Burning Spear
The Pyramid Stage, Friday 27 June, 2025
A heatwave, climate change, interstitial Greenpeace films … by early afternoon, Friday’s sweltering Glastonbury crowd has been primed by more than simple political inclination for news from the burning sphere - and who better to spread the word than St Ann’s Bay’s own, the most righteous Winston Rodney aka Burning Spear?
For 75 minutes, Worthy Farm is transformed to Sunsplash, as the octogenarian Spear - he turned 80 earlier this year, though his high-stepping dance moves suggest he has concluded that age is just a number - reels off a best-of set that would hardly have captured the mood more adroitly had it included an encore of The Sun Has Got His Hat On. That doesn’t happen but he does include The Sun, and it feels as if it has been dusted off just for us. Nobody needs high-octane rock’n’roll today, what we get is impeccable skank, the pace tailored to the temperature.
It’s important, too, that Glastonbury’s roots are, once again, on display. Several gigs will attract bigger crowds this weekend, but there won’t be a more Glastonbury moment than a lesson about there being “more to balance than not falling over” (from the 50-year-old Jamaica), delivered to a banner celebrating Queen’s Park Rangers’ Stan Bowles, while a guitarist runs along a catwalk waving the Pan-African flag of Black liberation (as designed by Marcus Garvey more than a century ago).
Musicians who recognise Glastonbury’s existence as something more than a music festival - and let’s leave aside those who pay lip service to its “unique spirit” - will always find a home in Pilton; those of Rodney’s vintage inhabit a time when music could chant down Babylon, spread our understanding of freedom, elevate consciousness, and make a difference. With a horn section delivering aural hydration to those in need, with the bandleader issuing wake-up calls on the congas, with warnings of the endgame to come, this is a set that demanded action, even if the weather demanded lethargy, or at least a cool head. He thanks the crowd for “your presence, your oneness and your togetherness”, and it sounds totally heartfelt. Long may Burning Spear’s flame keep glowing in the darkness.
Burning Spear At Glastonbury 2025 Setlist:
Door Peep
Jamaica
Nah Keith
The Sun
Not Stupid
Old Mr Garvey
Man In The Hills
Farover
African Postman
Follow all of MOJO’s Glastonbury 2025’s coverage HERE!
Photo: Shane Anthony Sinclair/Getty Images