US rapper Kanye West has delivered his highly anticipated Glastonbury festival set, telling fans he is “the greatest living rock star on the planet”.
His headline booking had caused some controversy and his performance divided opinion among the crowd on site.
He opened with number one hit “Stronger” and performed on a largely bare stage with a bank of white lights above.
But his set was briefly interrupted by a stage invasion by British comedian and prankster Lee Nelson.
The prankster, real name Simon Brodkin, tweeted: “Some people were saying Kanye shouldn’t headline Glastonbury so I thought I’d give him a hand.”
But he was swiftly bundled off stage by a security guard and West resumed his song, “Black Skinhead”.
At one point, he left the stage to travel above the heads of the crowd in the cradle of a cherry picker for the songs “Touch the Sky” and “All of the Lights”.
His performance came after more than 134,000 people signed a petition objecting to his booking, and Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis had death threats on Twitter from a disgruntled fan.
The online petition had called for him to be dropped from the Glastonbury bill and be replaced by a rock band. But the rapper labelled the petition “an insult to music fans all over the world”, the BBC reports.
West is one of the biggest names in popular music, with 21 Grammy Awards under his belt and 11 million albums sold in the US alone.
At one point in his performance, he was joined on stage by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon to perform their song “Lost In The World”.
And, afterwards, the rap star revealed that the song had been inspired by his wife, reality TV star Kim Kardashian, who was watching the show.
“This song was extra special for me,” he said. “I was trying to explain to a girl I loved so much how much I loved her. She brought this poetry out in me that became the lyrics and she ended up becoming my wife and she’s here tonight.”
But he put the focus firmly back on himself when, before introducing one of his biggest hits, “Gold Digger”, he said: “I’m going to say this tonight because 20 years from now, 30 years from now, 40 years from now, I might not be able to say it, but I can say it tonight... You are now watching the greatest living rock star on the planet.”
Coverage of Glastonbury continues on BBC2, Sunday, June 29, 6.15pm & 10.40pm.
