Her first appearance at Worthy Farm, Somerset is surely one for the history books.
Doechii performs on West Holts stage during day four of Glastonbury festival 2025 at Worthy Farm, Pilton on June 28, 2025 in Glastonbury, England.
Ki Price/WireImage
Saturday night at Glastonbury (June 28) offered up a pretty shocking clash across some of its main stages. While Neil Young noodled away on the Pyramid, the rest of the crowd had a tricky choice to make between Charli xcx on the Other Stage, Scissor Sisters on Woodsies, and Doechii on West Holts.
Fancy a sweaty rave with the hottest name on the planet? That’s Charli for you. Perhaps a big glitzy sing-along? Scissor Sisters, of course. Doechii, however, was a more than worthy option for many punters on the sprawling site. During her set, the “Anxiety” star served up something truly unique in her theatrical 45-minute set, which featured singing, dancing, rapping and her inimitable performing talents.
The triumph was made all the more impressive knowing that Doechii had never performed at the festival before, and landed a well-deserved Saturday night headline slot on one of the biggest stages. Given her superb year – including being crowned Billboard’s Woman of the Year – where else could the Grammy winner land other than with top billing? What usually takes years (or even decades) to achieve was done on the first attempt, leapfrogging the competition to stake her claim to being a modern great.
These were the best moments from Doechii’s West Holts headline set.
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A Stylish Schooling
Doechii’s performance was billed as her “School of Hip-Hop” with a classroom setting and a six-point lesson plan educating fans on “Bars,” “Technique,” “Flow” and more, with the aim of showcasing her array of capabilities as an all-round performer. The narrative was interspersed throughout the show, providing a structured feel to the performance as she schooled the crowd on how to reach these heights.
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Clubtastic Vibes
With just one full studio LP – 2024’s Alligator Bites Never Heal – to her name, there’d be justified concerns how she would fill a headlining show of this magnitude. Doechii and her hypewoman, DJ Miss Milan, interspersed hip-hop and dance classics through the show, giving it more of a clubbier, looser feel than a rigid stop-start song structure. Wu-Tang Clan’s “C.R.E.A.M.,” OutKast’s “Elevators (Me and You),” and Jay-Z’s “Can I Live” all featured, as did rave classics like Daft Punk’s “One More Time” and Crystal Waters’ “Gypsy Woman.”
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Under Her Umbrella
Doechii’s emergence into the spotlight has brought new fans but also detractors. During an outfit change mid-song for “Alter Ego,” she made reference to the wave of haters that came for her following her Met Gala incident, which saw her team call for more umbrellas to shield her from the paparazzi’s sneering glare. Last night, she playfully referenced the moment with her troupe of dancers becoming part of the show and making light of the backlash.
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Raw Moments of Authenticity
Her Hot 100 top 10 single “Anxiety” got a rugged makeover in the set, with the backing track given a garage rock feel. Towards the end of the set, Miss Milan called on the crowd during “Catfish” to make some noise for the “greatest rapper in the world,” and Doechii let out an excited scream towards the end of the song, as if she was in awe of herself and this moment. After nearly 40 minutes of unparalleled flow, breath control, dance moves and infectious vibes, no one was in much of a mood to challenge such a claim.
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The Art of Storytelling
One of the most potent lessons during Doechii’s hip-hop seminar was dubbed “The Art of Storytelling,” which kicked off the show’s encore. The two screens either side of the stage showcased clips from her viral “Denial Is a River” music video, which lampoons vintage television sitcoms. It made for a perfect finale, and a reminder of why the world has gone crazy for the Florida-born rapper: technical performance skill, and charming, engrossing storytelling.