Robert Smith’s surprise guest appearance during Olivia Rodrigo’s headline set was one of the highlights of this year’s Glastonbury Festival, and now Arianna Powell - Rodrigo’s touring lead guitarist - has revealed how and when she learned that the unexpected collab with The Cure frontman was happening.
“We found out in Nashville when we were rehearsing for Bonnaroo, which ended up getting cancelled,” she told Guitar World recently. “Stacy [Jones], our music director, came and told us, and was like, ‘This is very secret – you cannot tell anyone, but he's going to be joining us.’ And I swear to God, I started crying. Like, I started tearing up.”
Powell’s emotional reaction came as a result of her long-term love affair with The Cure's music. “I'm a huge fan, especially those guitar parts,” she confirms. “I love, love, love, love, love, love, love the guitar parts, specifically in those songs, specifically Friday I'm in Love. So I was just so stoked to get to actually play that with the artist.”
While Powell doesn’t reveal what kind of rehearsal time Rodrigo and her band had with Smith, she does say that he was a calming presence on the day of the Glastonbury show.
“He was so cool," she recalls. "He was leaving his dressing room door open for us to hang out. He wanted to talk and be social. Through conversations with him, he was just saying, ‘It's just another show.’ And he was talking about how much he enjoys performing, and he loves it every time.
“That really inspired me and my energy for that night. Like, ‘Yeah, it's just another show – and I love doing this.’ The collective energy of the band that day was really infectious.”
Smith ended up staying on stage for two songs - Friday I’m In Love and Just Like Heaven, both classics from The Cure’s back catalogue. Rodrigo herself is also a huge fan: “I’m so wildly excited about this next guest, I can’t even contain it,” she told the crowd as she introduced him. “He is perhaps the best songwriter to come out of England, he is a Glastonbury legend and a personal hero of mine. Would you please welcome… Robert Smith!”
