Yard Act took over the Woodsies stage at this year’s Glastonbury festival and performed a high-octave set filled with grooves and dance breaks.
“What a beautiful day for all of this,” frontman James Smith told the crowd while appearing on stage. The band then jumped into ‘Fixer Upper’, ‘Dead Horse’ and ‘We Make Hits’. One of the strongest bits of their performance was the backup singers who took moments throughout the set to perform some synchronised choreography with high energy.
Katy J Pearson came out as a special guest to perform their collab track ‘When The Laughter Stops’. At the end of their set, Smith took a moment to introduce the band and went on to pay tribute to the people of Ukraine, Sudan and Palestine.
Stand with Palestine and oppressed people everywhere.
Yard Act at Glastonbury.#Glastonbury #Gaza pic.twitter.com/AY7ubKBzX0
— benfolley (@benfolley) June 29, 2024
Yard Act. Blimey. Beast of a set and a properly sound crowd. Didn’t video the speech near during Trench Coat Museum but it’s well worth your time #GLASTONBURY pic.twitter.com/Y0HosPJkOn
— Stuart Goodwin (@stuartgoodwin) June 29, 2024
Yard Act have brought out Katy J Pearson for 'When the Laughter Stops'!
#Glastonbury #Glastonbury2024 pic.twitter.com/wJeKZEbr8z
— Far Out Magazine #Glastonbury2024 (@FarOutMag) June 29, 2024
“Whilst I’ve got you in the palm of my tiny little hand, we know how lucky we are to be in this field today with you and everyone who can be in this field is very fucking lucky. This is freedom, this is as close to freedom as many of us will ever get. But not everyone has that freedom right now and it is your duty whilst you’re here and have one life to enjoy it and celebrate it,” said Smith.
“Be free in this field, take your drugs and hold your loved ones close. But in doing so, we also pay tribute to and stand with the people who don’t have this freedom. To the people of Ukraine, the people of Sudan and the people of Palestine and anybody else fighting for their liberation, fearing for their lives, who do not have what we have right now, we stand with them because Glastonbury the lines on the map do not exist. They were drawn on by a few greedy men and we can transcend those borders. We can send our fucking energy above those borders and change the fucking world. And if you think that sounds like some hippie bullshit, well that’s cause it is but it is also true.”
Yard Act at Glastonbury played:
‘Fixer Upper’
‘Dead Horse’
‘We Make Hits’
‘Dark Days’
‘Witness (Can I Get A?)’
‘Down by the Stream’
‘Dream Job’
‘Pour Another’
‘Fizzy Fish’
‘When the Laughter Stops’ (with Katy J Pearson)
‘A Vineyard for the North’
‘Payday’
‘The Overload’
‘100% Endurance’
‘The Trench Coat Museum’
In other Glasto news, the opening night of the music bas saw stellar sets from the likes of LCD Soundsystem, Dua Lipa, Fontaines D.C. and IDLES.
Check back at NME here for the latest news, reviews, interviews, photos, rumours and more from Glastonbury 2024. Check out the NME liveblog here for all the latest Glastonbury action as it happens.
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