Stewart previously headlined the festival in 2002, alongside Coldplay and Stereophonics.
That year, organisers were testing a five-mile “superfence” to keep out gatecrashers, which was a success.
“You’ve had some wonderful press all over the country because everything’s been so well-behaved and orderly,” the Scottish singer told the audience during his Sunday night set.
“I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing – but at least we know Glastonbury’s going to go on for the next 30 years.”
At first, “the crowd was wary” of the musician, who “looked to be taking himself too seriously”, said the BBC’s Ian Youngs in a review of the show.
“But waverers were won over by the double whammy of Maggie May and Do Ya Think I’m Sexy? half an hour into his set, when the crowd realised that he really was cheesy enough to be admitted to the Glastonbury Hall of Fame.”
Playing to the audience, Stewart preened and posed his way through the hits, with an array of costume changes that ended with a white ruffled shirt, unbuttoned almost to the navel.
He ended the night with Sailing, inspiring a mass singalong as fireworks exploded over the Pyramid Stage.