Festival-goers enjoy Glastonbury 2017

Glastonbury Festival fell silent for a minute on Friday in memory of recent terror attacks and the devastating Grenfell Tower fire, before Hacienda Classical eased revellers into the first day of music at the world’s biggest greenfield festival.

Peter Hook, the bass player from Manchester bands Joy Division and New Order, led the crowd on the main Pyramid Stage in reflecting on “our hopes and our prayers for life, love and freedom, the things we are here to celebrate”.

“Glasto”, as it is affectionately known, is headlined later on Friday by Radiohead who 20 years ago performed during one of the wettest years in the festival’s history, lifting a sodden crowd with music from their groundbreaking album “OK Computer”.

Featuring songs about alienation, capitalism and the impact of modern technology, “OK Computer” sounds oddly prescient in a politically divided and anxious Britain in 2017.

Security has been stepped up at Worthy Farm in Somerset, south-west England, after a suicide bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester killed 22 last month and three recent attacks in London.

The five-day festival is the largest greenfield festival in the world. Started by Michael Eavis in 1970 when several hundred hippies paid just £1, it now attracts more than 175,000 people. (Reuters/Getty Images)

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