Elton John, Blondie and the festival’s biggest hits from Sunday

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It started with the explosive thumping of Elton John’s irritating take on The Who’s Pinball Wizard and kept going, blast after bombardment in an air of joyful celebration, writes Neil McCormick.

Glastonbury just threw the greatest retirement party in pop history. Everyone was there, and I’m not just talking about the stars watching from the side of the stage, including Paul McCartney, Eminem, and most of the Glastonbury celebrities. It was just a standing room on the hillside where every festival resident was paying their respects, leaving every other stage and domain of this sprawling site as empty as a ghost town.

Donning a gleaming gold suit, Elton sent ripples of piano virtuosity through the Somerset air and sang like a spiritual champ, backed by a quarter of a million revelers singing in unison. Brandon Flowers of The Killers gave Tiny Dancer some rock features, while techno pop star Rina Sawayama bravely stood by Kiki Dee in Don’t Break My Heart glee.

But the songs themselves do all the heavy lifting. What a catalog of classics. It’s hard to believe we’ll never hear them performed live by the composer again. Or are we? All good things come to an end, but the crowd laughed indulgently when Elton said it “might” be his last show in England, as if he really had other ideas.

You might think this entertainment veteran has seen it all in his 60-plus year career, but he seemed genuinely intimidated and delighted on the occasion. The Glastonbury scene is the people. It doesn’t have the biggest screens, the fanciest production, the latest special effects. But it possesses people, and when they are surrounded by a sense of spontaneous community, hundreds of thousands sing and swing on the hillside, waving flags, united by the power of music, it is truly extraordinarily life-affirming.

The singing of your song and the candle in the wind shone in the dark blue light while the half moon rose above the rotating pyramid stage. Don’t let the sun go down on me it was towering. Rocket Man, amidst smoky flares, flashlights, and fireworks, was a stunner. “I will never forget this,” Elton promised.

Of course, the lonely old man at Cannes was once the focal point of what used to be known as “youth culture”. Surprisingly, Blondie’s Debbie Harry is actually older than Elton, but in the timeless No. 77 she shows few signs of being ready to give up her crown as Queen of Punk. Her famous blonde hair was now completely grey, and she looked fabulous in wraparound shades, a short mini and black boots, throwing whimsical dance moves and encouraging crowd participation by barking at the crowd.

Cat Stevens, just stripped of 74, gave the set a more relaxed and warm reception in the Legends slot on Sunday afternoon. He may not have Elton’s superstardom, but he also gave us some of the best pop songs of our time, delivered here with a lovely mixture of gravitas, humility, and undisguised delight at the warm response.

Elton’s love of new music was evident when he brought out 19-year-old American Newcomer Stephen Sanchez and backed him on one of the young man’s hits, the soulful and uplifting Wajdat You. Sunday had started with a bang when one of Elton’s new favorites, the Nova Twins, hit the other stage. “These girls are great, they’re going to be great,” Rocketman predicted.

He was not mistaken. They sound like cyberpunk superheroes from a dystopian world, and the world’s most daring heavy metal band seems to have been overtaken by a hip-hop mutant virus. The local Rock’s answer to the accusations of “pale and stale males”, the sexy Nova Twins line-up was enough to suggest that Glastonbury’s future will be in safe hands after the old guard finally leaves the stage.

Catch up on all the Sunday action from Glastonbury below! And check back in a bit to read Elton John’s full Neil review

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