Lorde kicked off Glastonbury 2025 with a secret set showcasing her new album, ‘Virgin’, on its day of release – check out some of the footage below.
The singer is the first main music act to open this year’s festival with her Woodsies tent set, with Supergrass kicking things off on the Pyramid Stage at 12pm.
Access to the Woodsies area was shut shortly before her set, with the festival making an announcement that the tent and field were at capacity.
Lorde began at 11:30am, and she launched straight into her most recent single and album opener ‘Hammer’, before proceeding to run through ‘Virgin’ in full – with all songs being given their live debuts – amid strobe lighting.
lol could have called this! I bet it’s so busy, you’d be mad to miss Lorde! pic.twitter.com/KVIBIdb6UC
— liss (@Liss17576) June 27, 2025
🚨 Lorde ON STAGE RIGHT NOW at Glastonbury.
She just live debuted ‘Hammer’ & ‘WWT’ and she’s into “Shapeshifter”, so it looks like she might be singing the whole album in order! [via her IG Livestream] #lorde #Woodsies pic.twitter.com/xD5AX8qBEy
— Lorde fix 🩻🧬⛓️ (@Lorde_fix) June 27, 2025
ELLA’S CROWD AT GLASTONBURY!!! WE ARE SO BACKKKK!!! @lorde YOU ARE SO LOVED ♥️🩻 pic.twitter.com/YNW4fs36av
— theo 🧬⛓️ (@theogreatwar) June 27, 2025
Lorde – Hammer (#Glastonbury 2025, 27 June 2025) pic.twitter.com/TEhvLlVk38
— Kevin Blue (@TheiKevin) June 27, 2025
Oh YES MATE. @lorde #Glastonbury pic.twitter.com/8vrZAIjSak
— Andrew Trendell (@AndrewTrendell) June 27, 2025
‘What Was That’, the album’s lead single, was a particular highlight, with Lorde pulling her white T-shirt over her head while the crowd sang her lyrics back at her, while for ‘Shapeshifter’ she got down on one knee and twisted and turned around the stage throughout.
“I decided to play the whole record front to back,” she told the crowd. “This record took me a lot – I didn’t know if I would make another record to be honest, but I am back [and] completely free.
“It’s gonna be a sick fucking Glastonbury,” she added to cries of “we love you” from festivalgoers, before proceeding with the second half of the album.
Lorde performs “What Was That” at Glastonbury.
— InMusic (@_inmusic_) June 27, 2025
but omg i’m watching lorde perform her brand new album live like that’s the dream i need to be there 😭
— 🖤 anna (taylor’s version) 🖤 she/her 🖤 (@06anna02) June 27, 2025
Lorde’s Glastonbury set was utterly euphoric and raw and brilliant and it’s left me in a total mess and I was only watching the stream pic.twitter.com/YCvHZDimlA
— Rhys (@rhysrmann) June 27, 2025
With the set almost over, Lorde announced that she’d be performing a song that made its Glastonbury debut in 2017, before moving onto her 2013 single ‘Ribs’ while standing on a chair. To finish, she played ‘Green Light’, one of her signature songs, and it felt like a fitting way for the star to announce a triumphant return to the festival.
@lorde is currently performing GREEN LIGHT at her surprise set at #Glastonbury2025 💚💚🕺 #Lorde pic.twitter.com/NpFaAaFKjm
— DYLAN 🩵 (@DylanChan94) June 27, 2025
Lorde’s set, while officially down as ‘TBA’ on the Glastonbury listings, was something of an open secret after she shared an aerial photo of the Woodsies area on her Instagram story yesterday.
Lorde doing ribs and greenlight at glasto in the tent omg chills icl
— Jill 🫶🏾 (@jillclb) June 27, 2025
Lorde’s 2025 Glastonbury setlist was:
‘Hammer’
‘What Was That’
‘Shapeshifter’
‘Man Of The Year’
‘Favourite Daughter’
‘Current Affairs’
‘Clearblue’
‘GRWM’
‘Broken Glass’
‘If She Could See Me Now’
‘David’
‘Ribs’
‘Green Light’
In a four-star review of ‘Virgin’, NME wrote: “Ultimately, ‘Virgin’ is a vibrant combination of Lorde’s best qualities, and then some. With her newfound candour, the record combines the emotional whirlwind of ‘Melodrama’, the chilling minimalism of ‘Pure Heroine’ and the breezy freedom of ‘Solar Power’. This might be called ‘Virgin’, but Lorde proves she’s not afraid to strip herself bare.
Still to come this weekend are headliners Olivia Rodrigo, The 1975, and Neil Young, as well as the likes of Charli XCX, Raye, Biffy Clyro, Loyle Carner, Rod Stewart and The Prodigy.
Check back at NME here for the latest news, reviews, interviews, photos and more from Glastonbury 2025.
