Glastonbury opened its doors this Friday at Worthy Farm with a performance by one of its main attractions, Dua Lipa. In her first Glastonbury concert as a headliner, Dua Lipa surprised the audience by inviting Kevin Parker, that is, Tame Impala, one of the producers of ‘Radical Optimism’, on stage. Together, Lipa and Parker sang ‘The Less I Know the Better’, the classic from Tame Impala’s ‘Currents’ (2015), and Parker also appeared on stage to play electric guitar on ‘Houdini’, the song that marked the grand finale of the concert.
Another notable cameo at Glastonbury was made by Damon Albarn, who appeared at the Bombay Bicycle Club concert. Together they sang ‘Heaven’ and ‘Tender’. Above all, Albarn took advantage of his time at Glastonbury to talk about Palestine. He asked the audience: “Are you pro-Palestine? Do you think this is a just war?” He also called for people to vote in the UK general elections on July 4, and denounced that “perhaps it is time for us to stop putting octogenarians in control of the world.”
The issue of war was also present in the performance that Serbian artist Marina Abramovic gave just before the PJ Harvey concert. Dressed as a symbol of peace, Abramovic gave a speech followed by seven minutes of silence. In her speech, Abramovic reflected that “violence only brings more violence” and called on the world to continue demonstrating and protesting.
AURORA has also taken advantage of its platform to denounce the situation in Palestine, Sudan, Yemen and Congo, specifically the suffering of the child population in these places. “It really worries me, I feel like the leaders of the world are trying to screw us over and over again,” she said while singing ‘The Seed’. “I can’t believe these disgusting people are damaging our future.” In their concert, IDLES have also called for a “ceasefire.”
Glastonbury continues this Saturday, June 29, with performances by Coldplay and Cyndi Lauper, and on Sunday, the 30th, with SZA and Shania Twain.
