Jay-Z Gets It Right At Glastonbury

Last year, tickets to the Glastonbury festival sold out in just 90 minutes, but this year they were still available up until a few days ago. Some blamed bad weather in recent years for keeping punters away and others blamed the booking of Jay-Z, a hip-hop artist, in place of the traditional rock act as a headliner. In completing his set on the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival in England tonight, Jay-Z proved the critics wrong by performing what is already considered to be a historic set. Weeks ago, Oasis' Noel Gallagher garnered significant press after making negative statements about the selection of a hip-hop artist to headline. Following the publication of Noel's thoughts, farm owner and festival founder Michael Eavis staunchly defended his booking of Jay-Z and offered to personally introduce the artist on stage, implying that this is something he hardly ever does. As a response to Gallagher's heavily publicized opinion, Jay cheekily started his set with the opening verses from Oasis' own Wonderwall, quickly gaining favor with the enormous crowd. [Note: Oasis headlined the Pyramid stage in 2004]. The proper opener was his own '99 Problems'. He went on to incorporate snippets from other British rock bands throughout his set including AC/DC, U2, and The Prodigy.

Reading the positive press about the success of this hip-hop headlining festival performance couldn't be further from reading the negative stories that emerged from this month's Bonnaroo festival and its disasterous experience with rapper Kanye West on its What Stage. Well done Jay and well done Michael Eavis.

Watch Jay-Z perform the opening verses of Wonderwall and the full '99 Problems':



Watch Jay-Z perform a live mash-up of his own 'Aint No Love In The Heart of the City' with U2's 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' into another mash-up of 'Encore', his single with Linkin Park:



Setlist:

Wonderwall
99 problems (Back In Black samples)
Is That Your Chick
Rehab (Amy Winehouse remix)
I Know
A Billie (A Millie Freestyle)
Blue Magic
Minority Report
PSA
Dirt Off Your Shoulders
Jigga What, Jigga Who
Izzo (H.O.V.A)
Can I Get A
Beware Of The Boys
Give It To Me (I Just Wanna Love You)
Show Me What You Got
Excuse Me Miss
Song Cry
Girls, Girls, Girls
American Boy Remix
Umbrella
Big Pimpin
Hard Knock Life
Heart Of The City (Sunday Bloody Sunday samples)
Encore

UPDATE: Videos, Video, Videos!!! The Hip Hop Chronicle has posted numerous videos from Jay-Z's set, which they're labeling as "Jay-Z Glastonbury Performance (FULL VIDEO)". Check it' out!