Glastonbury headliner SZA posts cryptic message about ‘bravery’ after hardly anyone turned up to watch her set
SZA has shared a cryptic message about “bravery” after fans abandoned her headliner set at Glastonbury.
The US star, 34, took to the Pyramid Stage and closed the iconic festival on Sunday night but was met with a poor turnout.
One onlooker told The Sun throngs of festival goers had hotfooted it before SZA made it on stage at 9.30pm and didn’t come back.
SZA has now taken to X, formerly known as Twitter, and shared a mysterious message with her army of followers.
The R&B singer-songwriter said: “The bravery required to be alive in public is remarkable. S/o everybody doing that s***.”
SZA – real name Solána Imani Rowe – has deliberately turned off the comments on her X account, meaning none of her 8.5million fans can reply.
The American singer’s set came after England scraped through to the Euros quarter final on Sunday night.
Gareth Southgate‘s side had appeared to be heading out of Euro 2024 – but Jude Bellingham scored a stunning 95th-minute overhead kick to draw level, sending the game into extra time.
England Captain Harry Kane then scored less than a minute after the restart.
It is believed SZA’s closing night set was affected by the football, with thousands off watching the match and celebrating the win.
Our insider said: “I was gutted for her. There were massive patches of empty grass around the stage and she must have seen it, and further back before and during the gig.”
Despite the poor turnout and SZA’s cryptic message, she has also spoken positively about her experience of performing at Glastonbury.
Thanking her team on Instagram, she has since written: “Tonight I faced my fears. Tonight my entire team made the impossible possible !!”
Meanwhile, Glastonbury fans have been left complaining about sound issues that plagued this year’s festival – including during SZA’s set.
They found also themselves moaning over Dua Lipa’s headline performance on Friday night and blamed the BBC for not being able to “hear her”.
Glastonbury backlashes
Glastonbury Festival has been going for 54 trailblazing years - but at times it has been a stormy ride Here, we look at the biggest backlashes to hit the iconic music event.
The Smiths (1984): One of the first bands to divide the early Glastonbury purists were Manchester indie stars The Smiths. The band’s set even sparked a full scale stage invasion as they introduced the crowd to their guitar-driven, post-punk romanticism music. Guitarist Johnny Marr described their usual fanbase as “cup final supporters”, adding: “Eventually, I did manage to instigate a stage invasion, which raised a few eyebrows. One fan was trying to climb on stage, I helped pull him up, and then a few more people followed, and all of a sudden we’d managed to turn it into a Smiths gig.”
The Fence (2002): It wasn’t a band or musician that sparked controversy in 2002… it was a fence. Organiser Michael Eavis came under fire when he organised the erection of a £1million fence around the site. The ring of steel was brought in to protect ticket holders and those who might inadvertently endanger themselves by breaking in. Diehard Glasto fans, however, felt it was at odds with the event’s hippy ethos of peace and love. Eavis and co refused to back down, though, and the fence remains in place today.
JAY-Z (2008): Despite its long history, Glastonbury had never welcomed a rapper for a headline set – until 2008. Jay-Z’s top bill booking was met with a flurry of digs, including some from Oasis’s Noel Gallagher, who claimed hip hop had no place at the festival. In a perfect clap-back, Jay-Z walked out to a version of Wonderwall before launching into his powerful hit 99 problems. Seven years later, his pal Kanye West followed in his Glastonbury footsteps and topped the bill.
Metallica (2014): Thrash metal rockers Metallica were met with raised eyebrows when they were announced as Glastonbury headliners. Some critics claimed they lacked mainstream appeal, while others felt they were past their prime. However, frontman James Hetfield managed to quickly win the crowd round thanks to his good humour and polite manners.
Adele (2016): Although Adele wowed both festival goers and music fans at home with her headliner set, the British songstress did cause a stir by turning the air blue. She warned the crowd about her “potty mouth” but not everyone was impressed with with the 30 plus expletives she dropped on the stage during her headline set, which aired on the BBC.
The Sun on Sunday revealed Dua had suffered some bad luck due to a sound delay as part of the BBC’s broadcast of the coverage on some services.
Dua, 28, later hit back back at false claims she had been ‘miming’ at Glastonbury with a defiant response.
Music lovers also took to social media to blast organisers for what they claimed was “tough” sound ‘issues during Shania Twain’s set on Sunday afternoon.