Beyonce

[Pigeon Detective]

Didn't seem a very popular choice on here, but I thought she was terrific. The crowd was massive, way bigger then u2 and probably coldplay. That's what I love about glasto, she wouldn't have been picked for any other festival, was a truly wonderful end to a wonderful festival.

[amfy]

She lost me a bit in the middle but a strong start and finish. Everyone around me loved her more than i did - i could kind of objectively see she was brilliant but was largely unmoved. Glad she seemed to nail it tho!

[firecracker]

absolutely shocked at how incredible she was! such a great performance

[The mighty earl]

She was absolute rubish. Was not a fan of hers before and most certainly am not now. Didn't click until seeing her performance that she only sings about one third of the songs and the left is left to backing singers. All show and no substance in my opinion.

[Flange Basket]

Average, had its highs, the beginning and the end, but the hour in the middle was just way too flat for a Sunday headliner. I expected more from her. Perhaps being there after a sun soaked day in a field, full of cider and good spirits you get a competely different perspective, but on TV it was more miss than hit. Style over substance. Beyonce is good at what she does but for me, she failed to translate that into a classic Glastonbury headline show. Can't compare it to Jay Z a few years back. He came out and won a crowd over that had just turned up to see what he was going to do. He came out fighting, he gave it all the big chops, he had the crowd in the palm of his hand. His set was made by the controversy in the lead up. That helped a 'none traditional' headliner. Beyonce didn't have that so there wasn't the pomp and raw energy of Jay Z. She is still a class act, but in this situation, it needed more of something and she failed to find it. Looked like she had fun though.

Zane Lowe had clearly had a heated debate with Lauren Laverne about it off camera. Those 2 did not look like best buddies at all.

QOTSA looked heavy and the Streets looked like it was messy. Either of those, from what I've seen, would have been a better option.

[BeddyDriver]

Its a NOOOOOOOO ! from me.....The comment about how little she actually sings is spot on ! Lost all the crowd around us from the start, and many before the start, turning up 15 minutes late !

[Breeze]

Thought she was predictable and formulaic and at worst cynically manipulative. (Just by what I saw of TV coverage)

From the leaked script: "Oh this is the bit where we'll get them to sing along, now lets put some glasto goers up on the screen behind on this one to channel the Glasto massive and make out I understand more than jack shit about it, now this is the bit where you stand there looking a bit teary and overawed and just so-goddam grateful at the people in the audience(remember you love them dearly)."

For those unaware: she is a quite highly rated actress, and is highly ambitious.

[lynz_star]

Thought she was predictable and formulaic and at worst cynically manipulative. (Just by what I saw of TV coverage)

From the leaked script: "Oh this is the bit where we'll get them to sing along, now lets put some glasto goers up on the screen behind on this one to channel the Glasto massive and make out I understand more than jack shit about it, now this is the bit where you stand there looking a bit teary and overawed and just so-goddam grateful at the people in the audience(remember you love them dearly)."

For those unaware: she is a quite highly rated actress, and is highly ambitious.

[shangri-la_steward]

it was like a wembley arena gig or something absolutely horrible and not for glastonbury imo. It needs to get back to rock n roll basics or at least slightly underground ish artists with credibilty

[lynz_star]

It was Beyonce - come on! She's extremely good at what she does, and her set was a blinder IMHO, but it was always going to be just a toned down version of her arena show. Beyonce has an image to maintain, and she was never going to compromise it very much just for Glastonbury. Look at the Alanis cover - I think it was a big deal for her to even allude to an f-word, let alone actually sing it.

But it was a great show. More theatre than music, but the dancing was fabulous and you can't fault her band and backing singers. Who cares whether Beyonce herself did all the singing? That was never what I expected! You can't dance like that and then still expect to sing flawlessly for the entirity of the set - it's physically impossible.

And to all these "Glasto needs to go back to it's rock roots" people - rock is the new-comer at Glastonbury, not pop.

Edited June 27, 2011 by lynz_star

[lynz_star]

was very frosty between those two afterwards! quite hard to watch but Zane absolutely burned her

[All Mod Cons.]

All I will say is....... How many covers and samples?

That click crew certainly love they're pyramids don't they?

[The_Spoon]

Didn't think much of her to be honest, it was mostly covers (Does she also think all her songs except the hits are a bit rubbish?) as others have said, the start and end were pretty good but the whole chunk in the middle was rather boring. While she definitely has a powerful voice she only really sang a bit of each song and relied on the backup singers, yes she dances pretty well also but even that seemed to be a very similar routine for each song.

Also, WTF was up with the happy birthday for that bloke Steve, the perfume style advert halfway through the show and the absolute balls up from the rapper that came on (It was Tricky wasn't it?) He just stood their for a couple of seconds, looked like he was going to rap, didn't, disappeared and then nothing more was said about him - did that actually happen or had I drank too much by then?

Very self-indulgent was the overriding opinion around our camp.

Edited June 27, 2011 by The_Spoon

[Haggis]

Didn't enjoy it. But then it was a show for the 'ladies' she constantly referred to. Not burly 40 year old guitar music lovers.

I do think it crossed a line though, where Glasto ceased to be about 'credible' and just went for 'huge'. I wouldn't be surprised to see Take That at either of the next couple of festivals, and the horror that would entail - the way has been paved. They too would get a large audience, in the field and on the telly, but would it really be Glastonbury?

This was the first festival I missed since 2003, and whilst it's possible to ignore how mainstream and celeb-obsessed it has become whilst on site, the tv coverage really does bring it home. For me, they need to take a step back and think about their next direction.

[shangri-la_steward]

And to all these "Glasto needs to go back to it's rock roots" people - rock is the new-comer at Glastonbury, not pop.

Edited June 27, 2011 by shangri-la_steward

[onemangang]

a few things i saw that could of improved her performance for me at least. i would of liked to see jay z do crazy in love with her at the start. i think on the some songs she had the chorus coming out of the speakers in stead of her actually singing it. im also pretty surprised she didn't do one costume change, & who was that old rapper guy? who came on stage for id say no more than 2 minuets who didn't really do anything... it seemed very unnecessary. never the less i think she did well, an she's still got the moves an a very good voice.

[Stash]

And to all these "Glasto needs to go back to it's rock roots" people - rock is the new-comer at Glastonbury, not pop.

[Flange Basket]

Tricky, he is a Bristolian Trip Hop Stalwart and has performed at the festival on his own and with Massive Attack several times. He's also been in Eastenders and had a part in The Fifth Element (with Bruce Willis), among other stuff.

He looked lost. He looked fooked.

[lynz_star]

But looking through that list, there isn't much you could (with a straight face) compare to Beyonce and call it pop (even Wayne Fontana) :

....

Edited June 27, 2011 by lynz_star

[lynz_star]

Tricky, he is a Bristolian Trip Hop Stalwart and has performed at the festival on his own and with Massive Attack several times. He's also been in Eastenders and had a part in The Fifth Element (with Bruce Willis), among other stuff.

He looked lost. He looked fooked.

[Flange Basket]

I love Maxinequaye - it's my all-time favourite album - so I was chuffed to see him, and that he hasn't totally faded into obscurity, but in all honesty, his bit was pretty shit.

[Big Vern]

Me and my mrs got front row as she is a fan, I went along as she came to see everything I wanted to see (bless her), but I also went expecting a big show. Sadly this wasn't delivered. It has the foundations to be something special, but was not delivered from the first song, why not have Jay-Z sing the song with her, he was there. It was no different that her performances on X-Factor etc, lacked sincerity and was just business, not the Glasto privilege it should have been to her. Don't get me wrong, she is an amazing singer and her performance was polished and professional, but not a performance worthy of Glasto, imo of course

However, she was off to a bad start with me before she even came on as her entourage handed out Beyonce flags for the crowd to hold!!! Trying to create an illusion that clearly wasn't there. She obviously decided at the last minute to leave Bohemian Rhapsody out as it was on the set list

Edited June 27, 2011 by Big Vern

[robith]

I thought she was f**king amazing.

And for all the rock/pop snobbery, she generated 10 times the atmosphere U2 managed

[moremi]

Thought it was very average, especially for the Sunday headliner. Was a show (more suited to Las Vegas) and not a performance. Also thought Paul Simon got it wrong. Some of these Americans don't seem to get the festival idea, especially Glastonbury. Neil Young (OK a Cnadian) did.

[AnnaGrant]

Apparently Paul Simon had a throat infection, which might account for the quiet tone of his set. We watched four of five songs, but when even the ones you know sounded a bit underwhelming we left to seek out shade.