Finding peace, power and sequins at Glastonbury 2025

More than music—it's a city of dreams

Glastonbury Festival 2025

Covering more than 364 hectares and hosting over 200,000 attendees, Glastonbury is truly vast | Photo: Amanda Butler

| Palma |

There’s a moment, just after you’ve walked a few dusty miles through Worthy Farm, when the full scale of Glastonbury hits you. It’s not just a music festival—it’s a temporary city, built from fields and dreams, glitter and grit, sound and a little stillness here and there. As I found during my first ever visit to Glastonbury, this world-famous event is as much about wellness, creativity, and connection as it is about the headline acts.

A City of Sound, Creativity and even Stillness

Covering more than 364 hectares and hosting over 200,000 attendees, Glastonbury is truly vast. You can lose yourself in the throb of Pyramid Stage crowds, then moments later find deep solitude in the Healing Fields. It’s this contrast that makes it so compelling—and surprisingly rejuvenating. For those of us who treasure wellness, the festival offers more than late nights, hangovers and the occasional muddy boots.

The Healing Fields, nestled on a rise overlooking the site, are a sanctuary. There, under hand-painted banners and shaded tents, I joined a mid-morning sound bath session as the hum of distant basslines melted into the chime of Tibetan bowls. Reiki, reflexology, Ayurvedic massage, crystal healing and craniosacral therapy—you name it, everything holistic can be found on offer beneath sea of canvas tents. The practitioners aren’t just there for ambience; they’re deeply skilled, many returning year after year with devoted festival-goer followings. I even witnessed a handfasting ceremony with the glowing bride in a beautiful white dress, surrounded by a group of smiling friends and family.

Not far from there, the Green Fields provide a creative and eco-conscious contrast. I stumbled upon a pottery and woodwork tent where you could make yourself a piece of personalised Glasto memorabilia and then joined a spontaneous breathwork circle in a yurt strung with fairy lights. The Craft Field encourages hands-on expression, from blacksmithing to batik, while the Sacred Space offers dawn meditations and moonlit rituals.

This isn’t fringe festival fluff—it’s the quiet, beating heart of the ‘real’ Glastonbury, a place where healing is not only possible but expected.

Rhythm and Release: The Acts

Of course, music is still the star. This year’s lineup was a genre-spanning joyride, offering everything from tender ballads to rowdy anthems with a staggering 3,000 artists playing. It wasn’t the easiest to navigate as a newbie, but I went along with a seasoned Glaston-goer and mostly followed her lead. Rizzle Kicks opened the Other Stage with infectious energy, with our first taste of festival activism when lead singer Jordan invited his Mum Emma on stage mid-set, calling for peace and justice in solidarity with the people of Gaza. It was a reminder that music and message are never far apart at Glasto. Alanis Morisette hasn’t lost any of her vocal power, delivering a sensational 30-minute performance at her triumphant Glastonbury debut. We also managed to catch Paris Paloma, and an intimate gathering for Olivia Dean at the new Strummerville Stage on the Friday. Lewis Capaldi, made a triumphant return to the Glastonbury stage, marking his first live performance in two years after breaking down mid-set, returning with raw, honest vocals and a sincere outpouring of love from the crowd – a very emotive experience to witness.

On Saturday we covered over 30,000 steps and nearly 19kms racing from one arena to the other, to include Little Mix singer Jade who made a powerful solo debut at a packed Woodsies stage with a soul-soaked set that felt like Sunday church meets street poetry. Raye, currently one of the UK’s most compelling singer-songwriters, delivered a heart-punching Pyramid Stage performance, each word carved from her own life experience - to me sounding and looking very ‘Amy Winehouse’.

Hothouse Flowers brought the Acoustic Stage to its feet with their Celtic gospel fire, and Shaboozey surprised many with a genre-bending show that bounced from country twang to hip-hop grit. And then, in true Glastonbury tradition, Pulp appeared for a secret set that was more than impressive. Jarvis Cocker prowled the stage with his trademark swagger as the band launched into an electrifying run of hits. When Common People roared through the night air, the audience erupted—arms in the air, lyrics on every tongue. It was one of those spine-tingling moments that the Glastonbury Festival is renowned for. Neil Young then brought the Pyramid Stage to a hush during an acoustic set that included one of my favourites Harvest Moon and ended in a thunderous, misty-eyed rendition of Old Man.

Rod the Rocker: Still Forever Young

And then there was Sir Rod Stewart—not just a performer, but a cultural event. At 80 years young, Rod didn’t just take the Pyramid Stage; he owned it, and we were close to the front for a close-up. Backed by a full band of beauties including sensational backing vocalists, fiddlers, drummers and saxophonists, Sir Rod Stewart delivered a 90-minute, career-spanning set that was as visually extravagant as it was musically tight.

The Sunday Legends slot became even more legendary as Rod welcomed three iconic guests with Simply Red’s Mick Hucknall first up with a performance of his band’s If You Don’t Know Me By Now, followed by former bandmate Ronnie Wood joining on his guitar for Stay With Me, and finally Lulu who joined in with Hot Legs, appropriately named as she strutted her stuff from one side of the stage to the other. The chemistry was undeniable—a meeting of legends, each bringing their own fire to the stage. Adding to the spectacle, Rod made three dramatic costume changes, moving from a white suit studded with stars, to a bright green suit, and finally a luminous pink suit that practically glowed under the lights. It wasn’t just showmanship—it was a full-body declaration: at 80, he’s not slowing down, he’s still rocking, and he’s making sure we remember it.

My Glasto experience came to a captivating end between Snow Patrol wrapping the field in a nostalgic embrace as thousands belted out Chasing Cars under a sky streaked with gold, and a last dash to catch Nile Rodgers & Chic ensuring the entire site was dancing to their beat.

Personal Highlights: Soul and Sparkle

While the big names brought big moments, it was Olivia Dean who quietly stole my heart. Her voice—warm, precise, emotive—floated across the Strummerville Stage in the early evening light, reaching everyone and yet still feeling intimate.

There’s something nourishing about seeing so many artists bring not just music, but presence and purpose to their sets. From the powerful political moments to the playful stage theatrics, Glastonbury proved that it still holds space for all kinds of voices—and listeners.

The Glasto Effect: A Wellness Takeaway

In a space so often associated with excess, what surprised me most is how many people come to Glastonbury to enjoy the wellness areas. There are definitely people skipping the late-night debauchery to wake up for sunrise yoga, they’re walking miles each day, eating vegetarian wraps, pausing to meditate in hammocks and making flower crowns out of wild herbs. (I haven’t even mentioned the Circus and Theatre Fields, or the Kidzfileld for those with children – there was so much going on I’d need two pages!!) It’s a place where you can lose track of time but find yourself—if only briefly—in a tent on a hillside, surrounded by music, mist, and the thrum of thousands living in the moment.

Thankfully, my bed wasn’t under canvas—I had the luxuries of hot and cold running water and a proper fridge. As for the iconic nightlife, I can’t report much; after walking between 10 to 20 kilometres a day, that kind of pace was more than enough for me. But it’s always good to leave something for next time. I left Glastonbury a little sunburnt, pleasantly exhausted, and unexpectedly restored—not through silence or solitude, but through rhythm, movement and a whole lot of sparkle.

Festival Tip:

Bring your own loo roll and don’t skip the Healing Fields. Even a 15-minute session can change your entire experience.

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