Las Vegas rock sensation The Killers star on Saturday at the world's biggest green field art and music festival which is seeing a record attendance, while nonstop rain ensured the traditional mud bath.
Persistent downpours have turned farmer and festival organiser Michael Eavis's green pastures into a sea of churned dirt, but festival goers emerged from their tents unperturbed and frolicked in the slippery mud in rubber Wellington boots.
"The weather is set to improve," an upbeat Emily Koch, a festival spokeswoman, said. "Time to take the waterproof ponchos off and fish out those sunglasses!"
About 177,500 fans descended on Eavis's farm to revel in the music, dance, poetry, politics and alternative therapies at the festival that started in the 1970s as a hippy haven for music and flower power in the rural hills of south-west England.
British singer Lilly Allen is a highlight of Saturday's lineup along with rock legends Iggy and the Stooges, music inspiration Paul Weller, The Guillemots and the Klaxons.
The music world was holding its breath to see if Pete Doherty, companion to supermodel Kate Moss and singer with Babyshambles, will reunite with Carl Barat of Dirty Pretty Things as The Libertines, who burst onto the scene as part of the garage rock revival then broke up over drug problems.
One highlight of Saturday's kaleidoscopic programme will be blind Malian stars Amadou and Mariam playing organiser Emily Eavis's African Express brainchild in which African bands team up with bands from other countries. Amadou and Mariam mix traditional Malian music with electric guitars.
Arcade Fire mesmerised the crowd on Friday night with the Canadian ensemble playing a panoply of instruments including the organ, the French horn, accordion and hurdy gurdy illuminated by neon lights. Mud did nothing to dampen Friday's electric atmosphere. "It's gross out there, thank you for coming guys, you're beautiful," singer Win Butler told his mud-sliding audience.
Singer Régine Chassagne wore Wellingtons for the set, sacrificing elegance to practicality, and the band mixed tracks from both of their albums "Funeral" and "Neon Bible," ending with one of their most popular tracks, "Wake Up."
During the weekend, non-music activities abound. "The Big Kiss" aims to break the Guinness World Record for mass kissing trying to encourage 45,000 couples to kiss at the same time, while organisers aim to get 100,000 festival goers to sign up to the "I Count" campaign to stop climate change.
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