Banksy designed stab vest for Stormzy’s Glastonbury headline slot
Stormzy wore the vest for the beginning of his headline performance at Glastonbury Festival.
Graffiti artist Banksy has revealed he designed the Union Jack stab vest worn by Stormzy during his headline slot at the Glastonbury Festival.
In a post on Instagram, Banksy shared a photograph of the 25-year-old grime artist wearing the black and white painted vest.
He wrote: “I made a customised stab-proof vest and thought – who could possibly wear this? Stormzy at Glastonbury.”
But Stormzy implied he was not aware the vest was made by the elusive artist, sharing Banksy’s post on Twitter and writing: “Absolutely f****** speechless.”
He later posted a picture of himself wearing the garment on Instagram, saying: “Last night I headlined Glastonbury in a stab-proof vest custom made by the greatest, most iconic living artist on planet earth, the one and only BANKSY. ”
On Friday night Stormzy became the first black British solo artist to headline the festival in its 49-year history.
The Croydon-born star described his slot on the Pyramid stage as “the greatest night of my entire life”.
On his lengthy Instagram post he thanked all those who had helped and encouraged him, including Jay-Z and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, as well as all those who appeared on stage with him.
He concluded: “THANK YOU GUYS, THANK YOU GOD. I am proud of myself and I feel blessed and fulfilled and purposeful. Your Glastonbury 2019 headliner, over and out.”
Stormzy is the second-youngest solo act to headline the festival, after David Bowie in 1971 when he was 24.
During his show, Stormzy performed a duet with Martin and highlighted how ballet shoes were now being made to match black skin tones.
The Killers will take to the Pyramid stage on Saturday night, 12 years after sound issues plagued their last headline slot at the festival.
Other acts to feature on the main stage are Liam Gallagher, Janet Jackson, Hozier, Anne-Marie, Carrie Underwood and The Proclaimers.
Elsewhere, The Chemical Brothers, Wu-Tang Clan, Sean Paul and Hot Chip are some of the other acts headlining stages across the site, which is the largest greenfield music and performing arts festival in the world.
Organisers have insisted there is “no water shortage” at the event, which has seen another day of hot and dry weather.
They posted a statement on Saturday following tweets from some festival-goers complaining of lengthy queues for taps to refill water bottles.
Single-use plastic bottles have been banned from the Somerset event this year, which has a focus of climate change and the environment.
“There is not a water shortage at this year’s Glastonbury. Our supply is running as normal,” the organisers said.
“As always in hot weather, demand for water has increased, so we have put in place the usual restrictions on staff/guest showers and the limited number of public showers.
“We have more than 850 taps on site, all of which provide free drinking water. These taps all have a ready supply of water.”
They added that all bars were offering free tap water, with all food traders also selling water and soft drinks in cans.
Water is also being handed out from information points, with “roving teams” providing water from backpacks.
Organisers said the on-site ambulance control had received 27 heat-related calls for assistance.
“There may be queues for taps at some of the busier places, so we ask everyone to be patient and to look for taps in quieter areas of the site,” they added.
Standard tickets for this year’s event, which will be headlined by The Cure on Sunday, sold out in just 36 minutes.
