Despite the festival being famous for its often erratic weather, it’s the eclectic choice in music that makes it the greatest party on earth. 2011 was another great year for Glastonbury, making it all the more upsetting to know that it won’t be back until 2013.

Friday opened with a performance from The Master Musicians of Joujouka on the Pyramid Stage, an odd enough band to watch without the man dressed in fur waving a branch around like some sort of Moroccan Bez making things even more surreal. The real beginning to the festival for me however was from The Secret Sisters, who opened the Acoustic Stage half an hour later. The Alabama siblings played a beautiful set interweaving their voices to create wonderful harmonies that entranced the whole crowd.

Later that afternoon, the legendary Wu-Tang Clan arrived on the Pyramid Stage with the chaotic rapping they became famous for almost 20 years ago. Following the Staten Island crew came BB King, who had to be helped on stage. The bluesman played a powerful set and received a standing ovation from the crowd when he left the stage an hour later.

Over at The Park, a reformed Big Audio Dynamite played to an ever swelling crowd, probably because at this point everyone at the festival had heard Radiohead were the special guests performing after them. The ever-smiling Mick Jones performed a greatest hits set with his 80s cohorts which ended up being far more entertaining than the following set which saw Radiohead play almost nothing but new material, leaving the enormous crowd very displeased.

For those who decided to give Radiohead a miss, Jimmy Cliff had returned to Glastonbury to perform yet another storming show of reggae classics to a crowd that wouldn’t stop dancing, no matter how much it rained.

Headliners of the night, U2, already a year late to the stage, had a lot to prove. Protests about their decision to register their corporation tax returns in the Netherlands instead of Ireland were being made across the festival while a large balloon declaring ‘U PAY TAX 2′ was inflated just before the band came onstage (though it was swiftly, and somewhat controversially, taken down by security).

U2 came onstage with no messing about, opening with ‘Even Better Than The Real Thing’, the band stormed through a greatest hits set that also involved a video created by Damien Hirst and a live satellite link-up with astronaut Mark Kelly on the International Space Station. Tax-dodging aside, U2 proved on Friday night that they really are the greatest live band on the planet.

The London Afrobeat Collective opened the West Holts stage on Saturday morning. Despite arriving slightly late on stage, the group brought sunshine to Somerset with their Fela Kuti inspired music. Later that afternoon, Dry The River played to an ever growing crowd in the John Peel tent while on the Pyramid Stage, Rumer gave an impressively soulful performance to a much smaller audience than expected considering her staggering album sales this year.

Over on the Other Stage, The Kills were playing the rock music they’re known for, though apparently the lady stood next to me was unaware of their reputation. When I noticed her pulling a face at each of Alison Mosshart’s shrieks I asked what she thought of the duo. “It’s very… loud” she said.

Paolo Nutini, who played the main stage that evening, didn’t seem to upset anyone with his singing. His adaptable voice glides over each song he and his band play to an adoring crowd that he was warming up for the mighty Elbow.

From the very moment Guy Garvey came on stage he had every single member of the audience in the palm of his hand. He had the crowd singing along to each song and even commanded them to sing the band happy birthday after he claimed they had formed 20 years ago to the day. What he had probably not expected was that the crowd had him in the palm of their hands too. When the lead singer reached for a sip of his pint midway through the set, the audience began shouting “Down it! Down it!” at him. Watching thousands of people heckle him into downing his pint was one of the highlights of the whole festival.

Following Elbow were Glasto veterans Coldplay, who performed one of the most accomplished sets of the weekend. Delicately placing new songs in with well known tracks that had everyone singing along made for an impressive headline show, not to mention the fireworks, confetti and lighting up of the Pyramid Stage itself.

Sunday saw sets from Don McLean and Paul Simon in the ‘heritage’ slots previously occupied by James Brown and Brian Wilson. McLean had the whole crowd singing along to what seemed like a ten minute version of ‘American Pie’ as part of his impressive show. Paul Simon, on the other hand, proved to be a disappointment. With a CV that includes the entire works of Simon & Garfunkle, not to mention Graceland and decades more solo work, Simon managed to put in a fairly straightforward performance, only including one or two of his hits.

Soon after Paul Simon came the most popular rapper turned soul singer there is; Plan B. Ever the showman, Ben Drew played a set relying heavily on his most recent LP, The Defamation of Strickland Banks, to an ecstatic crowd that lapped up every bit of action coming from the stage.

Pendulum, the most bothersome booking of the year had somehow managed to end up second from the top of the main stage at the biggest festival there is. How this happened I’ll never know, but it shouldn’t have. Following Pendulum came what was possibly the most anticipated gig of the weekend. Beyonce.

The former Destiny’s Child proved that she is the single most entertaining woman in pop music right now. Opening with her smash hit ‘Crazy In Love’ and swiftly following it with the wrist-wiggling ‘Single Ladies’, Beyonce played the show of her life.

“Are you ready to be entertained?” she asked the crowd as the show began. Everyone was ready to be entertained but what Beyonce delivered was so much more than entertainment. It was the headline act of the year.