It’s looking like the current European heatwave will put paid to the schadenfreude you may have previously enjoyed during Glastonbury: watching people on TV slog through mud while you smugly sip tea with your dry feet perched on an ottoman.
But even if you are a bit jealous of everyone down at Worthy Farm, there’s still a huge amount of coverage to enjoy at home via the Guardian and the BBC. We’ll be on site, liveblogging from 11am until midnight each day with reviews of all the key acts, plus features on Glastonbury’s food, fashion, politics, raves, sex, hippies and weird secret corners.
The BBC meanwhile is hosting a typically comprehensive range of coverage on radio and TV – in fact, you can listen 24 hours a day via the BBC Radio Glastonbury station on the Sounds app, which features music from artists playing the festival alongside live shows, classic performances and occasional takeovers from the likes of Sigrid. Here are the highlights from their regular programming.
Friday
Zoë Ball’s breakfast show on Radio 2 will be live from Glastonbury, featuring music from Sheryl Crow and chat with Kylie Minogue as she prepares for her legends slot on Sunday afternoon. Later on, Steve Lamacq’s 6 Music show will have appearances from two of the best bands currently out there, the bracingly snotty Idles and Fontaines DC.
BBC Two has a half-hour evening show from 7.30pm, with performances from Jorja Smith, Rosalía and Sam Fender. Time-lapse fans will be enthralled by a piece on how the Glastonbury festival site is brought together.
Lauren Laverne will host coverage of Tame Impala’s headlining set on the Other stage from 10pm, as they play their dreamy, funky, Instagram-filtered psychpop.
Stormzy’s headline set will presumably require a two second blackout to silence 100,000 people shouting “Fuck Boris” during Vossi Bop – it begins at 10.15pm and will air on BBC Two, whose coverage begins at 9.50pm; on 1Xtra, DJ Target warms up for Stormzy’s performance with special guest appearances. Afterwards on BBC Two, there will be coverage of Interpol, Jon Hopkins and Cat Power.
Saturday
Not to be missed in BBC Two’s afternoon coverage (from 3.30pm) is the Love Unlimited Synth Orchestra, featuring members of the British Paraorchestra alongside a wall of synth players playing Barry White classics, sung by the likes of Gruff Rhys. There’ll also be performances from Anne-Marie, Hozier and Lewis Capaldi; BBC Four has Johnny Marr and country-pop star Carrie Underwood.
From 7.30pm, the focus will be on female pop: Janet Jackson’s Pyramid stage performance, plus Sigrid and Lizzo lower down the bill, and Florence-alike Freya Ridings popping in for an acoustic performance. Neneh Cherry’s set will be shown on BBC Four from 8pm, along with the Park stage’s secret set which is “a much loved British band”.
Then it’s blokey indie rock: the Courteeners tee up Liam Gallagher on BBC Four from 9pm, with BBC Two ceding to the Killers’ headlining the Pyramid stage at 9.45pm, also aired on Radio 2. Afterwards there’ll be party fare from Mark Ronson, Hot Chip and a report from the reliably debauched Block9 area.
Sunday
On 5 Live from 11am, Laura Whitmore has the potentially brilliant job of talking to people around the festival site, as the edibles wear off and time dissolves.
The Beeb allows its coverage to make a rare foray on to BBC One from 6pm, thanks to Kylie – see her hits-packed set from earlier in the afternoon, along with highlights from Miley Cyrus. The awesome Jamaican reggae star Koffee will do an acoustic number on this show too – a possibly star-making turn.
There’s two chances to see the startlingly talented teen gothpop star Billie Eilish, on BBC Four and BBC Two from 9pm. The latter show will feature the Cure’s headline set – also aired on 6 Music – and highlights from Rex Orange County and the Streets, but be sure to catch a short film about Langa Methodist Church Choir, a stirring 40-strong Cape Town ensemble personally invited by the Eavises after they met during a charity project.
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