At least 100,000 people gathered in front of a comparatively small stage to watch Lionel Richie sing his hits of the 80’s at the world’s most loved music festival, Glastonbury.
The Pyramid stage field was packed throughout the entire event, with the stage housing artists such as Lionel Richie, The Who, Kanye West, Florence and the Machine, Pharrell Williams, Hozier, and countless other massive names in music. Richie was given the traditional Sunday afternoon “legend” slot, blasting out hits such as Say You Say Me and Dancing on the Ceiling. Crowds flocked however, mostly to hear arguably three of his greatest hits; Hello, Easy and All Night Long.
Clips of the sheer joy of the crowd when Richie played these songs can be found in the Glastonbury Live Snapchat Story. Richie claimed that the sight of the massive crowd was “outrageous”. Richie kept saying to his entourage, “Did you see that?! Unbelievable.” Glastonbury organisers say the field was mostly likely near its 120,000 capacity.
Richie followed Patti Smith on the line-up, with Smith’s set being not quite what was expected. Smith introduced His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and presented him with an early birthday cake, as he turns 80 on the 6th of July. His reception from the crowd was warm and enthusiastic, and His Holiness was later sung Happy Birthday by his audience.
Glastonbury is being deemed “The People’s Festival” this year, as the Dalai Lama begun his Glastonbury campaign with a speech in the events’ Peace Garden, where he praised the event as “a festival of people, not governments or politicians”.
This statement from the Dalai Lama is solidified through the sight of hundreds of flags waving in the audience; flags from countries from the world over, to the LGBT Pride flag, with the word “peace” written over it. Flags with different languages stating their love for music and for people, artwork given and received throughout the festival, the help provided to each other by complete strangers.
Glastonbury is an event like no other, which is centred on people coming together from countries all over the world, to celebrate music, art and culture.