Top 8 Glastonbury 2025 moments including Olivia & Robert’s duet, Rod & Ronnie’s reunion, Lewis Capaldi’s comeback & more

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Worthy Farm has emptied out. The glitter’s washed off, the tents have collapsed into mud, and 210,000 people are back in the real world trying to make sense of what just happened. The mud might be drying on Worthy Farm, but the noise from Glastonbury 2025? It’s still ringing in our ears.

There were moments this year that made people cry, scream, argue, and lose their minds, sometimes all at once. This wasn’t the year of a single headliner dominating headlines. This was the year of chaotic genius. Of punk chants ringing through political tension. Of unexpected duets that bridged decades. Of artists coming back from silence.

Here’s a rundown of the 8 moments we’ll be talking about long after the fields lie fallow.

1. Lewis Capaldi’s comeback that stopped the festival

Two years ago, his voice cracked under the weight of Tourette's, cutting his set heartbreakingly short. This time? He walked back onto that Pyramid Stage like he owned it. "Worst-kept secret!" he grinned, and then he finished what he started. His voice was stronger, his tics softer, but his heart? Still wide open. When those opening notes of Someone You Loved hit, and 210,000 voices sang it right back to him? He cried. So did everyone else.

2. Olivia Rodrigo and Robert Smith’s goth-pop dream sequence

No one was expecting The Cure frontman to stroll out under the Sunday sunset. But there he was, eyeliner and all, joining Olivia Rodrigo in one of the most generationally surreal collaborations the Pyramid Stage has ever seen. Together, they sang Friday I’m In Love and Just Like Heaven, and something strange happened: thousands of Gen Z and Gen X fans wept together. Rodrigo looked awestruck. Smith smiled. The whole thing was almost eerie and euphoric.

3. Rod Stewart’s rock ‘n’ roll reunion, complete with Lulu and Ronnie Wood

80 years old. Sunday Legends Slot. Rod Stewart didn't just sing the hits. He threw a party. Mick Hucknall joined in. Lulu too. But the real moment? When his old bandmate from The Faces, Ronnie Wood, walked on stage. They blasted through Stay With Me, that classic rock energy surging back. Then, festival founder Michael Eavis appeared, wheeled out by his daughter Emily, smiling at the huge crowd he started. It felt big. Like watching Glastonbury's history come alive right there. It was proof that legacy doesn’t fade, it just gets louder.

4. Kneecap and Bob Vylan brought fire and fury

Glasto's always had a political pulse, but 2025 felt like a live wire. Belfast rap trio Kneecap used their West Holts set for loud pro-Palestinian chants in Irish, displaying "Israel are war criminals" on screens and targeting Keir Starmer. The BBC cut the live feed, and police are investigating parts of their performance. At Woodsies, punk duo Bob Vylan led the crowd in chanting "Death to the IDF." Festival organisers condemned this specific chant as hate speech and Prime Minister Starmer called it "appalling". Glastonbury 2025 proved, once again, that the festival doesn't mute uncomfortable voices. This is part of its fabric.

5. Pulp’s secret show under the name ‘Patchwork’

All weekend, everyone wondered: who was the mystery act Patchwork? They didn’t announce it. They didn’t need to. On Saturday afternoon, the answer hit the Pyramid Stage. Jarvis Cocker walked out. Pulp slipped into a secret slot under a fake name and blew the roof off with Common People, Disco 2000, and sheer 90s brilliance. It was a brilliant, unannounced 30th-anniversary nod to their legendary 1995 Glastonbury headline rescue. Pure surprise. Pure joy.

6. Charli XCX burned her past, literally

Saturday night, the Brat queen stepped onstage and torched her signature green backdrop. Goodbye old era. What followed was pure energy: 360, Von Dutch, Club Classics. Heavy beats, heavy autotune used deliberately. Not everyone liked her stripped-back, guest-free approach, but that wasn't the point. She delivered exactly the intense, focused set she wanted. Critics debated. The crowd didn’t care.

7. Scissor Sisters and Sir Ian McKellen’s surprise walk-on

Midway through Scissor Sisters' headline set at Woodsies, their first Glastonbury show in 15 years, Sir Ian McKellen appeared. He didn't just wave. He recited lyrics from their song Invisible Light and then walked, visibly moved, right through the stunned, cheering crowd. He danced. He cried. People chanted “national treasure.” It was pure camp, pure catharsis.

8. Neil Young’s stripped-back sermon

While some sets screamed for attention, Neil Young whispered. Alone with a guitar and decades of memory, he sang Harvest Moon and Cinnamon Girl like they still hurt. No visuals, no hype. You could hear a pin drop. He refused video screens, forcing the crowd to focus or move closer. At 78, his voice cracked in places, but the songs held firm. Stripped of spectacle, the set stood out purely on the strength of song writing, reminding us sometimes, you don’t need fireworks to set hearts on fire.

Glastonbury 2025 by the numbers:

• 210,000 people crammed the fields.
• Roughly 4,000 acts played.
• 120 stages hosted them.
• 1.2 million pints were poured.
• Tickets vanished in 35 minutes.

Festivalgoers watch British band Wolf Alice perform on the Other Stage on the final day of the Glastonbury festival Getty Images

The ground beneath our feet

2027 feels a lifetime away. However, Glastonbury 2025 didn’t play it safe. It poked at power. It celebrated weirdness. It held space for grief, rage, joy, and rebellion all at once. It was Capaldi finding his voice again in front of a family of thousands. It was Olivia Rodrigo reaching back and Robert Smith reaching forward. It was Rod Stewart proving rock 'n' roll never dies, and Kneecap screaming that some fights aren't over. It was Charli burning it down and McKellen wandering wonderstruck.

It was wild. It was beautiful. It was uncomfortable. It was unforgettable.

See you in 2027.