10 iconic Glastonbury performances away from the Pyramid Stage
While the headliners typically steal the majority of coverage at Glastonbury Festival, it doesn’t tell the full story. Although headline acts are naturally the main talking points of the event, there are thousands of performers at Glastonbury every year who all play their part in making it the most important date in the British musical calendar.
Since its inception in 1970, Glastonbury has grown every year and added new areas to enhance the festival’s spectacle. When Micheal Eavis began the event on Worthy Farm, he could never have foreseen it becoming the cultural monolith it stands as today. As a festival, it’s unlike any of its competitors, and that’s because Glastonbury continues to pull off magical moments every year.
The unannounced secret sets have become a stalwart of Glastonbury, and festivalgoers have become accustomed to expecting the unexpected. Over the years, the biggest names in music have appeared in tiny tents when they could feasibly headline the Pyramid Stage and created memories that last a lifetime.
Additionally, outside of the Pyramid Stage, artists continuously prove their worth on the minor stages and show why they deserve a more prominent slot. More poignantly, these shows are a snapshot in time of an act on the rise who are destined for greatness, and Glastonbury provides a platform for them to express their brilliance.
10 iconic Glastonbury performances:
The Killers – John Peel (2017)
The Killers made their Glastonbury debut in 2004 on the John Peel Stage and announced themselves as future headliners. They headlined the Pyramid Stage three years later, but technical difficulties marred their set. Thankfully, a decade later, when they appeared as special guests on the John Peel Stage, The Killers didn’t place a step wrong and put on a headline-worthy show in the mid-afternoon for the fortunate souls who managed to get in the small tent.
In their set, the band tore through 15 years’ worth of hits ranging from ‘Mr Brightside’ to ‘The Man’ at break-neck speed. Unsurprisingly, the Utah rockers were invited back to headline the Pyramid Stage in 2019 following this set which reminded everybody of their credentials. While The Killers could have seen themselves above this slot, they inserted themselves into Glastonbury folklore instead.
Pulp – The Park Stage (2011)
On the topic of secret sets, 2011 was a year to remember. While everybody at the festival suspected Pulp would appear on The Park Stage, their return to Worthy Farm was still a historic affair. The performance was their first after headlining the Pyramid Stage in 1995, which catapulted their career.
During their high-octane set, Pulp took a trip back to the 1990s and cemented their status as an iconic British band. Opener ‘Do You Remember The First Time?’ got the Sheffield band’s performance going, and the energy only continued to ramp up with each song before Pulp finished in emphatic style on ‘Common People’. Over a decade on from the band’s last victorious outing at Glastonbury, perhaps, it’s now time for them to make their long-awaited return.
Billie Eilish – The Other Stage (2019)
The musical landscape famously changes at a dramatically quick pace. When the line-up for Glastonbury was first announced in 2019, Billie Eilish looked like a future superstar. By the time the festival eventually rolled around, she was already one of the world’s most prominent artists. For security reasons, Eilish was moved from the John Peel Stage to the outdoor Other Stage, which she still made feel intimate.
Despite only having one album to her name and being a teenager, Eilish’s set was one of the weekend’s highlights. While she was an inexperienced live performer, it didn’t come across from the show, which exerted Eilish into the conversation as a future headliner. At the next edition of Glastonbury in 2022, Eilished graced the Worthy Farm stage once more and brought the party to the Pyramid Stage as the final act of the Friday.
Phoebe Bridgers – John Peel (2022)
The beauty of Glastonbury is seeing acts climb the ladder and take on a bigger podium with each return to Worthy Farm. In 2022, Phoebe Bridgers played on the John Peel stage, which she crammed to the rafters with music lovers and had the crowd in the palm of her hands.
While Bridgers could have been placed in a more significant slot, magic energy filled the air in a tent, with the set proving to be her Glastonbury crowning moment. For a debut performance at the festival, it had everything. Undoubtedly, Bridgers will return to Somerset many more times over the next few decades, and her set was the perfect opening chapter to the story.
Oasis – NME Stage (1994)
When Oasis performed on the NME Stage in 1994, they were yet to release their debut album, Definitely Maybe, which transformed their lives and careers. While there was some hype surrounding them, the crowd at Glastonbury were hushed during the performance and likely didn’t realise they were witnessing history.
Just a year later, they’d be the biggest band in Britain and headline the Pyramid Stage at the same festival. Yet, their 1994 performance shows Oasis weren’t immediately superstars. Their incredible showing at the festival played a crucial part in their success story and helped make them the band of a generation. Seeing a group on the brink of greatness is one of the finest sights in music, and this Oasis set explains how Britpop took over.
The Stooges – The Other Stage (2007)
If you’re ever wondering about The Stooges’ capacity as a live act, then look no further than their live album, Metallic K.O., wherein Iggy Pop goads the crowd like the proverbial Firestarter, whipping up a riot of his own mad design. The crowd violently responded to his barrage of abuse with a wave of hurled beer bottles. This mayhem is perfectly preserved on the record, in which you can actually hear a beer bottle smash against guitar strings in a twang of chaos.
This was 1974, and naturally, their riotous ways had been honed somewhat when they took to The Other Stage in 2007. But as the sweaty mass in attendance at that fateful Glastonbury show will attest, their musical riot had only marginally been curtailed by then. This is the definitive Glasto punk rock performance from a band that started the whole damn thing.
Blur – NME Stage (1994)
Sunday, June 26th, 1994, is not only an important date in Glastonbury’s history but also British music history in general. The holy trinity of emerging bands all played that day: Oasis, Radiohead and Blur. The latter’s set on the NME Stage is the stuff of legend.
“We were on between Oasis and Blur,” Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood later recalled. “What a line-up – it was like the Champions League.” Headlining that energised onslaught was a huge task for the London lads, but they sent the masses home with a smile and made it very clear that Britpop was a revolution, not a flash in the pan.
Massive Attack – Dance Tent (1995)
1995 was the first year that Glastonbury set up the Dance Tent; it was a response to the zeitgeist’s jaunt towards the ravey side of life. And boy, oh boy, was it a success. The now-iconic stage featured System 7, Eat Static, and, of course, the premier band on the scene, Massive Attack.
They proved their name was apt when they rapturously brought the rave to Worthy Farm. The fact that this area has now expanded into an entire Dance Village is testimony to how successful the band proved to be. They filled the tent to the rafters and then some, thanks in part to Carl Cox’s warm-up contribution before them.
LCD Soundsystem – The Other Stage (2016)
One fan named May Watson was so enamoured by LCD Soundsystem’s set on The Other Stage in 2016 that she remarked that they had earned “God’s approval”. With James Murphy bedecked in all white, it was a fitting way of phrasing it. The New Yorkers have always been renowned for their live energy, but here they hit an enthused empyrean.
Over the course of their set, they ran through 12 classics track, opening with ‘Us V Them’ moving into ‘Daft Punk Is Playing At My House’, and closing with the beloved duo of ‘New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down’ followed by ‘Dance Yrself Clean’. And in between those jaunts, they had everyone in tears with ‘Someone Great’.
Jack White – Park Stage (2022)
One of Glastonbury’s weird little traditions is to wheel out a huge name as a surprise guest somewhere over the weekend. Last year saw Jack White take to the dinky Park Stage. This sent a mob suddenly sprawling up the hit like ants heading towards a dropped Quaver. Previous years had seen Pulp, Foals and the duo of Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood perform in the secret slot, so crowds were on high alert.
White seized upon this expectant energy and rattled off the fiery intro ‘Taking Me Back’. And then he segued towards the classic hits with a belting rendition of The White Stripes’ classic ‘Dead Leaves on the Dirty Ground’. With his flash of blue hair shining like a beacon, he then delved into numbers by The Dead Weathers and The Raconteurs. Epic stuff.
