Thousands flocked to the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts in England this past weekend, which featured some stellar performances from a wide range of artists.
The Rolling Stones, celebrating their 50th anniversary this year as a band, performed at the festival for the first time ever. The band opened with “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and performed many of their classic hits, including “Paint It Black,” “Wild Horses,” and “Gimme Shelter” in addition to some of their newer songs.
The festival also saw Mumford and Sons’ return to the stage for the first time since bass player Ted Dwane had surgery for a blood clot in his brain last month. The group closed the festival to a crowd of 80,000 people, performing hits like “The Cave” and “I Will Wait.” Their final number was a cover of “A Little Help From My Friends” and featured some guest artists including Vampire Weekend, The Vaccines, and The Staves.
One of the oldest performers ever at the Glastonbury Festival was entertainer Sir Bruce Forsyth, who is 85 years old. So many fans went to see him perform that security officers had to shut down Avalon Field for 20 minutes.
Country star Kenny Rogers received Sunday afternoon’s “Glastonbury Legend” slot and performed some of his greatest hits, including “The Gambler” and “Islands in the Stream.”
Other performers at the festival included Smashing Pumpkins, Bobby Womack, Arctic Monkeys, Rufus Wainwright, among many others.
