Beyoncé was wearing tiny black hotpants and a gold sequinned jacket to headline the last day of the Glastonbury Festival

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.

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Experts React To Beyonce's Black Face Photo Shoot

Even Beyoncé gets bad press, but is it deserved? Yesterday (February 23), photos of the R&B starlet, and Jay-Z’s wife, were revealed of her cover shoot for French fashion magazine L’Officiel Paris. A slight furor has arisen over the images because the fair complexioned singer’s skin was darkened, causing critics to say the look is akin to blackface.

According to L’Officiel Paris, the make up and clothing she donned for the photo shoot was a nod to the music of Fela Kuti (and the magazine’s 90th anniversary). Allegedly, Beyoncé was so moved by Kuti’s music after watching Broadway musical Fela!—Jay-Z is one of its co-producers—that she will be incorporating the late African musicians sounds in her next project.

But considering the hateful and racist imagery many have equated her look too, was it prudent? African-Americans do come in many hues.

“It appears as though Beyoncé and/or the magazine’s intent was to pay homage to her African roots as expressed by a member of her team in a behind-the-scenes video,” Tracey Ford, Editor of AOL’s BoomBox blog says. “She's an African-American woman. Why is it controversial for her to want to honor her roots by highlighting that women come in different shades... If that’s in fact what the shoot was attempting to showcase?”

It’s tough to make a case that L’Officiel and Beyoncé, who has yet to comment on this matter, are simply making excuses for a misstep. To many the photography and art in and of itself is a success.

“The photographs are beautiful—both those where Beyoncé wears brown paint and those without,” Demetria L. Lucas of abelleinbk.com and the author of A Belle in Brooklyn: Advice for Living Your Single Life & Enjoying Mr. Right Now says. “Perhaps if Beyonce’s painted face included an exaggerated mouth and red lips, I would share in the outrage of those who call her look “offensive” or “minstrel-like.” But since it doesn’t, I cannot.”

Lucas continues, “Darker skin isn’t bad, but from the loud reaction to a pale-skinned woman going chocolate for fashion and/or art, you easily could be led to believe that it somehow is. I hear the naysayers of the shoot loud and clear, but their cries sound like a gross overreaction. It’s problematic that so many confuse a boundary-pushing, high- fashion editorial with somehow mocking or diminishing Black people and their hues.”

Color complexes between light, dark and everything in between are nothing new in the African-American community, and society at large.

“Beyoncé is beautiful, talented and a huge American star, so maybe she should have known better, but for all we know the dark make-up on her face that doesn't appear on the rest of her body could be an artistic statement about her ancestral history or an abstract message about the diversity in phenotype in Africa,” Timmhotep Aku, Editor of TheBVX.com says. “Contrary to the popular misconception, Blacks of every hue exist in Africa—even with no 'white blood' coursing through their veins. Honestly, I think this is much ado about nothing.”

This could also be a case of extra scrutiny due to the singer’s immense success.

“Being Beyoncé at this point is both a gift and a curse,” Georgette Cline, Editor at AOL Music and Rap-Up.com says. “The woman can’t really do anything without her actions being scrutinized, even if it’s posing for a magazine’s fashion spread in makeup that darkens her skin complexion. The shoot’s definitely tasteful and has artistic merit but like beauty, art is in the eye of the beholder, which is why she’s coming under fire in the first place.”

Nevertheless, in light of the connotations blackface denotes, even if not intentionally, many believe Beyoncé and her camp, should have known better.

“Given the controversial history surrounding blackface, it’s impossible to believe that both Beyoncé and her team didn’t think of the racial implications in painting her face,” Steven J. Horowitz, Associate Editor at YRB Magazine, says. “In an age when racism is still a prevalent issue, and where other artists like will.i.am have faced backlash for darkening their skin, she should have realized that anything remotely resembling blackface would raise fire from the smoke.”

Besides will.i.am, who was criticized for his all black everything look at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, British singer Estelle also faced criticism for the use of dark black make up in her video for “Freak.” On the opposite end of the spectrum, Beyoncé also faced criticism when the makeup line she endorses, L’Oreal, was accused of lightening her complexion in ads.

“Beyoncé can’t please anyone apparently. When she’s in L’Oreal ads or showing up the Grammy’s she’s too light or ‘trying to be white,’ but when she returns to her roots (no Alex Haley) and honoring a West African icon she's attacked for appearing in 'blackface,'” says Aku. I think we should cut Beyoncé some slack on this one. First of all, I don't think the French are as conscious of racial faux pas as we are and that may've led to the unintentionally insensitive creative direction.”

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Beyonce Knowles has topped in voted Queen of Pop in a poll

Singer Beyonce Knowles has topped a new fan poll to find the world's greatest pop star.

Over 100,000 British fans voted in Rimmel London's World's Greatest Pop Stars contest, selecting the singer as the new Queen of Pop.

She pipped nine other contenders, including Britney Spears and Madonna, and was announced as the winner at a live concert on Sunday at London's Earls Court.