Glastonbury live: Kanye West

With his appointment shrouded in controversy months before he had even hit the stage, it’s safe to say that Kanye West’s Glastonbury debut was one that many were anticipating… for a multitude of reasons. 

Naysayers (and there were plenty of them, both in ‘that’ petition plus those in the audience too) were amongst the eager-eyed, and with a fair few hiccups, one would be forgiven thinking the ‘anti-Kanye contingent’ may have had a point. 

From a stage invasion (by comedian Lee Nelson), to staggered, unnecessarily-long pauses mid-set, West’s show will no-doubt go down as a fairly hot-topic for many more years. 

On the plus side, the rapper did belt out a host of classics from a gorgeous stage. Opening with Stronger to roars from the crowd, Kanye visited various avenues from his vast discography, old and new. 

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Additionally not even the aforementioned Nelson could fault the rapper’s showmanship, flawlessly continuing through Blkkk Skinhead without even an inkling of the disturbance happening. 

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There did seem a surprising ‘lull moment’ that may have continued far longer than it perhaps should have, with Yeezy, joined by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, trawling through some heavily autotuned down-tempo edits. West however did show a slight pensive side, raw and emotional for him it may have seemed.

At one point it did seem Kanye had left his ego at stage-side, however a closure (Goldigger) was slightly sidelined thanks to his bold (and boo-worthy) proclamation as “the greatest living rockstar on the planet“, leaving many attendees almost angry at the remark. 

There may not have been any special guests as hoped/rumoured, but it does take a fair whack of talent (or potential arrogance) to carry an almost two-hour set pretty much on your lonesome. 

Overall, a strong stab at an impressively flawless catalogue. Headline performer? Absolutely. Headline performance? Questionable.