LONDON - Dave Grohl has joined Paul McCartney on stage at Glastonbury, in his first public performance since the death of Foo Fighters’ drummer Taylor Hawkins. Grohl was given a hero’s welcome as he strode onto the Pyramid Stage to duet with McCartney on a gritty garage rock version of I Saw Her Standing There.
“This guy flew in specially to do this,” McCartney said. “We love you,”
“I swear, I would never miss being right here with you, right now,” Grohl replied. Not content with one surprise, McCartney then brought out Bruce Springsteen to play Glory Days and I Wanna Be Your Man.
The New Jersey rocker also acknowledged McCartney’s 80th birthday, which took place last week, wishing him “another glorious 80 years”. Earlier, fans had broken into a spontaneous rendition of Happy Birthday for the former Beatle, after he paused to say hello at the start of his set, “For me?” he asked, temporarily stopped in his tracks, Saturday’s headline performance was one of the most-anticipated Glastonbury sets in years, with diehard fans staking out a front-row place more than 12 hours before the star was due to play.
By the time he took to the stage at 21:30, the crowd stretched as far as the eye could see, creating what could be the festival’s biggest audience since Dolly Parton in 2014.
They were rewarded with a marathon 2 hour 50 minute set that spanned his six-decade career. He opened with The Beatles’ classic Can’t Buy Me Love (itself 58 years old) and continued with the Wings’ hit Junior’s Farm, a cheeky nod to the Eavis family, who host Glastonbury on their Somerset farm each year. “Oh, man it’s so good to be here. We were supposed to be doing this three years ago,” said McCartney, referring to his Covid-cancelled performance in 2020.
“This guy flew in specially to do this,” McCartney said. “We love you,”
“I swear, I would never miss being right here with you, right now,” Grohl replied. Not content with one surprise, McCartney then brought out Bruce Springsteen to play Glory Days and I Wanna Be Your Man.
The New Jersey rocker also acknowledged McCartney’s 80th birthday, which took place last week, wishing him “another glorious 80 years”. Earlier, fans had broken into a spontaneous rendition of Happy Birthday for the former Beatle, after he paused to say hello at the start of his set, “For me?” he asked, temporarily stopped in his tracks, Saturday’s headline performance was one of the most-anticipated Glastonbury sets in years, with diehard fans staking out a front-row place more than 12 hours before the star was due to play.
By the time he took to the stage at 21:30, the crowd stretched as far as the eye could see, creating what could be the festival’s biggest audience since Dolly Parton in 2014.
They were rewarded with a marathon 2 hour 50 minute set that spanned his six-decade career. He opened with The Beatles’ classic Can’t Buy Me Love (itself 58 years old) and continued with the Wings’ hit Junior’s Farm, a cheeky nod to the Eavis family, who host Glastonbury on their Somerset farm each year. “Oh, man it’s so good to be here. We were supposed to be doing this three years ago,” said McCartney, referring to his Covid-cancelled performance in 2020.
