WHAT a day it’s been for Maisie Peters.
The 23-year-old Sussex singer-songwriter arrived on the iconic Pyramid Stage this afternoon (Friday) with a fresh batch of songs from her sophomore album The Good Witch, which was released at midnight to positive reviews.
Her latest work has led to further comparisons to her idol Taylor Swift, not least because of her candid and catchy style of pop that draws on a break-up and her “terrible, terrible taste in men”, though Peters says the album’s main source of inspiration was Melodrama by Lorde.
If she was nervous about bringing her expanded catalogue to her Glastonbury debut, she certainly didn’t show it.
She effortlessly danced and ran across the Pyramid throughout her 14-song set, using her polished stagecraft and infectious energy to muster plenty of noise from the sun-soaked crowd.
After opening with ‘Body Better’, Peters said: “I’m so excited to be here! This is my first-ever Glastonbury. Are we going to have the best time ever?”
What followed was a lively hour of music that mixed her latest tunes with crowd-pleasers from her 2021 debut album You Signed Up For This, released through Ed Sheeran’s Gingerbread Man Records company.
Peters’ accomplished storytelling and knack for writing a killer bridge came to the fore during ‘You Signed Up For This’, while heartache ballads like ‘Villain’ were given new energy by her excellent three-piece band (Tina Hizon, Jack Geary and Joel Peat).
She also discussed her excitement about her new album, which she has teased extensively on social media by sharing tarot cards dedicated to each track.
“I don’t know if you’re aware, but my album came out last night,” she said.
“It’s called The Good Witch, and where better to play The Good Witch than the most beautiful place in the world?”
Towards the end of her show, she dedicated her pop-bop ‘John Hughes Movie’ to the LGBTQ+ community, saying: “I wouldn’t have the career that I have without you”.
Before closing her set with ‘You Lost The Break Up’ and ‘Blonde’, Peters thanked her audience and said: “I feel very honoured to be a woman on the Pyramid Stage.”
The most notable omission from her performance was ‘Psycho’, one of the biggest songs of her career to date that was co-written with Sheeran.
Perhaps that will get an outing during her second performance of the weekend on the smaller, more intimate Strummerville stage, where she will play at 6pm tomorrow.
Maisie Peters Glastonbury 2023 setlist
Body Better, I'm Trying (Not Friends), Love Him I Don't, You're Just A Boy (And I'm Kinda The Man), Cate's Brother, Not Another Rockstar, Worst Of You, Villain, Run, You Signed Up For This, Brooklyn, John Hughes Movie, Lost The Break Up, Blonde.
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