I love festivals just as much as the next person – the gruesome toilets, regularly tripping over every tent wire in the campsite, not to mention the always weird and sometimes wonderful people you come across – but these festival moments are those once in a lifetime experiences that make it all worth it.
10- Queen at Live Aid (London , 1985)
Ok ok, so I know Live Aid wasn’t exactly a festival but this moment is just too good not to include. Even though there were plenty of other artists performing at Wembley Stadium that day – David Bowie, The Who, Elton John and Dire Straits – Queen absolutely stole the show and made music history. Freddie Mercury was at his absolute best and had all 70,000 people in the palm of his hand.
9- Tupac at Coachella (California, 2012)
Despite being dead (or in hiding) for 15 years, Tupac appeared to the Coachella crowd as an incredibly lifelike hologram in 2012. Brought on during Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre’s set, Tupac performed for only 5 minutes but made festival history.
8- Daft Punk at Coachella (California, 2006)
This Coachella appearance saw Daft Punk unveil their infamous pyramid stage. As soon as its LED lights lit up the stage it changed DJ performances forever. With their space-age helmets on, Daft Punk brought about a new era in stage production and performance.
7- Jay-Z at Glastonbury (Somerset, 2008)
In 2008, Emily Eavis’ decision to book Jay-Z for Glastonbury got a mixed response, not least from Noel Gallagher who was horrified that a rap artist was booked to headline Glastonbury. As a scathing tribute to Noel, Jay-Z opened his set with ‘Wonderwall’ before exploding into ‘99 Problems’ and changed mainstream festival line-ups forever. Even inspiring Lewis Capaldi to do the same for Noel in 2019.
6- Jimi Hendrix at Monterey Pop Festival (California, 1967)
This one I find hard to look at, I’m not normally a fan of damaging guitars, but I’ll allow this one. After cracking his guitar before going onstage, Hendrix decided to destroy it as part of his act. Hendrix defined the Monterey Festival by setting his guitar alight onstage, images of him kneeling beside a burning guitar are iconic.
5- Beyoncé at Coachella 2018
“Beychella” of 2018 was ground-breaking for so many reasons, not only did Beyoncé bring out Jay-Z, Solange and Destiny’s Child but she was also the first ever black female headliner of the festival. The show was incredible and Beyoncé used her platform to celebrate her black culture and share it with the world.
4- Bob Marley at Smile Jamaica (Kingston, 1976)
Smile Jamaica was a free festival organised by the Jamaican government, where Marley performed a full set to 80,000 people two days after being shot in the side at his home. When questioned how he managed to perform he famously replied “the people who are trying to make this world worse aren’t taking a day off. How can I?”
3- Nirvana at Reading (Reading, 1992)
This is a big one! After fears that Nirvana would have to cancel their Reading headline slot due to Kurt Cobain’s ill health, Cobain decided to use this to his advantage and was wheeled out onto the stage in a wheelchair. Wearing a wig and a hospital gown, Cobain played one of Nirvana’s best shows. Sadly this would also be there last show in the UK.
2- Bob Dylan at Newport Folk Festival (Rhode Island, 1965)
Not all of these festival moments are remembered fondly, with Dylan’s Newport performance getting one of the worst crowd responses of all time. Being the figurehead of the American folk music revival, no one ever expected Dylan to do anything else. However, three songs into his set, Dylan exchanged his acoustic guitar for an electric guitar and the rest is history.
1-Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock (New York, 1969)
For the second time on this list, Hendrix is making history. Woodstock was a cultural movement that defined a generation and transformed music. At 9am on Monday morning, before Woodstock ended, Jimi Hendrix improvised an electric guitar rendition of the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’. To mimic the Vietnam War, which formed the cultural backdrop to Woodstock, Hendrix added distorted guitar slides to mimic bombs. Hendrix used music to summarise an entire generations disillusionment and anger at their government.
