Tilda Swinton joined Max Richter on stage at Glastonbury Festival today (Saturday June 24), with man also attempting to interrupt their set with a naked protestor.
Taking to The Park Stage just after 11am, Richter and his band greeted early risers with an orchestral delivery of of 2004 “protest record” ‘The Blue Notebooks’ – joined by Tilda Swinton accompanying with a number of readings, including works by Czeslaw Milosz.
“Alright, good morning,” offered Richter. “It’s amazing that so many of you have got out of bed this morning. It’s an honour to be opening up this stage today.”
Max Richter with Tilda Swinton. “I love you Glasto!” Bill Murray on double bass? pic.twitter.com/v22xSMkplw
— Edamski (@ed_sez) June 24, 2023
Outstanding set from @maxrichtermusic at @glastonbury There was a wonderful feeling running from the stage into the audience who really appreciated Max and the bands beautifully crafted set list. Tilda Swinton obviously loved being part of the show. Just magic pic.twitter.com/v4rgi2UCiY
— Scott D. McArthur 🎙️ (@Scott_McArthur) June 24, 2023
Before inviting his band and Swinton to the stage, he spoke of ‘The Blue Notebooks’ as a reaction to the lead-up to the Iraq war, when “politics was turning into a branch of fantasy literature”.
At one point, a naked man attempted to interrupt the show in protest by approaching a microphone being used to record audience ambience, before security escorted him away.
The Park stage saw another movie star collaboration, with Cate Blanchett appearing with Sparks during their early evening set.
Yesterday was closed with a stellar headline set from Arctic Monkeys, as well as a surprise set from Foo Fighters appearing under the moniker The Churnups.
Glastonbury continues today with performances from Guns N’ Roses, Lizzo, Lana Del Rey, Manic Street Preachers, Måneskin and more. There will also be a number of secret sets, including The Pretenders (with a number of special guests) and Blossoms and Rick Astley performing a set of Smiths covers.
Check out all the latest from Glastonbury 2023 on the NME liveblog here, and see more news, reviews, photos, interviews and more here.
