It’s been a while since a Sunday night Glastonbury headliner has actually managed to keep the crowds from packing up early to beat the Monday morning rush. But as the sun dips over Worthy Farm, the site feels busier than ever. The ravers are psyching themselves up for one last mad one at The Prodigy over on The Other Stage. The indie kids are legging it to The Park to catch The Maccabees’ long-awaited return. But for the rest of us – the Gen Z girlies, their older siblings, and anyone else with a soft spot for a massive pop chorus – there’s only one place to be.
Because Olivia Rodrigo is back at Glastonbury – and this time, she’s on the Pyramid Stage. It’s not her first time here, of course. Her 2022 Other Stage set is still burned into plenty of people’s memories, thanks in no small part to that now-iconic moment when she brought out Lily Allen to sing ‘Fuck You’ to the US Supreme Court following the Roe v Wade ruling. Proof, if anyone needed it, that Liv knows how to rise to the occasion.
This might be another stop on the ‘Guts’ tour, but Glastonbury isn’t just any old festival slot, and Rodrigo understands the weight of it, mixing up the set and leaving the poppier elements of her show at home. She kicks off the set with ‘Obsessed With Your Ex’, swapping in the fan-favourite track as a new opener, and from the first note, the Pyramid crowd is firmly in the palm of her hand. As guitarist Arianna Powell rips into the solo, Rodrigo drops to her knees. This is a rock show – and one worthy of Worthy Farm.
“This is a dream come true, I can’t believe this is my life right now”, she tells the sprawling crowd. The energy doesn’t wane, even throughout ballads such as ‘Drivers License’, the crowd propels it forward, singing every word back at her. But it’s the moments when Olivia gets to bring some brat-pop energy to the stage that really land – in the biting chorus of ‘Vampire’ and the snotty ‘All American Bitch’. ‘She’s cheeky, fierce and clearly loving every minute (which is more than a little infectious). But who knew she has this up her sleeve.
Olivia’s not averse to a musical guest – days earlier at her BST Hyde Park show, Ed Sheeran joined Rodrigo on stage. – but when she tees up “perhaps the best songwriter to come out of England … a Glastonbury legend and a personal hero of mine” and Robert effing Smith appears next to her on the stage, half the field lose their tiny minds. Save for the girlies at the barrier, who take the time to check their socials, while an old dude with massive hair sings ‘Friday I’m In Love’ and ‘Just Like Heaven’. It somewhat pisses all over Gracie Abrams’ cover of the latter earlier in the day, but somehow we’re sure they’re gonna work it out in the backstage bar.
Later in the set, Rodrigo takes the time to flex her anglophile creds: shouting out M&S favourite, Colin the Caterpillar and drinking pints at noon. Changing into a pair of sequinned Union Jack hot pants for the final few songs, she finishes with a belting version of ‘Deja Vu’ as huge pink balloons are set off across the Pyramid field.
Olivia Rodrigo may be a Disney alumni, but tonight she’s a rock star – one that more than earned her place atop the world’s biggest festival stage. As those kids at the barrier might say, she fully “understood the assignment”. It’s a spectacular finalé for a truly magnificent Glastonbury and that one proves any genre, age or gender can be a headliner – if they do their homework.
