In Stormzy's set on the Pyramid stage on Friday night he challenged those watching to think about racial inequality, using a sample of a David Lammy MP speech from the House of Commons about discrimination in the justice system, raising the problem of knife crime and racial prejudice in ballet.
The rapper won Best Grime Act in 2014 and 2015 at the MOBO awards and his debut album Gang Signs and Prayer was the first grime album to reach number one in the UK.
In his first rendition of Blinded By Your Grace, he introduced it by saying: "This is what it sounds like when Glastonbury meets God...this is a God tune. This is everything."
He then walked off as Chris Martin, the singer from Coldplay came on to play keyboard, shortly joined on the stool by Stormzy for a spotlit duet where they sang:
"I'm blinded by your grace
Every night, every day
And I was lost, yeah
But ever since you found me
I'm blinded by your grace
Through the darkness you came
And I'll be alright
With you by my side"
"Glasto, we're gonna go to church right now" @stormzy plays #glastonburyfestival2019
— Pete Greig (@PeteGreig) June 29, 2019
"Lord, I've been broken,
Although I'm not worthy,
You fixed me, I'm blinded by your grace,
You came and saved me"
Amen pic.twitter.com/p4KKN0U6Ja
By the second version, and after some songs with swearing and adult lyrics as well, a gospel-style choir joined him on stage and he said: "Glasto, we're gonna go to church right now.
The choir sang: "You saved me" as an overwhelmed-looking Stormzy shook his head and asked the crowd to help him out.
"We're gonna take this to church and we're gonna give God all the glory right now.
He asked the crowd to join in with singing the lyrics:
"Lord, I've been broken,
Although I'm not worthy,
You fixed me, I'm blinded,
By your grace,
You came and saved me,
Lord, I've been broken,
Although I'm not worthy,
You fixed me, now I'm blinded,
By your grace,
You came and saved me"
He pointed to the sky at the end.
Read a blog about Stormzy's faith here.
@stormzy making me wanna go to church man #glasto
— alice (@AliceTweets92) June 28, 2019
✊ @stormzy using his headline spot at #glastonburyfestival2019 to speak out about the injustice of young black kids being criminalised in a biased and disproportionate justice system. Humbled and inspired that he sampled my speech. Salute #Merky pic.twitter.com/iSG3PMssrd
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) June 28, 2019
Stay up to date with the latest news stories from a Christian perspective. Sign up to our daily newsletter and receive more stories like this straight to your inbox every morning.
