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Pilton - Irish rockers U2 pulled it off with their Glastonbury music festival debut, critics said on Saturday, but the fallout from a protest over the band's tax status continued to rumble.
Bono and co. raced through U2 classics like Mysterious Ways, Where the Streets Have No Name and Pride late on Friday on the main Pyramid stage, generally satisfying a crowd of tens of thousands of rain-lashed listeners.
The band admitted beforehand that the rare festival outing was a step away from the comfort zone of their record-breaking 360 Degree tour, and not everyone at Glastonbury was convinced they were the right opening night choice.
U2 had been due to play Glastonbury, one of the world's largest and most prestigious music festivals, in 2010, but an injury to Bono's back forced them to pull out.
Protests
"On unfamiliar ground, they reach for that fierce hunger and it's that sense of urgency - even a hint of nerves - rather than triumphalism that makes this such a charged and memorable set," wrote Dorian Lynskey in the Guardian.
Nick Hasted of The Independent gave a more mixed assessment.
"For all his songs' over-reaching grasps at wonder, Bono remains an uncharismatic performer, a great rock star by profession, not nature," he said.
Protesters angry about the group's decision to move operations from Ireland to the Netherlands for tax purposes raised a large inflatable with the words "U Pay Tax 2".
The balloon was forcibly removed, causing a brief scuffle, but witnesses said the incident was relatively minor and went unnoticed by most of the crowd.
Turned into a giant camping site most years, Britain's most famous music festival is now in its fifth decade.
Bono and co. raced through U2 classics like Mysterious Ways, Where the Streets Have No Name and Pride late on Friday on the main Pyramid stage, generally satisfying a crowd of tens of thousands of rain-lashed listeners.
The band admitted beforehand that the rare festival outing was a step away from the comfort zone of their record-breaking 360 Degree tour, and not everyone at Glastonbury was convinced they were the right opening night choice.
U2 had been due to play Glastonbury, one of the world's largest and most prestigious music festivals, in 2010, but an injury to Bono's back forced them to pull out.
Protests
"On unfamiliar ground, they reach for that fierce hunger and it's that sense of urgency - even a hint of nerves - rather than triumphalism that makes this such a charged and memorable set," wrote Dorian Lynskey in the Guardian.
Nick Hasted of The Independent gave a more mixed assessment.
"For all his songs' over-reaching grasps at wonder, Bono remains an uncharismatic performer, a great rock star by profession, not nature," he said.
Protesters angry about the group's decision to move operations from Ireland to the Netherlands for tax purposes raised a large inflatable with the words "U Pay Tax 2".
The balloon was forcibly removed, causing a brief scuffle, but witnesses said the incident was relatively minor and went unnoticed by most of the crowd.
Turned into a giant camping site most years, Britain's most famous music festival is now in its fifth decade.
