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Festivals are back, baby!

Glastonbury 2021 was cancelled due to That Virus That Shall Not Be Named. However, Glastonbury 2022 kicks off tomorrow and runs until Sunday, June 26, at Worthy Farm in Somerset, England.

In honour of the return of the iconic music festival, The Telegraph combed through the history books to rank the finest headline performances since the first Glastonbury back in 1970.

On that occasion, around 1 500 hippies turned up and forked over £1 each to see The Kinks take centre stage. However, they were replaced at the last minute by Marc Bolan’s increasingly popular glam act Tyrannosaurus Rex, which would soon become famous as T.Rex.

Let’s skip to the front of the queue and start off the top five greatest headliner performances. Each features three artists or bands because there’s a headline act on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

5. U2, Coldplay, Beyoncé (2011)

U2 had to contend with both a torrential deluge and a large balloon raised from the crowd protesting their tax-dodging. They only partly succeeded. Coldplay were their usual crowd-pleasing selves but Beyoncé, who front-loaded her set with a firework display accompanying her two biggest songs – Crazy in Love and Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It) – blew the place apart with choreographed Amazonian pizzazz. And she was three months pregnant!

4. Arctic Monkeys, The Rolling Stones, Mumford and Sons (2013)

While Arctic Monkeys attacked their set with a frenetic energy and Mumford and Sons appealed mainly to existing fans, it was the presence of The Rolling Stones that gave 2013 its real frisson. They delivered in spades with 69-year-old Mick Jagger on outrageously lithe form, the highlight being a spine-tinglingly euphoric singalong to You Can’t Always Get What You Want.

Okay, the Stones rocking that song needs to be enjoyed:

Lovely to see Charlie Watts on the drums.

3. David Bowie, Traffic, Melanie (1971)

The Glastonbury Fayre, captured on film by Nic Roeg, was a very far cry from today’s festival. In a haze of acid and marijuana, the scheduling seems to have been quite random, the idea of “headliners” going against the ethos of the times – so, for instance, Bowie came on at dawn. If you can remember it, you probably weren’t there.

2. Radiohead, The Prodigy, Ash (1997)

This was one of the most water-sodden Glastonburys ever, but The Prodigy, riding high on Firestarter and The Fat of the Land album, gave Worthy Farm a rave workout while teenage Northern Irish punk-pop trio Ash, who’d replaced Steve Winwood at the last minute, were a fizzing ball of energy. But it was Radiohead who played a set that would go down as the making of them, their moody power completely carrying the crowd away.

The Prodigy, hey – remember them?

For number one, we’re headed all the way back to a truly great year for humankind in general…

1. The Psychedelic Furs, The Cure, Level 42 (1986)

A triple-header of Glastonbury-headlining brilliance. The Psychedelic Furs rendered drizzle irrelevant with driving punk-fuelled alt-pop. Level 42, best known for their middle-of-the-road pop, may seem an odd band to be at the No.1, but on Sunday June 22 1986, they returned to the rawer jazz-funk of their early career, laying down an elastic, riveting bass and percussion groove that was full of righteous attack.

Meh. I’d have gone for The Rolling Stones but what do I know?

As a point of interest, the worse headliner performance was 1993’s The Black Crowes, Lenny Kravitz, and Wynton Marsalis.

If Glastonbury is anything like this year’s Coachella, expect it to turn into a massive influencer free-for-all.

As the truly great Bo Burnham would say, here comes the content.

[source:telegraph]