Having one official Glastonbury moment in a performance is an achievement, but having three is simply greedy. Mark Ronson played his first full live set in three years on the Other stage on Friday, and it should be no surprise that he used every tool in his years of DJing experience to build the crowd’s reaction to an astounding crescendo.
One of the most well-connected men in the business obviously had guests, and a lot of them. He brought out Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker for a riff-off over Daffodils, and Daniel Merriweather for Stop Me, and Kyle Falconer from the View for The Bike Song. He was, undoubtedly, “really glad to be here, and that’s no BS”, introducing every collaborator with the enthusiasm of a schoolboy who cannot quite believe his luck. He played keyboards, and he scratched, and he played guitar, on top of a kind of heightened drum riser, from which he stared out at the crowd with what can only be described as a look of being extremely chuffed indeed, as BMX riders and jump-rope dancers added flair to the flashing lights disco staging.
But he saved the best for the last 20 minutes, and what an exquisite run it was. Andrew White, of Miike Snow fame, glowing in an emerald suit, co-wrote the hugely underrated Somebody to Love Me from 2010’s Record Collection. Any performance of it wouldn’t be complete without “the boy who sang this song” – Boy George, who looked thrilled to be on stage, in top hat and dreadlocks, also singing so beautifully, “Nobody’s gonna save my life.” And of course, if you have Boy George, then it would be a shame to waste him, so the crowd got a cover Do You Really Want to Hurt Me. “What an honour it is to be on stage with Boy George,” said Ronson, ever the gentleman, as the crowd couldn’t quite believe its luck.
Two Glastonbury moments to go. In what felt like a genuinely teary moment, Ronson introduced Valerie, which the band played along to Amy Winehouse’s original vocal. She was, he said, one of the greatest singers the world has ever known – how could they replace her? “I know we all wish Amy was here tonight,” he said, and asked the crowd to sing her part. They replied with respect, with gusto, with a “were you there?” experience.
Finally, there was Uptown Funk. If Ronson had simply played it to a track of Bruno Mars’s vocal, the audience would have gone wild, given that it is undeniably an irresistible tune. Instead, he went above and beyond. It was, frankly, ridiculously good, an imaginary dinner party band lineup, the stuff of music dreams: Grandmaster Flash, George Clinton and Mary J Blige combined to hit your hallelujah. That’s only the inventor of hip-hop, the prime minister of funk, and one of the finest soul vocalists of all time. Mark Ronson looked overwhelmed to have pulled it off, but he did, outstandingly. What a show.
