GLASTONBURY Festival founder Michael Eavis and his band performed an uplifting set of cover tracks to a packed audience at the William’s Green stage last night.
His six-piece band took to the stage and admirably dealt with a “technical problem” before being joined by Eavis, who first organised a festival in Pilton in 1970.
The 86-year-old – typically clad in a rugby shirt and shorts – received a rapturous ovation when he emerged and launched into Elvis Presley’s ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’.
He then performed a charming series of retro hits including ‘Always on My Mind’, ‘Suspicious Minds’ and Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’, reading the lyrics from a music stand.
The dairy farmer and festival creator was well-supported throughout his set by the crowd, which chanted “We love you Michael, we do” and “One more song!” as he left the tent’s stifling heat and climbed into his Land Rover.
The set was brought to a close with the band’s rendition of Tina Turner’s ‘Proud Mary’.
They were followed by pop-rock group Bastille, who put on a barnstorming set in the ‘TBC’ slot after a delay, quickly apologised for by frontman Dan Smith.
Earlier in the evening, Melanie C played a lively DJ set for a huge audience on the same stage, wearing an ‘Alexa, Play Spice Girls’ T-shirt and electric pink Adidas joggers.
Her one-hour set began with snippets of Moloko’s ‘Sing It Back’ and Megan Thee Stallion and Dua Lipa’s ‘Sweetest Pie’, warming the audience with singalong-friendly dance-pop tracks.
A highlight was her seamless transition from the Spice Girls’ number one hit ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ into Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’.
The second half of her set started with strong dance beats that reduced the crowd's chance to make its voice heard, but ‘Sporty Spice’ rekindled that spark soon afterwards with Pulp’s ‘Common People’.
Mel C fulfilled her early promise to bring “something for everyone”, but Spice Girls fans will have noticed the absence of classics like ‘Wannabe’ and ‘2 Become 1’.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast this morning, she described the experience as “insane”.
“I didn’t expect it to be as big as it was and as many people to be going as nuts as they did, it was a wonderful introduction to Glastonbury,” she said.
“It’s amazing because the wonderful thing about Glastonbury is there is something for everyone, there is so many musical styles and when you drop a Spice Girls song you think, ‘how is it going to go?’. But people loved it, it was wonderful.”
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