This set was for the fans, the ones with them on Worthy Farm, and the ones on the other side of the TV screen. It would have been easy to play only their greatest hits in a bid to appeal to as many as possible, but The Cure have never been a band to try and fit in. The choices they made on their setlist were one delight after another: from deep cuts like ‘Play For Today’ and ‘Last Dance’ to an encore packed with their biggest tracks. Just five musicians onstage, celebrating their 40-year career from start to finish.
After a weekend of stages full of extravagant dancers and over-the-top spectacles, the post-punk icons’ lengthy set was beautifully simplistic, a satisfying break from some of the more over-embellished performances that came before. The Cure’s headline set at Glastonbury this year was nothing short of magnificent. Fireworks, confetti, flames, CO2 and lasers were all used in abundance. During the course of an immense 20-song long setlist, a mammoth flying drone flew around alongside huge LED lanterns which also flew over heads. They played ‘in the round’ meaning that rather than appear conventionally on a stage at the front, they instead had a circular, rotating stage in the centre of the floor with two long ramps running off left and right which each had its own small stage. For me, a truly iconic performance was during their Drones World Tour in 2016 which saw the Teignmouth proggers play at the coveted O2 Arena in London. Love them or hate them, nobody can deny the fact that Muse are an act best enjoyed live. Muse are known globally for their extravagant and insanely talented live performances, better than any other artist right now. I remember being 14 and absolutely falling in love with festivals because of this performance, and the crowd felt connected as it became an intimate setting due to the full stage production pretty much falling apart. The whole crowd put their lighters and phone torches in the air and sang along with Hayley to this tear-jerker. One of the standout moments was the performance of ‘The Only Exception’, the only thing working onstage was Hayley Williams’ microphone, so the instruments were barely heard. This was definitely evident at Reading Festival 2014 which they headlined and, although there was three power cuts and loads of technical difficulties during their set, they still put on a killer performance. Paramore are already one of the most iconic bands of the decade and always put on a great performance.