This weekend saw the return of Glastonbury - the biggest music festival in the U.K. And in case you’ve been living under a rock, this weekend Roe V. Wade was overturned in America. The decision means millions of people across the U.S will loose their legal right to abortion and the news has left woman around the globe feeling angry and anxious.
Acts like Lorde, Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo shared their pain and outrage over the ruling during their performances to the 200,000 strong crowd.
Olivia Rodgrigo interrupted her set to express her anger.
"I wanted to dedicate this next song to the five members of the Supreme Court who have showed us that at the end of the day, they truly don’t give a sh!t about freedom. The song is for the justices: Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh. We hate you! We hate you.”
She then invited Lilly Allen onto the stage to sing ‘F You!’ with her, which felt very appropriate for the mood.
It was 19-year-old Olivia's first time at the festival and her performance is already being hailed as one of the best of the weekend.
Lorde (who yes, just went blonde) was embodying all of the defiant anger we saw in her Yellow Flicker Beat days. With her jaw clenched as she swaggered across the stage she let out a massive “F*CK THE SUPREME COURT!” and was met with cheers from the crowd.
Billie Ellish gave a landmark performance as the youngest ever musician to headline Glastonbury's iconic Pyramid stage, and she was so pissed off that she could barely talk about the issue on stage.
She then dedicated her song Power to everyone affected by the ruling.
Kacy Musgraves joked that she was “Never going back to America now”.
But if it’s not a joke, then Kacy, you are welcome here in Aotearoa! My cousin would be happy to give you a job on the farm.
Phoebe Bridges' Glastonbury set should have been a triumphant career milestone for the artist, but the news out of America hung over the whole performance.
“It’s super surreal, but I’m having the shttiest time," she said.
“All these irrelevant old motherf*ckers trying to tell us what to do with our bodies."
But nobody summed up how we are all feeling quite like Wet Leg, the female lead band who blew up on tiktok last year (is your muffin buttered?) They lead the crowd in a long loud and cathartic scream.
