Beyonce closes the 2011 Glastonbury festival

Posted by elena On Tuesday, June 28th 2011 in Entertainment

R&B star Beyonce played her first gig at Glastonbury on Sunday, bringing this year's edition of the festival to an end. She performed a mix of her newer songs and older hits in front of an excited crowd of thousands of people. The singer was Sunday's headlining act on the main Pyramid stage.

The star's concert came three years after her husband Jay-Z headlined the Glastonbury festival. The famous rapper attended the concert, but did not join his wife on stage. Beyonce opened the show with hit song "Crazy in Love" and went on performing other popular tunes, such as "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", "If I Was a Boy" and "Independent women". On "Baby Boy", she was joined on stage by trip-hop star Tricky. She also performed a medley of songs from her former group Destiny's Child and several tracks from her latest album "4". In addition, the 90-minute set included several cover songs, such as Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)", Prince's "The Beautiful Ones" and "Sex on Fire" by the Kings of Leon.

The singer told the excited crowd that they were witnessing her dream, as she had always wanted to become a rock star. She added that everyone was a rock star that night. Beyonce was one of only a few women performers to headline the main stage in the festival's 40 years history. Suzanne Vega was the first in 1989; on Sunday, she performed on the acoustic stage.

Despite the many popular acts performing, this year's Glastonbury festival was not all fun. The three-day event was filled with rain and mud. Irish rock band U2, Friday's opening act, performed during heavy rain, but still put on a great show. Coldplay was the headlining act on the main stage on Saturday, while other stars of this year's festival included blues legend BB King, reformed britpop band Pulp, and English rapper Tinie Tempah. The Chemical Brothers, Paul Simon, Laura Marling, Queens of the Stone Age were also among the numerous acts who took to the stage at the 2011 Glastonbury festival.

Unfortunately, the festival was shadowed by the death of Conservative politician Christopher Shale, whose body was found on Sunday morning in a toilet in the VIP camping area. He was a personal friend of David Cameron, who said that he and his wife were "devastated" by the news.