Dua Lipa review, Glastonbury 2024: a lot of fun but not quite epic

Dua Lipa delivered a slick, sleek set of super-deluxe, 21st-century pop to the opening night of Glastonbury 2024, full of big tunes, acrobatic moves and every laser and firework she could throw at it. It was a lot of fun, yet perhaps not quite the all-time epic she would have hoped for.

The 28-year-old spoke at length about this being a dream come true, laying on the “Glastonbury I love you” stuff a bit thick. We get it – Lipa is a young British (and Albanian) woman with sky-high ambitions who has grown up viewing the UK’s premier festival as a career peak she was determined to scale.

What she has achieved is amazing, and this big shiny show demonstrated all the skills that have made her the only global star to emerge from the UK in a decade.

Reservations would be that it sagged a bit in the middle, turning into a kind of dance megamix, full of skimpy costume dance routines all aimed at the cameras but a bit lost amidst the flares, flags and smoke of Glastonbury.

Her only guest was a slightly underwheming Kevin Parker of Tame Impala, who wandered around in jeans and t-shirt amongst the glam dance troupe like a working slob who couldn’t believe he had been invited to a Hollywood beach party.

The voice of Elton John sounded on her version of Cold Heart but it is perhaps telling that the biggest singalong of the night was for a cover version.

Speaking of Elton, the crowd at the Pyramid stage didn’t match his record-breaking audience last year, but then he does have a few more years and hits on his clock.

It was certainly the biggest crowd of the festival thus far, with a very young audience and lots of enthusiastic dancing, especially during a hit-packed opening 20 minutes and a rocket blast of an encore featuring Physical, Don’t Start Now and Houdini.

“Glastonbury I can’t believe it, it’s unbelievable,” said Lipa. The rest was fireworks.