Friday at Glastonbury 2025: Kicking things off with a bang
Secret sets, old favourites, and good vibrations, there was a palpable sense of excitement upon emerging from the campsite on Friday morning at Glastonbury. After all, Friday is the day when things really begin to kick off, with all the countless stages across the expansive Worthy Farm site open and thriving. Even in the blistering Somerset heat, every face around the festival was smiling in anticipation of the first proper day at the most famous festival on planet Earth.
Although the majority of the some 200,000 people inhabiting Worthy Farm are in their third day of the festival, already forced to contend with the onslaught of sunburn, hangovers, and long drops, Friday feels like the inaugural day of the festival. Huge crowds seem to permeate through every stage, set, and region of the site, leaving first-timers overwhelmed by the sheer number of people packed in, and seasoned Glastonbury-goers with a chance to try out their various shortcuts and insider tips.
Despite the colossal number of people, which made walking 100 metres take half an hour at points, every face in the crowd seemed to be beaming with excitement, and rightly so. After all, the sun was shining and they had woken up at the magnum opus of music festivals; where else could they possibly want to be?
As with every year at Glastonbury, the topic on everybody’s lips was that of secret sets. There were a few ‘TBA’ slots planned for Friday, although some were more well-kept than others. Jarvis Cocker, for instance, made an appearance for a DJ set at the Greenpeace tree, performing for around 50 people who had taken note of his cryptic Instagram post. Meanwhile, very few people were shocked when Lorde kicked off the day with a supposedly secret set at a jam-packed Woodsies. Speak to most people, though, and it becomes clear that Lewis Capaldi’s Pyramid Stage secret slot was an indisputable highlight of the day.
In addition to those hushed performances, the official line-up of Friday also boasted legends both new and old. From Supergrass’ opening of the Pyramid Stage, to Loyle Carner’s emotional performance at Other, Friday was a prime example of the sonic diversity on offer at Glastonbury – it is a tired cliche, but there really is something for everybody at Worthy Farm.
So, join us as we attempt to capture as much of that expansive experience as possible, recapping Friday at Glastonbury Festival 2025, detailing everything from the headliners to the smaller sets that might have passed you by.
Lorde
Waking up on Friday meant two things yesterday. One, it was the first proper day of Glastonbury. Two, Lorde’s fourth album was out. When you’re in a field with little to no service, the two clashed bad, ripping that new music moment from Lorde fans who were in attendance – until she popped up at Woodsies.
After basically confirming her set the day before, the tent was rammed before 11am. When the Kiwi singer emerged and announced that she’d be playing Virgin start to finish, opinions were split. Some groaned, some left, but the ones that stayed were undeniably hypnotised as the artist presented what feels like her most mature and nuanced work yet to a captive audience that couldn’t be distracted by any sing-alongs as no one knew the words yet. Finishing up with two crowd-pleaser hits, it was a bold move, but a brilliant one.
Supergrass open the Pyramid Stage
The Pyramid Stage is among the most iconic stages an artist could ever hope to play, and Britpop favourites Supergrass took full advantage of that experience while opening up the stage at midday on Friday. Celebrating the 30th anniversary of their beloved debut album I Should Coco, Gaz Coombes and the gang performed a selection of their most adored tracks, including the majority of that 1995 debut. Inevitably, tracks like ‘Alright’ and ‘Caught By The Fuzz’ formed the ultimate highlights of their set, but each and every song seemed handpicked to reflect the excitement and euphoria in the crowd.
One of the prevailing themes of Friday morning was the intense heat, causing a fair few red faces, and a busy day for the staff at the various water refill stations across the site. Supergrass’ set was no different, and shade is in low supply at the Pyramid. Nevertheless, thousands of sweating, sunburnt festival goers could not help but revel in the timeless sounds of the Oxfordshire outfit, forming the perfect starting point for the countless iconic performances which will take place on the stage over the course of the weekend.
CMAT
In 40 years or so, my grandkids will ask, “Grandma, where were you during CMAT at Glastonbury 2025?” And I’ll say, “Well, kids, I was pretty cool in my day. I was right down at the front, giving it large.”
The Irish artist’s set felt like a truly historic, ‘I was there’ moment. I caught her at Woodsies a few years ago and felt the same then, but in the years since, with the release of her second album and now the new singles teasing her third, that feeling and the complete belief in her star power has only grown. Occasionally, you come across an artist who has it all, and that’s CMAT. The crowd laughed, cried, screamed and two-stepped, and it was clear that Ciara and her band were having just as much fun, making for a truly infectious exchange of energy that definitely will have won over new fans.
Glass Beams entrance West Holts
A sweaty trek away from the Pyramid, West Holts boasts a stacked line-up throughout the weekend, and their Friday offerings were particularly impressive. Giving in to the beating sun of Somerset, Naarm/Melbourne instrumental duo Glass Beams treated audiences at West Holts to a sun-soaked journey through their captivating repertoire of Eastern-influenced psychedelia. Initially, I managed to secure a spot at the barrier for the set, but the sound quality at the front was truly terrible – horrendously loud and bass-heavy, to the point where you could barely hear what the pair were playing. Thankfully, though, it sounded better from further back in the crowd.
Opening with their defining track ‘Mahal’, the duo wasted no time in establishing their profound and effortless skill for performance. For a band who do not speak, show their faces, or have any sing-along tunes, Glass Beams proved their worth as an incredible festival band, perfectly reflecting the mood of the day and offering an incredible soundtrack to the increasingly sunburnt crowd at West Holts.
The Park Stage’s four-act home run
Faye Webster, into English Teacher, into the Osees, into Wunderhorse? Now that’s incredible booking. With each hour, the energy up at the Park stepped up. I started out enjoying some lunch in the sun while Webster serenaded the crowd with her sweet tones. Then, as English Teacher came on, there was the beautiful moment of watching a band have a real pinch-me moment live as Lily Fontaine couldn’t contain how moved she was.
But then, as the tides turned and the Osees came on, the stage became the home of rock for the early evening as their duo drummers thundered through the space and Wunderhorse perfectly grabbed the baton and ran with it, backed by a huge crowd.
Franz Ferdinand affirm their indie mastery
Every year at Glastonbury, there will be one or two sets which take you by surprise, and Franz Ferdinand’s performance on the Other Stage certainly fit that bill. Glasgow’s indie heroes helped to define the sounds of UK alternative rock back in the mid-2000s, and they have visited Glastonbury Festival on multiple occasions since then. Nevertheless, those who have not seen the band before could not have predicted the incredible spectacle that their Other show became.
Right from the off, frontman Alex Kapranos kept the energy as high as possible, opening with ‘The Dark Of The Matinée’ and rarely letting off the accelerator as the band worked through a plethora of their most well-loved classics. ‘Do You Want To’ was a notable highlight, but the conversation was invariably dominated, of course, by their blistering performance of ‘Take Me Out’, arguably the band’s defining track. In the build-up to the song, Kapranos spoke about secret sets, mentioning rumoured artists like Pulp, Haim, and a Scottish fella going by the name of Capaldi.
“Please welcome the original Capaldi,” the frontman bellowed, as Peter Capaldi emerged onto the stage. One of the most unexpected yet intensely enjoyable special guests in recent Glasto history, the former Malcolm Tucker and Doctor Who actor gave an incredible performance of the ultimate indie anthem. The guests didn’t stop there, either, as the group introduced London rapper Master Peace for their next effort, keeping the energy up and establishing their set as one of the ultimate highlights of the day – maybe of the entire weekend.
Badbadnotgood introduce some jazz grooves
Refuelling is vitally important when it comes to Glastonbury. Since touching down on Wednesday, I have walked the equivalent of 35 miles, and the intensity of the sun doesn’t help matters. For the festival food connoisseurs, the West Holts region houses some of the best edible offerings at Glastonbury, including a particularly good bánh mì, which i am not ashamed to say I have already had multiple times since getting here. As Friday afternoon turned into Friday evening, I sat at West Holts tucking into a Goan fish curry, as Toronto instrumental outfit BadBadNotGood took to the stage.
Blending laid-back jazz grooves with dance rhythms and an unwaveringly energetic performance style, the band formed the perfect accompaniment to the start of the evening, keeping the energy up but allowing the audience space to breathe and recuperate. Messages of hope and resistance were interspersed with their set, with drummer Alexander Sowinski voicing his support for Palestine in between songs after spotting a flag within the crowd.
Terrorvision offer a high-energy alternative
For those of us who aren’t into Matty Healy and The 1975, Glastonbury offered a whole host of other acts to fill that void around the time of the Pyramid headliners. For me, that alternative came in the form of Bradford’s finest, Terrorvision, who performed an unrelentingly energetic set at the Avalon stage.
Bedecked in silver, for reasons that were never really explained, the band emerged looking like rock and roll spacemen, and quickly launched in a greatest hits set which harked back to the mid-1990s heyday while simultaneously confirming that the band themselves have never lost their spark – “Shit hot,” as lead singer Tony Wright kept saying. From ‘Perseverance’ to ‘Tequila’, Wright got the crowd up and moving, belting out every lyric of the band’s extensive repertoire. This was not one of those bands from the 1990s who reform and begrudgingly go out on tour to pay a tax bill; the sense that Terrorvision were still utterly in love with their craft was unavoidable throughout their set.
The 1975
As the first headliner up on the Pyramid Stage for 2025, the 1975 were a divisive choice. The proof of this could be found in the fact that dancing feet were matched by column inches about questionable politics. Some folks nearby moved from moaning to dancing, and others went the other way.
Headlines were hooked, too, by an oddly apolitical statement from a band with a long history of being the exact opposite. It seems like for one night, Healy wanted to drop the act. He didn’t want to tick the boxes or attempt to be an insufficient mouthpiece. Instead, as he talked about the band’s legacy being about love and friendship, and as he stood on stage shaking nervous and crying and hugging his oldest friends and bandmates, he was visible moved by this apex achievement as a reminder of just how much a first time headline here means, even to the biggest bands.
Fatboy Slim dances into the night
A festival veteran, Glastonbury regular, and the ultimate festival act, Fatboy Slim got blood bumping and bodies moving on Friday night. Performing at the annoyingly small Lonely Hearts stage, the former Housemartins musician pulled in a colossal crowd. Despite signs that the area was at capacity and being closed off, security didn’t seem to be preventing people from entering, and crowds soon blocked the pathways and open spaces of Silver Hayes. Although claustrophobic and largely uncomfortable, the crowd could not help but get swept up in Fatboy’s unparalleled DJ mastery.
Performing a wealth of his most beloved tracks, including the likes of ‘Praise You’ and ‘Weapon of Choice’, he also threw a few curveballs in the mix. Displaying videos of a Donald Trump interview during ‘Star 69’, the DJ contrasted the outspoken apolitical stance of The 1975 over on the Pyramid stage. A mix of Underworld’s ‘Born Slippy’ and The Killers’ ‘Mr Brightside’ certainly got the crowd going, and numbers only seemed to increase as the set went on. The number of people eventually became too much for this tired and sunburnt reporter to handle, but as I reached my tent, I could still hear the sounds of Fatboy Slim’s set; the perfect end to Friday at Glastonbury.
