Glastonbury 2024: Festivalgoers have their say including SZA and Avril Lavigne 'big mistake'

• Glastonbury 2024 is now in the books after SZA closed the festival on the Pyramid Stage (June 30 2024)
• But with many still packing their items away to leave Worthy Farm, opinions this year are already being shared online
• What did those attending Glastonbury think was the good, the bad and the somewhat ugly?
• What musician did people think deserved a slot on one of the bigger stages?

I would imagine by the time you’re reading this, you’re either dealing with the post-Glastonbury blues now you’re at home, or you’re stuck in traffic.

Either way, the world-famous music festival has drawn to a close of another year, with revellers having spent the last five days taking in the renowned site and sounds of Worthy Farm, with conversations now discussing the good, the bad and the ugly at this year’s festival.

Headlined by Dua Lipa, Coldplay and SZA, there have been early remarks throughout the festival of stages reaching capacity very quickly a “lack” of an audience for SZA during her Pyramid Stage set to close out Glastonbury 2024 and Coldplay’s special guest that was a complete surprise - even by Glasto standards. 

Of course, the complaints this year seemed to once again be outweighed by the overall positive experience many had at the festival - but those gripes still hold some weight, especially with the stage times on the final night being especially hard for those trying to avoid set clashes.

So what is the general feeling about Glastonbury this year, as the great clean-up on Worthy Farm begins? 

The Good

Coldplay’s record-breaking Pyramid Stage set

Coldplay headlined the festival on Saturday evening in what many are calling one of the highlights of this year’s festival. The group have headlined Glastonbury five times before, with their performance over the weekend setting the record for the most number of times an artist has headlined the Pyramid Stage.

But not content with creating history, their special guest was one of the biggest highlights in recent Glastonbury memory. “Back To The Future” star Michael J. Fox made an appearance, performing with the band to the astonishment of the crowd - as the band threw in a couple of “Johnny B. Good” references while Fox performed on guitar from his wheelchair. It truly was one of the weekend’s most surprises. 

Kasabian indeed were your secret Woodsies act

Admittedly I was wrong about who would perform the secret on the Woodsies Stage on Saturday, but one of the worst-kept secrets at Glastonbury was, by all accounts, still a memorable moment in 2024.

Kasabian, who were the bookies’ favourites to perform the secret set, revealed earlier on Saturday that they were performing at Glastonbury, performed front of a pack-out audience ripping through some of their anthemic back-catalogue ahead of their upcoming headline shows - including a performance in their hometown of Leicester. 

“Glastonbury 24!!! thank you for tearing the place to pieces. That was the most epic experience of our lives. Every single one of you gave everything. There was something supernatural about that show. we do it, for days like this. Until next time” the band wrote on X (formerly Twitter.)

The Bad

SZA’s as Sunday’s headliner on the Pyramid Stage

Aside from what some media outlets are calling a “smaller crowd” owing to the cluster that was set clashes towards the end of the festival (see below), SZA was considered one of the highlights of the festival - even if technical issues initially dogged her. 

But it would be the smaller presence at the Pyramid Stage to close the festival out that many were surprised about, with some speculating that perhaps SZA wasn’t as “ubiquitous” as a name that organisers initially thought. 

Despite her Grammy award wins and penning songs for the likes of Beyonce and Rihanna, it would appear that not many people were familiar with the “SOS” hitmaker. ““I’ve looked up SZA on Spotify, she’s got 70.5 mill followers and one of her songs has been streamed 1.9 billion times, I am clearly in a minority, I’ve never heard her or even of her,” one person wrote on X (formerly Twitter.)

Avril Lavigne on a smaller stage

So if SZA wasn’t a “big enough” name for the Pyramid Stage, who did people think could have accommodated that slot? One name seems to be appearing constantly on social media that possibly “could” have taken the slot - Avril Lavinge.

It took 22 years for the “Sk8ter Boi” pop-punk artist to perform at Glastonbury Festival, with her set almost as nostalgia-infused as Shania Twain’s was during Sunday’s “Legends” slot. But many felt Lavinge should have performed on a bigger stage, despite her being on one of the five “main” stages at Glastonbury (The Other Stage.)

One user on X wrote "They messed up some of these billings, Avril should have been on the Pyramid!” while in keeping with Sunday’s England game against Slovakia at Euro 2024, another made an analogy regarding Lavigne not on the main stage: "Putting Avril Lavigne on the other stage instead of the Pyramid is as criminal as dropping Grealish from the England squad." 

The (somewhat) ugly

Choice of artists on certain stages

Two of the bigger ticket performances during the festival came in the form of Avril Lavinge and Sugababes - both of which performed on a smaller stage during the festival. It would appear though that the organisers perhaps didn’t expect just how many people would want to catch the acts.  

Many complained that they were turned away from trying to see Sugababes’ performance at the West Holts stage on Friday (June 28 2024), while many have stated that the queue to see Charli XCX’s DJ set at Levels on Friday night, was as long as the queue to get into the festival itself.

Glastonbury defended the notion of bigger names on smaller stages as par for the course regarding the festival: “Major artists wanting to perform at smaller stages with limited capacities is part of the magic of Glastonbury. This can mean some fans will be disappointed, but our crowd management plan always puts safety first.”

Sunday night stage clashes

SZA’s “smaller” crowd in part was blamed on revellers looking to beat the traditional rush hour traffic leaving Worthy Farm but setting off beforehand, but for a lot of other festival attendees, the smaller crowd was also blamed on the “brutal” set clashes on the final day of the festival. 

One look on Clashfinder shows how the final acts on the main stages would have been a struggle to choose from: alongside SZA’s performance on the Pyramid Stage, The National were performing on The Others Stage (before their UK tour), James Blake performed on the Woodsies Stage and Justice performed on the West Holts stage. 

Combine that with those people perhaps looking to avoid this morning’s rush to leave the festival site, it could explain why some crowds looked a little less “full” than those throughout the rest of the weekend at Worthy Farm. 

But that’s the nature of music festivals - and if you missed out on one of the bigger names performing, there are always some upcoming UK tours you can check out if you were adamant about catching one of this year’s performers. 

Did you attend this year’s Glastonbury Festival and agree with the comments online regarding SZA’s performance? Were you one of those who got turned away from seeing Sugababes perform or were you there when BICEP had to shut down their set? Let us know by leaving a comment down below or contact the writer: [email protected].