Glastonbury 2023 reviews: Elton John and Guns N Roses best and worst headliners ever according to critics

Sir Elton John's closing night set at Glastonbury 2023 has been hailed "the best" performance the music festival has ever seen.

Meanwhile, Guns 'N' Roses, who headlined the Pyramid Stage on Saturday have been called contenders for the "worst" headline act ever by some critics, and Friday night stars the Arctic Monkeys divided opinion with some saying they "butchered" their own music.

Here's what the press made of the three Glastonbury 2023 headliners...

Elton John - Sunday night

Elton made his debut performance at Worthy Farm at the age of 76 performing a variety of his hits from Pinball Wizard and Rocket Man to Candle In The Wind and Your Song.

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He welcomed guest performances from Jacob Lusk from Gabriels, Stephen Sanchez, Brandon Flowers of The Killers and Rina Sawayama for his classic duet Don't Go Breaking My Heart.

And he paid tribute to the late George Michael, on what would have been his 60th birthday, by dedicating Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me to his friend.

And some are calling the performance the best show ever in the history of Glastonbury, which was marking its 38th festival in 53 years.

The NME called it one of the festival's best ever headline sets, saying: "It was a Glasto set for the ages from a true all-time great. We’ll never see his kind again."

Time Out said the crowd gathered to see Elton was "spectacularly massive" with every patch of grass covered to watch his "exquisite piano playing and perfect vocals".

Watch: Elton John tells Glastonbury crowd 'I will never forget you'

The Guardian's five star review called is a "miraculous set" and "rock history in the making" that "straddled eras".

And The Telegraph called "something extraordinarily life affirming".

Guns N Roses - Saturday night

Meanwhile, Guns 'N' Roses' headline show on Saturday night provoked a very different reaction.

The Independent accused the Welcome To The Jungle rockers of being "frontrunners for the worst Glastonbury headline set of all time," and claimed they "represent everything dated, rockist, indulgent and macho that Glastonbury has rejected since its inception."

However, the BBC said Slash and Axl Rose delivered a "sporadically brilliant set" although admitted the Sweet Child O' Mine singer's vocal "aren't what they once were."

And while the Evening Standard called it an "old school rockers' triumph" they also criticised guitarist Slash for "descending into guitar noodling of the type that time has forgotten."

The NME thought Guns 'N' Roses offered up one of their strongest performances in recent years and blamed the audience for it falling flat, as: "Guns N’ Roses’ sultry, whiskey-chugging, in-your-face brand of rock felt misplaced when delivered at the hippie nucleus of the world."

Arctic Monkeys - Friday night

It had been questioned whether the Arctic Monkeys would even make it to headline the Pyramid Stage on Friday night after frontman Alex Turner developed a nasty case of laryngitis.

The Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor hitmakers cancelled a gig in Dublin due to take place just two nights earlier.

But they made it to the Glastonbury main stage, only to be accused of "butchering" their own tunes by some unimpressed fans on social media.

The Guardian gave the band three out of five stars and said the set was "strangely paced". They claimed the Monkeys appeared uninterested in playing to please the festival crowd which they found "simultaneously admirable and underwhelming: an odd way to feel about a headlining set at the world’s most famous festival."

Read more: Arctic Monkeys accused of ‘butchering’ Glastonbury set: ‘Just play your belters!’

And The Times also rated it an average performance, describing the band as “more stylish than explosive”.