Cyndi Lauper calls for reproductive rights to be respected at Glastonbury
By Hannah Roberts and Charlotte McLaughlin, PA Entertainment Reporters
Cyndi Lauper called for women’s reproductive rights to be respected and launched a new organisation at the Glastonbury Festival.
The Saturday edition of the event at Worthy Farm also marks Coldplay’s first Pyramid Stage appearance since 2016, and will see them overtake The Cure, who have headlined the slot four times.
Frontman Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, drummer Will Champion and bassist Guy Berryman will follow pop superstar Dua Lipa, who headlined the festival on Friday.
Lauper, who is set for what is “billed” as a farewell tour in the UK next year, wore a jacket with a blue train, a silver bodice and silver pants on the Pyramid Stage.
She opened with her 1980s track The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough while dealing with mic issues. But the technical problems appeared to be improving when she performed her biggest hits Time After Time, Money Changes Everything, True Colours and I Drove All Night.
At one point when she faltered, Lauper said it is a “little crazy” and we have “got a hole over here”, while appearing to be frustrated with the sound and staging.
During her performance of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Lauper’s audio improved and she made reference to feminist marches, that in 2017 saw US women wear lots of pink “Pussyhats”.
To cheers, Lauper told the crowd: “I was watching TV and I saw all these women all over the world marching, with some pink hats and… my friend called me up and said ‘to get the hell out there (Cyndi)’ so I did I went out and I saw the signs that said Girls Just Want To Have Fundamental Rights, that’s right.”
She added that she was “partnering-up” with her Girls Just Want To Have Fundamental Rights Fund on Saturday, which “funds organisations all around the world to help young women, older women, women (who want) reproductive rights, autonomy over their own bodies”.
Lauper also highlighted the maternal health organisation White Ribbon Alliance, who she said were at the front, before saying: “It is time that the world leaders understand that women are half the population of the world and we deserve to be treated equally, no matter where we’re from or what we look like.”
She also made several references to the UK, including mentioning the West End production of Kinky Boots ahead of My Father’s Son and her Change Of Heart music video that saw her dancing in London’s Leicester Square.
Lauper also had a solo moment with the recorder, during her second track, the controversial She Bop.
Indie rockers Kasabian, who headlined on the Pyramid Stage in 2014, confirmed they will be one of the secret shows, following them not originally being announced as part of the festival’s line-up.
There was a “TBA” slot on the Woodsies Stage, formerly the John Peel Stage for 6pm, before the band told fans on social media that “they will see” them in the evening.
At the Other Stage, large crowds watched as The Last Dinner Party lead singer Abigail Morris, wearing a long floaty white dress, addressed them about the General Election and Barclays suspending its sponsorship of Live Nation festivals.
She reminded festival goers and those watching at home that the UK is going to the polls on Thursday, before adding: “I think we all know who we are voting for but it doesn’t end with the Tories being kicked out.
“So it really is up to us, the people, to make the change.
“So keep going to protests, keep signing the petitions that will be debated in government.
“Keep boycotting the right things, we’ve seen it’s worked. Barclays pulled out.”
The Pyramid Stage kicked off at 12pm with musician Femi Kuti before seeing fellow Nigerian musician Ayra Starr deliver a triumphant Afrobeat performance, featuring plenty of crowd work.
Festival-goers on Saturday can look forward to some sunny weather as they explore Worthy Farm and its many attractions.
A spokesperson for the Met Office told the PA news agency that Saturday will be “a dry day with sunny spells throughout the morning, some cloud building as we head into the afternoon”.
There will be highs of 20-21C in the afternoon and the “possibility of overnight rain”.
On Sunday there will be highs of 18-19C in the afternoon.
A total of 71 alleged offences inside and outside the perimeter at Glastonbury have been reported since Wednesday, according to Avon and Somerset Police.
This includes one sexual offence, 22 cases of theft and 11 drug offences.
A police spokesperson told PA that 13 arrests have been made between Wednesday and Saturday morning, some of which have included people being arrested for multiple offences.
Eight of the arrests have been on suspicion of at least one drug-related offence and four of those eight have also been arrests on suspicion of theft.
Among the acts gracing the Pyramid Stage on Saturday is indie band Keane.
The band’s frontman Tom Chaplin told PA they will be keeping their set “quite simple”.
He also revealed they will be playing hits from their debut studio album Hopes And Fears, which turned 20 this year.
Also celebrating its 20th anniversary this year is cult horror comedy Shaun Of The Dead.
At a Q&A event Simon Pegg spoke about the film’s impact and reflected on his time at Glastonbury so far, calling Idles’ Friday night set “literally one of the greatest performances I’ve ever seen at Glastonbury”.
Dua Lipa described her Glastonbury experience as “the maddest night of my life” when she took to the stage on Friday and treated revellers to a selection of her popular tracks, including These Walls, Break My Heart, Hallucinate, Electricity, Physical and Don’t Start Now.
“This has been a massive dream come true,” Dua Lipa said before adding, “Glastonbury, I love you.”
Earlier on the Pyramid Stage, Paul Heaton and Norman Cook reunited to perform a Housemartins classic.
Heaton surprised festival-goers by bringing out his former bandmate Cook, better known as Fatboy Slim, to perform their 1986 hit Happy Hour.
Damon Albarn also made a surprise appearance at the festival, asking the crowd whether the war in Gaza was “unfair” and suggesting Joe Biden was too old to be US president when he was invited on stage by Bombay Bicycle Club’s Jack Steadman.
Neo-soul singer Olivia Dean dedicated her song Carmen to her grandmother and other members of the Windrush generation while wearing a T-shirt with her grandmother’s face on it.
The festival also saw British actress Florence Pugh reveal she is “tiptoeing” towards directing and producing films, as she appeared during a Dune: Part Two Q&A.
Elsewhere, Lady Bird actress Saoirse Ronan made a surprise appearance during a Q&A for Andrew Haigh-directed film All Of Us Strangers at indoor cinema space Pilton Palais where she interviewed the filmmaker and stars Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal.
During her Avalon Stage set, Kate Nash teased the audience with part of her track Foundations at the beginning before launching into the full version of the hit song at the end.
While speaking about what her fans mean to her, the Glow actress and singer told BBC Radio 2 on Saturday: “I think also our industry is really unhinged and has no HR department.
“So it just takes time to find people that aren’t like dodgy, but they are out there.
“And I think that like, for me, it’s always the passion for the music. It’s like kept me sort of driven throughout all of it and then you get to like, when you play live shows, and you just feel that connection with people. It’s just really electric and there’s nothing else like it.”
Meanwhile, Charlotte Church sang “Free Palestine” with a crowd of hundreds as she led an improvised number during an intimate and politically charged appearance at Glastonbury.
The Welsh singer’s performance at Worthy Farm comes months after she needed police protection after attending a pro-Palestine march in London, with her family also threatened.
Other festivities have included a tribute to the late DJ Annie Nightingale, the first female presenter on BBC Radio 1, who died in January at the age of 83.
And mere days after the birth of his fourth child, Joe Wicks led a mass fitness session on the Pyramid Stage.
On Sunday, American R&B singer SZA will headline the festival, with country music star Shania Twain to play the coveted Legends slot.