The Chemical Brothers light up Glastonbury with a ferocious Arcadia DJ set

24 June, 2023

Chemical Brothers perform to huge crowds beneath the Arcadia spider in the very early morning at the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset. Picture date: Saturday June 24, 2023. (Photo by Ben Birchall/PA Images via Getty Images)

The Chemical Brothers made their triumphant return to Glastonbury last night (Friday June 23) as they took over the infamous Arcadia stage with a highly anticipated DJ set.

The iconic duo were due to play at the festival in 2022 but had to cancel at the last minute when Ed Simons came down with COVID. This year, they performed a two hour set at Arcadia, which will also host appearances from Skepta, Skream, Interplanetary Criminal and VTSS.

In true Chemical Brothers fashion, the pair rattled through an arsenal of heavy artillery dance music, moving from house to techno and breaks with ease. They kicked off with a suitably beefed up version of ‘You Got The Love’ by The Source ft Candi Staton, before launching into their own track ‘Go’.

 

The pair also delved into the new material taken from their upcoming album. ‘No Reason’ and ‘All Of A Sudden’ were both released as singles earlier in the year and will appear on the duo’s 10th studio album.

Both tracks were extremely well-received when they were played out, once again proving that the brothers still have that golden touch, decades after they first started putting music out.

As wild barbs of fire sprayed out of the Arcadia spider, the Chems made up for missing 2022’s festival in true Glastonbury fashion, with huge remixes of their most beloved tracks including Kink’s ferocious edit of ‘Hey Boy, Hey Girl’.

Some things in life just make total sense and The Chemical Brothers at Glastonbury is simply too good to pass up. If their set last night stands for anything, it’s that the pair are sounding fresher than ever and their new album will continue to solidify their status as dance music giants.

Chemical Brothers perform to huge crowds beneath the Arcadia spider in the very early morning at the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset. Picture date: Saturday June 24, 2023. (Photo by Ben Birchall/PA Images via Getty Images)
Chemical Brothers perform to huge crowds beneath the Arcadia spider in the very early morning at the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset. Picture date: Saturday June 24, 2023. (Photo by Ben Birchall/PA Images via Getty Images)

Yesterday was closed with a stellar headline set from Arctic Monkeys, as well as a surprise set from Foo Fighters appearing under the moniker The Churnups.

Glastonbury continues today with performances from Guns N’ Roses, Lizzo, Lana Del Rey, Manic Street Preachers, Måneskin and more. There will also be a number of secret sets, including The Pretenders (with a number of special guests) and Blossoms and Rick Astley performing a set of Smiths covers.

Check out all the latest from Glastonbury 2023 on the NME liveblog here, and see more news, reviews, photos, interviews and more here.

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