Glastonbury Faces Backlash Over Shocking Sunday Night Decision—What Really Happened?

You know that feeling when summer’s winding down, and you just want one more fireworks show before reality hits? That’s what Glastonbury’s Sunday finale felt like this year—except instead of literal fireworks, it was social media exploding over Olivia Rodrigo’s headlining set. Here’s the question that’s been ricocheting around my brain ever since: in a world where The Prodigy could have turned the Pyramid Stage into a bass-thumping time machine, what does it say that a 22-year-old belts out “Drivers License” to close the festival—and instantly divides an audience of 200,000 (plus a few million keyboard warriors at home)? Glastonbury fans really didn’t hold back. Emotions were off the rails, the opinions were as split as my inbox after an algorithm update, and the internet nearly melted. And just to thicken the drama, this is the last Glasto until 2027—so, of course, everyone’s going to remember the great Rodrigo vs. Prodigy show-down. Was this the sign-off nobody expected or exactly what the festival needed? Let’s dig into all the riffs, rants, and real moments that made this Sunday a cultural maelstrom. LEARN MORE

Glastonbury fans have made their thoughts clear on the festival’s Sunday headliner as the iconic event comes to a close for the year.

It’ll be the last version of the music festival until 2027, after organisers confirmed that there wouldn’t be an event in 2026.

That didn’t mean viewers were short of talking points this year though, as Lewis Capaldi made a dramatic return to performing and The 1975 seemingly underwhelmed with their headline act.

As you can expect, fans both in the crowd and watching at home had a lot to say about artists and sets on social media throughout.

And last night’s final headline act was no different, as American singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo signed the iconic UK festival off on the infamous Pyramid Stage.

Olivia Rodrigo headlined the Pyramid stage on Sunday evening (Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Rodrigo performed a number of her hit-songs, with ‘Good 4 U’, ‘Drivers License’, and ‘Vampire’ making up part of the set list.

The 22-year-old also brought out The Cure’s Robert Smith for a duet of the 1992 classic, ‘Friday, I’m in Love’.

But festival fans were mixed on her performance – and on her involvement at all – as one of the select few headliners at Glastonbury.

Taking to Twitter, one user wrote: “The Prodigy are actually insane. Possibly the best thing all weekend at Glastonbury,” speaking about the electronic music band that was performing on the Other Stage, while Rodrigo performed on the Pyramid Stage.

As another wrote: “Who was responsible for putting Olivia Rodrigo over the Prodigy on the pyramid stage? you just made the biggest mistake of your career.”

“The prodigy should have been on the pyramid stage. End of,” a third said, with another adding: “Im sorry, but if you’re watching Olivia Rodrigo INSTEAD of The Prodigy right now– you deserve to be banned from every music venue across the globe!!”

The sets were both broadcast to viewers, and despite the criticism from some claiming that The Prodigy should have been performing on the Pyramid Stage, many other users held their hands up at Rodrigo’s performance.

Viewers were split on Rodrigo’s performance (Joseph Okpako/WireImage)

A user on Twitter posted: “Seen my share of Glasto headline sets in my time and that Olivia Rodrigo set is up there you know. Doing that at 22 is nuts. she’s a superstar.”

“Prodigy are great but, I think by the looks of the crowd, people know who Olivia Rodrigo is … they’re singing every word,” another said of the vast crowd of around 200,000.

A third went on: “Headlining Glastonbury at 22 years old. Calling it Glasto. Full live band, special guests, set ups like this. Olivia Rodrigo absolutely smashed it. Pyramid headliner fully deserved.”

Others said they were ‘proved wrong’ by Rodrigo’s performance after being ‘sceptical’ about her headlining Glastonbury at such a young age.

While on the mic, the ‘Obsessed’ singer admitted that the gig was a ‘dream come true’.