Mavis Staples at Glastonbury: joy, inspiration and some positive vibrations

James Hall
Mavis Staples kept the audience on the Pyramid Stage rapt - REX
Mavis Staples kept the audience on the Pyramid Stage rapt - REX

A huge cheer went us as Mavis Staples and her band took to the Pyramid Stage wearing Glastonbury 2019 T-shirts. Even Twitter got excited about the 79 year-old gospel and soul legend’s decision to get into the swing of things.

“Mavis Staples is wearing a Glastonbury T-shirt! She’s embracing the festival spirit,” said one user. Sadly, that didn’t tell the full story, as Staples explained after a gorgeously funky, gospel-tinged rendition of Can You Get To That. “That old airline kept trying to stop us getting here. They took all our luggage. We lost all our luggage, all seven of us,” she explained. So the festival organisers kitted then out. “I tell you, we’re going to get that airline. Big trouble, big trouble.”

She didn’t mention the airline by name but her band’s last concert was in Amsterdam. So I’d watch out if I was KLM.

Because judging by this performance, Staples has the power, stamina and energy to get her way. She certainly had the Glastonbury crowd rapt in the intermittent sunshine, which has - thankfully - rendered the day a full ten degrees cooler than yesterday.

“We’re here to bring you joy, happiness, inspiration and some positive vibrations,” she scouted. And she certainly did. Born in Chicago in 1939, Staples sang with her family’s band, The Staples Singers, before launching a long and successful solo career. Her career has had a late surge, with the release of five albums since 2010, including this year’s excellent We Get By. As songs like Who Told You That gently drifted up the Pyramid field, it was hard to think of a more perfect early Sunday headliner.

Mavis Staples was the perfect early Sunday headliner - Credit: Neil Hall/Rex
Mavis Staples was the perfect early Sunday headliner Credit: Neil Hall/Rex

Her voice bellowed and rasped, ripe with age but having lost none of its bite. She made an impassioned speech about young people with guns, mothers who’d lost their sons, and children who’d been separated from their parents “in cages”.

“I’m tired,” she said, placing the blame at the foot of the man “in the White House”. And then this: “I’m going up to the White House. I’m going up there! I just might run for President!” “Are you with me? President Mavis! We’ve got work to do!” The crowd went wild.

As she left the stage to rapturous applause, she waved to all around her, clearly relishing the experience. Or perhaps this great soul survivor was practicing for yet another late career surge: as a politician. All hail President Mavis.