GLASTONBURY has been thrilling festival fans for 50 years now.
The big event was cancelled in 2020, but fear not, we are here to take you through those iconic moments.
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10 of Glastonbury’s most iconic moments
The festival kicked off in 1970 and cost just £1 to get in.
Fast forward half a century and millions of revellers have passed through those now famous gates.
The show takes place every last weekend of June and is hosted by Michael Evais on his farm.
Here we take you though some of the best moments from the past 50 years.
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Adele
An unknown Adele first graced the Guardian Live Lounge in 2007
At just 19-years-old she had an early afternoon slot and sang Crazy For You while she accompanied herself on guitar.
First forward 9 years to 2016 and she was headlining the Pyramid Stage on the coveted Saturday night spot.
Despite getting a stern warning beforehand over her notorious potty mouth, Adele swore a whopping 33 times during her 90-minute set.
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Robbie Willams
Back in the Nineties there was a bitter rivalry between Take That and Oasis, with the Gallagher brothers dubbing Robbie Williams “the fat dancer” of the group.
But all that backbiting went out of the window at Glastonbury 1995 when Robbie was seen hanging out with new best mate Liam.
Robbie spent much of the festival in a tracksuit, with bleached hair and a blacked-out tooth. He left Take That shortly afterwards.
Robbie then went on to wow the crowds on stage in 1998 after embarking on a hugely successful solo career.
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Pulp
Pulp came to the rescue in 1995 after The Stone Roses were forced to pull out at the eleventh hour when guitarist John Squire broke his collarbone.
The relative newcomers weren’t the first choice — Blur, Primal Scream and Rod Stewart were all approached first.
Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker said at the time: “It is all a bit last-minute, but we’re used to that sort of thing.”
They also brought the house down again in 1998.
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Kanye West
Kanye’s much-hyped performance in 2015 was interrupted after British celebrity prankster Simon Brodkin, aka Lee Nelson, ran on to the stage as West was halfway through the song Black Skinhead.
The rapper stopped briefly as the cheeky comedian was hauled off the stage before then restarting the song.
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Oasis
In 1994, a cocky Liam Gallagher strode on to the NME stage and demanded: “Are you lot gonna wake up for some proper songs?”
As well as Oasis, other newcomers Blur were also performing at the festival, with some arguing it was the birth of Britpop that would come to define a decade.
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Happy Mondays
The nation was in the grip of a second summer of love when Happy Mondays played the Pyramid Stage in 1990, and the crowd went mad for them.
But things were even wilder backstage. Some members of the band’s massive entourage knocked up bootleg backstage passes, reportedly making £20,000.
The punters who got their hands on them apparently ran riot backstage, nicking various items.
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Jay-Z
When Jay Z was revealed as a 2008 headline act, Noel Gallagher wasn’t having any of it.
He declared that hip-hop was “wrong” for Glasto. But Jay Z got his own back.
He started his set with a rendition of Oasis hit Wonderwall in front of a screen playing videos of Noel’s criticism.
He then declared, triumphantly: “For those that didn’t get the memo, my name is Jay Z and I’m pretty f***ing awesome.”
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Beyonce
Beyonce’s Vegas-style set in 2011 included all her big hits plus Prince and Etta James covers AND a Destiny’s Child medley.
She had a whopping 100,000 fans watching her who went Crazy In Love when she took to the stage.
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David Bowie
The late David brought down the house when he took to the Pyramid Stage back in 2000.
He of course played the first ever Glasto back in 1970, but three decades on he closed the festival on the Sunday night.
He played all of his hits in an incredible two hour set.
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Kylie Minogue
Last but no means least we have Kylie.
One of the emotional high points of 2019 was the Princess of Pop, who had been forced to cancel in 2005 due to her breast cancer diagnosis.
She finally got her moment. Chris Martin and Nick Cave guested, but Kylie’s joy – “I’ll never get you out of my head!” she told the crowd – is what really sticks with us.
