US rockers Guns N’ Roses will headline Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage on Saturday, marking their debut performance at the world-famous festival.
Arctic Monkeys closed out a packed day of music at Worthy Farm on Friday, which saw surprise appearances from Foo Fighters, Hozier and actress Cate Blanchett.
The fourth day of the festival, held in Pilton, Somerset, will host more film screenings, theatre and circus performances, as well as an event by Stormzy’s publishing imprint Merky Books, titled Demystifying Publishing.
Shadow net zero secretary Ed Miliband is also due to appear at the festival, speaking during the debate Can Politics Deliver On Climate Action?
Festival-goers were blessed with warm and dry weather on Friday with temperatures reaching a high of 28.1C around 3pm.
A spokesperson from the Met Office told the PA news agency that despite a cloudy start to Saturday, temperatures would stay high.
“There will be a cloudy start for the morning, with potentially a light spot of rain,” said Ellie Wilson, a meteorologist from the Met Office.
“It will turn much brighter in the afternoon, with prolonged periods of sunshine. Temperatures will reach around 25C or 26C and it will feel quite warm, humid and muggy.”
Guns N’ Roses original line-up of Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan will headline the mainstage on Saturday – after reuniting in 2015 – where they are expected to play a number of their classic songs including Paradise City, Sweet Child O’ Mine and Welcome To The Jungle.
Other acts scheduled to perform include Lana Del Rey, Christine and The Queens, Rina Sawayama, Loyle Carner and Mahalia.
Scottish superstar Lewis Capaldi and Lizzo will both take to the main stage ahead of Guns N’ Roses.
It comes after Capaldi cancelled all upcoming commitments earlier this month, ahead of Glastonbury, to allow himself time to “rest and recover”.
In a post on Instagram he apologised to his fans, explaining that he had been “struggling” after a busy few months.
Surprise sets will also come from rock band The Pretenders – who are due to perform from 7.45pm at The Park Stage – and Rick Astley.
Friday’s entertainment was closed out by Arctic Monkeys who shut down previous concerns that they would not be able to perform, after announcing that frontman Alex Turner had acute laryngitis.
The Sheffield rockers delivered a smash selection of songs, despite minimal crowd interaction from Turner, revisiting their chart-topping back catalogue as well as tracks from their 2022 release The Car.
The singer led the show in his classic suave style, donning a black suit and white open collar shirt paired with dark sunglasses, as the band rattled through songs including Brianstorm, Crying Lightning and Arabella.
Another highlight from the fourth day was the surprise main stage set by Foo Fighters, who gave their first performance at the festival since 2017.
There had been high speculation that the US rock group would take to the main stage on Friday from 6.15pm in a slot which was billed under the name The Churnups.
Front-man Dave Grohl later told crowds “we’re not good at secrets”.
“You guys knew it was us this whole time, you knew it,” he said, adding “We only have one hour so we gotta make sure we fit in all the songs we can.”
Foo Fighters dedicated their final song – Everlong – to their late drummer Taylor Hawkins, who died last year at the age of 50.
It was later revealed that the band had arrived at Worthy Farm in Somerset by train, with Great Western Rail (GWR) posting a photo of Grohl and staff member Brendan Cropper to social media.
Even rock royalty knows that there is no better way to travel to Glastonbury than by train! 🤘
You never know who is going to churn up on board our trains!#FooFighters #Glastonbury23 #TheChurnups pic.twitter.com/z6uJxESRFT— GWR (@GWRHelp) June 23, 2023
Ahead of Foo Fighters’ surprise set on Friday, a tribute was paid to the three victims of the Nottingham attacks earlier this month.
The images of Grace O’Malley-Kumar, Barnaby Webber and Ian Coates were displayed on the screens of the Pyramid Stage, along with messages written by the parents of two of the victims.
“Hold no hate for race, religion, colour or culture,” read the statement from Emma Webber.
From Sanjoy Kumar, Grace’s father, the message read: “You have to love everyone.”
Elsewhere crowds were given “a super special treat” as Oscar-winning actress Blanchett made a surprise appearance onstage with US pop-rock duo Sparks.
Blanchett stars in the music video for Sparks’ recent single The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte, and joined them for a performance of the song, dressed in a yellow suit, green sunglasses and red, over-ear headphones.
