Britain’s Glastonbury Festival sweltered in soaring temperatures Saturday with a headline show from local boys and rock superstars Muse and a brief appearance by pop princess Kylie.
Muse formed an epic set at Glastonbury. The trio’s performance in front of an 100,000 crowd rode their way through the hour and a half set.
The band headlined under a brilliant full moon, the fullest for 20 years, which was complemented by numerous fluorescent red flares lit off by the crowd.
Temperatures touched 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) at the site in Somerset in southwest England, a welcome change from the rain and mud that has become synonymous with the world-famous Greenfield arts festival.
Revelers were clearly enjoying themselves as funk pioneer George Clinton and singer/songwriter Kate Nash took to the stage for the second full day of this 40th birthday event.
For those who prefer their music more electronic, dancehero Petshop Boys played up at the same time on "The Other Stage," committing anyone who went to watch "the time of their life."
Normally, the unpredictable British summer means that the festival is more associated with bogs rather than Bogota but Colombian singer Shakira’s Latin rhythms suited the moment perfectly.
The South American superstar mesmerized the large main stage crowd with her hip-wiggling dance routines before they joined her in singing along with breakthrough hit, "Whenever, Wherever."
After Friday’s storming headline set by Gorillaz, which was littered with guest stars including rocker Lou Reed and rapper Snoop Dogg, the big excitement was a surprise appearance by Kylie Minogue.
She joined American group Scissor Sisters and with songs like "I don’t feel like dancing," made sure the crowd were in party mood before the headline performance by Muse.
Minogue was meant to perform in 2005 but she had to pull out of that show due to breast cancer diagnosis but the huge ovation she received when she took to the stage made sure it was worth the wait.
Saturday’s line-up kicked off with a set by I Blame Coco, fronted by Coco Sumner, daughter of Police superstar Sting.
"I think it’s a brilliant festival," the 19-year-old Sumner told AFP after her set on the Park Stage.
"This is my third Glastonbury and it’s a great day, I’ve been looking forward to it for a long time."
The Lightning Seeds also performed their football anthem Three Lions, sparking a mass sing-along of "football’s coming home" ahead of England’s crunch World Cup match against Germany on Sunday.
Among the crowds was London-based photographer Max Whitaker, who remarked on how different the scene was compared to when he was here in 1971 for the second ever festival, headlined by Traffic and David Bowie.
"It was very shambolic and there were no facilities, there were just trenches for going to the loo," Whitaker recalled. "Nobody had tents, there were just sleeping bags, but I slept in my car.
"You couldn’t even find the place, but we’d just had Woodstock and the Isle of Wight festival, it was the spirit of the time."
He added: "I came back five years ago and it nearly killed me, I was terrified. It’s very commercialized but I was very impressed and still think it retains its communal spirit."
This year there were 700 meters (2,300 feet) of urinals on site and storage capacity for 1.8 million gallons of human waste — over 10 liters per person — highlighting the transformation the festival has undergone.
The event generates over £82 million ($124 million) for the national economy and donates over £2 million a year to charities including Oxfam, Greenpeace and WaterAid.
Within the site different areas cater for a multitude of philosophies.
The Greenfields area was the place to find the original 1960s drop outs while the Fields of Avalon recreated the traditional carnival with a Wall of Death, insect circus and Big Top circus tent.
At the far end of the site were Shangri-La and Arcadia, visions of derelict towns created by artists, which provided entertainment through the night after the official music stopped.
And for the foodies, it seemed there was no corner of the globe not represented among the plethora of stalls offering everything from Jamaican jerk chicken to Eritrean curries and traditional English fare.
Unsurprisingly though, it was the smoothies stall which had the longest queues as the party-goers combated the unrelenting but welcome sunshine.
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Damon Albarn of British concept group Gorillaz performs on the Pyramid stage. (AFP Photo/Leon Neal)
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Australian singer Kylie Minogue (L) appears as a special guest with US band the Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears (C) and Ana Matronic on the Pyramid Stage. (AFP Photo/Leon Neal)
