Dua Lipa did not come to mess around.
The pop star stormed through her first ever headline slot at Glastonbury with an ambitious and dynamic performance that was stacked with smashes from beginning to end.
She took to the Pyramid Stage shortly after 10pm, opening with a flawless run of five songs: Training Season, One Kiss, Illusion, Break My Heart and Levitating.
Each one had the breathless choreography of an award show performance – and the pace didn’t let up all night.
She played 15 top 40 hits, including Don’t Start Now, Physical and New Rules, as well as her collaborations with Elton John (Cold Heart) and Mark Ronson (Electricity).
Strangely, however, she chose not to play her Barbie smash Dance The Night, which was consigned to a video interlude during one of the star’s five costume changes.
Her raspy mezzo-soprano cut cleanly through the warm Somerset air, particularly on the dramatic ballad Happy For You, and the purring, sensuous Houdini, which closed her set.
The 28-year-old even paid tribute to Shakespear’s Sister, one of Glastonbury’s first ever female headliners in 1992, wearing a t-shirt bearing the cover of their album Hormonally Yours.
On stage, she repeatedly talked about how she had manifested this very moment, having dreamt of headlining Glastonbury before she even recorded her first album.
“I’ve written this moment down and wished for it and dreamt it and worked so hard,” she told the crowd.
She recalled one of her first gigs, playing to 10 people who “only came because we offered them free drinks” – and seemed overwhelmed by how much that audience had grown.
