More than 200,000 Glastonbury festivalgoers get the party started for real as they gear up for three nights of massive acts at Worthy Farm starting with Dua Lipa tonight

The Glastonbury party has officially started as more than 200,000 music lovers gear up for three day of massive acts and music mayhem. 

Worthy Farm is heaving as the music extravaganza kicked into overdrive for real ahead of tonight’s headline act, Dua Lipa. 

Revellers, who have been on the site since Wednesday, have been getting into the flow of things as the first official day of spectacle got underway. 

Music lovers, armed with bags of clothes and bottles of booze, have spent several nights camped out in tents, after baking in 30C heats. 

Many faced hours of travel chaos just to get to the madness in Somerset, with multiple trains lines heading out from London closed on Thursday. 

As today’s action got underway, huge crowds massed at the iconic Pyramid Stage, which has seen music idols from the likes of Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney, and Adele headlining over the years. 

Among the 200,000-strong swell of fans included a grumpy 10-week-old baby called Finlay, who has become an early Glastonbury hit after he was spotted at his ‘first rave’  during Annie Mak’s opening set of the day. 

The youngster’s hilarious dour-face was beamed onto massive TV screen as he sat on his father’s shoulders during the Irish DJ’s show at the Other Stage – which led to Mak declaring the baby was a ‘little legend’.   

Rock megastars Coldplay will be headlining the Pyramid Stage on Saturday evening with R&B singer SZA leading the show on Sunday.

Meanwhile, country pop icon Shania Twain has taken the coveted Legends slot on Sunday and is expected to pull a massive crowd.  

Today’s action started for many with huge queues to use the shower blocks, following a day of partying in the sweltering heat on Thursday. 

And as the music bonanza began, Olivia Dean was among the first to step onto Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage this afternoon. 

The 25-year-old, who grew up in north London, has previously collaborated with the likes of drum and bass megastars Rudimental and she is a Chanel ambassador.

She was met with rapturous applause after dedicating a song to her grandmother and other members of the Windrush generation during her Glastonbury set.

The singer, who was wearing a T-shirt with her grandmother’s face on it, said: ‘She came to this country when she was 18, never been on a plane… she had my mum quite young, my mum had me and I’m a product of her bravery.’

She added: ‘So this song is for my granny, to the Windrush generation, for any immigrant, anyone’s who’s brave enough to move.’

She continued: ‘And if you’re watching at home granny “hi!'”

The singer then wiped away tears and commented on ‘what a beautiful day’ it was before she played her last song, Dive.

Later, fans of South Korean K-pop band Seventeen appeared to go into a frenzied overdrive as the music act appeared on the Pyramid stage. 

Lovers of the group, armed with the South Korean flag, screamed as the group performed. 

Earlier in the day, festival goers watch Squeeze perform at the Pyramid stage.

While DJ legend Annie Mak helped kick-off the party with an hour-long set of dance classics at the festival’s second biggest stage. 

But the Irish star’s set was almost overshadowed by a grump-looking baby called Finlay.

The 10-week-old infant and his dour face was beamed onto Mac’s huge TV screens, with the little lad becoming part of a smash hit. 

Wearing his striped one-piece pyjamas and ear protectors, Finlay was met with a rapturous reception from atop his father Tom Kay’s shoulders as special effects on stage saw his image turn into a hallucinatory dance visual.

‘Oh my god, this baby, what a little legend,’ Mac said to the crowd of thousands as Finlay appeared again.

She signed off her performance by thanking ‘everyone, Glastonbury and this baby’.

Finlay’s parents insisted the youngster loved the music and have now said they will play his moment of techno fame on his wedding day. 

Finlay’s father Mr Kay, a 39-year-old accountant, said ‘(Finlay) was loving the music, so we thought we’d put him on my shoulders, he was just enjoying the vibes and then was on the big screen and got a big cheer – it’s amazing.

‘Some people around us have sent us a video of it… it’s great to think (Mac) noticed.’

Finlay’s mother Rosie Lewis, a 35-year-old originally from Edinburgh, said the video will probably be played at his wedding and 18th and 21st birthdays in years to come.

The couple, who have also brought their 10-year-old daughter Sofia, are only at the festival by chance after they won a competition for tickets through The Guardian newspaper.

‘You had to nominate a friend that you thought was worthy of winning tickets,’ Ms Lewis said, explaining she put her partner’s name down.

‘I had just given birth in the hospital, I thought he’ll never win, but he might get an email saying ‘Rosie’s nominated you for being worthy of winning Glastonbury tickets’ and make him feel good about himself – then he won them.’

Asked what tips they would give to parents thinking of bringing their young children to a festival, Ms Lewis said: ‘Do it – you can overthink it and it can put you off.

‘But take more nappies than you think you’ll need and take more vests and outfits than you think you’ll need.’

Sofia, who is at her third Glastonbury since 2016, said: ‘And go to the Kidzfield.’

Kidzfield is an area of the festival dedicated to under-12s, including music lessons, face painting and storytelling.

Despite the child-friendly offering, Sofia said she is actually most looking forward to seeing the festival’s Arcadia laser-laden dance stage – complete with its new flame-belching Dragonfly installation, which has replaced the site’s famous Spider.

It comes as Glastonbury’s organiser Emily Eavis was forced to defend the world-famous music spectacle’s line-up amid criticism of there being a lack of rock bands as pop star Dua Lipa prepares to headline Friday’s event.

This year’s event sees headline performances from Dua Lipa, Coldplay and American R&B singer SZA, while country star Shania Twain will play the coveted Legends slot.

‘I think the line-up reflects what’s happening in the music world at the moment – there aren’t a lot of new rock acts to choose from if I’m honest,’ Eavis said.

‘Hopefully that will emerge again, my heyday was 1995 with Pulp and Oasis and Radiohead… and that was great but music changes all the time and right now this is where we’re at.

‘Every year, we’ve been criticised for being too rock, too grime, too hip hop, too pop… it’s just part of our year.

‘Generally it’s not from the public… everybody’s really happy and excited to be here.’

Last night, festivalgoers were pictured inhaling ‘laughing gas’ from balloons on the grass. 

Elsewhere, a small mobile cart saw entrepreneurs flogging little bottles claiming to contain the ‘vegan alternative to cocaine’. 

This morning, dozens of empty nitrous oxide cans were pictured scattered around the festival site, with some left in large piles close to the bins. 

A spokesman for Avon and Somerset Police said that since Wednesday until 10am on Friday, the festival had seen a total of six arrests for drug offences on and off site at Glastonbury.

‘Three of these relate to the same occurrence and these people have also been arrested on suspicion of theft,’ he added.

Over the same period, the force also recorded 39 incidents, which included 11 thefts, five drug offences and two reports of violence.

This year’s festival is taking place in the week before the General Election, which Eavis acknowledged they have ‘never had’.

‘I feel a bit like we’ve stepped out of the election, even though it’s next week,’ she said.

‘We were working on having voter registration booths, but then the day moved.

‘It’s a big one for us, we’ve never had a pre-election festival.’

Glastonbury have also decided it will not be broadcasting the Euro 2024 football tournament, with England set to face Slovakia in the last 16 at 5pm on Sunday.

Eavis said the festival set up a screen to watch fixtures during the World Cup tournament in 1998, but times have changed.

‘We used to have a screen here as no-one had any means of finding out what even the result was because we were so cut off from the outside,’ she said. ‘Now obviously, everyone’s connected and I think you know it’s a music festival.

Glastonbury festivalgoers will face cooler conditions for the action, as forecasters said Britain’s recent hot spell is now coming to an end with windy weather on the way and unsettled conditions for the next few days.

Music fans at Glastonbury enjoying Friday’s line-up could be met with the ‘occasional light shower’ but the day will mainly be ‘dry and bright’, according to a Met Office spokeswoman.

Nicola Maxey said: ‘Although there is a chance of an occasional light shower today at Glastonbury, it will be a mainly dry and bright day with sunny spells, and the chance of some late evening sunshine for festival goers.

‘Tomorrow will mostly be another dry and bright day, a little warmer than Friday, but becoming cloudier through the evening with the chance of some light drizzle later one.

‘The drizzle should clear as we go through Sunday morning, making way for another dry day with plenty of sunshine.

‘Whilst a weather front could bring some rainfall to the festival site for a period on Monday, Tuesday is looking like another dry day.

‘Temperatures are expected to reach high teens to low 20s Celsius over the coming days.’

Glastonbury revellers are expected enjoy weather across the weekend that is ‘mostly dry with plenty of sunny spells’ and temperatures about average for June, which will be at 18C (64F) today before rising to 19C (66F) tomorrow and 21C (70F) on Sunday.

It follows the UK’s first heatwave of the year that saw a 2024 high of 30.3C (86.5F) on Wednesday and a four-day heat health alert that expired yesterday afternoon.

Met Office spokesman Grahame Madge said: ‘After the spell of warmth earlier this week, the UK forecast is pivoting rapidly to cooler and more unsettled conditions.

‘This change is being driven by an unseasonably deep area of low pressure to the west of Scotland, this is bringing strong winds and rain to northern parts of the UK, including Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England.

‘A cold front from this system is dragging cooler air eastwards across the rest of the UK. This is bringing temperatures down to much nearer average values.

‘The UK outlook for the next few days is for periods of unsettled conditions to be interspersed with brighter spells.’

The incoming unsettled weather follows a period of sustained high temperatures.

Wednesday was the hottest day of the year so far, the Met Office said, with a high of 30.3C (86.5F) recorded at Heathrow Airport.

The previous hottest day of the year was Tuesday, with the mercury topping out at 30C (86F) in Chertsey in Surrey.

Met Office meteorologist Kathryn Chalk said the last time 30C was recorded in the UK before this week was on September 10 last year – nearly 300 days ago.