The Rolling Stones showed they’ve still got it as they finally took to the stage at Glastonbury with an electric performance that organizers said was the highlight of the British festival’s history.
Frontman Mick Jagger, wearing a glittering green jacket, bounded onto the Pyramid Stage on Saturday night with the energy and enthusiasm of a man half his age.
“This is great. I want to tell you something — it’s great to be doing this show, doing this festival. You all look amazing,” the 69-year-old told the cheering crowd.
He then jokingly added: “After all these years, they finally got around to asking us. Thank you Michael.”
He was referring to Michael Eavis, the organizer of Glastonbury who is thought to have been trying to arrange the Stones to play for years. But they have said it never fit with their schedule.
Eavis said their performance was “the high spot of 43 years of Glastonbury”, telling the BBC: “They finally did it, and it was fantastic. My God, did they deliver.”
Jagger acknowledged that most of the young audience, which reportedly included 28-year-old Prince Harry, probably weren’t born when the band started playing five decades ago.
“If this is the first time you’ve ever seen the band, do come again,” he said as he looked out across the fields at Worthy Farm in Somerset, southwest England.
Jagger began with the 1968 classic “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” to a backdrop of fireworks, kicking off a set that showcased all the band’s talents and included crowd-pleasers from their 1960s and 70s heyday.
He prowled and pranced around the stage for two hours, occasionally ceding the limelight to guitarist Keith Richards and former band member Mick Taylor, who each performed showcase tunes.
Jagger reportedly prepared for the gig with a rigorous fitness routine, avoided speaking for several days beforehand and studied DVDs of past Glastonbury headline acts.
The Stones have been playing a series of North American dates on their “50 and Counting” tour ahead of several British concerts this summer, but Glastonbury is a special kind of pressure.
In honour of the occasion, Jagger wrote a brand new song called “Glastonbury Girl” which made reference to festival traditions including the gumboots often worn against the English mud.
And he didn’t hold back on the big numbers, donning a black ostrich feather cloak for “Sympathy for the Devil” as fire burst out of the top of the pyramid and a giant mechanical phoenix atop the stage came to life.
“The old black magic still crackles,” wrote a reviewer for the Observer newspaper, while The Times said the set “was a triumph by anyone’s standards”.
Fans had claimed their spots up to 12 hours ahead of the show, the highlight of a weekend which included headline performances by Arctic Monkeys on Friday and Mumford and Sons on Sunday night.
“It was amazing,” said Kathy Dixon, 26, after the gig culminated with bouncing encores of “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and “Satisfaction”.
“It felt like lots of generations were coming together. It felt very special — almost spiritual.”
“They look as young as they were in the sixties,” said 22-year-old Walter Hudson. “The only place you can see their age is in their skin — their energy is the same.”
Glastonbury began as a hippie gathering of 1,500 people in 1970, but has become an annual pilgrimage for music fans and celebrities such as supermodel Kate Moss.
This year’s event, for which a ticket cost £205 ($300, 240 euros), was attended by 135,000 people, with 58 stages littered across the 900-acre site.
The festival, Britain’s most popular celebration of music and performing arts, continues to sell out months in advance even though summer rain storms often transforms it into a mudbath.
