Paul McCartney shares new essay on “magical” Glastonbury 2022 set
Paul McCartney has shared new reflections on the “magical” expertise of headlining Glastonbury 2022, alongside new images and pictures from the evening.
The Beatle headlined the Saturday evening of this yr’s competition – the primary Glastonbury in three years – and performed a mammoth, career-spanning set, welcoming particular friends Bruce Springsteen and Dave Grohl.
In a brand new piece for the BBC, McCartney mirrored on the expertise and shared new backstage images from the evening, alongside footage of his band rehearsing forward of the set.
He wrote: “Festivals are particular, however Glastonbury is especially so and it’s a giant occasion in plenty of individuals’s yr. As a result of it had been cancelled in 2020 and 2021 as a consequence of Covid, it grew to become extra necessary to drag it off.
“I’d requested Bruce Springsteen in 2020 if he’d be completely happy to come back onboard and he mentioned sure, and he saved his promise two years later. In order that was very thrilling, having him and Dave Grohl up on the stage.”
See the brand new and unique images and backstage footage from the evening here.
Of the Glastonbury ambiance, he added: “It’s a fairly spectacular scene for individuals within the viewers, however we get the entire view up on the stage with the flags and the hills going again without end, so it was fairly a giant deal that they mentioned sure to becoming a member of me in that have.
“After all, up on stage I can’t actually see individuals’s reactions however I really like to listen to them as a result of I’ve discovered myself doing that at live shows. I went to see James Taylor as soon as and began blubbing as a result of it was simply so pretty! I used to be pondering, ‘Oh, I really like this man’ – I’m getting emotional even now!
“It’s a magical factor, figuring out music can try this to individuals,” Macca added. “We’re the one animal on the planet that does that.
“Then you definitely’ve obtained the spirituality of the place, figuring out in regards to the ley traces and every little thing else. When you’ve gotten an occasion like Glastonbury and everybody comes along with good vibes and vitality, I’m very completely happy to be a part of that.”
NME‘s Sophie Williams named the set her favorite reside present of 2022 as a part of a round-up of NME writers’ finest gigs of the yr, writing: “There was one thing that was impressively relentless in regards to the set: it by no means lagged regardless of its three-hour run time, whereas nearly each track arrived with psychedelic visuals or, nearly unbelievably, pyro.
“Nevertheless it was the sight of Dave Grohl and Bruce Springsteen – two distinguished Beatles obsessives – dwelling out their desires as they carried out nearer ‘The Finish’ with McCartney that was essentially the most highly effective spectacle of all. As a flurry of fireworks unfold throughout the sky above, the trio repeated one phrase time and again: “Love.” For 180 minutes, it was all over the place.”