He is clearly humbled by the sheer size of the crowd, saying “last year I was playing to 80 people in a pub in Manchester, this year look how many of you turned up” (and it’s an intimidating beat having followed up Lorde’s secret-not-so-secret Woodsies opener). But I long for some moodiness, some real grungy, filthy production he can sink his teeth into so that his gorgeous voice is not simply spent on sentimental schmaltz. Sound a little pissed off or aggrieved, maybe. Smash your guitar.
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Updated at 15.04 BST
CMAT is sounding great from the small, dank hut where I write my special live blog, and the pictures coming through look pretty spectacular. We’ll have Alexis Petridis’ full review of the show up here soon!
CMAT on the Pyramid stage. Photograph: Yui Mok/PAShare
Updated at 15.02 BST
David Levene – The Guardian’s unofficial mayor of Glastonbury – got a preview of the revamped Shangri-La, the festival’s hedonistic wonderland. The site’s eco-conscious new look is pretty spectacular:
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John Glacier reviewed!
Ben Beaumont-Thomas
Park stage, 12.45pm
John Glacier’s flow stands alone in the UK and indeed anywhere. Sometimes she’s steadily, carefully hyping herself up as if daring to believe her own skill; at others she raps in a conspiratorial murmur, like the magnetic Heaven’s Sent, delivered here at a daringly low volume which makes her all the more magnetic. Other times, as on wonderful UK garage ballad Ocean Steppin’, she sounds breezy and resigned to whatever fate has in store for her. Perhaps there’s a touch of Dean Blunt at times, or Neneh Cherry’s most introspective moments, but there really is no one wandering a path like her; pausing to reflect then giving a stoic shrug and pressing on.
There are some problems with her monitors – she almost ends the set a song early after cheerily flouncing away from some dodgy onstage sound – but it all sounds great out in the crowd. The bass feels a touch high at times and obscures some details, but equally, the overwhelming, ether-dominating vibration fits the music so well at others: “On the rocks, on the waves / Feeling like I’m never sure,” she raps on Nevasure, that bass sweeping her out to sea on a dark tide. She has a lovely intimacy with her DJ, so different your standard hip-hop hype man – during Ocean Steppin’ they pass a two litre bottle of water back and forth and Glacier vapes a little, a couple of friends having a content little moment. There’s a low-key charm to the whole set, but a deep, strange drama churning beneath it.
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Updated at 14.06 BST
Does anyone know if the Pilton Palais – Glastonbury’s cinema tent – has a policy on Chicken Jockey? They’re showing the Minecraft Movie later today, and, if my timing is right, I should be able to get to the screening just in time to see some kids throw a bunch of festival food at the screen.
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Safi is over at West Holts watching the fantastically strange Argentine rap duo Ca7riel and Paco Amoroso, and it sounds like every Argentinian person at the festival has congregated for their set. She just sent through these snaps of some fans who flew over for the festival:
Argentinian fans at Glastonbury watching Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso. Photograph: Safi Bugel/The GuardianArgentinian fans at Glastonbury watching Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso Photograph: Safi Bugel/The GuardianShare
Supergrass reviewed!
Gwilym MumfordGaz Coombes of Supergrass performs on the Pyramid stage. Photograph: James Veysey/Shutterstock
Pyramid stage, 12pm
Supergrass emerge in front of a backdrop of the album art for their debut album I Should Coco, depicting original trio Gaz Coombes, Mick Quinn and Danny Goffey as snarling, snotty, monobrowed youngsters. It wouldn’t be unfair to point out that there is an ocean of difference between said artwork and the salt and pepper templed gents (Coombes, Quinn and Goffey, plus long term fourth member, Coombes’ keyboardist brother Rob) stood in front of it – though Coombes, looking spiffy in blazer and newsboy cap, is ageing about as classily as possible. What’s more, as they tear into an opening one two punch of I’d Like To Know and Caught By the Fuzz, it’s clear the snarl and the snot hasn’t left them.
Supergrass have been touring for the 30th anniversary of Coco, and their set today – also 30 full years on from their Glastonbury debut (“We came in on a chopper,” Goffey recalls, eyes wide in wonder) – is the bulk of that album played in chronological order. There are pros and cons to this: on the plus side it allows an airing of some belting, single-worthy album tracks like I’d Like to Know and Strange Ones. But the downside is that it slightly sidelines the more musically adventurous band that those mod revivalist urchins grew into.
It doesn’t help that the biggest singalongs – Mansize Rooster and of course Alright – all land in the album’s stacked first half and are dispensed with a little too early. As the more meandering back half tracks like Sofa (of my lethargy) and She’s So Loose (“about underage sex with older women, it’s a bit weird now”, says Coombes), the Pyramid crowd’s attention starts to wander.
The relief is palpable then when Coombes says “we’re gonna jump ahead a few years”, and launches into the caustic chuggy opening riff to Richard III. From there it’s a home stretch of bangers – Late in the Day; Mary, with its daft caterwauling “aii-aii-aii-aii” chorus; Moving; a loose, psych-tinged Sun Hits the Sky – and the crowd are firmly back onside. By set closer Pumping on Your Stereo the big overhead claps are out, everyone is singing along and the festival feels truly underway.
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Updated at 14.21 BST
Fabio & Grooverider reviewed!
Safi Bugel
Other stage, 11.30
The pairing of classical music and rave nostalgia seems to be in vogue at the moment. The Hacienda Classical, Back to Basics with the Orchestra of the Opera North and the hilariously-named Cream Classical all reinterpret club classics with a full ensemble and guest vocalists. Representing the trend at Glastonbury 2025 are drum‘n’bass legends Fabio & Grooverider, who today open a packed-out Other stage, accompanied by the Outlook Orchestra.
“We’re gonna take you through time, we’re gonna give you a history of jungle and D’n’B!” bellows the guest MC, GQ, while Fabio and Grooverider take their place behind the decks in the centre of the orchestra. And indeed they do: the gun finger-poised, bucket hat-clad crowd are treated to an hour of old favourites, beefed up by live amen breaks, big horns and soaring strings.
The set is structured in parts, starting with early nineties jungle to present-day D’n’B. We hear countless beloved tracks like We Are IE, Sweet Love, Super Sharp Shooter and the real sing-along-inducing Ready Or Not. Between a string of guest vocalists, Fabio & Grooverider occasionally pause to pace the stage, asking who was there the first time round and running through their history, which began at a wine bar in Streatham. “To see this is amazing,” says Fabio.
Naturally, there’s a tendency for the set to feel a bit corny: the glowing love heart graphic laid over timelapse clips of London, the pairing of brass and bass, the nostalgia saturation. But there’s no denying that this is a high-energy, heart-warming affair for everyone involved, from the old ravers to the kids on their shoulders.
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Updated at 13.04 BST
Horsegirl reviewed!
Ben Beaumont-Thomas
Park stage, 11.30
“Do you like camping?” one of Horsegirl asks their audience, to a chorus of assent. “Cool. We’re staying an hour away in a hotel.” There’s probably better stage banter to get everyone on side, but thankfully the Chicago indie trio’s actual music is far more endearing.
There’s a Stereolab-ish motorik chug that underpins a number of these tracks, at various tempos from indie-dancing to mopey wandering, including on cuts from utterly superb Cate le Bon-produced second album Phonetics On and On. The bass notes ring out clean and bright, adding crossbeams to the sturdy structure. But all this steadiness is offset by beautiful, tuneful wordless hooks, like the kind a child might idly sing to themselves while fingerpainting – affectingly naive but really tricky to write well. The repeated lyrics are strong too: “And I try / and I try”, they sing on In Twos, quite moving in how they doggedly trudge onwards. As Lorde no doubt takes things straight to 100 over at Woodsies, this set gently eases us up to speed.
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Updated at 12.56 BST
Four Tet and Floating Points’ B2B set last night – at Floating Points’ Sunflower Sound System, in Silver Hayes – was one of the most transcendently fun things I’ve seen in a long time. The Guardian’s David Levene snapped some great photos of the space – a bespoke 360-degree soundsystem featuring six gigantic speaker stacks, inside a gigantic dome – last night, although a photo can’t capture the delirious feeling of hearing the beat whizz around you like you’re in a spaceship, as it periodically did last night.
Sunflower Soundsystems – a brand new venue at Silver Hayes, complete with mycellium acoustic panels. Photograph: David Levene/The GuardianKieran Miles David Hebden, AKA Four Tet, plays with Samuel Shepherd AKA Floating Points, perform together at Sunflower Soundsystem.Sunflower Soundsystems. Photograph: David Levene/The GuardianFour Tet on stage. Photograph: David Levene/The GuardianShare
Updated at 13.02 BST
It seems like CMAT’s set on the Pyramid stage this afternoon is one of the weekend’s most-anticipated – more than one of my friends has emphatically declared it the Summer of CMAT. In addition to her powerhouse voice, the rising Irish star is just great for a quote. Check out Alexis Petridis’s interview with her from earlier this month:
ShareThe crowd outside Woodsies during a secret gig by Lorde. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA
Best way to avoid the crowds? Be an A-list musician, it seems: Elle has spotted Charli xcx watching her friend Lorde from the side of the stage, and Safi just saw Carl Cox checking out Fabio & Grooverider.
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Updated at 14.47 BST
The intrepid Elle Hunt has identified a few cases of WFG (work from Glastonbury) out in the field.
Of course you’d assume that everyone at Glastonbury today has taken annual leave, but there surely must be some gadabouts who are “working from home” and logging into Gmail to periodically refresh their status. Good on them I say. After all many more will be on leave but obliged to be “on email” from the field. I glimpsed a young woman in the crowd for Lorde furiously responding to messages on Slack. It never rests …
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Welcome to Glastonbury 2025!
Shaad D’Souza
Hello from Worthy Farm! It’s Glastonbury’s final outing before taking a fallow year in 2026 in order for the site to recuperate, and if Thursday night’s merriment is any indication, the crowd will absolutely be making this one count – here’s hoping we’re not all burnt out by Sunday evening. Today is starting off with a bang: Lorde, who released her fourth album Virgin today, just confirmed via social media that she’s the “TBA” artist opening the Woodsies stage today – and, naturally, that tent is already at capacity. We’ll have a review of that set – and the rest of the day’s acts, including the 1975, Alanis Morrisette and more – very soon.
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