Glastonbury 2025: Lewis Capaldi’s epic return, Aussie stars and the death of brat

The 2025 Glastonbury Festival has come to an end, with hundreds of thousands of guests flocking to Worthy Farm in southern England for arguably the most iconic music festival in the world. The three-day event saw up to 210,000 ticket holders camping out to hear thousands of artists perform on over 100 stages.

While music was the main event, there was plenty of controversy, as well as wild weather and surprises, in store to make the festival one for the history books. Here are the biggest moments you might have missed from this year’s Glastonbury:

Stars descended on the three-day festival in southern England this past weekend.

Rain and heat lash festivalgoers

The festival is renowned for its wild and varied weather, and this year was no different. The first day saw pouring rain and rivers of mud, but by the end of the festival organisers were issuing heat advice for temperatures north of 31 degrees (heaven forbid). It’s worth remembering that a mild Australian summer day can feel like an unbearable heatwave in Britain.

Revellers were advised to refill their water bottles, turn on car air-conditioners and leave the festival between midnight and 6am to “avoid queues and the heat”.

Australians every day

Australian attendees of the festival were able to catch some homegrown talent on each day of the festival, with Amyl and the Sniffers, Glass Beams and Royel Otis all taking to their respective stages across the weekend.

The biggest Australian stars of the festival – Amyl and the Sniffers – returned for their second Glastonbury performance after their 2022 debut, bringing their signature head-banging energy to a set that traversed all three of their albums.

Lead singer Amy Taylor took “the time to say something political” in a speech lashing the UK and Australian governments’ responses to the war in Gaza, colonisation and the emergence of AI.

Illusive masked performer Rajan Silva, performing as Glass Beams, presented a psychedelic set, while Sydney band Royel Otis belted out their hit covers of Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Murder on the Dancefloor and the Cranberries’ Linger.

Organisers and UK prime minister condemn IDF chant

English punk duo Bob Vylan – who opened for Northern Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap – have been struck with widespread condemnation after leading their audience in a chant of “death, death to the IDF” (Israel Defence Forces) during their set on Saturday.

Bobby Vylan of Bob Vylan crowdsurfing at Glastonbury, where the anti-IDF chant was heard.Credit: Getty Images

The set was broadcast live on the BBC, but later removed from streaming, with the chant being described as appalling by both festival organisers and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Organisers said “we are appalled by the statements made from the West Holts stage by Bob Vylan yesterday. Their chants very much crossed a line and we are urgently reminding everyone involved in the production of the festival that there is no place at Glastonbury for antisemitism, hate speech or incitement to violence.”

Police are investigating the performance for any potential offences.

Kneecap’s set – which was almost cancelled after band member Mo Chara was charged last month with terrorism offences for displaying a Hezbollah flag at a concert – proceeded with more than 30,000 people flocking to the stage and ticket holders being turned away.

However, that was not broadcast by the BBC, which said it had made the decision due to the risk of impartiality guidelines being breached.

Glastonbury 2025: By the numbers

• 1,200,000 – pints of beer stocked across festival bars
• 210,000 – full capacity of the festival
• 4000 – toilets
• 3972 – performers
• 1000 – acres of festival grounds
• 120 – stages
• 35 – minutes to sell out the festival
• 0 – plastic bottles sold on site

Charli XCX and the death of brat?

Could the brat era finally be over? Charli XCX opened her set with the burning of the now iconic green curtain that heralded the start of each concert performed since her album hit the top of the charts more than a year ago.

The set was not a total crowd pleaser, though, with many taking their criticism of the artist’s use of autotune online. The singer took to X on Monday morning (AEST) to say: “the idea that singing with deliberate autotune makes you a fraud or that not having a traditional band suddenly means you must not be a ‘real artist’ is like, the most boring take ever. yawn sorry just fell asleep”.

Lewis Capaldi makes his triumphant return

After a two-year hiatus from the stage, singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi returned to Glastonbury, performing a surprise set that was originally billed as a placeholder. At the 2023 edition of the festival, Capaldi – who has Tourette’s syndrome – had difficulty finishing his set as he managed the tics that come with his condition.

The Someone You Loved singer described his set as “the worst kept f---ing secret” when he appeared at the Pyramid stage to a packed crowd, after unofficial-looking flyers appeared across the festival the day before his performance announcing it.

“Glastonbury, it’s so good to be back. I’m not going to say much up here today because if I do, I think I’ll probably start crying,” Capaldi said.

Lorde debuts album during secret set

Another surprise turn came from New Zealand singer Lorde, whose fourth album Virgin was released last week. Appearing on the Woodsie stage on Friday – a day after posting an image of the stage to Instagram – the singer played the entirety of her new album to fans who had barely had a chance to listen to it.

The singer thanked the audience for “being here with us on the day that Virgin is born” as crowds were turned away from the overflowing field.

with AP