Pulp tried to quash the rumours, Robbie Williams was happy to fuel them – sharing a picture of a blue plaque in his name apparently slapped over a famous Glastonbury sign, before seemingly backtracking.

“30 years later…” he captioned his first social media post early on Friday morning – a reference to his headline-grabbing attendance in 1995.

This was the year Williams was famously pictured partying with Oasis‘s Liam and Noel Gallagher, shunning the boyband shackles with bleached-blonde hair and a blacked-out tooth. The writing was on the wall, and the announcement of his departure from Take That came just a few weeks later.

At Glastonbury this year, is the writing quite literally on the wall for a comeback?

Well, maybe not. A few hours after his post, Williams shared another, less cryptic message to say he would not be performing, along with his list of recommended acts to go and see – The 1975, Busta Rhymes, Charli XCX, Self Esteem and Reverend And The Makers, if you’re interested.

Is he bluffing? Double-bluffing? Who knows, but along with celeb spotting and mud, if there’s one topic of conversation that makes headlines when it comes to Glastonbury, it’s speculation about secret artists. Williams has got everybody talking.

Even before his posts, the Let Me Entertain You singer was among the artists rumoured to be performing secret sets this year, along with Pulp and Haim. Lewis Capaldi and Lorde too, with both “TBA” acts turning out to huge crowds on Friday.

In recent years, these surprise sets have turned into some of the event’s most memorable moments – think Foo Fighters as “The ChurnUps” in 2023, Pulp’s comeback in 2011, and Lady Gaga treating fans to a small performance in one of the festival’s after hours areas, Shangri-La, in 2009.

Franz Ferdinand, famous for hits including Take Me Out and Do You Want To in the mid-2000s, were the first to do it back in 2008. This was actually due to Pete Doherty’s band Babyshambles pulling out last-minute, but the approach to announcing the switch was, at the time, a novel one.

While officially, the act was “TBA”, frontman Alex Kapranos wasn’t great at keeping the secret, worried people might not turn up. He and bandmates handed out fliers, and word spread.

“We played on the Park Stage and we thought, ‘nobody’s going to know we’re playing’,” Kapranos told Sky News ahead of a return performance on Friday. “It actually ended up being one of the most amazing gigs we’ve ever played, people were so up for it and going crazy.

“We weren’t keeping it secret. We were walking about like, ‘we’re playing later on, check it out’. We’re a band from Glasgow called Franz Ferdinand.”

These now not-so-secret performances have become bigger and bigger as each festival rolls around, with leaks making headlines in the run-up to the event.

Providing handy tips and hints – and often eventually confirmation, just in time for fans to be in position – is the Secret Glasto team. They have no official ties to Glastonbury, but over the years have become a reliable source of information.

The account’s founder, who now works in a team of six, spoke to us on site – incognito, of course.

“We’ve got our own sources and we can start checking things because we’ve now had enough years that we can check in with several people,” he said. “And they trust us because we are quite sensible with when we time announcements, which I think is the key thing.”

Sometimes acts themselves will confirm, they said. Their success rate for predictions is “in the low 90%” – but dragged down mainly by inexperience in their first year, which was 2014.

Capaldi’s comeback yesterday, two years after struggling on stage at Glastonbury in 2023, was a special moment.

“It was really, really heartwarming to see him get back up,” Secret Glasto said. “There was such goodwill in the crowd and it was just magical. It’s just what secret sets should be about.”

On Saturday evening, a non-existent act called Patchwork have a pretty important billing just before Raye and then headliner Neil Young on the Pyramid Stage.

Pulp keyboard player Candida Doyle dampened rumours by reportedly saying in an interview earlier this month Glastonbury “weren’t interested” in booking the band.

But is this true?

“It happens a few times,” Secret Glasto said, of artists maybe telling little white lies to keep the secret for as long as possible. “They’ve got to keep the suspense somehow…

“Sources that we got for Pulp were really, really strong. It’s just so exciting for us, for the whole team. This is the most exciting secret set that Glastonbury’s ever done.”

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It’s a fine balance – not spoiling the surprise but giving fans enough time to get where they want to be. When a festival is this big – home to around 200,000 people over the weekend – at a lot of stages, fans need to be in place early.

“The point is to always make sure people can get to the set if they wanted to.” But if a huge artist is going to surprise fans on a very small stage, sometimes they have to keep schtum for safety concerns over huge crowds. “Sometimes we’re like, we can’t print this.”

So, will Williams be playing? The rumour is that he could be joining his mate Rod Stewart, who is performing on the Pyramid Stage in the “legends” slot on Sunday.

“Robbie Williams entered this area without accreditation, authorisation, or alignment with prevailing taste,” according to the blue plaque in his social media tease, of his attendance in 1995. “His presence was uninvited, unofficial and ultimately inevitable.”

In his candid documentary series, and biopic Better Man, both released last year, Williams has been open about his struggles with fame and imposter syndrome, and how as an artist known for pop he craved respect from those seen as more credible at a time when indie music reigned.

Officially this year, there is no Robbie Williams on the line-up. Unofficially, who knows? But 30 years since his partying with the Gallaghers, pop music is embraced – and there would be a lot of love for the star if he did make an appearance now.

Sean “Diddy” Combs is facing a “fake trial” in which his unusual sexual preferences have been unfairly criminalised and his “private sex life” turned into a “crime scene”, his defence team has argued in the final day of closing arguments.

At the end of week seven in the sex-trafficking trial, Combs’s lead counsel, Marc Agnifilo, told the court Combs was the victim of an overzealous prosecution, who had portrayed his “swinger” lifestyle as a racketeering conspiracy.

Combs is charged with one count of racketeering conspiracy, two charges of sex trafficking, and two charges of transportation to engage in prostitution.

He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and has strenuously denied all allegations of sexual abuse. If found guilty, he could face being put behind bars for life.

Diddy trial: As it happened

Frequently adopting a sarcastic tone, Agnifilo mocked the government’s case against Combs, belittling the agents who seized hundreds of bottles of Astroglide lubricant and baby oil at his properties last year.

Commenting that America’s streets were now “safe from Astroglide”, he went on, “Way to go, fellas”, before adding, “you do you”.

He said prosecutors had “badly exaggerated” the evidence against Combs, presenting “threesomes as racketeering”, arguing that he is not guilty of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking.

The defence also highlighted the prosecution’s decision to indict Combs on a racketeering conspiracy charge alone, flagging that no alleged co-conspirators have been indicted alongside him.

The defence’s closing arguments lasted for just over four hours, with members of Combs’s family, including six of his children and his mother, watching on in the public gallery.

Agnifilo said Combs has “taken care of people”, including Jane, a former girlfriend who testified under a pseudonym, paying for her rent and for her legal representation.

The defence lawyer said: “I don’t know what Jane is doing today, but she’s doing it in a house he’s paying for.”

He went on: “This isn’t about crime. It’s about money. This is about money.”

Presenting the trial as a zero-sum game, he described his former girlfriend of almost 11 years Cassie Ventura as the “winner in this whole thing”, noting that she settled her civil case with Combs for $20m (£14m) in November 2023, as well as a $10m (£7.3m) from the InterContinental Hotel.

Cassie and Jane both gave evidence during the trial that they were coerced repeatedly by Combs to perform in drug-fuelled, days-long sex marathons with male sex workers, while Combs watched, directed, masturbated and sometimes filmed the encounters.

But the defence accused prosecutors of having invaded Combs’s bedroom and his most intimate personal affairs.

Agnifilo asked: “Where’s the crime scene? It’s [Combs’s] sex life.”

Continuing his line of sarcastic quips, he joked, “We need a bigger roll of crime scene tape”, referencing a line from the classic movie Jaws.

Agnifilio’s sarcasm irked the prosecution, who later complained to the judge that he was using “improper arguments”.

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The defence characterised Combs’s relationship with Cassie as “a great modern love story”, going on to describe her as a “gangster” for cheating on him with rapper Kid Cudi.

They also characterised the “freak offs” as “beautiful”, saying the videos showed “everyone smiling”, eating and listening to music, and commenting that Combs was “not the only man in America making homemade porn”.

The defence admitted Combs was a domestic abuser, but said such behaviour did not justify the grave charges he faces.

Agnifilo advised the jury to “Call this as you see it,” asking them to “acquit Sean Combs of all the counts” and “return him to his family”, who he said has been waiting for him.

Combs, who has been in a New York jail since his arrest in September last year, did not give evidence during the trial.

Following the defence’s closing argument, assistant US attorney Maurene Comey delivered a rebuttal summation in which she said the defence’s argument that Cassie, Jane and Mia, a former employee who also testified under a pseudonym, all “wanted sex” was a lie, telling the court none of the women had reason to speak anything other than the truth.

She also said the “freak off” videos tell only “part of the story”.

Comey said Combs had spent the last 20 years believing himself to be “above the law”, seeing himself as “untouchable” and “a god among men”.

She said his impunity would end now in this courtroom, before urging the jury to “find him guilty” and “hold him accountable”.

On Monday, the judge will read the law to the jury, after which deliberations will begin.

To convict Combs, the 12 jurors must vote unanimously.

Glastonbury 2025 is in full swing, with artists including Charli XCX, The 1975, Olivia Rodrigo, Neil Young, Rod Stewart, and Alanis Morissette among the stars set to entertain the masses this year.

But politicians who won’t even be setting foot on Worthy Farm in Somerset have been making their thoughts known about this year’s line-up – in particular the Irish-language rappers Kneecap, who are on the bill on Saturday.

The trio made a huge Glastonbury debut last year – impressing the likes of Noel Gallagher, who turned out for a set. But the path to a bigger stage this time round has made headlines for different reasons.

Outspoken on the war in Gaza, Liam O’Hanna, or Liam Og O hAnnaidh, appeared in court earlier this month charged with a terror offence, for allegedly displaying a flag in support of the proscribed group Hezbollah at a Kneecap gig in London last November.

He is due back in court in August. On social media, he denied support for Hezbollah after the charge was announced, but the trio have held firm on their support for Palestinians.

Removed from the bills of some festivals in the run-up to Glastonbury, there were calls from some for them to be taken off here, too – including from the prime minister.

When asked by The Sun, Sir Keir Starmer said it was not “appropriate”, and he did not think they should play.

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In an interview with The Guardian as the festival got under way, O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, was asked if he regretted what was depicted in a video of the alleged offence that circulated on social media.

“It’s a joke,” he replied. “I’m a character. Shit is thrown on stage all the time. If I’m supposed to know every f****** thing that’s thrown on stage, I’d be in Mensa.”

He told the newspaper he did not know every proscribed organisation, saying he had enough to think about when he is on stage.

“I’m thinking about my next lyric, my next joke, the next drop of a beat.”

Dilemma for the BBC

For the BBC, which broadcasts a lot of the main sets live, it poses a dilemma.

When asked if it would be showing Kneecap’s set live, a spokesperson said artists were booked by festival organisers and their own plans would ensure editorial guidelines are met.

“Whilst the BBC doesn’t ban artists, our plans will ensure that our programming will meet our editorial guidelines,” they said. “Decisions about our output will be made in the lead up to the festival.”

Which means it’s unlikely they’ll be streaming Kneecap live – but some of their set at least may be made available later.

To those who object to them being allowed a stage here at all, it’s still allowing the band a very prominent platform.

But Glastonbury has always leaned left, featuring acts unafraid to share their political views – and hosting former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on stage in 2017.

Festival founder Michael Eavis told the Glastonbury Free Press that people have always come to the festival for these reasons – and made his views clear: “People that don’t agree with the politics of the event can go somewhere else.”

Singer and activist Billy Bragg, who organises the Left Field stage each year, said Glastonbury has always been political.

“When I first came here in 1984, it was a CND (Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament) festival, and everybody was in opposition, or every young person, was opposed to Margaret Thatcher’s policies. And whatever issues – CND, the miners, gay rights, they came, it’s always been that.

“So I don’t know why everyone’s saying this year it’s a bit political. It’s always been political. I suppose the prime minister saying who can and who can’t play might have something to do with it.”

Bragg said he was “proud” of Glastonbury organisers for “standing up to it” and ignoring the noise.

Accusations of ‘corporate control’

Politics and pop have always been intertwined for older acts such as Neil Young, who headlines the Pyramid Stage on Saturday – and we know the BBC won’t be showing this one live, but perhaps for different reasons.

Before his headline slot was confirmed, Young, who began his career in the 1960s with the band Buffalo Springfield, said he had initially turned down the offer to perform, saying the festival was “under corporate control” of the broadcaster.

Earlier this week, the corporation confirmed it would not show the set live “at the artist’s request”.

Singer-songwriter John Fogerty, one of the founders of US blues rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, is also on the bill this year – and said songwriters should talk about what’s going on in the world around them, “certainly if they have a point of view and they’d like to share it”.

There’s a balance, he added. “I was happy to write Proud Mary, which is sort of Americana, you know, sort of love song to America, really.

“But I wrote Fortunate Son right in the middle of the Vietnam War in the late 1960s. And that has a place too. People need to feel free to write more music like that.”

With Donald Trump back in power, the US is in “political turmoil”, Fogerty said. “It’s almost, you know, I should go sit down somewhere and write a song about this – and then you go, oh my goodness, I already did.”

For fans at Glastonbury, music as ever is the focus here – and the feeling from most is that politicians should stay out of it.

“The prime minister and pop music don’t really go together,” said Bragg. “I don’t think anybody, leader of the opposition either, should say who can and who can’t play at a festival.”