Seven minutes of silence for peace at Glastonbury

If there’s one thing the Glastonbury Festival doesn’t do well, it’s silence.

But that changed on Friday evening, when performance artist Marina Abramović led seven minutes of silence from the festival’s main stage.

The interlude between the musical acts was conceived as a “public intervention” to reflect on conflict and peace.

“There are wars, there are famine, there are protests, there are killings,” Abramović said. “Here we are going to try to do something different.

“We can all together give unconditional love to each other. That’s the only way to change the world.”

From the stage, the famous Serbian artist encouraged thousands of festival-goers to close their eyes, place their hand on a neighbour’s shoulder and remain still for 420 seconds.

Surprisingly, it worked. After a gong sounded, the field became completely silent.

On stage, Abramović, 77, stretched out her arms to reveal a dress designed in the shape of the CND symbol by Riccardo Tisci, the former Italian artistic director of Burberry.

CND stands for Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, which has been supported by the festival throughout its history.

Certainly, the sound of music from the surrounding scenes still reverberated in the silence. Half the crowd hadn’t turned off their phone notifications either.

And next to me, there was the telltale “psssht” of a can of beer being opened.

But the overall effect was strangely moving. Leaving aside the hedonism of festival life for seven minutes, thousands of people stopped to consider their place in the world.

Speaking to the Guardian beforehand, Abramović explained the thinking behind his performance.

“We are truly facing a dark moment in human history. So what can we do?” she asked.

“I always think protest begets more protest, and hate begets more hate. I think it’s important to turn inward. It’s easy to criticize everything else, but what can I do within myself, how can I change? »

She admitted that asking Glastonbury’s notoriously rowdy fans to shut up was “a big risk” and that the prospect of failure “terrified” her.

“But I want to take the risk,” she added. “Can you imagine if we succeed? It will be an incredible moment.”

The artist’s appearance came after a crowd-pleasing set from Paul Heaton, who performed nearly 40 years of hits including Song For Whoever, Perfect 10 and Old Red Eyes Is Back.

Heaton also introduced the first surprise guest of the day, in the form of his former Housemartins bandmate Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim.

Cook happily swapped his DJ decks for a bass guitar to play their 1986 indie anthem, Happy Hour, and the audience rushed to the front of the stage.

Another wave of crowds occurred simultaneously, two grounds away, at West Holts, where fans gathered to watch the reunited Sugababes perform a set of their greatest hits.

In a repeat of their packed 2022 performance at the Avalon pitch, the numbers swelled so much that stewards had to close the area, adopting a ‘one in, one out’ policy.

Meanwhile, dance star Fred Again made a surprise appearance at the small Stonebridge Bar, perched in the hills overlooking the festival.

Abramović was followed on the main stage by PJ Harvey, with LCD Soundsystem and Dua Lipa set to perform later on Friday.

Lipa will make her first appearance at the festival at 10:00 p.m. BST – the set will be broadcast live worldwide on BBC.com.

Rumors spread about a potential guest on her show, with everyone from Duran Duran to Cyndi Lauper and Girls Aloud joining her on stage.

However, Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis earlier told BBC Radio 2 that there would be “no big surprises”.

“In case you were expecting something else to come out later, that’s probably not true,” she said.

Still, Eavis said Lipa’s performance should be one of the highlights of the weekend.

“I feel like she was born to do this,” she said. “She’s a real festival goer. She comes every year.

“You can really tell when someone really understands the festival and loves it, because they’re so invested in it, so I’m really excited.”