Glastonbury Festival (concert) - The Paul McCartney Project

Paul McCartney first participated in Glastonbury Festival in 2004. In March 2020, it was announced that Paul would return to Glastonbury, but the 2020 edition of the festival was finally cancelled due to the 2019-2020 coronavirus pandemic. The 2021 edition was cancelled as well.

On February 24, 2022, the official Twitter account of Paul McCartney published a cryptic message – “Wordle 121 25/6” – in reference to the web-based word game Wordle. It appeared to hint that Paul would be headlining Glastonbury 2022. “25/6” was interpreted as a reference to June 25 (Saturday of this year’s event). “121” was the number of days between February 24 and June 25. The six green tiles could contain “Glasto“.

The official confirmation came on March 4. At 80, Paul became the oldest headliner of the festival.

On June 24, 2022, the day before his Glastonbury performance, Paul and his band played an impromptu gig in Frome, Somerset, as a warm-up exercise.

The setlist for the Glastonbury performance was very similar to the recent “Got Back” tour setlist. Paul brought guest stars Dave Grohl to perform “I Saw Her Standing There” and “Band On The Run“.

Dave Grohl then left and Bruce Springsteen joined to perform his 1985 hit “Glory Days” and “I Wanna Be Your Man“, as he did when he was invited by Paul on stage at the recent Met Life Stadium concert.

Both Dave Grohl and Bruce Springsteen joined again for the latest song of the show, “The End“.

From PaulMcCartney.com, March 4, 2022:

After much anticipation since 2020’s cancelled festival, today it’s announced that he will headline the Pyramid Stage on Saturday night of this year’s Glastonbury Festival (June 25th)! Paul previously headlined the Festival in 2004.

From Wikipedia:

Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, in England. In addition to contemporary music, the festival hosts dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret, and other arts. Leading pop and rock artists have headlined, alongside thousands of others appearing on smaller stages and performance areas. Films and albums have been recorded at the festival, and it receives extensive television and newspaper coverage.

Glastonbury is attended by around 200,000 people, thus requiring extensive security, transport, water, and electricity-supply infrastructure. While the number of attendees is sometimes swollen by gatecrashers, a record of 300,000 people was set at the 1994 festival, headlined by the Levellers, who performed on The Pyramid Stage. Most festival staff are volunteers, helping the festival to raise millions of pounds for charity organisations.

Regarded as a major event in British culture, the festival is inspired by the ethos of the hippie, the counterculture of the 1960s, and the free-festival movement. Vestiges of these traditions are retained in the Green Fields area, which includes sections known as the Green Futures and Healing Field. Michael Eavis hosted the first festival, then called Pilton Festival, after seeing an open-air Led Zeppelin concert at the 1970 Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music.

The festival was held intermittently from 1970 until 1981, and has been held most years since then, except for “fallow years” taken mostly at five-year intervals, intended to give the land, local population, and organisers a break. 2018 was a “fallow year”, and the following festival took place from 26 to 30 June 2019. There have been two consecutive “fallow years” since then due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

From glastonburyfestivals.co.uk, May 30, 2022

From Linda McCartney’s vegetarian food is coming to Glastonbury | TheFestivals, June 21, 2022:

Festivals are firmly back on the menu and with Glastonbury set to be even bigger and better this year, Linda McCartney’s is celebrating Paul McCartney headlining the iconic British music festival this summer, with the exclusive, limited-edition ‘Glastonburger’.

With the Linda McCartney’s team serving up veggie and vegan treats to Glastonbury goers by the Pyramid Stage, they set their sights on wanting to offer something extra special, so asked Paul McCartney just how he liked to eat his burgers. Paul shared his very own personal recipe and gave it a fitting name for the festival… and the ‘Glastonburger’ was born! And one thing’s for sure, Paul and his crew will all be tucking into a Glastonburger backstage at his performance on the big day itself.

A take on the classic burger, the ‘Glastonburger’ consists of a juicy Linda McCartney’s Vegetarian 1/4lb Burger topped with crunchy fresh iceberg lettuce, sharp gherkins, melted Worthy Farm Somerset cheese and a classic burger relish, all encased in a fluffy bun and served with crispy chips – simply swap the cheese for a plant based alternative for a vegan-friendly version. Thirsty? There’ll be delicious, meat-free milkshakes at the festival too – and if you want to make it at home, it’s easy! Combine 100-120ml of our Organic Oat Drink (depending on how thick you want it) with 4-5 scoops of your favourite vegan ice cream.

The limited-edition burger will be available for hungry festival-goers to purchase onsite at Glastonbury from 22nd – 26th June, meaning it’s easy to grab something deliciously meat-free while catching your favourite bands. And, what’s more, if every person at Glastonbury this year went meat-free for just one day, it would save over 2 million bathtubs of water – so there’s even more reason to get stuck in! Come and find us! […]

From Paul McCartney on Twitter, June 22, 2022:

Did you know that #Glastonbury2022 will be the 500th show Paul and the band have played together?

From Brian Ray on Twitter, June 23, 2022:

Glastonbury will mark our 500th show together as a band! 20 years and 500 shows, in the blink of an eye.
Thank you! @PaulMcCartney

Oh, man it’s so good to be here. We were supposed to be doing this three years ago. But here we are. We’ve got some old songs for you, we’ve got some new songs and we’ve got some in-betweeners…and I got a feeling we’re going to have a great time.
Paul McCartney

From BBC News, June 25, 2022:

Eager Paul McCartney fans have already staked their claim to front row spots for the star’s Glastonbury headline set on Saturday night. Festival-goers gathered at the barriers early in the morning, with sandwiches and snacks to keep them going before McCartney walks on stage at 21:00 BST.

“I’ve been training for it like a marathon,” said Kate Appleby. In order to avoid giving up her spot, the 29-year-old has been practicing ways to avoid toilet breaks. “Lots of pelvic floor exercises, lots of clenching,” she laughed. “It’ll be worth it.“

“I’ve been slightly dehydrating myself so hopefully it will be no problems,” added fellow fan Henry Thurgood. […]

From Liverpool Echo, June 25, 2022:

Sir Paul McCartney temporarily stopped his headline Glastonbury show as fans broke into a spontaneous rendition of Happy Birthday. The former Beatles star, who turned 80 last week, stopped to address the crowd after his second song when they started to sing to him. The stunned McCartney asked “for me?” as the huge crowd joined together to acknowledge his 80th birthday. […]

From The Guardian, June 26, 2022:

[…] There’s certainly a degree of bullishness about McCartney’s second Glastonbury headlining performance, which draws an immense Saturday night crowd – some of whom have, according to one news report, been camped out at the front of the stage since the morning awaiting his arrival, and who launch into an impromptu rendition of Happy Birthday when he appears: the fact he turned 80 last week means the night after the Pyramid stage greeted its youngest-ever headliner, McCartney is now the oldest. Initially, at least, you get a lot more tracks taken from the oeuvre of Wings and indeed from his recent solo albums than you might expect, given the plethora of nailed-on Beatles classics at his disposal: the announcement precedes a performance of New, from his 2013 album of the same name, which joins Let ‘Em In, Junior’s Farm, Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five and My Valentine in the setlist. Sometimes you understand the point he’s making: Letting Go, a flop 1975 single, is a genuinely great song that deserves to be salvaged from relative obscurity. Sometimes, it’s a little more puzzling. He plays Fuh You, a collaboration with pop songwriter-for-hire Ryan Tedder that even he seemed curiously equivocal about when it was released four years ago, comparing it unfavourably with Eleanor Rigby.

But he’s on far safer ground when he turns his attention to the Beatles’ back catalogue: a lovely collective sigh greets the opening notes of Blackbird; In Spite of All the Danger – the first original song the Beatles ever recorded, and a mainstay in McCartney’s live sets in recent decades, more, one suspects, for historical reasons than because of its quality – provokes an audience singalong. In fact, the occasional lulls in the first part of the set rather potentiates what happens afterwards, when McCartney starts to pull out all the stops. He plays a medley of You Never Give Me Your Money and She Came in Through the Bathroom Window – apparently for the first time live – pays tribute to John Lennon with a version of Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite! and George Harrison with a ukulele cover of Something. He brings out first Dave Grohl – who duets with him on both a thrillingly ragged take on I Saw Her Standing There and Band on the Run – then Bruce Springsteen. There’s something incredibly charming about seeing the puppyish delight on the face of Springsteen – a man who paid fulsome tribute to the Beatles and their life-changing effect on him during his acclaimed Broadway shows – as he and McCartney trade lines, first on Glory Days, then I Wanna Be Your Man. Then he lets fly with the failsafe stuff: Let It Be, Live and Let Die, Hey Jude, an impressively fierce Helter Skelter and the final three songs from the Abbey Road medley, and euphoria reigns. A version of I Got a Feeling, sung as a duet with John Lennon’s isolated vocal from the Get Back series is authentically moving: you hear McCartney’s voice at 80 – thinner and raspier than it once was – set against Lennon’s, frozen in time. The audience are still singing the refrain from Hey Jude as they trudge away from the Pyramid stage into the night.

From The Independent, June 26, 2022:

[…] When those surprises arrive, they steal the weekend. Dave Grohl appears, fresh from several cancelled flights, to relish the camp of “I Saw Her Standing There” and add grunge gristle to “Band on the Run”. Then, in a truly momentous Glastonbury moment, here comes Bruce Springsteen for a romp through his own “Glory Days” for McCartney’s birthday.

By the time “Live and Let Die” fills the sky with flames and drama, and “Let it Be” and “Hey Jude” have broken then repaired 100,000 hearts, the show is far and away the best this writer has seen on the Pyramid stage in 30 years of Glastonburies. When Macca returns to duet with the isolated Lennon vocal of “I’ve Got a Feeling”, creating the closest to a Beatles reunion we’re ever likely to see and giving Glastonbury all the feelings, it’s probably the best I’ve seen on any stage. “I know it’s virtual,” he says, “but there I am singing with John again, we’re back together”. Then he straps on a guitar and plays “Helter Skelter”. We’re gonna need a bigger star rating system.

From The Independent, June 26, 2022:

Paul McCartney brought out Dave Grohl and Bruce Springsteen as surprise guests during his headline Glastonbury set. The Beatles legend took to the Pyramid Stage at 9.30pm for his two-hour performance, during which both Grohl and Springsteen joined him on stage.

He and Grohl first performed The Beatles 1963 song “I Saw Her Standing There”, with the Foo Fighters frontman singing and playing guitar alongside McCartney. The pair then sang “Band on the Run”. Grohl told the crowd that he had a nightmare getting to Worthy Farm because of the recent flight cancellations.

Following Grohl’s surprise appearance, Springsteen arrived to perform his 1985 hit “Glory Days”. Grohl and McCartney left the stage. To the delight of the crowd, Springsteen and McCartney then joined forces for a duet of 1963’s “I Wanna Be Your Man”. The “Born to Run” singer exited the stage, leaving McCartney to perform “Let It Be”. […]

From paulmccartney.com, June 26, 2022:

In a night that will go down in history, Paul stormed the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival, playing a three hour set crammed with hits from his 60 year career.

Highlights included a triumphant opening of ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’, an emotional rendition of ‘Blackbird’, a romantic ‘My Valentine’ which Paul dedicated to Nancy, beautiful tributes to John Lennon and George Harrison, and a mass singalong to ‘Hey Jude’ which had a crowd over 100,000 people joining in with the ‘Na-na-na’s’. And the excitement reached fever-pitch after ‘Get Back’ when Paul introduced a ‘West Coast’ friend to the stage: none other than Dave Grohl, who duetted with Paul on ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ and ‘Band On The Run’. The surprises kept coming after Dave left the stage, when Paul introduced his ‘East Coast’ friend Bruce Springsteen, who launched into a roaring ‘Glory Days’ followed by ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’.

In an incredible twist of fate, last night’s show was Paul and the band’s 500th show together. Paul ‘Wix’ Wickens, Rusty Anderson, Brian Ray and Abe Laboriel Jr. have joined Paul on stage for over 20 years, with their first performance together taking place back in 2002. What a way to mark their anniversary!

And believe it or not, this was Paul’s second show in Somerset this week – he played a warm-up show on Friday night at The Cheese & Grain in Frome, an intimate venue that housed 600 lucky fans. The show was announced by the venue 24 hours beforehand, with tickets available on a first-come, first-served basis from the box office. It’s fair to say that Frome was in a frenzy, with queues snaking away from the venue and into the town centre. The show itself? Loud, close, and electric. […]

Playing Glastonbury was such a joyful celebration, something I’ll never forget!
Rusty Anderson – From Rusty Anderson on Twitter

From BEATLES MAGAZINE, June 25, 2022:

Paul put in the request with festival officials as he headlines Glastonbury. Paul asked if Hardwicke Circus could be included in the line-up after hearing their music. The six-piece rock band were squeezed into a Sunday slot.

Interviewing brothers Jonny and Tom Foster on BBC Breakfast ahead of their performance, the band said they feel “very fortunate” to be playing at Glastonbury.

BBC presenter Charlie Stayt said: “This is a story about timing and good luck. As recommendations come from music, they don’t come much higher than one from Sir Paul McCartney.“

Drummer Tom said: “I thought my mates had got together to pull a huge prank, but it turns out to be true.“

Frontman Jonny added: “It’s a huge moment for us and I feel like we are ready for Glastonbury. We’ve been playing a lot of gigs, playing in prisons and supporting other bands around the country, and now, with the recommendation of Paul McCartney, we are on our way to Worthy Farm for a great time.“

On the official Glastonbury website, it said: “When a request from Paul McCartney came through to Rabbit Hole HQ to ask if we could fit in a band he is a fan of, the White Rabbit’s ears pricked up. A new outfit from Cumbria, Hardwicke Circus are in our opinion going to be enormous.“

It added: “If there is one band not to miss this weekend, it’s these guys. That’s why we have put them conveniently in our 2022 headline slot.” […]

From paulmccartney.com, August 15, 2022:

After only a few hours of restless sleep, I awoke early on the morning of Sunday 26th June with an incredible sense of elated disbelief. Had the night before all just been a dream? In those bleary first moments as I came to, I picked up my phone to check out Twitter. “I bet Macca’s already been jogging, made breakfast for his wife and done a tip-run by now,” tweeted presenter/author Richard Osman. “What a guy.”

I had to laugh. The world was celebrating the astounding energy and unstoppable drive of Paul McCartney, who had just headlined the legendary Glastonbury Festival for the second time, one week after his 80th birthday, and there was me having to literally drag myself out of bed to race back to London! How does he do it, I wondered. It’s a question I often find myself asking!

There had been such a huge outpouring of emotion in those vast Somerset fields that Saturday night. Those magical ley lines that run underneath Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage must have felt the radiant spirit through the ground above them, as more than 100,000 people gathered to sing their hearts out as Paul performed a string of hits from throughout his 60-year career. The sheer magnitude of this collective positive experience, this insane massive explosion of joy and love, is awesome and almost impossible to explain – which makes things difficult for me, considering it’s my job to do so!

To begin to describe why Paul’s performance at Glastonbury was so poignant and historic, we need to rewind a little. In 2019, Paul accepted an invitation to headline Glastonbury for the second time in the summer of 2020. His first appearance in 2004 was itself an extraordinary milestone event – the 33-song set of Beatles bangers and solo classics was a show-stopping set for the ages; “Every gig we go to from now,” NME reported at the time, “will fall short of this.” It would take a lot to beat that incredible night, but the prospect of doing so for the festival’s 50th anniversary, returning as one of its most memorable and iconic headliners of all-time, was one Paul was ready for.

The appearance would be a significant one for Paul, too, marking the 50th anniversary of his first solo album in 1970 and the launch of his post-Beatles career. It would be a thrilling point from which to look back and celebrate his many achievements in that time. Anticipation was naturally high. We all know what happened next.

It almost feels unreal to think about the global pandemic now, how the world instantly paused and geared itself for a reboot. There was a real period of uncertainty, during which a constant bombardment of anxiety-inducing news kept us all wondering whether the world could ever be the same again. It gave us all a time to stop and think, and Paul was no different. […]

When it was announced that Glastonbury was returning in the summer of 2022, with Paul still scheduled to rock the Saturday night, thanks to all that recent wondrous activity, the anticipation that had been there before suddenly felt bigger than ever. Having no major live events for two years, people were hungry for music, for that amazing communal connection, and Paul smashing Glasto was exactly the tonic we all needed. After everything we’d been through, this beautiful shared moment of togetherness would remind us how the core principles and messages of love, optimism, peace and unity can make us feel great.

Then the evening came, and that question again: how does he do it? Seriously. How? I mean, I know I’m supremely lucky to be so close to it all and to watch it all happen in close proximity, but in many ways that makes it even more mind-bending. When you see Paul backstage hours before hitting the stage and he’s hanging out with guests, he’s relaxed, smiling and laughing; he doesn’t seem like a man about to take the stage for a career-defining moment. And just when we (I think I can speak on behalf of the crew too) think our minds have been blown and we ask ourselves ‘How is he actually going to top this one?’ Well, he does it. He tops it and puts the bar even higher.

Just how does he put those notes and words together that make us feel the way they do? Frankly it defies logic. How does he make it look easy? And that’s just the writing part! There’s the performing side, too. How in crowds of hundreds of thousands does he make it feel so personal? How does he communicate so directly with people? I’ve given up trying to apply any actual logic to this. Many reviewers around the world describe Paul’s performance as magic, and that really is the best explanation – or, as Glasto co-organiser Emily Eavis said following the show: “pure magic and love”.

Being there to see it in person is something I will never forget. From the first note of ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’, the audience were electrified, jumping and singing and shouting and screaming as if
Beatlemania had returned to the South West. And it was so infectious. Despite having had the privilege of seeing Paul live so many times, I got goosebumps when Paul got to ‘Here Today’, which he played alone on acoustic guitar out front. Then, halfway through the set, as the sun finally descended, ‘New’ seemed to kick things up a gear, setting us on our way to a fantastic climax.

Of course, who can forget the thrilling cameos from Dave Grohl and Bruce Springsteen? When they returned to jam on closing track ‘The End’, it felt like watching a roll call of legends. What a thing to see!

The next day, when I finally arrived back in London, the enduring buzz of the night before overcoming my tiredness, the reviews were already running. And they were glowing, not to mention the fact that the BBC has smashed previous Glastonbury viewing figures, courtesy of our man.

The Times said the show was “so special”, Rolling Stone called it “phenomenal”. The Guardian hailed it “one of the greatest headline performances of this generation,” while The Independent suggested they might “need a bigger star rating system”, just for Paul!

After a couple of uncertain and difficult years we needed something extraordinary, and extraordinary we got! With each day that passes since Paul’s Glastonbury appearance the sheer impact of it feels bigger and bigger – a real testament to Paul’s lasting legacy and the fact that Macca Mania is stronger than ever.

If Glastonbury was a game then Paul won it – he won big and he won it in style. It feels like a defining moment in modern popular culture. How does he do it?! […]
Stuart Bell – Paul McCartney’s UK publicist