Sugababes played for a live audience for the second time in over 20 years tonight (June 24) at Glastonbury‘s Avalon stage, after taking a break from the limelight in 2012.
This performance featured the original Sugababes line-up of Keisha Buchanan, Mutya Buena, and Siobhan Donaghy, and they sang their greatest hits including tracks from periods when Donaghy and Buena were not in the band.
Keisha Buchanan lead most of the talking during the set. “We were so nervous to come out here today, and I don’t know why because you’re not scary,” she said. “I know it’s been crazy being out of lockdown and all of that. And I guess I say that to say that, in life, there’s ups and downs but there’s one thing for sure, it’s just a season. Whether it’s [laughs], it’s gonna come either way and you’ll always have to push through.”
Set to a live band, the crowd clambered onto each other’s shoulders and the tent frame to catch a glimpse of the ‘00s pop sensations back in action. The girl group open up their set with their platinum-selling UK Number One ‘Push The Button’ before dong a mixed melody of their charting seminal pop tracks and album deep cuts like ‘Run For Cover’.
Amidst the middle of their set, Buena asked the crowd “Do you guys like garage?” before the trio sang a cover of Sweet Female Attitude’s ‘Flowers’. Buchanan also reminded the crowd about their first debut tour presale tickets that go on sale July 1. “We’ve got justice for ‘Flatline’, guys,” Buchanan said, talking about the group’s new successes, “It’s finally up [on Spotify]. And we’re going to be touring in October to November. Presale tickets are out July 1. Make sure you grab them if you haven’t already.”
Ending on their second-ever UK Number One ‘Round Round’, the crowd roared for an encore, which they got. The duo started up their live band again and played the crowd out with two final songs; ‘About You Now’ and ‘Freak Like Me’.
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Recently, the band’s debut single ‘Flatline’ was re-released on Spotify under the Sugababes name, as well as their tour announcement after winning a lawsuit to reclaim the legal rights to their band name.
Sugababes played:
‘Push The Button’
‘Overload’
‘Hole In The Head’
‘Too Lost in You’
‘Stronger’
‘Flatline’
‘Run for Cover’
‘Today’
‘Flowers’
‘Caught in a Moment’
‘Round Round’
‘About You Now’
‘Freak Like Me’
Friday also saw performances from Sam Fender, St Vincent, IDLES, Blossoms, Sigrid, Phoebe Bridgers and Primal Scream. Meanwhile, Billie Eilish closed out the night with a headline set on the Pyramid Stage, making her the youngest solo Glastonbury headliner in history.
Check out the full line-up and performance times here and check back at NME here for the latest news, reviews, interviews, photos and more from Glastonbury 2022.