Your humble reviewers first went to Glastonbury in the early 1990s when the famous Somerset festival was very much a counter culture rites of passage. Punters would jump over the fences until these defences fell down, allowing revellers to get lost in its bacchanalian fields full of music and mischief. Now in its 53rd year and having becoming a global TV spectacle, the fences certainly stay up, but it’s still all of these wonderful things and so much more as Glastonbury continues to grow in scope and ambition.

These days it’s a blessing to bag one of its 210,000 tickets (2.5million people try) and be able to witness more than 2,000 acts grace over 100 stages across this vast site. Reassuringly, many things stay the same, whether that’s Green Fields emanating messages of unity and activism or the queue for the cider bus. There’s always going to be those big pop and rock headliners – Coldplay made their record-breaking 5th showing this year with super fans Gillian Anderson and Tom Cruise cheering in the wings. And you should never stop expecting the unexpected as you pass by anything from carnival dancers and giant robotic insects with DJs for brains to gong rituals, flying rockets and poetry jams.

Yet crucially, part of the festival’s successful expansion stems from a line-up that keeps step with today’s social landscape, making 2024 its most diverse yet. Instead of becoming a Coachella-style influencer event, Glastonbury digs deep to ensure you can stumble across the world around every fantastical corner. From conceptual artist Marina Abramović to Belfast rappers Kneecap, from K-pop stars Seventeen to SZA astride a beetle, there was a thrill to seek for everyone. Including fine art lovers, who wouldn’t have missed Hank Willis Thomas’s renowned touring sculpture, All Power to All People – a monumental afro pick forked into the ground.

An important addition this year was Terminal 1, an installation by NYC-based artist Jordan Watson aka Love Watts that resembled Heathrow Airport’s arrivals hall and explored the immigrant experience of travel. To gain entry, you were grilled with questions by border force agents as if passing the UK citizenship test. You then had your belongings searched and passed through Rwanda Duty Free – a wry nod to the Conservatives’ Rwanda Bill. Alongside talks and music, Terminal 1 became a celebration of the cultures that migration brings to our shores. Add to that the fact that throughout the festival site, among the sea of tall flags that people always bring here to hold aloft, were countless Palestinian flags. Echoing many acts who used their platforms to say ‘Ceasefire now’, the message of the weekend was that wherever we’re all from, we stand as one to call for peace.

Nataal’s party started with emerging Ghanaian artist Mauvey. His easy energy, refreshingly original afro fusion sound and Tik Tok-ready dance routine filled the Bumble Inn with love. The Ghanaian link continued with Sampha on the Woodsies stage heading up an impressive live band. All wearing white against a bright white light, their performance took on a celestial mood with sparkling renditions of ‘Spirit 2.0’ and ‘(No One Knows Me) Like the Piano’. We’re taken higher when the whole band formed a drumming circle and the subtle drop of ‘Gabrielle’ by Roy Davis Jnr was pure joy.

Friday – and indeed much of the weekend – belonged to women. Moonchild Sanelly used her Xhosa bounce to bring us into hot and steamy territory. Joburg’s blue-haired goddess aka “the president of the female orgasm” got up close and personal with the front row to lay down ‘Mad’, her new song with Steve Aoki about kiss and make up sex. Conversely Flowerovlove’s blend of soft pop told tales of unrequited crushes and “thinking about boys too much”. The young London artist sent us skipping with “hugs and kisses” and heart hands all around. Shy One’s DJ set elicited a groove-laden sway rooted in 70s soul. PJ Harvey’s performance was raw and tender at every turn, her honest voice causing chills with ’50 Foot Queenie’ and ‘To Bring You My Love’. And Nabihah Iqbal drew on John Keats, Sufi music and late 80s indie to perform melancholic songs from her latest album ‘Dreamer’. Soft synths and spoken lyrics never sounded so sweet.

Iqbal popped up again to DJ at Arrivals, a new South Asia takeover space tucked away in Shangri-la, Glastonbury’s original late-night zone for radical happenings. Another first adding to the dizzying breadth of representation at the festival, Arrivals saw the Dialled In, Going South and Daytimers crews shape a blistering line-up including Vedic Roots Sound System, who bought bring Southall to Somerset with their take on dub, roots and reggae. Other South Asian and diaspora acts to nail it across the weekend included 90s underground legend DJ Ritu and octogenarian disco queen Asha Puthli, illustrating how these cultures have long enriched the UK.

Friday’s golden hour was rightly handed over to Faithless for a show that gave all of its flowers to frontman Maxi Jazz who passed on in 2022. The band’s previous Glastonbury sets have become yore, making his absence even more felt. Sister Bliss has recreated the act with a new band but his voice and his soul remain a driving force. With the anthem ‘We Become 1’, there wasn’t a dry eye in the crowd.

There was plenty for other Generation X artists on the bill too, such as LCD Soundsystem whose huge band filled the Pyramid stage and whose renaissance music felt more relevant than ever. Fellow Glastonbury stalwarts Orbital popped up on the Park Stage with special guest Tilda Swinton who delivered a sermon to knowing 90s ravers on little fish, big fishes, and carboard boxes in her icy cold voice. And for their penultimate song, a mashup of The Spice Girls ‘Wannabe’, Mel C turned up and the crowd went wild.

Gossip made a comeback with a staunch and heartfelt performance during which Beth Ditto came across as more confident and ballsy than ever before. A prolific between-song talker, we could’ve listened to her sweet southern drawl forever. Her main takeaway? “There’s more of us than there are of them” – and don’t you fucking forget it. After a set filled with pro-Trans, pro-Queer power, the band ended on a moving rendition of ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ (more Tori Amos than Nirvana), sending us out into the fray filled with hope.

Corinne Bailey Rae also gave off vibrations of togetherness and optimism with her cosmic mix of funk and soul. Drawing on the spirits of Miles Davis, Sun Ra and Funkadelic, she took the time to share the inspirations behind each of her songs, many of which are dedicated the bravery of Black women throughout history who have fought against erasure. Her storytelling is infused with pain and sunshine, both tethering us to the past and, with the song ‘Put it Down’, setting us free to “dance out our woes”.

Nigerian-infused sounds came present and correct all weekend. Afrobeat legend Femi Kuti paved the way for Lagos finest’ Tems who sauntered on stage in fabulous sparkly fringing and proceeded to show off her fiercely versatile voice across songs from her new album ‘Born in the Wild’. Her brand of alte afro felt just right under the hot Saturday afternoon sun. And then notching it up peg further the following day was Burna Boy, who rode onto the stage on a horse giving cowboy energy, and went on to show why he’s one of the most wanted showmen in music.

Taking no prisoners though was Little Simz who performed her first three tracks all alone, which felt bold but just right, her presence big enough to fill they Pyramid stage on its own. “Glastonbury, you need to understand that you are witnessing greatness,” she announced with justified braggadocio. But then her steely demeanour broke as she began to beam from ear to ear and confessed, “This is mad for me. I’m having the time of my life up here… It’s a dream.” And after that, it was party time. Silver helmet-wearing dancers appeared as she took us on a journey through her upbringing in north London (‘101 FM’), a machete-wielding fantasy in Lagos (‘Point & Kill’ featuring Obongjayar) and to the heart of the matter (‘Introvert’ and ‘Venom’). By the close out, this transcendent set ensured we’d all had the time of our lives.

And that’s still not all. We’d be writing until next year to share every highlight. Idris Elba’s speed garage set and Shy FX’s jungle set proving they’re both original bad bwoys. The Flamingods’ psych rock getting the crowd suitably silly. Cyndi Lauper turning her 80s anthem into a fundraiser for WaterAid with “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun-damental Rights”. Seduction City sound system coming to “nice up the place” with their St Paul’s Carnival takeover. And new name Sabiyha whose latest single ‘Eaten’ featuring Sir Jude is an ode to and education in queer lovemaking.

But we’ll leave you with the delights of Janelle Monae, who arrived on stage covered in pastel blooms for ‘Float’ and then kept the fashion excellence coming with ever-evolving costumes that showed us what liberation looks like. For ‘Champagne Shit’ she’s in a sexy leotard tuxedo and shouts out to her Pride heroes Grace Jones, Little Richard and Marsha P. Johnson. For ‘Django Jane’, she’s clad in a Black Panther-style get-up to demand, “let the vagina have a monologue”. And then does just that in a lustrously layered pair of trousers resembling “the inside of your, baby” for ‘Pynk’. The artist transformed into a bullfighter-meets-The King of Pop for ‘Tightrope’ and ‘Yoga’ – and did a cheeky areola-flash to boot.

It was a show filled with unadulterated self-love that let good times roll. But all this would be for nothing without her timely reminder, mid-set, to use our own voices to speak out about injustices: “For marginalised people, for homeless people, for women’s bodies, for Gaza, for Jewish people facing anti-Semitism, for Sudan, for LGBTI+ rights… We’re calling it out.” And that, friends, is what Glastonbury is all about. We’re here to show up, we speak up and we then turn it all the way up.