Olivia Dean pays tribute to grandmother and Windrush generation at Glastonbury

At the end of her performance on the main stage at Glastonbury, singer Olivia Dean paid tribute to her grandmother and the other individuals who were part of the Windrush generation by performing her song Carmen.

The 25-year-old neo soul vocalist, who won the BBC Introducing artist of the year award last year and received a Mercury Prize nomination for her album Messy, performed after rock band Squeeze kicked off Friday's Pyramid Stage lineup.

In the blog post, Dean shared that he was wearing a T-shirt that had his grandmother's picture on it. He mentioned that his grandmother came to this country at the age of 18 without ever flying on a plane before. Despite having his mother at a young age, she still raised him, and he believes that he is a result of her courage.

This song is dedicated to my grandmother, the Windrush generation, immigrants, and anyone who has the courage to relocate.

Dean wiped tears away and remarked on how beautiful the day was before she performed her final song in the set, Dive.

Afterwards, the 28-year-old British-Albanian singer Dua Lipa will be the main act at the festival and is anticipated to perform popular songs such as Houdini and Training Season from her latest album, Radical Optimism.

During an interview on The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2, Emily Eavis, the organiser of Glastonbury, mentioned that there won't be any major surprises at this year's event. However, she did express excitement about Coldplay's headline performance on Saturday, describing it as a "significant and memorable moment."

R&B artist SZA is set to perform as the main act on Sunday, while country singer Shania Twain will take the stage for the highly anticipated Legends slot.

Before, Eavis supported the festival's musical lineup despite criticism of the lack of rock bands. He told the PA news agency that the lineup accurately represents the current music scene, explaining that there are limited options when it comes to new rock acts.

I hope those days will come back again. My peak was in 1995 with bands like Pulp, Oasis, and Radiohead... it was amazing. But music is always evolving, and currently this is the current state of things.

Each year, we receive criticism for being too focused on rock, grime, hip hop, or pop music. It's just a normal part of our annual routine.

"Normally, the feedback from the audience is very positive... everyone is thrilled and enthusiastic to be in this place."

This year's festival is happening before the General Election, and Eavis mentioned: "I feel like we've taken a break from the election, even though it's coming up next week."

We had planned to set up voter registration booths, but the schedule changed.

"This is a significant event for us as we have never organized a pre-election festival before."

The people in charge of Glastonbury have also chosen not to show the Euro 2024 football tournament at the festival. Instead, England will be playing against Slovakia in the round of 16 at 5pm on Sunday.

Eavis mentioned that back in 1998, the festival arranged for a TV screen to show the World Cup games, but things are different now.

"We had a screen in this place before because none of us could access information about the outcome. We were completely isolated from the outside world," she explained.

Now that we're all linked up, I believe it's a music fest.

I believe that if people are interested enough, they can easily search for the results on their mobile devices.

"I hope that by sharing my message, I am inspiring others to disconnect from their phones and ignore the distractions of the world around them."

People who love music and are attending Glastonbury on Friday can expect some light showers, but overall the weather is predicted to be dry and sunny by the Met Office.

The weather is forecasted to be warm this weekend, with temperatures reaching the high teens to low 20s in Celsius.

On Thursday, there was a celebration in honor of DJ Annie Nightingale, the pioneering woman who was the first presenter on BBC Radio 1. She passed away in January at the age of 83.

The person who started the festival, Sir Michael Eavis, performed on Thursday and was greeted with enthusiastic cheers by a large crowd when he appeared on stage in a wheelchair.

In another place, shortly after welcoming his fourth child, Joe Wicks conducted a workout session and planned to bring his exercises to the Pyramid Stage.