2023.06.24 - Glastonbury Festival, Pilton, England

More than a third of UK population watched Glastonbury 2023 on BBC in record numbers

By Alistair McGeorge

The BBC has confirmed a record 21.6 million people tuned into its Glastonbury 2023 TV coverage.

With 200,000 fans enjoying the action from Worthy Farm itself, over a third of the UK population – let’s just take that in for a second – watched the Beeb’s programming, with over 40 hours available to viewers.

That’s up 7% on last year across linear TV, and not surprisingly Sir Elton John’s ‘unbelievable’ headline set on Sunday captured most people’s attention.

The Rocket Man legend’s performance pulled in the biggest ever overnight audience for a Glastonbury set, racking up a five minute peak overnight audience of 7.6m.

The average audience across the whole of his career spanning show was 7.3m, while the performance also aired on BBC Radio 2, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds.

In a statement, Lorna Clarke, the BBC’s Director of Music, said: ‘What an incredible way to end this year’s Glastonbury festival!

‘Elton John’s set will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the most epic performances ever to light up the Pyramid Stage and was watched by a record 7.6 million people on BBC One.

‘I’m so delighted the BBC and our superb teams were able to share every bit of the magic from Worthy Farm during the weekend with audiences at home.

‘People can catch Elton John’s unmissable set and all our other content now on BBC Sounds and BBC iPlayer, which also has over 90 other sets from across the Glastonbury stages.’

Elsewhere over the weekend, Arctic Monkeys’ set – which marked the first time a Friday night headline set aired on BBC One – had a peak of 2.6m, and an average of 1.5m, while Saturday night headliners Guns N’ Roses pulled in an average of 1m, while peaking at 2.1m.

Meanwhile, Lewis Capaldi’s and Lizzo’s Pyramid Stage performances on Saturday had a peak BBC One audience peak 2.4m and average 2.3m viewers.

For this year’s Legends slot on Sunday, Yusuf/Cat Stevens drew in a peak of 3m and average of 2.3m, which was BBC Two’s biggest audience of the year, with Rick Astley and Blondie bringing in a peak audience of 2.5m and an average of 2.1m on BBC One.

Blackstar wrote:

https://twitter.com/neil_mccormick/status/1673965305435963393

That's the reviewer at The Telegraph.

The reviewer at The Independent (Mark Beaumont) has made his twitter account private since last night.

Links to both reviews can be found on the previous page.

Owls rescued at Glastonbury Festival as Guns n' Roses played

By Phil Hill

A PAIR of little owls are being cared for by a wildlife charity after they were found under the Pyramid Stage during the Glastonbury Festival.

The first chick was discovered during Guns n' Roses headline set on the Saturday night.

Named Axl after the band's vocalist Axl Rose, it was initially taken to the RSPCA at West Hatch and afterwards transferred to Somerset World Wildlife Rescue (SWWR), in Highbridge.

The following day, another bird, thought to be Axl's sibling, was discovered in the same place.

Slash - named after Guns n' Roses guitarist, was soon reunited with Axl at SWWR, where they are doing well in an outside aviary.



SWWR fundraising manager David Plant said: “When Guns N’ Roses were playing 'Welcome to the Jungle', I’m sure they didn’t realise how close they actually were to wildlife.

"This is possibly the most unusual disturbance case we’ve heard about this year, but it just goes to show the importance of checking your surrounding for wildlife before any activity."

The Pyramid Stage frame remains in place all year when Worthy Farm goes back to being a dairy farm. Clearly a pair of little owls thought it would be a great place to make a nest.

David added: "Whether you’re renovating your garden, or setting up for the world’s biggest musical festival, our advice is always the same - if you’ve got materials or structures that have been in place for a while, please check them carefully before moving anything, as you may end up disturbing a nest.

"It looks like the parents sadly abandoned their nest once festival preparation began, so it’s difficult to say how long the chicks were left alone.

"We’re so grateful to the people who found and helped them. They must have been terrified after enduring almost two full days of loud music.

"We’re hopeful they won’t be 'Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door' any time soon, and we’ll be making plans to return them to the wild once they’re old enough, so they’ll get their chance to experience some 'November Rain' later in the year.”

Guns N’ Roses Bring The Energy And The Hits To Glastonbury 2023

Words and photos by Kalpesh Patel at Glastonbury Festival 2023

L.A.-hailing hard rock legends Guns N’ Roses come with both their famous hits and legacy of, well, destruction if you pardon the pun. The band formed in the mid-1980’s when the band L.A. Guns needed a new vocalist and found him by way of Axel Rose, and so Guns N’ Roses was born. The band shot to superstardom within two years, following the release of #1-charting debut LP Appetite For Destruction and it’s slew of hit singles. Stories from the road and frontman Rose’s temperament were just as wild as their continuing hits until the group’s self-destruction in the mid-1990s, with only the frontman remaining from the core line-up and continuing to make headlines for diva-like behaviour and late on-stage times.

Come 2015, and both guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan re-joined and the new era of the stadium-touring legacy rockers was born. And so, when this year’s final two Glastonbury Festival headliners were announced (Elton John announced last year), it was with some trepidation that the news was received.

But as Axel Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan took to the Pyramid Stage for the first time and on time (quite unlike Other Stage opposite number Lana Del Rey), joined by keyboard man Dizzy Reed, guitarist Richard Fortus, sticksman Frank Ferrer and keyboardist Melissa Reese, we knew it would be a good night! Appetite single It’s So Easy kicked off the set, and immediately had the crowd bouncing along.

Sure, Rose’s signature voice and it’s 6-octave range haven’t survived the test of time quite as well as Slash’s virtuoso guitar skills (or stage-jumping antics!), but the group brought an energy that simply didn’t even make the packing list for the previous evening’s downbeat headline set from Arctic Monkeys.

Sure, the mammoth 2-hour set is a paired-back outing of Guns’ current stadium tour (which runs 3 non-stop, ear-bleeding hours) and features a lot of music that isn’t so familiar to the casual listener. But that’s fine, it’s delivered with a level of energy and showmanship that places GNR firmly in the correct position, topping the bill at Worthy Farm. This does mean that droves of folks filling out the Pyramid field lose interest and depart to find another adventure. Their loss!

5 songs in, hit single Welcome To The Jungle pulls back a few who might have thought about alternative plans, Mr. Brownstone keeping them firmly rooted as Axel, Duff and Slash make the most of the vast Pyramid runway, stretching from the edge of one flanking screen to the other. Seriously, these guys bring it and I don’t know how they keep it up for tune after tune as the moon hangs low above the Pyramid Stage this clear June night.

Wings cover and James Bond film theme, given a new lease of life with Guns’ 1991 cover, Live And Let Die is introduced as celebrating it’s 50th’s year. A shoutout to it’s writer Paul McCartney, who had been spotted watching The Pretenders at The Park Stage earlier, is offered by Rose, the song receiving the biggest singalong of the night thus far.

The hits are largely all present and accounted for, Civili War repurposed to highlight the current war in Ukraine, You Could Be Mine, Sweet Child O’ Mine, November Rain, Patience, Bob Dylan cover Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door and Nightrain delight. Don’t Cry is missed. And while no encore is offered, Guns N’ Roses close their explosive set in style with 1988 hit single Paradise City. “We’re gonna bring out a friend” Rose teases before introducing Foo Fighters’ frontman Dave Grohl. “Because, there’s never such a thing as too many guitars” the frontman continues. And while totally unnecessary, and the subject of many a meme, the tune’s famous intro, coupled with the addition of Grohl sends the Pyramid field into a frenzy.

Say what you will, of course you’re entitled to your own opinion, but watching that set from the middle of a packed Pyramid field was pure joy, something Glastonbury Festival is really all about. Well done boys!