Glastonbury Festival has come under fire after a slew of artists were hit with technical problems that left them sounding ‘awful’.
Roughly 210,000 revellers descended on Somerset’s Worthy Farm for the weekend, while millions were expected to tune in from home thanks to the BBC‘s rolling coverage.
However, music-lovers were left disappointed this year as several artists struggled with technical issues that left the sound seeming distorted.
On top of this, artists including Camila Cabello, Dua Lipa and Coldplay have been called out for allegedly miming.
Now there’s been frenzied guessing game as to who is to blame for the issues, with questions raised as to whether Glastonbury Festival’s technical team is at fault or the BBC for the broadcast.
Glastonbury Festival has come under fire after a slew of artists were hit with technical problems that left them sounding ‘awful’ (Dua Lipa pictured on Friday night)
Taking to X, formerly Twitter, fans penned: ‘Why is the sound so awful on every single bit of Glastonbury that I’ve watched (apart from the Sugababes). Is it bad there? Or is it the TV/BBC mics/sound?’;
‘Glastonbury is one of the biggest music festivals in the world, yet their sound engineers can’t seem to get much right this year? Bad mics, in-ear monitor situations, drowned out vocals. Or is this just the TV coverage from the BBC?’;
‘After watching the #BBC #Glastonbury2024 footage over the weekend, the most important conclusion is that the sound quality wasn’t very good across the board, and truly awful in some cases. Question is, was it that bad on site as well or was this just a tv thing?’
While this year’s festival seemed to be particularly bad, Glastonbury is no stranger to sound issues.
Last year, headliners Guns N’ Roses set was impacted, with viewers claiming they ‘couldn’t hear’ singer Axl Rose.
In turn, the band claimed the BBC was to blame, with a statement from their agency revealing they had ‘dug deep’ into the problem and discovered there were problems with the broadcast being streamed on certain TVs, resulting in poor sound quality.
Meanwhile music experts have suggested that poor sound quality at the festival could be the result of using backing tracks.
Becky Pell, a sound engineer from Oxfordshire who is on tour with Take That, told The Sunday Times that the ‘vast majority’ of pop artists sing live.
But that it was ‘not practical’ to have the 16 musicians which would appear on a recorded track, performing on stage.
Last year, headliners Guns N’ Roses set was impacted, with viewers claiming they ‘couldn’t hear’ singer Axl Rose. In turn, the band blamed the BBC for the sound issues
Another sound engineer who has toured with Blondie, claimed to achieve the same effect, stars use extra guitarists or an orchestra on a backing track to ‘thicken the sound out’ – helping to replicate the recorded version of the song.
Vocals may be added too, but these will be in addition to live singing – not instead of.
On studio recorded albums, artists often sing multiple parts or layer their voice, something that can’t be replicated live.
Some artists prefer to go without the heavily regimented use of the tracks, which they claim take the spontaneity and thrill out of a live performance.
They don’t use tacks used to help them keep the tempo, known as click tracks, and instead want to let the music ‘breathe’, according to one 66-year-old guitarist who has performed live with David Bowie and Iggy Pop.
But going without any backing track can be a big gamble, resulting in a patchier sound and less consistency.
Live music fans who have been listening for decades have noticed the improvements.
When Live Aid was held at Wembley in 1985 the sound quality to the crowd of 72,000 varied extensively between bands.
One of the most striking examples was Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon who painfully failed on a high note in a rendition of A View to a Kill.
A music fan described the difference in listening to live music between the two eras as ‘like comparing a cassette tape to Spotify’.
Dua Lipa was the first to be accused of lip-syncing by those watching coverage of the festival on the BBC on Friday night
The same issue occurred with Coldplay ‘s record breaking set on Saturday night, which saw frontman Chris Martin wow crowds after he brought on an old friend to perform with them
So who was affected by the sound issues this year?
Dua Lipa was the first to be accused of lip-syncing by those watching coverage of the festival on the BBC on Friday night.
One watcher wrote on X: ‘Imagine paying all that money to go Glastonbury to stand there and watch Dua Lipa mime the song and not even sing it. How bad.’
Another wrote online: ‘Dua Lipa delivering a Top of the Pops mime set’.
A third said: ‘Dua Lipa has some decent catchy tunes, but I’m fairly sure she’s lip syncing. Sounds like a live vocal, but just not convinced she’s singing it live ‘right now’.’
However, she set the record straight after her set and insisted miming is not something she ever does.
‘I don’t mime,’ said the Grammy Award-winner as she toasted her headline success with her actor boyfriend Callum Turner, 34, in an exclusive bar at the Worthy Farm festival site.
The same issue occurred with Coldplay‘s record breaking set on Saturday night, which saw frontman Chris Martin wow crowds after he brought on an old friend to perform with them.
Michael J. Fox arrived on stage in his wheelchair to play the guitar during Fix You and Humankind.
It was a milestone moment for the band, who made history by becoming the first group to headline Glastonbury five times, with Chris, 47, crediting Michael for being the ‘main reason’ they are in a group.
The British band made their debut at the iconic festival in the New Bands Tent in 1999, before headlining in 2002, 2005, 2011, and 2016, and have now made the record for having headlined the festival five times.
However, while some went wild for the surprise historic musical moment, some more cynical viewers have suggested that Chris may have been miming the words to his songs, rather than singing.
One wrote: ‘Tons of miming and backing tracks being used in this Coldplay performance. Bass player in danger of being made redundant.’
A second said: ‘There’s a fair amount of blagging and miming going on here… Loads of tracks running in the background.’
While a third commented: ‘The people who were giving off about Taylor Swift’s band miming or using backing tracks would get a big surprise if they saw Coldplay’s input list.’
Another to have come under the scrutiny of eagle eyed fans is Camila Cabello, who put on a racy performance at her set on Saturday
There was also other complaints about the quality of the sound, with Cyndi Lauper ‘s performance on Saturday beset by problems
Shania Twain suffered the same fate as she took to the stage on Sunday. The iconic singer, 58, could be seen struggling with her ear piece as she seemed to have trouble with her pitch
Another to have come under the scrutiny of eagle eyed fans is Camila Cabello, who put on a racy performance at her set on Saturday.
The singer, 27, who rose to prominence as a member of the pop girl group Fifth Harmony, sent temperatures soaring as she took to the stage in a busty top and hot pants.
As she took to the stage in the raunchy ensemble, one of Camila’s backup dancers, who was dressed as an animal, could be seen cooling her down by rubbing an ice lolly all over her body.
The American-Cuban singer found fame aged just 15 as part of Fifth Harmony on The X Factor US, before going solo four years later.
While viewers’ eyes popped out their sockets at the steamy performance, some couldn’t help but notice something off, accusing the singer of miming her songs.
One person posted on X: ‘Camila Cabello miming her way through her set, nice #Glastonbury #Glastonbury2024’.
A second wrote: ‘You were s**te you lip syncing fake – Camilla Cabello’.
There was also other complaints about the quality of the sound, with Cyndi Lauper‘s performance on Saturday beset by problems.
Festival goers were left struggling to hear the Girls Just Wanna Have Fun singer’s vocals as her voice was drowned out by rumbling bass.
After a few songs, Cyndi, 71, performed Rocking Chair and she seemed to struggle with her pitch and timing.
The sound issues appeared to have been resolved by the time she got to her hit I Drove All Night.
But Cyndi faltered again on her 1984 track Time After Time as she lagged behind the band – suggesting she was having trouble with her in-ear monitors.
Wrapping up a weekend of sound issues was SZA’s headline gig on Sunday night, with some claiming it sounded like she was ‘singing into a fan’
SZA’s show also struggled to draw in the huge crowds that were on display during Coldplay ‘s headline slot the previous evening, with the small numbers noticeable in BBC’s coverage
Shania Twain suffered the same fate as she took to the stage on Sunday.
The iconic singer, 58, could be seen struggling with her ear piece as she seemed to have trouble with her pitch and timing.
Shania made a very dramatic entrance alongside drag queens and dancers, before quickly finding herself beset with problems.
Horrified fans rushed to X, formerly Twitter, to slam the behind the scenes crew as they felt nothing but sympathy for Shania’s moment being ruined.
They wrote: ‘Utterly horrific sound mix on Shania!’: ‘The sound at Glastonbury has been terrible on BBC, Cyndi yesterday and now Shania? Maybe BBC just hates gay icons’: ‘Sound is pretty rubbish for Shania’: ”Looks like Shania knows something is wrong with the sound’.
Wrapping up a weekend of sound issues was SZA’s headline gig on Sunday night.
The American hitmaker, 34, performed on Worthy Farm’s iconic Pyramid Stage, but the show sparked complaints from viewers, who slammed her ‘awful’ mic problems.
SZA’s show also struggled to draw in the huge crowds that were on display during Coldplay‘s headline slot the previous evening, as thousands of fans abandoned the show after tuning into England’s Euro 2024 match.
As SZA kicked off her headline slot, viewers were quick to complain about her sound problems, with some claiming it sounded like she was ‘singing into a fan.’
Posts on X included: ‘Why are the backing singers crystal clear and SZA sounds like she’s singing through one of these???’
‘Me after hyping SZA up to my mum and dad for months and then her sounding like she’s singing into a fan;’ ‘Fix SZA’s mic RIGHT NOW;’
‘Is something wrong with SZA’s mic? I can’t understand a word she’s saying rn;’ ‘Who the hell is sabotaging SZA’s mic at Glastonbury????;’
MailOnline has contacted the BBC and Glastonbury Festival for comment.