It’s been four long days for many music fans, but Glastonbury finally came to a close last night and as was to be expected, rock legends The Rolling Stones stole the show as this year’s main headline act. With a back catalogue of tracks such as 'Can’t Get No Satisfaction', 'Jumpin’ , 'Jack Flash' and 'It’s Only Rock’n’Roll (But I Like It'), that has seen the band chart in every decade from the '60s right up to the present day charts, they managed to appease several generations of festival goers and blow their fellow headliners off the stage.
Okay, so they may have a collective age of over 200, but the Stones proved that you simply can’t discard a band of such legendary status. Mick and the boys outperformed the many acts who had taken to the stage over the course of the festival and drew the largest audience of any act for their set and organisers of the event raved that The Rolling Stones helped make this year’s Glastonbury the best one yet.
Many young and up and coming acts enjoyed festival success. Ben Howard, who recently walked away with a Brit Award for Breakthrough Artist of the Year, enjoyed a set that saw him perform to a large sun drenched crowd who flocked to the stage in their droves for his evening slot. Jake Bugg, who first appeared at Glastonbury back in 2011 on the BBC’s ‘Introducing’, returned this year as one of the festivals headline acts drawing mostly positive reactions from the crowds.
Arctic Monkey’s chose their headline spot as a chance to try out two new tracks off their new album, while the rest of their set was dedicated to tracks off their previous albums, including the always popular 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor'. Much was made of Turner's accent however, as the Sheffield lad appeared to have adopted an American twang while addressing the crowd between songs. Still, that didn't stop him from this cracking rendition of 'Mardy Bum'.
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Another big talking point of the festival was the return of Liam Gallagher who took to the stage with his band Beady Eye to perform an unadvertised secret set to kick off proceedings, dishing out tracks from the band's albums as well as covers of Oasis fan favourites.
The XX put in a memorable performance to a large crowd who were in full voice for the bands set, while Azealia Banks brought a more dance fused atmosphere to proceedings, even with the odd green Lady Gaga-esque outfit.
Probably one of the oddest highlights of the festival had to be the appearance of Kenny Rogers. Who doesn’t love a bit of The Gambler? Probably an odd choice for a festival but if Christy Moore can get away with playing Oxegen, why can’t Kenny can’t Kenny get away with an appearance at Glasto?
The festivities were wrapped up rather predictably by Mumford and Sons who gave their usual foot stomping crowd pleasing performance, while also marking their fifth year performing at the event. The band played fan favourites 'I Will Wait' right up to 'The Cave' and ended the night by being joined on stage by Vampire Weekend, The Staves, The Vaccines and First Aid Kit for a special rendition of 'With A Little Help From My Friends' to officially bring a close to this years event.
