A politically-charged wonderland: Glastonbury 2017 was memorable for all the right reasons

If there's one thing that remains the same about Glastonbury every year, it's the one question that always lands in our inbox afterwards. It's not necessarily worded the same but it always eludes to the same thing: "How are the Glasto-blues?", "how's the hangover?" or "hope your comedown isn't too severe." These are all post Pilton classics.

Of course, the same could be said about any other festival, but that's the thing about Glastonbury: it's not like any other festival. It's a five/six day event that's as much about endurance as it is enlightenment. It's a haven for music, art, culture, food and adventure. It's an event that not only accepts stupidity and silliness, it embraces it and welcomes it to the field. Banter, gags and enough stiff jaws present at the Stone Circle to give even the most hardened party veteran the chills are always in high supply.

This year, the conditions were near perfect. There was almost no rain at all, the sun was blasting down for weeks beforehand leaving the ground dry and it only started spitting once the whole time. There was no soul-destroying Brexit-esque devastation this year either. No announcement of leaving the EU like last time, but that didn't mean the festival wasn't politically-charged.

Well-documented chants of "Oh Jeremy Corbyn" rattled around the site, with a breakout occurring during Radiohead's set on the Pyramid Stage, a motion that had Thom Yorke's approval. The frontman also managed to squeeze in the line "See you later Theresa May. Shut the door on the way out", much to the joy of the crowd.

The Labour big dog then introduced Run The Jewels the following day to one of the biggest crowds that the hallowed main stage has ever seen. And if people hadn't gone to see him, they were at least representing the cause with Corbyn t-shirts, masks and flags. He was perhaps the most talked about person during the whole festival. The other infamous figures in politics and current affairs were of course not neglected either. Theresa May, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump all received upsetting, beautifully offensive billboards in their honour at Block9, the content of which is a little too risqué to repeat.

So Glastonbury this year was fired up, it was sunny and it was a slog, but what about the music? Well the music was fucking outrageous. Radiohead signed it, Solange sealed it and Chic delivered it. The DJs were on fine, festival-fuelling form and the attendees did their best to cram two years worth of dancing (next year will be a break year for the farm to recover) into five days.

Here are the tracks that gave us the feels and the sets that made us glow. To put it simply, this sort of energy cannot be replicated anywhere else on the planet. We're a bit sad we can't do it all again next year because there really isn't anything like it. We love you Glasto, we miss you already but thank you for giving us a place to call our own for five days, a place to call home. Funster

Palms Trax, Thursday, The Beat Hotel

For years, we'd always arrived on the Thursday to Glastonbury thinking it was a warm-up day. This year we got to the site on Wednesday and realised that was in fact the warm-up. On the Wednesday there were some lively fireworks, a copious amount of drinking and a chance to explore home for the next five days. Thursday however, is when the music fires up and The Beat Hotel, as it did over the whole weekend, acted as a hotspot for fun and frivolity. One of the most popular stages on site, the line-up this year was its most impressive yet with the likes of Jamie xx, Sampha, Seth Troxler and Young Marco laying down the heat. Our highlight goes to Mixmag favourite Palms Trax aka Jay Donaldson on fire form. Think of his session as a classics set that rolled and spanked. Heavy but heart-warming, Joris Voorn's 'Incident' was one of many beloved cuts that heated the dancefloor and further cemented Donaldson's status as an artist steadily on the rise. Funster

Ata Kak, West Holts, Friday

For someone who's only ever released one record, originally released in the mid-90s, getting to play Glastonbury is some achievement. Thanks to Awesome Tape From Africa's reissue of the Ghanaian musician's 'Obaa Sima', Ata Kak's jubilant, supercharged rap has become a fave of Mixmag and, judging by the crowd he drew to the West Holts stage, quite a few others. Despite the grey hairs, it turns out he's still just as hyperactive and ecstatic as his music. Donning shades and a casual outfit defying his exuberant stage presence, his feet are restless, his arms shoot towards the sky and, at points, he bounces across stage with one leg in the air. It's the performance of 'Obaa Sima' that sees him at his maximum and the smile on his face at the end puts him up there as one of the happiest performers of the weekend. DT

Flohio & God Colony, Friday, Rabbit Hole

Depending on how big your Thursday was, a 1pm start on Friday to go and watch some music is pretty damn early. Luckily we'd already dragged our sorry selves out of bed at 11am for a helping of Hacienca Classical so it was a no brainer for us to go and check God Colony and flourishing new talent Flohio. After a series of sub-zero productions from GC, backed by even icier, thought-provoking bars from Flohio, it was only right that the three teamed up for some Glastonbury action. This was one of two sets that Flo rolled out over the weekend and her first visit to Worthy Farm was visible in her actions. A smile beaming across her face alongside wild flailing moves on stage made for a firey debut and her vocals were, as expected, spot on. The crowd who had turned up were injecting their own surge of energy into the Rabbit Hole and it very much felt that if you were there to see it, you knew you'd seen something special, something real. Add to that a member of God Colony in a Slipknot shirt and the infectious riff of 'SE16' and you've got yourself an undercover Glasto highlight. Funster

Radiohead, Friday, Pyramid Stage

This was always going to appear as a highlight, wasn't it. The band that did the business 20 years with 'OK Computer' and their classic Pyramid Stage set did it again in 2017. There were some mixed reviews in that the first half felt subdued and that not too many people were singing and dancing, but we have absolutely no idea what they're saying. They played classic cuts like 'Pyramid Song', 'Fake Plastic Trees' and 'Karma Police' alongside newer cuts like '15 Step', 'Ful Stop' and 'Lotus Flower'. It was deep, it was touching and it was a classic slice of Radiohead. Read our full review here and make sure you head to iPlayer to watch the full, two-hour plus monster. Funster

Shed, Friday, Genosys

Block9 celebrated 10 years of design and sound innovation this year and we were all there to party with them. The area at Glastonbury is quite easily one of the most popular of the whole festival and as soon as the lights go down, revellers flock there to dance in a hedonistic setting like no other. All of the sections with Block9 are special as well. Genosys is the outdoor section, the place where the real shit goes down. London Underground is the gloriously sweaty, heads-down club with a train bursting out of the side and then there's the NYC Downlow, everyone's favourite homo-erotic paradise. Unfortunately, the queues for NYC Downlow this year were two-hours plus so it meant not everyone could experience the best nightclub on the planet so the open-air mecca of Genosys was a great alternative. Friday was 'Techno' night and the triple header of Blawan, Shed and Norman Nodge was pretty irresistible. Shed took the biscuit though with a flurry of ferocious, 4/4 bombs, his Dirt Mix of 'Rave' being the one we remembered best the morning after. Big. Funster

Solange, West Holts, Saturday

Finally. A live UK performance from Solange after her stunning 'A Seat At The Table' album. It's been almost a year since the singer released it and the wait to hear her perform it live on British shores was becoming unbearable. Her performance was just as compelling as the themes of female empowerment and black womanhood on her critically-acclaimed record and the anger vented on the LP was symbolised through a striking red outfit and regimented choreography with her dancers. We got a set featuring 'Cranes In The Sky', 2012's 'Losing You' and the Sampha-featuring 'Don't Touch My Hair'. Sampha was due on-site on Sunday, so there was some anticipation he'd be joining her. He didn't, but Solange didn't need him to replicate the chilling beauty of the track. She made sure to announce she was celebrating her 31st birthday, too, so a chorus of "Happy Birthday to Solange" acted as a set interlude. Not a bad birthday, that. DT

Pearson Sound (UKG Set), Saturday, London Underground

Once again we return to Block9 and it's become an absolute breeding ground for outrageous behaviour and music alike. London Underground hasn't really been given a run out yet so we head over there for something of a rare treat. Pearson Sound is a favourite in the Mixmag office and after he joined his Hessle Audio brothers for a 10 year birthday bash at the Wow stage in Silver Hayes earlier in the festival, it was time to switch things up. Now we all know that UK Garage is the best genre ever conceived and when Pearson Sound was announced that he would be rolling out a UKG set, we knew we had to check it. Not only did he completely obliterate the Underground, he also played a plethora of garage heaters that we'd never heard before. It wasn't your run-of-the-mill UKG set, it was intelligent selection coupled with complete an utter absurdity. We were taps aff, we were jumping up and down, we were in our element. A highlight of the festival and maybe the best set of the year. 'Realise' by Strickly Dubz perfectly sums up the levels that were being hit. Out to the London Underground dancing cru! Funster

Chic, Pyramid Stage, Sunday

It's the final day, you've not got much energy left to give and, let's face it, you're feeling pretty emotionally tender. The tonic for that? A hit-filled set from one of the greatest disco groups in history beneath glorious sunshine. Chic, now billed as Chic featuring Nile Rodgers, followed another disco-era hero in Barry Gibb, so Sunday afternoon was all about pushing through with a much-welcomed dose of nostalgia. Rodgers and co's set including 'Le Freak', 'Good Times' and 'We Are Family' was met above-the-head claps and singalongs, but it was Rodgers' speech before performing Daft Punk collaboration 'Get Lucky' that really hit the spot. Reflecting on being told he was suffering from an aggressive form of cancer in 2011, he triumphantly announced how he's feeling like the "luckiest man in the world tonight" now he's free of the disease. Those final-day tears very nearly started streaming out. DT

Jamie xx, Beat Hotel, Sunday

It goes to show how revered an artist is when they're given an '... & Friends' showcase. Swanky rave den the Beat Hotel provided the location for Jamie xx to welcome Sampha, Peggy Gou, Call Super and Job Jobse in for DJ sets on the Sunday night. As expected, there was barely room to move once Jamie himself had taken to the decks. In fact, entry to backstage was one in, one out at this point (sorry for being backstage wankers). He moved through tracks including 'In Colour' album track 'I Know There's Gonna Be (Good Times)' and a couple of garage classics, as well as some searing house. One of those from the latter was Jan Driver's 'Rat Alert', a chomping tribal cut dominated by sharp, ripping synths. That cover we gave him makes even more sense after this. DT

Masters At Work, NYC Downlow, Sunday

When we saw the line-up for Block 9 this year, it was obvious where we would be at 2am on Sunday morning. Masters At Work simply couldn’t be missed in our favourite club, Glastonbury’s late-night, homosexual disco the NYC Downlow. And despite it being the final stretch; the Brooklyn duo made it clear we were going out with a bang. Their set was two hours of jacking house music to a heaving crowd channeling their final dregs of energy into wild abandon. Sable Sheep’s ‘Lobotomize’ summed up the vibe; swinging drums, nocturnal bass murmurs and a sinister synth riff keeping the floor moving and the sleep at bay. Louis Anderson-Rich

Funster is Mixmag's Deputy Digital Editor and his behaviour at this year's festival was appalling, follow him on Twitter here

Dave Turner is Mixmag's Digital News Editor and his highlight of the festival was the Square Pie he had on Thursday, follow him on Twitter here

Louis Anderson-Rich is Mixmag's Digital Intern and he spent 80% of Glasto taps aff, find him fully clothed on Twitter here