Olivia Dean pays tribute to grandmother and Windrush generation at Glastonbury

The singer took to the Pyramid Stage wearing a T-shirt with her grandmother’s face on it.

Singer Olivia Dean dedicated her song Carmen to her grandmother and other members of the Windrush generation as she neared the end of her set on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury.

The neo soul singer, 25, who was named the winner of the BBC Introducing artist of the year award last year and whose album Messy earned her a Mercury Prize nomination, followed rock band Squeeze, who opened Friday’s Pyramid Stage performances.

Wearing a T-shirt with her grandmother’s face on it, Dean 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.

Olivia Dean dancing on stage, dressed in a vest featuring a photo of her grandmother and a short minikilt — Olivia Dean performing on the Pyramid Stage (Ben Birchall/PA)

Dean wiped away tears and commented on “what a beautiful day” it was before she played her last song of the set, Dive.

Later, 28-year-old British-Albanian singer Dua Lipa will headline the festival and is expected to play hit songs including Houdini and Training Season from her third studio album, Radical Optimism.

American R&B singer SZA will headline on Sunday, while country star Shania Twain will play the coveted Legends slot.

Earlier, Eavis defended the festival line-up amid criticism that there is a lack of rock bands, telling the PA news agency: “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.

Emily Eavis shouts to the crowd — Emily Eavis opened the gates to start the festival (Yui Mok/PA)

“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.”

Glenn Tilbrook dressed in a checked suit, playing a black guitar — Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze as the band opened the Pyramid Stage on Friday (Yui Mok/PA)

“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.”

Dua Lipa dressed in leather jacket and shorts while singing on a stage with dancers — Dua Lipa was a star performer at this year’s Brit Awards (James Manning/PA)

Eavis said the festival set up a screen to watch fixtures during the World Cup 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 everyone’s connected, and I think, you know, it’s a music festival.

Four men dressed as the Beatles, including colourful customs, facial hair and glasses — Glastonbury revellers dressed as the Beatles (Yui Mok/PA)

“But hopefully I’m encouraging people to put their phones away and forget about the outside world.”

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 the Met Office.

Temperatures are expected to reach high teens to low 20Cs over the weekend.

A woman dressed in a fluffy hat and coat, hot pants and vest, silver boots, carrying a blow-up flamingo — Festivalgoer Saira Biruta was dressed in a flamingo costume (Yui Mok/PA)

Festival founder Sir Michael Eavis was among Thursday’s performers and was met with rapturous cheers by a crowd of thousands as he appeared in a wheelchair on the Park stage.

Elsewhere, just days after the birth of his fourth child, Joe Wicks led a fitness session and set his sights on taking his workouts to the Pyramid Stage.