“Glastonbury, do you know where you are?” is one of those rhetorical question only a rock star could get away with, writes Neil McCormick. According to Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose, Worthy Farm was “in the jungle! And you’re all gonna die!” The audience took it in good spirit, laughing and singing along to Welcome to the Jungle.
The veteran LA heavy rockers had a lot to prove, particularly after Lana Del Rey (simultaneously performing her own rather more chilled-out set on Glastonbury’s Other Stage) had dismissed them as “pale, male and stale.” But a big crowd turned out for their unreconstructed rock, and they certainly gave it their best, in a hard, loud, fierce set.
Guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan still look the part of grizzled rockers who only function at night, but Axl Rose has not aged so stylishly, resembling a small-town hairdresser who has been working out too hard at the gym. The real problem was his singing, however.
His voice used to have a shrieking Banshee power but it has become kind of lumpy, with a toneless falsetto and a honking low range, and he switches between these modes with little apparent logic. His vocals were mixed way too loud, when, let’s face it, what everyone wants to hear is Slash unleashing overloaded solos containing every note on the scale, often all at the same time. Guns N’ Roses are frankly too good to be bad, but the best-received song was their heavy-handed version of Paul McCartney’s Live and Let Die, which sounded rather better when the great man himself played it in 2022.
McCartney was spotted at the festival again this year, briefly appearing on stage with Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders, whose band was augmented by Foo Fighter Dave Grohl on drums and The Smiths’ Johnny Marr on guitar. Frankly, they played with an economy, spirit and musicality to put LA’s finest to the sword. Rumours are that McCartney was on site to duet with Elton John for Sunday’s finale, with other guests including Eminem and Britney Spears. That is setting up to be the greatest retirement party in history.
There is every kind of music to be sampled at Glastonbury, from the emotional R’n’B of rising British star Raye to the sunshine reggae of Third World, whose 1977 hit 96 Degrees in the Shade could have been purpose-built for this heatwave festival. Even the Red Arrows dropped by, roaring overhead through perfect blue skies, briefly drowning out the sound of lachrymose singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi in the middle of his second drippy ballad. The Scottish bawler had lost his voice by the end of his set, but the audience forgivingly did his singing for him.
But it has certainly been a busy Glastonbury for old rockers, as the world’s shabbiest supergroup, Generation Sex, performed a mid-afternoon set of pure punk Viagra. Members of the Sex Pistols and Generation X combined forces to make the kind of nostalgic, ramshackle pub rock they used to disdain in their wild youth. In defiance of a new regime, they revived God Save the Queen, attacking it with an energy that still made it sound like a bomb going off. “We’re the future, your future,” roared this bunch of dissolute sexagenarians. I really hope not.
Catch up with all the Saturday action from Glastonbury below! And read Neil’s full review of Guns N’ Roses
