Diana Ross
There have been many tributes to Ukraine throughout Glastonbury 2022 – a message from president Volodomyr Zelensky played on the big screen before The Libertines’ early set on Friday, and a show by Ukrainian Eurovision winners Kalush Orchestra late into the night at Shangri La, for instance. So too do Dakhabraka, a Ukrainian collective who combine the music of several ethnic groups. Under beaming sunshine, their performance is deeply moving, played with both passion and remarkable poise.
Herbie Hancock and his band follow them. Not everyone is concentrating on their playing – there are many people just soaking up the sun to the sound of jazz while they wait for Diana Ross’ upcoming ‘legends’ slot. It does make for lovely background music, but with a bit of focus, so too can you enjoy the dazzlement of supreme musicianship.
By the time Diana Ross does follow them, the Pyramid field is as crowded as it’s been all weekend, save for Paul McCartney. It’s hard not to be swept up in the joyous atmosphere, and though Ross’ vocals are undoubtedly not what they once were, her audience’s ecstatic reaction – and an extremely tight backing band – more than make up for it.
My favourite new band in the country, caroline, are playing at the same time over at Williams Green, but there’s no way of pushing through the crowd to see them. Instead, we make it to the second half of Fontaines DC on the Other Stage – a contrasting intensity to Ross’ glitz, augmented at points by a string quartet and piano for the more plaintive moments explored on new album Skinty Fia.
Before Kendrick Lamar’s much anticipated headline set, there’s time for a dance in the electronic music-focused Silver Hayes area, first to Leon Vynehall who pitches the energy perfectly, and then to Pinch who unleashes a brutal dubstep set to ramp things all the way up before our return to the Pyramid.
Lamar’s set, put simply, is unbelievably good. From the off, opening with ‘United In Grief’, he’s rapping with breathtaking intensity, backed by elaborately choreographed dancers, the men all in white and the women all in red. He hurtles through material as the basslines makes the cameras tracking his every move shake, only adding to his power. Down on the ground, it is pandemonium, particularly when he races through a medley of hits from his earlier albums, and there is a deep sense of awe when he plunges into his superb new record, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. When, at the set’s close, he allows his cool to slip, and launches into a relentless chants of bars against the US Supreme Court’s overturning of the federal right to abortion, some are in tears. He has ended the festival with a set for the ages.
