Despite being set on a quintessentially English Somerset farm, Glastonbury became a surprisingly divisive festival for Britons this weekend – as musicians from across the world sang of both their love and hatred of the UK.
And among those carrying the torch for the Union Jack – even wearing the design in very Kate Moss-esque hot pants – was American rock star Olivia Rodrigo, who gushed about everything from The Cure and M&S sweets to afternoon pints.
The 22-year-old singer also flirtily hinted at her penchant for men from the Four Nations – thanks to her Londoner boyfriend, actor Louis Partridge.
Leaning into the ‘Cool Britannia’ aesthetics of bucket hats, Spice Girls glam and Wonderwall, she also brought out 80s legend – and lead singer of The Cure – Robert Smith.
It’s a stark contrast to another memorable act from this year’s line-up, which featured Irish rap group Kneecap’s renditions of hits like Get Your Birts Out, amid chants of ‘f**k Keir Starmer’.
Olivia’s put on a show-stopping performance on the Pyramid Stage as she closed the festival at Worthy Farm in the daring number which she teamed with fishnet tights and a graphic T-shirt.
‘One thing you should know about me is f***ing love England, I love England so much,’ she told the crowd.
‘It’s bands like the Cure that first got me acquainted with England but now that I’m older I have so many things I love about England.
‘I love pop culture, I love that nobody judges you for having a pint at noon it’s the best. I love English sweets from M&S and Colin the Caterpillar.
‘True story I have had three sticky toffee pudding since arriving at Glastonbury so safe to say I love English food.
‘As luck would have it, I also really love English boys, I wrote this next song about getting to know a boy from England who loves beans on a jacket potato, I took all our little jokes and made a song called, So American.’
The singer was later joined on stage by The Cure frontman Robert, who she said is ‘perhaps the best songwriter to come out of England’.
‘I’m so wildly excited about this next guest,’ Olivia gushed. ‘He is a Glastonbury legend and a personal hero of mine.’
The duo then joined forces to perform a rendition of Friday I’m in Love, which appeared on The Cure’s 1992 album Wish.
Olivia – who previously appeared at Glastonbury in 2022, when she performed on the Other Stage – also did an incredible encore featuring, So American, All-American B****, good 4 u, and get him back!
The pop star finished her show by adding: ‘Thank you so much, Glasto. This really is a dream come true! I’m so very grateful. Thank you!’
Fans rushed to X – formerly known as Twitter – to gush that Olivia was one of the ‘best performers’ of the weekend and applauded the Disney star for ‘silencing the haters’ after they claimed she didn’t deserve the headline spot.
They wrote: ‘Olivia Rodrigo, that’s how you headline Glastonbury, 10/10 no notes…
‘The entire Glastonbury crowd singing drivers licence omg Olivia Rodrigo you will always be that girl.’
Elsewhere on Saturday, truly immersing herself into the British experience, Olivia made sure she fully basked in the festival spirit as she was spotted sat on top of her boyfriend Louis Partridge’s shoulders, singing her heart out to Common People during Pulp’s surprise set.
The pop-punk singer appeared in high spirits as she belted out the iconic lyrics, whilst waving her arms about.
She kept it casual as she wore a black and white sleeveless vest, which she paired with leopard print shorts and a hunter wellies, with white over-the knee socks.
Despite trying her best not to stand out from the crowd one person who did spot her in the crowd was none other than Radio 1’s Greg James.
Meanwhile, other headliners included a politically charged act from Kneecap.
The group’s lead rapper, Liam O’Hanna, 27, whose stage name is Mo Chara, is on unconditional bail after being charged with terrorism for supporting Hezbollah, a proscribed terrorist organisation.
Addressing the charges to more than 30,000 revellers at Worthy Farm, his band mate Naoise Ó Cairealláin, known as Moglai Bap, said: ‘Mo Chara is back in court for a trumped up terrorism charge.
‘It’s not the first time there has been a miscarriage of justice for an Irish person in the British justice system. So now you know he’s available on the 20th August at Westminster, support Mo Chara and let’s start a riot in the courts.’
Later on in the hour long set, Mo Chara said: ‘The Prime Minister of your country, not mine, said he didn’t want us to play so f*** Keir Starmer,’ before leading a chant against him.
As the trio walked onto the stage they played a compilation of their critics’ voices over the speakers – which included former DUP leader, Arlene Foster, who infamously said, ‘I live rent free in their head’.
She featured on their posters and lyrics after she expressed they had ‘overstepped the mark’ with their comments about Hamas and Hezbollah.
On their Instagram, the band put out a statement which read: ‘The crowd expected today is far greater than West Holts capacity so ‘You’ll need to be very early to catch us father… very early.’
The stage, which has a capacity for 30,000 people, was shut 47 minutes before the trio were due to perform to avoid severe overcrowding in the area.
They also hit out at the BBC in the same statement calling it ‘the propaganda wing of the regime’.
