Glastonbury goes big

Kendrick Lamar, Paul Mccartney and Diana Ross among festival acts

Rapper Kendrick Lamar closed this year’s Glastonbury Festival with a powerful headline set that saw him chant “Godspeed for women’s rights” as fake blood poured down his face from a crown of thorns.

Lamar, 35, ended his new song Savior by chanting “they judge you, they judge Christ. Godspeed for women’s rights” before dropping his microphone and walking off the stage at the music festival Sunday.

The dramatic protest came two days after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strip away women’s constitutional protection for abortion.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper was among big names including Diana Ross, Billie Eilish, Paul Mccartney and Bruce Springsteen to feature at the festival in southwest England, which welcomed back 200,000 music fans for the first time since 2019 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Ross, 78, treated the crowds to hits including Baby Love and You Can’t Hurry Love earlier Sunday, while Mccartney, 80, performed Beatles classics and newer material during a two-hour set on Saturday.

Mccartney was joined by special guests Springsteen and Dave Grohl in a performance on Saturday night that spanned the first Beatles demo to some of his latest recordings.

The singer-songwriter, who turned 80 a week ago, was the oldest ever solo headliner at Worthy Farm in southwest England, where the festival celebrated its 50th anniversary two years later than planned due to the pandemic.

Opening with Can’t Buy Me Love, Mccartney entertained a capacity crowd with songs spanning more than half a century, from Beatles classics to Come On to Me from 2018 album Egypt Station.

Foo Fighters frontman Grohl joined him for I Saw Her Standing There and Band on the Run, receiving a rapturous welcome from the audience.

Following his “friend from the west coast of America,” Mccartney introduced another surprise “from the east coast of America”: Springsteen. The two played Glory Days and I Wanna Be Your Man. Mccartney, one of the greatest songwriters of the 20th century with the late John Lennon, paid tribute to his former band mates during the show.

He played George Harrison’s Something and performed a virtual duet with Lennon on I’ve Got a Feeling.

Grohl and Springsteen came back for the final encore of The End from Abbey Road.

In all, about 3,000 musical performers played during the fourday festival.