Beyonce

[airwaves]

I spent the months up to Glasto saying I would be anywhere except at the Pyramid for Beyonce.

However, having arrived for Laura Marling, stayed for P Simon (who was grot) and then on to mosh pit for Pendulum I couldn't be ar**d to move out, except to the back of the front enclosure, and decided therefore to stay.

Been going for 12 Glastos in a row now - witnessed one of the greatest spectacles on the Pyramid in that time. Glad I didn't miss it.

[Festival Liam]

I was expecting it to be rubbish. I've never been more wrong about an act at Glasto.

I really hope Bono watched that and thought "shit.....". I enjoyed U2 at the time, but after seeing her it only made me realise what a let they actually were.

I mean look at the effort she put in? The screens were ridiculous, designed especially for Glastonbury. She really thought about the whole. Apart from those people who though a colab was coming, she delivered everything everybody wanted (apart from Listen, which I wanted).

Atmosphere was great, she seemed genuinely chuffed to be there (anybody who thought she was acting, check out of post performance interview) and went for it. Fair play to her.

[thesecretingredientiscrime]

Glastonbury is going down the drain....going to absolute shit

a death warrant being signed by the superficial shite soulless acts being booked to entertain the Starbucks/Costa/Topman V Festival crowds..

death of a festival.

[lynz_star]

Yep.

It is a shame that they don't book other stages for people to see when one band is on.

When will someone put that idea into practice? We can only dream of the day when there's variety at a festival. When perhaps you can see either Beyonce, or a funk band from the 70's, or a folk singer-songwriter, or a British rap legend.

One day, one day maybe.

[gig_addiction]

I second 'festival liam' she seemed so humble.

Never really listen to her but how could you not have a little dance, especially the destinys child part, but being 20 maybe I was just reliving being llike 8!

It put us all in high spirits for the start to an amazing last night

However coldplay was deff the best headliner.

[dirty_dog]

I've been a massive U2 fan since I was a kid and that was the first time I'd seen them so it was pretty special to me but Beyonce in my book completely stole the show. she seemed so humbled to be there so would the dickheads slagging her off rather have the stones turning up for the cash or to sell their back catalogue? Its fair enough if her music wasn't your cup of tea but the is some real bell ends trying to get a band wagon going.

[KryziF]

I thought beyonce was amazing everyone near us was singing and dancing through the set. The field was massively more full than for U2.

For those who are complaining about booking pop headliners, do you really think Coldplay are any more rock except they're guys with guitars. Metallica for 2013 anyone :-)

[Leedspete]

I second 'festival liam' she seemed so humble.

Never really listen to her but how could you not have a little dance, especially the destinys child part, but being 20 maybe I was just reliving being llike 8!

It put us all in high spirits for the start to an amazing last night

However coldplay was deff the best headliner.

[Nickyboy]

Obviously being a 50 year old bloke, I'm not likely to be Beyonce's target audience. In fact I thought it was generally a young crowd (it seemed to be predominantly girls as well? or maybe that was just a perception I had) stood around me and my mate (who really likes her due to his 20 year old daughters influence).

Like a lot of people have said, I thought she came out of the stalls flying, but couldn't sustain it (the middle hour dragged), but then finished well.

I wasn't converted, but I could see she belts out a tune, seemed a genuine person and she seemed delighted to be there. I thought it was okay - but not fantastic. Coldplay definitely the best headliner I saw. Paul Simon the most disappointing act of the weekend.

[*Stevie B*]

Ohh she was brilliant!

[LittlemissC]

Obviously being a 50 year old bloke, I'm not likely to be Beyonce's target audience. In fact I thought it was generally a young crowd (it seemed to be predominantly girls as well? or maybe that was just a perception I had) stood around me and my mate (who really likes her due to his 20 year old daughters influence).

Like a lot of people have said, I thought she came out of the stalls flying, but couldn't sustain it (the middle hour dragged), but then finished well.

I wasn't converted, but I could see she belts out a tune, seemed a genuine person and she seemed delighted to be there. I thought it was okay - but not fantastic. Coldplay definitely the best headliner I saw. Paul Simon the most disappointing act of the weekend.

[Shimmy]

I wasn't quite sure about seeing Beyonce, but I think she put on a fantastic show and I really enjoyed it. I was even amazed that I knew the words (and dance routines) to most of her songs, and I'd forgotten how many hits she'd had.

There were some bizarre moments, like when she got us to sing happy birthday to one of her friends (think some people booed) and us saying hello to another one of her friends in the US, but she did seem genuinely moved by the size of the crowd and the reaction she got. I know she is an actress, but I'm sure her she wasn't faking it - you could see her looking at the size crowd in wonder (at least that's what it looked like on the big screens). She also said she'd never performed in front of 175,000 people before. I think her maths was wrong - she might have had half of that if you take away the people who'd left, weren't bothered or had gone to see QOTSA.

The only disappointment for me in was her special guest was Tricky, and he didn't really seem to do much - but of a wasted special guest. Also, there were loads of people in the crowd who because it was the last day and it had been warm were very drunk and weren't very considerate. At one point some lads standing next to us were weeing in cups and throwing at people. I'm glad we didn't opt for wearing sandals and kept our wellies on, even in the heat! It's the first time I've been to Glastonbury and all the other performances we went to the people we were standing next to were really nice and friendly and the crowd has a great atmosphere. Maybe we picked the wrong place to stand?

Funniest quote of the night after it as all over, I heard a bloke say to his mate, "That was like the Nuremberg Rally, only Hitler couldn't dance that well!"

[DTichborne]

Yep.

It is a shame that they don't book other stages for people to see when one band is on.

When will someone put that idea into practice? We can only dream of the day when there's variety at a festival. When perhaps you can see either Beyonce, or a funk band from the 70's, or a folk singer-songwriter, or a British rap legend.

One day, one day maybe.

[blue6field]

She played crazy in love first, which was brilliant as it allowed me to and catch some other acts!

Brilliant opening to the show by the way!

[fatyeti24]

She played crazy in love first, which was brilliant as it allowed me to and catch some other acts!

Brilliant opening to the show by the way!

[Big Vern]

professional and polished performance but no heart or soul and just felt totally orchestrated from start to finish. I gather from speaking to the event security that her entourage were just massive pains in the arse dictating this and that and when they started strategically placing Beyonce flags in the audience in preparation for her delayed entrance it was just too contrived.

Only thing missing was a stall at the front of the barriers selling her perfume.

The setlist included Bohemian Rhapsody, thank god it was omitted and wasn't murdered like Sex On Fire

[alframsey]

I didnt see her over the weekend but have since watched the TV footage today, must say she seemed to put on a brilliant show and her voice is amazing. I dont care for her music, bar maybe two or three tunes, but I can admit and accept when someone pulls off a brilliant performances. Seems some people on here cant seem to do that though...

[Pauljoanss]

Regards a comment about large audience size for B. It cannot escape anyones notice that there are an awful lot of one day entries for Sunday, mostly locals, they paid £75 I believe. For obvious reasons most of them gravitate to the Pyramid for the whole day and tend to take up a disproportionate amount of space because they have to carry everything with them. The whole of Sunday it was impossible to move on the Pyramid field due to these extra persons, nothing to do with popularity of B.

Would be good to somehow encourage the one day tickets to explore more of the site.

[Festival Liam]

Regards a comment about large audience size for B. It cannot escape anyones notice that there are an awful lot of one day entries for Sunday, mostly locals, they paid £75 I believe. For obvious reasons most of them gravitate to the Pyramid for the whole day and tend to take up a disproportionate amount of space because they have to carry everything with them. The whole of Sunday it was impossible to move on the Pyramid field due to these extra persons, nothing to do with popularity of B.

Would be good to somehow encourage the one day tickets to explore more of the site.

[Breeze]

If you imagine some commercial rock bands don't also have a script like this for their gigs, you are extremely naive.

[LusciousLucy]

I watched the first 7 or so tunes before popping off to Kool and the Gang (to be nearer to the hoof to SL before al the other headliners ended) and I was fairly blown away by her set and the show. Now watching the whole of the set on BBC3 and so pleased and happy to see so many ladies filling up the front rows of the Pyramid.

The headliner slots are for anyone that Eavis deems he wants to headline, not the grumpy buggers who demand stadium rock and nothing else.

Bring on Kylie as a farewell gig maybe (rumours of no more big shows for her) and the GAGA for Sunday closing in 2013!!! Beyonce has opened the door to female headliners.

[boskobalaban]

Why watch her at all if you know you're not into it? Is it to merely have an excuse to slag it off? If you're not enjoying it, leave and go see something else.

I was literally at the very back of the field and had a great time, she's a great performer with an astonishing voice. I can understand it though if people got lost during the middle of her set, but I think she used that point as a breather. It's hard to keep up a slammin voice whilst mega dancing.

[LittlemissC]

Why watch her at all if you know you're not into it? Is it to merely have an excuse to slag it off? If you're not enjoying it, leave and go see something else.

I was literally at the very back of the field and had a great time, she's a great performer with an astonishing voice. I can understand it though if people got lost during the middle of her set, but I think she used that point as a breather. It's hard to keep up a slammin voice whilst mega dancing.

[fatyeti24]

i am currently watching her set for the third night running. i think it must be love.

[boskobalaban]

Less of the patronising shite please.

My point is that her 'Oh I am so grateful and overawed' looked 100% fake to me - it was an act.

Albarn being in tears wasn't.

Do you want to watch fakes or people with heart? That is the question, not some shite about being naive.