Dalai Lama praises Glastonbury ‘joy’

The Dalai Lama has made an appearance at the Glastonbury Festival, praising it as “a festival of people, not governments or politicians”.

The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader gave a talk in the Peace Garden, where the crowd sang happy birthday in advance of his 80th birthday on 6 July.

He arrived using a Glastonbury t-shirt to cover his head as rain soaked the festival site.

“I see old and young, everybody full of joy,” he said.

“While you are here, enjoy the joyfulness here. But you should remember on this same planet are human beings being killed by human beings.”

He mentioned conflicts in Iraq, Syria and Nigeria as he delivered a message of peace and respect.

He is also expected to appear on the festival’s Pyramid stage later.

If he does, he will join a Sunday line-up that also features The Who, Alt-J and Patti Smith.

Irish singer Hozier kicked off proceedings, drawing a huge crowd hoping to hear his signature hit, Take Me To Church.

Other artists due to play on Sunday include The Chemical Brothers, Ryan Adams and Charli XCX; while Lionel Richie takes the mid-afternoon “legends” slot on the main stage – following in the footsteps of Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton.

The main stage was headlined by US rapper Kanye West on Saturday, to a mixed response.

He appeared alone under a vast, mobile lighting rig consisting of hundreds of bright white lights; playing hits including Stronger, Power, Gold Digger and, appropriately, All Of The Lights.

However, festival founder Michael Eavis was not among the audience, he told the BBC.

“I’m not a fan of that kind of music,” he said. “Although I chose Jay-Z originally of course.”

Jay-Z was the festival’s first hip-hop headliner in 2008. But since then, Eavis has handed over responsibility for the line-up to his daughter Emily.

Instead of watching West, Michael Eavis was on stage with 1960s pop veterans The Moody Blues on the Acoustic Stage.

“I was on stage for the last song,” he said. “I sang there with the band – what a privilege. And I went up later in the night to the underground piano bar and I sang Goodnight Irene.”

However Eavis did watch Friday’s headliners, Florence and the Machine. “Wasn’t she good? I thought she put heart and soul into it,” he said.

And the 79-year-old farmer also scotched reports that he had been taken ill shortly before the festival, after falling off his bicycle.

“It’s all rubbish,” he said. “I never fell off the bike, I didn’t faint and I’m not ill. Right?”

BBC