‘Godspeed for women’s rights’: Kendrick Lamar references Roe v Wade in final Glastonbury moment

Artist makes impassioned plea for women’s rights as he brings festival to a close
Kendrick Lamar performing on the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival
PA Wire
Josh Salisbury27 June 2022
The Weekender

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Kendrick Lamar closed Glastonbury 2022 with a set which saw him chant “Godspeed for women's rights" before dramatically exiting the Pyramid Stage.

The rapper, 35, performed an array of hit songs before closing with a rendition of his new song Saviour, with the lights coming up to reveal fake blood was pouring down his face from a crown of thorns.

Before playing the song, Lamar, who has spoken previously about his Christian faith, said the crown of thorns represented Christ.

As his dancers encircled him, fireworks erupted across the stage as he repeatedly chanted, “They judge you, they judge Christ. Godspeed for women's rights" before leaving the stage.

The plea for women’s rights appeared to be in protest against the US Supreme Court's recent decision to end the country's federal constitutional right to abortion.

Other stars who performed at the festival over the weekend, including Lorde, Billie Eilish, and Olivia Rodrigo had also used their performances to condemn the ruling.

Earlier in his set, Lamar thanked the crowd for the "special moment" as he had been waiting to be back performing live after being locked away during the pandemic.

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The rapper said: “I look in the crowd, I see so many faces, different creeds, different colours, so many faces, ya'll blessed me to be up on this stage.”

Ahead of the rapper's performance, Lorde took to the Pyramid Stage for her set, in which she also called on women to access their “inner wisdom”.

The stage earlier hosted rock band Elbow, who were joined by a giant puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian and a choir of refugees.

Meanwhile, Diana Ross reeled I Will Survive and Ain’t No Mountain High Enough when she performed during the day's teatime legends slot.

On Saturday evening, Sir Paul McCartney wowed the crowds with a show-stopping set list as he became the festival's oldest solo headliner, a week after he celebrated his 80th birthday.

During his more-than-two-hour set, he played a range of classic songs including Hey Jude, Blackbird, Live And Let Die, Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da and Get Back.

The electrifying show was further amplified as he introduced Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl to the stage to sing I Saw Her Standing There and Band On The Run, marking Grohl's first public performance since the death of his bandmate, drummer Taylor Hawkins.

It came after Eilish became Glastonbury's youngest solo headliner the night before.

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