Sugababes felt ‘pressure’ ahead of third Glastonbury performance

Pop group the Sugababes felt pressure ahead of another performance at Glastonbury because “every time we’ve come, something historical has happened”.

The original 1998 line-up of Keisha Buchanan, Mutya Buena and Siobhan Donaghy were upgraded to the festival’s West Holts stage this year, opening with song Freak Like Me before reeling of hits Overload, Push The Button, and Round Round.

The bigger stage slot came after their 2022 performance on the Avalon stage was shut down due to safety concerns over the huge crowds that the girl group drew.

The first time the band performed was in 2003 on the Pyramid stage.

“I feel like every time we’ve come, something historical has happened,” Buchanan told Lauren Laverne and Clara Amfo on BBC Two.

“The first time we performed at Glastonbury was very controversial because they usually didn’t have pop girl bands on the main stage. I remember that was scary.

“And obviously shutting down the Avalon stage, that’s pressure by the way.”

Donaghy said she was questioning, “how do we live up to the last time”, while Buena said: “I think that’s what I was really worried about, not living up to the last time.”

The Sugababes formed in 1998 before Donaghy left in 2001, replaced by Heidi Range. Buena was replaced by Amelle Berrabah in 2005 and Buchanan, the final original member, was replaced by Jade Ewen in 2009.

In 2019, the original trio regained the right to use the Sugababes name.

“We are literally so, so grateful to be accepted the way that we have coming back, it’s been a long ride, it’s been over 12 years that we first originally got back together, we’ve just been through so much together,” Buchanan said.

“It’s very emotional,” Buena said. “We’ve had such a blessed time to be coming here three times and perform in front of everyone, the crowds are just amazing.”

Donaghy said of Friday’s performance: “The sun came out just before we came on, there is an amazing energy here, there just is.”

Laverne told the pop group that she could not get group Jungle, who are headlining Friday’s West Holt stage, to talk about their set because “all they wanted to do was talk about you guys, sing Sugarbabes songs, they were basically just so excited about seeing you”, she said.

“We were listening to them on the bus travelling here,” Donaghy said, before adding the group were 100% up for a collaboration.

They also said they would love to collaborate with British DJ Mark Ronson and Pharrell Williams.

“A couple of biggies we still want to tick off for sure,” Donaghy added.