Glastonbury got it this year for lack of women at the top. Watch Lizzo’s particularly captivating live performance against Guns N’ Roses on the Pyramid Stage, you won’t understand why she’s not at the top. Earlier this year, she sold out two nights at the O2 Arena in London as part of a massive tour, which won Record of the Year at the Grammys for her 2022 album Specialand be immortal when playing the flute on The Simpsons. Her powerful power-disco-pop, vibrant with self-empowerment and sassy messages, is exactly what Glastonbury needs after a hot day.

And Lizzo has more pep and fizz than Berocca stocked at Prosecco. There’s the TV series about Shirley Bassey when she’s on “Cuz I Love You,” wearing a fancy PVC lace-up catsuit and being escorted by dancers in pink lamés. Meanwhile, the song’s stellar high notes serve as a reminder that she’s a singer-rapper with an incredible vocal range. In addition to her highly conceptual slogans and fun choreography, Lizzo is a top performer at her game.

If Noel Gallagher waded into a Glastonbury title debate, you know the issue is taking a significant turn. Back in 2008, Noel “didn’t have” Jay-Z headlines; this year, indie music’s wisest commentator found it “crazy” for Guns N’ Roses to top Saturday night’s charts. And this time, instead of his comments being brushed off like dirt from the role of progress, he has a point.

After 15 years of solidly expanding the cultural reach of Britain’s most legendary festival, booking Guns N’ Roses is Glastonbury’s biggest misstep since Mumford & Sons. The festival can honor a rich and influential songbook, like the one by other Pyramid Stage heroes Paul McCartney, Elton, Bowie or The Rolling Stones. But from the moment GN’R arrives – with unusual punctuality – to the goofy, cartoonish image of skulls in Slash hats, they represent everything old-fashioned, rockist, loose and male. child that Glastonbury has rejected since its founding.

They’re older, but that’s okay!” Bill, 22 years old from Bristol, was telling me his thoughts on Guns N’ Roses, who led this Saturday night at the Glastonbury Festival, and a band potentially older than the Sphinx . Bill, though, is not bothered. You have to have something for everyone, you know what I mean? Anyway, he’s on his way to meet his favorite person. “Everyone is seeing Fred again, man.” I politely nodded.

No one can accuse Glastonbury this year of being the standout event. The Arctic Monkeys, Friday’s lead, have long been in their old statesman age, while Elton John, Sunday’s lead, is a genius but perhaps the one who was at his peak on 1973. It was just one more stop on his farewell tour (although he promised a completely different set), and nothing kills the mood on the dance floor faster than about to retire. But as I made my way through the crowd of teenagers flooding through Worthy Farm as if the Lord of the Flies were meeting The Belles of St Trinian’s and everyone was wearing Day-Glo sunglasses, I realized this was a place built on those things. specific glass. Anyway, it’s a memory. The age of the heads is irrelevant while you are on the ground.