Politics, Girl Power and Indie Nostalgia Rule

“Glastoooo!” a stranger yelled behind me as I checked into the hospitality campsite at Glastonbury Festival on Wednesday. Only, it wasn’t really a stranger: it was Louis Tomlinson of One Direction fame, lugging a huge rucksack and getting hyped with his friends for the five days of music and partying that lay ahead. Without stopping to ask for a photo or whispering about who he was, several festivalgoers around us echoed his call, reveling in the excitement to come. That’s the thing about Glastonbury: for a weekend, celebrities and regular people alike are just one in a crowd of 200,000, stuck camping on a muddy farm and probably in desperate need of a shower.

And Glastonbury wasn’t short on celebrities this year. Paul Mescal and Gracie Abrams (who made her debut performing at the festival) went Instagram Story official, with the latter on the “Gladiator” star’s shoulders when Olivia Rodrigo brought out the Cure’s Robert Smith for “Friday I’m in Love.” Meanwhile, Paul McCartney, who Mescal is set to portray in Sam Mendes’ forthcoming Beatles saga, watched Abrams’ set stageside. Rodrigo was also spotted on the shoulders of her boyfriend, actor Louis Partridge, yelling every word to Pulp’s “Common People” during the Britpop band’s secret set on Saturday. Harry Styles, Eddie Redmayne and Alexa Chung, the Queen of Glastonbury herself, were also in the VIP section.

With 2026 being a fallow year — meaning Glastonbury will take a year off to let the land on Worthy Farm regenerate — the festival pulled out all the stops this time around with powerhouse headlining performances and a few genuinely exciting secret sets. However, there was also an extremely serious tone to this edition, with countless artists making political statements — and some finding themselves in hot water because of it. Read on to find out our biggest on-the-ground takeaways from Glastonbury 2025.

Politics Take Center Stage

One of the biggest headlines to emerge out of the weekend has been about the political statements made by Bob Vylan and Kneecap during their sets, especially pertaining to the war in Gaza. Though the BBC decided not to livestream Kneecap’s performance after member Mo Chara was charged under the U.K.’s Terrorism Act for holding up a Hezbollah flag, Bob Vylan — who played before Kneecap and whose set was televised — caused an even greater stir. The British punk duo led the crowd in chants of “death, death to the IDF” in addition to “free, free Palestine” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine must be free.” The set sparked an uproar on social media, with many accusing the chants of being antisemitic, while others championed the band for speaking up for Palestine. Glastonbury later condemned the statements, saying they were “appalled,” and the BBC said it “should have pulled” the set from streaming. Bob Vylan were then dropped by their talent agency, UTA, and an official police investigation has been launched into the comments made by them and Kneecap.

Politics was a theme throughout the fest, with many other artists using their time on stage to call for a free Palestine, and Palestinian flags dotting every crowd. Amyl and the Sniffers’ Amy Taylor said during the band’s sweltering Other stage set: “The left and the right politicians don’t believe in anything at all between the two of them. They believe in nothing. I’m thinking about the people in Palestine, and all of our governments — we’re from Australia — aren’t doing jack shit. I know yours ain’t doing jack shit.” The Libertines drummer Gary Powell took the opportunity after the band’s Pyramid stage slot to hold up a Palestinian flag and yell “Free Palestine!” into the mic, though it had already been turned off. Indie royalty Wolf Alice also paused their show to say, “We’d like to take a minute to express our solidarity with the people of Palestine.” Even Legends headliner Rod Stewart dedicated “Love Train” to the war in Ukraine and acknowledged that “a lot of people are speaking up about the Middle East right now, rightly so.”

However, Friday night headliners the 1975 struck a different tone. Lead singer Matty Healy said that the pop-rock band, which has never been shy in addressing hot topics in the past, doesn’t want its legacy to “be one of politics.”

“People who are watching this … may be disappointed in the lack of politics in this show and our forthcoming shows and probably our future shows. I want you to know that it’s a conscious decision,” Healy said. “We honestly don’t want our legacy to be one of politics. We want it to be that of love and friendship.” However, the band then went on to play one of their most political songs, “Love It if We Made It,” with images flashing on the screen of Donald Trump, Kanye West and the plights of immigration.

Girls Run Glasto

On a lighter note, women owned Glastonbury this year by delivering some of the festival’s most memorable performances and playing to packed, energetic crowds. This was especially apparent during Olivia Rodrigo‘s headlining set at the Pyramid stage on Sunday night, which was essentially a two-hour sing-along with nearly everyone in the crowd — many men included — screaming the lyrics to her pop-punk hits and slower ballads alike. While Rodrigo played banger “All-American Bitch,” she led the crowd in a collective roar that was so loud it may have reached London. The scream, along with the set as a whole, was an amazing exhibition of female rage that made me think, “God, I love being a woman.”

Charli xcx’s performance as the headliner of the Other stage on Saturday night was also an example of this. Seeing Charli, someone who has put in the work in the industry for decades, finally get a chance to headline a stage at one of the biggest musical events in the world, and kill it, was deeply inspiring. Though she kept up her IDGAF party-girl exterior, little moments — like her mouthing “What the fuck?!” into the camera as the crowd bopped to “Brat” in unison — let the audience know just how much this moment meant.

There were also many female headliners-in-the-making at Glasto this year, like CMAT, who delivered a roaring set on the Pyramid stage Friday afternoon that will have attendees bragging in 10 years that they were there. Other standouts included Lorde’s secret performance where she played “Virgin” for the first time in full, and Wolf Alice’s triumphant return to the festival at sunset on Sunday.

Indie Sleaze Returns in Full Force

Fans of early 2000s and 2010s indie rock had their plates full this year, with a lineup stacked with bands that did numbers on Tumblr back in the day. The most obvious example was the 1975’s headlining set, during which the band fully leaned in and played some of the biggest hits from their 2013 debut album, including “Chocolate” and “Sex.” Meanwhile, the Libertines and Wolf Alice delivered Glasto sets to remember after both entering new eras of their respective careers. The Maccabees performed on stage for the first time since their reunion and brought out Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine, and Franz Ferdinand pumped up the Other stage with raucous renditions of “Take Me Out” and “No You Girls.” The indie sleaze revival was also apparent in Glasto’s festival fashion, with miniskirts, band tees, studded belts and slip dresses everywhere.

Sensational Secret Sets

Last year, Glastonbury only really delivered one secret set worth writing home about with Brit rockers Kasabian. But this time around, the festival was ready with several jealousy-inducing surprise shows. First up was Lorde on Friday, who played the Woodsies stage at the bright-and-early time of 11:30 a.m. As it was the release day for her new album, “Virgin,” festivalgoers who arrived early enough to nab a spot got to hear the record played live for the first time ever. It was part listening session, part celebration, as attendees kept quiet for songs they hadn’t heard yet but raged during the already released “What Was That,” “Man of the Year” and “Hammer.” Lorde also treated the crowd to her previous hits “Ribs” and “Green Light,” making for an energetic ending.

Lewis Capaldi made an emotional comeback on Friday afternoon at the Pyramid stage, two years after he struggled to get through his set at the festival while experiencing a Tourette’s episode. “I’m not going to say much up here today because if I did, I might start crying,” Capaldi said to the crowd. He did, in fact, tear up several times, especially when it came time to play “Someone You Loved” — his hit that he couldn’t finish back in 2023. “I couldn’t sing this song two years ago. I might struggle to finish it today for different reasons,” he said. “My name is Lewis Capaldi and I’m fucking back, baby.”

On Saturday, Haim — who just released their new album, “I Quit” — showed up to play the Park stage, delivering a mix of new songs with old favorites like “The Wire” and “Gasoline.” Over at the Pyramid stage, Britpop icons Pulp — whose set was advertised under the code name Patchwork — had the whole crowd bouncing as they sandwiched their catchy new song “Spike Island” between classics like “Disco 2000” and “Babies,” before closing with “Common People,” which everyone sang in unison.

Charli xcx, the Glasto People’s Princess

If Alexa Chung is the Queen of Glastonbury, then Charli xcx may just be the princess. Not only did the pop star tear up the Other stage, proving she could have easily handled the Pyramid, but she was mentioned several times by other artists during their sets and seemed to be omnipresent the entire weekend. Her fiancé, George Daniel, was also headlining the festival as the drummer for the 1975, making them the power couple to beat. During the 1975’s set, Charli got a shoutout from lead singer Healy, who said, “Give it up for Charli xcx, my best friend,” when mentioning the festival’s other headliners. Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker also nodded to Charli by beginning the band’s set with “Pulp summer” displayed in “Brat”-esque font, calling back to when Charli mentioned them in her Coachella outro back in April. And, instead of having an exclusive party after her Saturday night performance, Charli turned up to Daniel’s DJ set at the festival’s San Remo bar, dancing until 2 a.m. with the masses — a true people’s princess.