PJ Harvey stops mid-set to read poem on Brexit at Glastonbury

Moving: PJ Harvey read a poem on Brexit during her Glastonbury set
Ian Gavan/Getty Images
Jennifer Ruby27 June 2016
The Weekender

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PJ Harvey stopped mid-performance to read out a poem about Brexit at Glastonbury.

The British singer/songwriter decided to address the results of the EU Referendum in her own way as the country reeled from the result this weekend.

During her show, Harvey stopped to read poignant poem No Man is an Island, written by John Donne in 1624.

Before the reading, she told the crowd: “Today has been a very strange for a lot of us here, and I would like to share with you a piece that was written by the English poet John Donne in 1624.”

The singer then read out lines including: “No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as any manner of thy friends or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.

“And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

Harvey read the poem out for the first time during her performance at Down the Rabbit Hole and recited it for a second time during her show on the Other Stage on Sunday.

A number of performers reacted to the Referedum results during this year’s festival, including headliners Coldplay and Adele.

Adele told the crowd: “It’s a bit weird the stuff that’s going on at the moment for all of us.

“And we need to look after each other. Happy Pride everybody, as well.”

Ellie Goulding told the audience at her show: “I really hope now for this lovely country that I live in and you live in that that sentiment, that spirit of Glastonbury, happens all over the country still, because I know some really terrible things have been happening and I really hope that when you go home that you guys will take that spirit with you.”

Glastonbury 2016 - In pictures

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