Dua Lipa says headlining Glastonbury Festival was ‘dream come true’

Glastonbury Festival 2024

Dua Lipa said she was living out a dream as she performed hit after hit during her headline Glastonbury Festival slot.

The pop star described the experience as “the maddest night of my life” as she treated revellers to a selection of her popular tracks, including These Walls, Break My Heart, Hallucinate, Electricity, Physical and Don’t Start Now.

The 28-year-old opened and closed her Pyramid stage performance with tracks from her third studio album Radical Optimism, kicking off with Training Season and finishing with Houdini, as fireworks shot through the air.

“This has been a massive dream come true,” she said, before adding “Glastonbury, I love you”.

During her one hour and 45 minute set, which saw impressive choreography and several outfit changes, Dua Lipa noted several times that she had “manifested” the performance.

“I can’t believe this, I’ve dreamed about this my whole life,” she said.

“I have written this moment down. I’ve wished for it, I’ve dreamt, I’ve worked so hard in the hopes that maybe one day I’ll get to do it and I can’t believe I’m here. It feels so good to be up here with you guys.

“You know when I wrote it down, I was very specific, I said I really wanted to headline the Pyramid stage on a Friday night because then I knew I could party for the next two days in the best place on Earth.

“I’m so grateful, little me would just be beside herself right now.”

The pop star interacted with the crowd several times during the performance, walking along the barrier and greeting fans as she sang Cold Heart from Sir Elton John’s The Lockdown Sessions.

She also stood on the barrier separating the crowd from the stage as the audience helped her sing parts of the song that “changed my life”, a track entitled Be The One.

Meanwhile, the audience could be heard singing loudly along to the words of her 2018 track One Kiss with Calvin Harris.

The headline set also saw her bring out surprise guest Kevin Parker from Tame Impala. The pair performed The Less I Know The Better from his band’s 2015 album Currents.

Parker appeared to have sound problems, which Dua Lipa laughed off.

The singer, who took home the Brit Award for best pop act in March, asked the crowd if they were ready “to go to the moon” during her 2020 hit song Levitating.

While singing New Rules, she asked the audience to get to the floor before jumping in the air and dancing to the track.

It comes after Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis said the pop star was “born” to headline the festival.

Eavis had joined seven minutes of silence at the Pyramid stage calling for peace, while Paul Heaton and Norman Cook reunited to perform a Housemartins classic at Glastonbury.

Heaton surprised festival-goers by bringing out his former bandmate Cook, better known as Fatboy Slim, to perform their 1986 hit Happy Hour.

Damon Albarn also made a surprise appearance at the festival, asking the crowd whether the war in Gaza was “unfair” and suggesting Joe Biden was too old to be US president.

The singer was invited on stage by Bombay Bicycle Club frontman Jack Steadman.

Similarly, at Pilton Palais, a large indoor cinema space at Glastonbury, actress Saoirse Ronan made a surprise appearance at a Q&A for the Andrew Haigh film All Of Us Strangers.

She questioned the film’s stars, including Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott.

While the Sugababes performed another packed gig at Glastonbury, despite being upgraded to a bigger stage.

In 2022, the Avalon stage was shut down due to safety concerns over the huge crowds that the girl group drew.

Register now for one of the Evening Standard’s newsletters. From a daily news briefing to Homes & Property insights, plus lifestyle, going out, offers and more. For the best stories in your inbox, click here.