One of the UK’s cultural institutions, the annual music extravaganza that is Glastonbury Festival, has just kicked off – and while tents have been pitched, flower crowns assembled, and the artists are up and running showcasing their wares on the highly coveted stages, The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde is giving her two cents about the impact of global warming on the festival season.
“I trust you’re all surviving the heat waves,” writes Hynde in a recent Instagram post. “I'm remembering the last couple years when we supported Guns N’ Roses, and then the Foo Fighters in stadiums (to pay for the clubs which I prefer playing). It was so hot I had to strap ice packs around my waist. And I realized then that outdoor events are going to come to an end. It’s too hot.”
Over the past week, the National Weather Service (NWS) issued several extreme heat warnings and advisories due to high temperatures and humidity blankets engulfing much of the central and eastern U.S.
Bonnaroo 2025 was, in fact, recently cancelled due to extreme weather, with organizers stating that the weather forecast was showing unsustainable conditions for campers.
As for Glastonbury, this year's festival could be one of the warmest on record, with the BBC reporting that, “Sunny spells will once again break through though and it'll be warmest day of the festival [on Sunday] with a high of 28°C (82°F). Quite a way off the Glastonbury record of 31.2°C (88.2°F) in 2017. Regardless, it’ll still be one of the warmest festivals in its history.”
Nevertheless, the legendary festival is already off to a good start, with a plethora of guitar-wielding acts to boot – including all three of this year's headliners: The 1975 on Friday, Neil Young on Saturday, and Olivia Rodrigo on Sunday.
