The hoped-for duet with Jay-Z might not have happened - but Beyoncé blew most of the doubters out of the water last night with her Bootylicious performance to close the Glastonbury Festival last night.
The star was watched by her rapper husband and friend Gwyneth Paltrow as well as 170,000 people on Worthy Farm in Somerset as she tore through an impressive hour and a half set.
Wearing just black hotpants and a gold belted jacket with her hairy blowing curly and free in the evening breeze, at times, she appeared overcome with emotion at the reception she was given.
And even though she's more used to playing to fans in slick arena shows rather than to thousands of festival goers stuck in the mud, she appeared to totally win over the crowd.
Playing a greatest hits set of mostly her own and Destiny's Child tunes, she also covered tracks including Etta James's At Last, Kings Of Leon's Sex On Fire and Alanis Morrisette's You Oughta Know.
Bizarrely, she also duetted with Tricky for song Baby Boy, but the Bristol-born rapper looked rather uncomfortable up there with her on the Pyramid Stage.
However, she kept fans happy, kicked off with a firework-punctuated Crazy In Love.
She seemed thrilled to be there, declaring: ‘You are witnessing my dream! Thankyou for having me and my band tonight, I always wanted to be a rock star and tonight we are all rock stars.'
She also included tracks including Single Ladies - which of course she did the dance to, in her sparkly black high heeled ankle boots - If I Were A Boy, Independent Women, Bootylicious and Survivor as well as new single Who Run The World (Girls) before closing with an anthemic Halo.
At the end of her ground-breaking set, she declared: 'Can I just say "I love you" to Coldplay and U2, and thanks again for this beautiful night, I will never forget it. I love you all!'
She then disappeared into a glowing pyramid at the back of the set - literally built because it was on the Pyramid Stage.
The star - the first female to headline the festival in more than 20 years - was playing with an all-female band including a horn section with some male backing dancers to even things up a bit.
The star didn't please everyone, however.
Radio 1 DJ Zane Jone churlishly refused to comment on her set in a discussion with BBC 6 Music presenter Lauren Laverne - and caused outrage on Twitter.
Lauren had been saying why Beyonce was a great pop artist who'd put in a fantastic performance in the true spirit of Glastonbury and asked Lowe his thoughts.
But Lowe mockingly burst out laughing before simply saying rudely: 'I went and watched Queens Of The Stoneage. Here's Kool And The Gang.'
He had been due to continue hosting the aftershow coverage on the channel - but when it became clear that Beyoncé was going to be doing an interview following her set, he made a rather see-through excuse that he had to leave the site.
BBC Radio 2 DJ Jo Whiley then stepped in to do the interview with Lauren instead.
Already out of her stage costume and wearing jeans and wellies, Beyoncé appeared to be happy with her set.
Beyoncé had done her homework the night before too, and was seen down the front of the stage in the VIP section with rap star husband Jay-Z last night watching Coldplay wrap up Saturday's bill on the Pyramid Stage - and perhaps getting some last minute inspiration.
Beyoncé was seen dressed down in a hoodie dancing and singing along to the band with her husband and frontman Chris Martin's wife Gwyneth.
She told Lauren and Jo that it had made her feel better about what she had to do last night.
She confessed: 'It made me feel a lot better last night, you realise people just want to listen to great music. I just thought, this is just beautiful. I just thought, calm down girl!'
And she said the weather had worked out well for her too, laughing: 'I'm happy it was sunny, it was beautiful today!'
The diva closed the three-day bash last night, and revealed that she was so nervous about it, she'd talked about her set with both Coldplay and Friday night's headliners U2.
Talking in an interview on Saturday with the BBC, Beyoncé said that she felt privileged to be closing the festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset - and she even didn't mind the squelchy conditions under foot.
Pronouncing the name of the al fresco fandango as 'Glaston-berry', she said: 'My first impression of Glastonbury, well, it's fascinating to see everybody in the mud, it's like they're all united as one.
'Everyone's so free, everyone's so diverse.'
As for her preparations for her show last night, she said: 'I'm the biggest fan of U2 and I'm the biggest fan of Coldplay, they are genius, so I've spoken to both of them about my setlist. I'm so excited to share the stage with them.
'For Glastonbury to recognise that women have the power to headline, that's amazing, and I'm proud that I am the chosen woman. I am going to rock!'
Apart from the likes of Zane Lowe, most people would agree she did a pretty good job...
Last night saw a textbook closing set from Coldplay, playing their third headlining set on the Pyramid Stage in nine years, at the festival that they claim is their spiritual home.
It followed Friday's effort from U2, which saw frontman Bono win overall positive plaudits despite battling against the pouring rain.
Yesterday also saw a polished surprise performance from Pulp on the Park Stage - where Kate Moss was turned away from the backstage area - and tonight's bill also features Pendulum, Queens Of The Stoneage, The Streets and Suzanne Vega.
Earlier, Jaime Winstone was seen laughing with friends, enjoying Plan B from the side of the Pyramid Stage.
sourceThe star was watched by her rapper husband and friend Gwyneth Paltrow as well as 170,000 people on Worthy Farm in Somerset as she tore through an impressive hour and a half set.
Wearing just black hotpants and a gold belted jacket with her hairy blowing curly and free in the evening breeze, at times, she appeared overcome with emotion at the reception she was given.
And even though she's more used to playing to fans in slick arena shows rather than to thousands of festival goers stuck in the mud, she appeared to totally win over the crowd.
Playing a greatest hits set of mostly her own and Destiny's Child tunes, she also covered tracks including Etta James's At Last, Kings Of Leon's Sex On Fire and Alanis Morrisette's You Oughta Know.
Bizarrely, she also duetted with Tricky for song Baby Boy, but the Bristol-born rapper looked rather uncomfortable up there with her on the Pyramid Stage.
However, she kept fans happy, kicked off with a firework-punctuated Crazy In Love.
She seemed thrilled to be there, declaring: ‘You are witnessing my dream! Thankyou for having me and my band tonight, I always wanted to be a rock star and tonight we are all rock stars.'
She also included tracks including Single Ladies - which of course she did the dance to, in her sparkly black high heeled ankle boots - If I Were A Boy, Independent Women, Bootylicious and Survivor as well as new single Who Run The World (Girls) before closing with an anthemic Halo.
At the end of her ground-breaking set, she declared: 'Can I just say "I love you" to Coldplay and U2, and thanks again for this beautiful night, I will never forget it. I love you all!'
She then disappeared into a glowing pyramid at the back of the set - literally built because it was on the Pyramid Stage.
The star - the first female to headline the festival in more than 20 years - was playing with an all-female band including a horn section with some male backing dancers to even things up a bit.
The star didn't please everyone, however.
Radio 1 DJ Zane Jone churlishly refused to comment on her set in a discussion with BBC 6 Music presenter Lauren Laverne - and caused outrage on Twitter.
Lauren had been saying why Beyonce was a great pop artist who'd put in a fantastic performance in the true spirit of Glastonbury and asked Lowe his thoughts.
But Lowe mockingly burst out laughing before simply saying rudely: 'I went and watched Queens Of The Stoneage. Here's Kool And The Gang.'
He had been due to continue hosting the aftershow coverage on the channel - but when it became clear that Beyoncé was going to be doing an interview following her set, he made a rather see-through excuse that he had to leave the site.
BBC Radio 2 DJ Jo Whiley then stepped in to do the interview with Lauren instead.
Already out of her stage costume and wearing jeans and wellies, Beyoncé appeared to be happy with her set.
Beyoncé had done her homework the night before too, and was seen down the front of the stage in the VIP section with rap star husband Jay-Z last night watching Coldplay wrap up Saturday's bill on the Pyramid Stage - and perhaps getting some last minute inspiration.
Beyoncé was seen dressed down in a hoodie dancing and singing along to the band with her husband and frontman Chris Martin's wife Gwyneth.
She told Lauren and Jo that it had made her feel better about what she had to do last night.
She confessed: 'It made me feel a lot better last night, you realise people just want to listen to great music. I just thought, this is just beautiful. I just thought, calm down girl!'
And she said the weather had worked out well for her too, laughing: 'I'm happy it was sunny, it was beautiful today!'
The diva closed the three-day bash last night, and revealed that she was so nervous about it, she'd talked about her set with both Coldplay and Friday night's headliners U2.
Talking in an interview on Saturday with the BBC, Beyoncé said that she felt privileged to be closing the festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset - and she even didn't mind the squelchy conditions under foot.
Pronouncing the name of the al fresco fandango as 'Glaston-berry', she said: 'My first impression of Glastonbury, well, it's fascinating to see everybody in the mud, it's like they're all united as one.
'Everyone's so free, everyone's so diverse.'
As for her preparations for her show last night, she said: 'I'm the biggest fan of U2 and I'm the biggest fan of Coldplay, they are genius, so I've spoken to both of them about my setlist. I'm so excited to share the stage with them.
'For Glastonbury to recognise that women have the power to headline, that's amazing, and I'm proud that I am the chosen woman. I am going to rock!'
Apart from the likes of Zane Lowe, most people would agree she did a pretty good job...
Last night saw a textbook closing set from Coldplay, playing their third headlining set on the Pyramid Stage in nine years, at the festival that they claim is their spiritual home.
It followed Friday's effort from U2, which saw frontman Bono win overall positive plaudits despite battling against the pouring rain.
Yesterday also saw a polished surprise performance from Pulp on the Park Stage - where Kate Moss was turned away from the backstage area - and tonight's bill also features Pendulum, Queens Of The Stoneage, The Streets and Suzanne Vega.
Earlier, Jaime Winstone was seen laughing with friends, enjoying Plan B from the side of the Pyramid Stage.
