The sun is going down on the Glastonbury golden oldie – we may never see Elton’s like again

From Elton to Debbie Harry, this was a festival where the most intensely emotional moments came courtesy of artists in the their autumn years, writes Helen Brown

Elton John brought a joyful sense of occasion to the day at the festival on Sunday (Getty)

On the final morning of this year’s Glastonbury festival, a 74-year-old man with white hair and a wobbly voice gazed out at the crowd and sang a bittersweet song called “Oh Very Young”. It was a song that the artist then known as Cat Stevens (now Yusuf) had written when he was just 24, assuming the gentle wisdom of age to remind his angst-ridden heart that “you’re only dancing on this Earth for a short time” and that most of us will outlive the intense dreams and convictions of youth.

Yet this was a festival whose most intensely emotional moments came courtesy of septuagenarian artists – including Elton John and Debbie Harry. None of them still burn with the fierce (often troubled) fire that powered them up the charts in the 1960s and on into the 1980s, but they still pack a punch. Elton brought a joyful sense of occasion to the day. Yes, he’s lost some top notes and consonants, but his voice has gained a rolling ballast. The bombproof melodies he wrote for Bernie Taupin’s words created solid foundations our collective past – perfectly engineered landmarks of nostalgia that we can really lean on. Harry’s voice no longer crackled with Atomic cool but, like Stevens, they bashed generously through a staggering number of singalong hits that struck powerful chords deep within an audience whose average age is now 45 (compared to 26 back in 1997).