5 Best Glastonbury Headline Sets Of The Last Decade

Glastonbury Festival. The biggest festival in the world. The best week of your life. Hosted on a farm in Somerset, only the biggest and best artists get to headline. To give it it's formal name, The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, hosts a wide variety of acts from rock bands, to rappers and even at one time, Port Isaac's Fisherman's Friends.

Michael Eavis, and more recently his daughter Emily, have been running the annual Somerset party since 1970, playing host to classic artists such as The Smiths, Led Zeppelin and Oasis.

Over the last decade, the BBC coverage of Glastonbury has become more extensive than ever, thanks to the introduction of the iPlayer. Due to this, it has become easier than ever to be a part of the festival, whether you are there in person, sliding through the mud, or watching from the comfort of your sofa.

With tickets for the 2020 edition of the festival on sale this week (the 50th anniversary, no less!), here is a run-down of the very best headliners on The Pyramid Stage from the last decade.

Possibly the most culturally significant set that The Eavis family have ever booked, Stormzy became the first ever British black solo artist to headline Glastonbury. The grime star took to The Pyramid Stage on the Friday night of the 2019 edition of the festival, dressed in a stab vest designed by Banksy, emblazoned with a monochrome Union Flag.

The London grime star has never been shy of expressing his political, social and cultural opinions, and this performance was no different. Playing hits from his debut album, such as Big For Your Boots and Shut Up would have been enough to call this performance a success. However, just enough is never enough for Stormzy. This was proven with the introduction of Coldplay's Chris Martin for a collaboration on 'Blinded By Your Grace, Pt. 1', as well as fellow London rappers Dave and Fredo for a performance of their track 'Funky Friday', which had recently become the first ever British rap song to reach number 1 in the singles chart.

Dave said it best when he thanked Stormzy on stage for all he had done for black and ethnic minority groups, telling him that "You've made it possible for man like us to believe." Further proving Dave's point, Stormzy included BAME dance group, Ballet Black, during his performance of 'Don't Cry For Me', which was hailed as "beautifully powerful" by Jeremy Corbyn.

All that aside, who else could really get 200,000 people to shout "f**k Boris" live on national TV?