The Pop Corporation

Maybe it was surprising to see SZA headline Glastonbury, maybe it wasn’t. Fact is, there’s millions of people who adore her work and there’s no-one quite like her, and while some people may wonder why she headed the bill, festivals should be taking little risks like that instead of just booking sure-fire artists.

Apparently, there were holes in the crowd which is unusual for a top-biller at Glastonbury, but given the line-up clashes, maybe it isn’t too surprising. Also, the amount of people who have started trying to beat traffic on a Sunday night at Glastonbury compared to years gone by is much more of a thing. Posh people eh?

More to the point though, as anyone who watched SZA’s performance on television will attest to, there was something funny going on with the sound coming from the stage. SZA microphone sounded distorted and very muddy, which is sometimes an indicator for use of Auto-Tune or related, but the technology has come a long way and it’d be strange if that was the case. Besides, she’s got a good set of pipes on her, so it’d be strange if it was that, and there were no such complaints from SZA’s show the day before in London.

SZA played to 50,000 people on the Saturday at BST Hyde Park. It’s not like she’s not wildly successful and incredibly popular – maybe any question of her top-billing is the usual rock bores thinking that anything from hip hop or soul doesn’t deserve a place at the top table. We’ve seen it a million times before.

Throughout the performance, SZA’s voice would flit between sounding dodgy and fine – resolutely not a case of her voice struggling, but rather, an issue from the desk.

Music fans on social media were quick to point this out, sticking up for the singer in the process with one person saying that it is “absolutely unforgivable that Glastonbury sound techs don’t have a spare, wired mic for SZA to sing into.”

“It’s not just the mic it’s the whole sound,” said another fan online.

The sound problems were also heard during Shania Twain and Cyndi Lauper’s sets (again, is that a ‘tune thing?) and SZA’s set was delayed by 15 minutes thanks to some kind of technical issue.

Overall, the festival was well attended and the BBC did their best to hype up some of the smaller acts as well as the larger ones (have you checked out Noname’s glorious set yet? Did you see Remi Wolf?) so y’know, it’s not festival season without it and it’s a thing that’s equally fun to whine about as it is to get excited about, but it certainly feels like 2024 is a turning point for festivals.

Line-ups have certainly looked weaker than previous years, prices are spiralling out of control and even mid-level weekenders have notice a drop-off in interest.

Glastobury is due a fallow year and it feels like it absolutely could do with one. Maybe we all could?