Paul McCartney shares why he agreed to headline Glastonbury for the first time in 2004

Paul McCartney says he had been “toying” with the idea of performing at Glastonbury for years before he accepted.

The Worthy Farm event has hosted McCartney twice, once in 2004 and again in 2022. The decision to perform at the 2004 show was no small choice, according to McCartney. The Beatles and Wings member says he has always been “very respectful” of Glastonbury, but it took him a while to come around to actually playing the event. Part of the problem for McCartney was getting his voice ready for the show, with the “muscles involved” in playing Glastonbury needing to be warmed. As a result, McCartney scheduled a European tour in the lead-up to his Worthy Farm debut. The show itself was a marathon set from McCartney, with thirty-three songs from his days in The Beatles, Wings, and his solo work all featuring.

Speaking to The Guardian about his Glastonbury show, McCartney said: “I was asked to do Glastonbury, and for years, I’ve been sort of half-toying with the idea ‘cos it’s the great festival; the ongoing Woodstock.

“But you can’t go from the Mean Fiddler to a big outdoor thing. I had to get my voice up. I had to get up there – [sings] ‘waaaargh!’ There’s muscles involved. I do know that it’s helpful if I’ve been at it, maybe a week or so before. Then I can slide into it a bit more. So I said, ‘Let’s do a few shows.’ And that turned into a European tour. It does sound a bit silly, or that I’m very respectful to Glastonbury. I suppose I am.”

McCartney would play a hits-heavy set during his time at Worthy Farm, but also found spots for Flaming Pie and Chaos and Creation in the Backyard songs. A full setlist for his 2004 show can be found below.

• Jet
• Got to Get You Into My Life
• Flaming Pie
• All My Loving
• Let Me Roll It
• She’s a Woman
• Maybe I’m Amazed
• The Long and Winding Road
• In Spite of All the Danger
• Blackbird
• We Can Work It Out
• Here Today
• All Things Must Pass (George Harrison cover)
• Yellow Submarine
• I’ll Follow the Sun
• Calico Skies
• Eleanor Rigby
• Drive My Car
• Penny Lane
• Get Back
• Band on the Run
• Back in the U.S.S.R.
• Live and Let Die
• I’ve Got a Feeling
• Lady Madonna
• Hey Jude
• Yesterday
• Follow Me (live debut)
• Let it Be
• I Saw Her Standing There
• Helter Skelter
• Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
• The End

McCartney would headline the festival again nearly twenty years later, with his performance in 2022 featuring guest spots from Dave Grohl and Bruce Springsteen. The veteran musician is set to take the Got Back tour across the US, and is rumoured to be releasing a new album at the start of 2026.