Glastonbury Festival is one of the world’s most popular music festivals. This year, two female acts took on the Pyramid Stage as headliners for the first time in history — Dua Lipa and SZA. Other prominent artists joined them at the festival, including Janelle Monae, Avril Lavigne, Cyndi Lauper, Shania Twain and the Sugababes.
But the occasion was marked by poor scheduling and sound issues, with one music journalist accusing the festival of “letting down a lot of its biggest female acts this year.”
The female artists have also been criticised — Dua Lipa was falsely accused of miming, while SZA’s headline slot and Cyndi Lauper’s set was plagued by audio issues. Several acts were also blamed for drawing smaller than expected crowds. The criticism on social media is “absolutely appalling,” English singer, Paloma Faith said in a post on X.
“The way people criticise the women who performed at @glastonbury online is absolutely appalling,” she wrote. “I think people need to understand that women are not on stage to be ridiculed and shamed we are there in all our boss bitch power and we stand by one another. GIVE WOMEN A BREAK.”
“Personally I watched women perform my fave shows of Glastonbury @LittleSimz @JanelleMonae @sza and @DUALIPA were my faves for entertainment power and talent that I managed to catch this year and Janelle’s speech about marginalised Communities got me in the heart.”
Faith was referring to Monae’s performance, during which they told their fans: “The one thing I want to mention is that we have the best community, it’s not because we look the coolest or are the coolest, but it’s the way that we protect other marginalised people.”
Monae’s set was held during Avril Lavigne’s — a clash which many fans online blamed for the singer’s “thin crowd.”
Music journalist Roisin O’Connor took to X to comment on the mismanaged scheduling of the female artists: “SZA should have been Fri or Sat headliner, Avril, Janelle and Sugababes on bigger stages, Shania and Cyndi without being plagued by sound issues.”
Sugarbabes played at the festival’s third-biggest stage, West Holts, on Friday evening. Fans of SZA were disappointed after the first thirty minutes of her set was muffled and muddy, making the singer almost inaudible. Her set was also observed by fans as being rather small, with one writing on X: “That SZA crowd is one of the lowest I’ve ever seen for a Pyramid Headliner. Wow.”
SZA took to X in response to the fiasco, saying: “The bravery required to be alive in public is remarkable. S/o everybody doing that shit.”
Cyndi Lauper’s set was also beset by sound problems, with one fan crying, “was really let down by sound system at @Glastonbury. Couldn’t hear her vocals but could see the effort she was putting in to try and rouse a crowd that couldn’t get over the poor sound. Everyone around us so disappointed.”
Speaking to BBC Breakfast after her performance, the 71-year old legend admitted there had been “technical difficulties” to endure.
“Sometimes you’re up there and the sound is like, ‘What?’” she said on Sunday morning. “But it doesn’t matter because the spirit is there… The spirit of those people. That was great. I had fun.”
During her set at Glastonbury, she used her stage time to advocate for women’s rights.
“It is time that world leaders understand that women are half the population of the world,” she said, “and we deserve to be treated equally.”
Historically, music festivals have been dominated by male artists. One UK study from 2023 found that only a fifth of festival headline acts in UK’s top festivals are fronted by women, while just two per cent were by non-binary people. Meanwhile, 78 per cent were comprised of male artists.