GEORGE Ezra brought an uplifting collection of songs from his three number one albums to his not-so-secret Glastonbury Festival set this afternoon.

Ezra announced his surprise appearance earlier today, although he was widely seen as the likely candidate to fill the empty 2pm John Peel Stage slot in the run-up to the festival.

The stage was transformed into a mountain range following Sports Team’s performance and Ezra, 29, was joined on stage by seven band members.

He was clad in black jeans and boots and a blue denim jacket that had the name of his latest album Gold Rush Kid emblazoned on the back in bold yellow text.

He launched his set with ‘Anyone for You (Tiger Lily)’ and ‘Cassy O’’ before speaking to the packed John Peel tent for the first time.

“Glastonbury!”, he exclaimed. “It’s incredible to see so many of you here, it means a lot to me. If you know the words please join in, we’re in this together, I believe.

“I’m George Ezra, and this is my lovely band.”

After admitting being jealous of seeing his friends enjoying themselves at the festival throughout the weekend, he promised to supply a singalong-friendly set from his trio of successful albums, Wanted on Voyage, Staying at Tamara’s, and Gold Rush Kid.

Ezra’s bass-baritone vocals shone in ‘Pretty Shining People’ and ‘Listen to the Man’, made particularly impressive considering his recent withdrawal from a festival in Denmark due to a “nasty bout of laryngitis”.

Ezra later reflected on his previous John Peel Stage appearance eight years ago following the release of his debut album that exceeded a million sales in its first year. 

He continued: “We got a call asking if we’d do a secret set and said ‘of course, but can we let them know at some point? I don’t want it to be a total secret!’”

In between playing ‘Barcelona’ and ‘Hold My Girl’, he told the audience: “This feels like a good Sunday mood, so we’ll stay here for a second.”

Another highlight from Ezra's audience engagement between songs was when he spoke to a young boy sat on his dad’s shoulders carrying a sign that read: “My name is Thomas, say hi?”, drawing a huge cheer and bringing his affable character to the fore.

An energetic performance of ‘All My Love’ featured a well-received trumpet solo before he sang recent chart-topper ‘Green Green Grass’.

The second single from his latest album was written after he witnessed a beautiful “celebration of three lives” while in St Lucia and included a lyric about throwing “a party on the day that I die” that was notably absent from his set outside Buckingham Palace for the Platinum Jubilee.

The crowd was in full voice and clapped along enthusiastically through ‘Paradise’ before he closed his sublime set with ‘Blame It On Me’, ‘Budapest’ and invariable crowd-pleaser ‘Shotgun’, bringing his saxophonist and brass players into the spotlight.

George Ezra’s Glastonbury 2022 setlist:

Anyone for You (Tiger Lily)

Cassy O’

Pretty Shining People

Listen To The Man

Barcelona

Hold My Girl

All My Love

Green Green Grass

Paradise

Blame It On Me

Budapest

Shotgun