Sugababes have packed out the West Holts Stage at Glastonbury (Picture: PA Wire)
Glastonbury 2024 is officially underway, and 00s pop icons Sugababes have drawn crowds so big that some festival goers couldn’t even access the stage.
Dua Lipa headlines the Pyramid Stage on Friday with Coldplay and SZA to follow this weekend, but before that there’s a whole host of other acts playing across Worthy Farm.
And one of those acts, Sugababes, might have just played to the biggest crowd the West Holts Stage has ever seen – it’s so big, in fact, that superfans have been turned away to avoid overcrowding.
The 00s pop legends, who are back as Sugababes in their original line-up for the first time in 20 years, have drawn such a massive audience that some festival goers have been unable to watch them.
Keisha Buchanan, Mutya Buena, and Siobhan Donaghy got back together as Sugababes after years of legal battles over the group’s name – and thousands turned out to celebrate their big return.
After their set, Glastonbury attendees have demanded that the pop trio – who scored six UK number ones – are given the coveted Legends slot for Glastonbury 2025.
On X, @MrDiscoPop said: ‘Once again, my ambitions to see Sugababes at Glastonbury have been thwarted. It’s one-in and one-out at West Holts right now, and the queue is huge. They should do the Legend slot next year.’
Another upset fan, @andthe_machine, tweeted: ‘WHEN will Emily Eavis learn to stick them on the Pyramid so it doesn’t get full??’
Elsewhere in the crowd, @MrWayneyB reported: ‘The Sugababes crowd at West Holts is humungous! Like absolutely packed out. I’ve not seen a crowd that size on that stage since Janelle Monae headlined it in 2019.’
The size of the crowd came as a welcome surprise to Keisha, who said: ‘We were backstage asking management, “Are people there?” We wasn’t sure, so thank you so much for coming out.’
Crowds to see Sugababes were so big that people were turned away (Picture: Metro.co.uk)
People were forced to watch hundreds of yards away from the West Holts Stage (Picture: Metro.co.uk)
The Glastonbury Live team, who are roaming the festival site throughout the weekend, took a picture from over 100 yards away from the stage, showing the sea of people who flocked to see the Push the Button singers.
In response to the picture, @GlastoGrandad01 said: ‘[Glastonbury organisers] totally underestimated how popular this set would be. Needed to be on [the much larger] Other Stage.’
The size of the crowd even surprised those watching at home, with @JordLPM saying: ‘Sugababes at Glastonbury are, as ever, generational but that crowd is huge, can you even see them from the back? So glad to be watching on TV rather than actually being there.’
Fans are demanding that Sugababes play the Legends slot at Glasto 2025 (Picture: Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock)
Sugababes rose to fame with their original line-up in 1999 when their debut single Overload reached the top 10 in the UK – however, shortly after the release of their debut album Siobhan left the group.
New member Heidi Range was brought in and the Keisha, Mutya, Heidi line-up heralded the group’s most successful era, with a run of number one singles making them one of the biggest acts in British pop.
Further member changes defined their late 2000s period, with singer Amelle Berrabah joining the group before their last ever number one single, About You Now.
The group split in 2011, after which point Keisha, Mutya, and Siobhan reunited as MSK, only reclaiming the official Sugababes name a decade after they got back together.
Follow Glastonbury across the BBC this weekend.
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