Wilderness’s reputation as the most upmarket festival in Britain precedes it. Delicious food is prepared by award-winning chefs; there’s wild swimming and Scandi-style saunas; stressed parents can hire nannies to mind the little ’uns while they let loose. But away from the naked cricket games (yes, really) and Audi-branded cocktails, there’s always a packed musical line-up, with this year’s edition spearheaded by an all-time great.
It is a rare gift for an artist to be able to bring a lump to your throat only seconds into a song, but such is the power of Annie Lennox’s voice: even at 71 years old, the former Eurythmics star roars through hits from Walking on Broken Glass to There Must Be an Angel (Playing With My Heart) with ease. And she looks as achingly cool as ever – her hair still closely cropped, her fashion choices still pleasingly left-field (here, she went for a camo co-ord decorated with peace signs).
Lennox rarely performs live these days, opting only to sing at fundraisers for her feminist charity, The Circle, which she founded in 2008. It was this work that brought her to Wilderness – as the comedian and podcaster-turned-compère Deborah Frances-White joked, Lennox knew she was pitching to fans with deep pockets – for a short but sweet 40-minute greatest-hits set, joined by guests including Jessie Ware.