Dua Lipa headlines Glastonbury Festival: I’ve dreamed about this my whole life

Dua Lipa said she has dreamed about headlining Glastonbury Festival “my whole life” as she kicked off the Pyramid stage slot.

The pop superstar opened her first headline performance at the British festival with impressive choreography to her hit track Training Season from her third studio album, Radical Optimism, which was released earlier this year.

The 28-year-old told the crowd: “I can’t believe this, I’ve dreamed about this my whole life.

“And I can’t believe I’m right up here, right here, with you guys, I am so happy to be here with you guys tonight.”

During her performance, the audience could be heard singing loudly along to the words of her 2018 track One Kiss with Calvin Harris, and the song that “changed my life” Be The One.

The pop star stood on the barrier separating the crowd from the stage as the audience helped her sing parts of the song.

Meanwhile, during her 2020 hit song Levitating, the singer asked the crowd if they were ready “to go to the moon”.

The headline set also saw her bring out surprise guest Kevin Parker from Tame Impala, performing The Less I Know The Better from the group’s repertoire.

Parker appeared to have problems with his microphone, which Dua Lipa laughed off.

Later in the performance, Dua Lipa asked for the house lights to be turned on so she could see the audience.

“This is a massive dream come true for me, I have written this moment down, I’ve wished for it, I’ve dreamt, I’ve worked so hard in the hopes that maybe one day I’ll get to do it and I can’t believe I’m here, it feels so good to be up here with you guys,” she said.

“You know when I wrote it down, I was very specific, I said I really wanted to headline the Pyramid Stage on a Friday night because then I knew I could party for the next two days in the best place on Earth.

“I’m so grateful, little me would just be beside herself right now.”

Dua Lipa, who took home the Brit Award for best pop act in March, treated revellers to a selection of her hit songs, including Illusion, These Walls, Break My Heart, Love Again, Hallucinate and Electricity.

During 2018’s New Rules, the singer asked the audience to get to the floor before jumping in the air and dancing to the track.

It comes after Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis said the pop star was “born” to headline the festival.

Earlier on the Pyramid stage on Friday, Paul Heaton and Norman Cook reunited to perform a Housemartins classic at Glastonbury.

Heaton surprised festival-goers by bringing out his former bandmate Cook, better known as Fatboy Slim, to perform their 1986 hit Happy Hour.

Friday also saw Damon Albarn make a surprise appearance at the festival, asking the crowd whether the war in Gaza was “unfair” and suggesting Joe Biden was too old to be US president.

The singer was invited on stage by Bombay Bicycle Club frontman Jack Steadman while festival organiser Eavis joined seven minutes of silence at the Pyramid stage calling for peace.

At Pilton Palais, a large indoor cinema space at Glastonbury, actress Saoirse Ronan made a surprise appearance at a Q&A for the Andrew Haigh film All Of Us Strangers where she questioned stars of the film Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott.