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GLASTONBURY, England - Welsh diva Shirley Bassey, known for her resounding voice and James Bond theme songs, electrified the last-night crowd on Sunday at the world's biggest greenfield music and arts festival.
Dressed in a sequined flamingo pink dress, Bassey thundered out Bond theme Goldfinger, Big Spender and The Lady is a Tramp to riotous applause in western England where days of rain had turned the green meadows into a mudbath.
The late reggae legend Bob Marley's sons Damien, Steven and Ziggy paid tribute to their father commemorating the 30th anniversary of classic album Exodus and played tracks including One Love and Buffalo Soldier.
Rock godfathers The Who top the bill on the final night of Glastonbury which has attracted a crowd of almost 180,000.
Tractors spread straw and woodchips as paths became harder to negotiate, but music-inspired festival-goers in brightly coloured ponchos and rubber Wellington boots danced, frolicked and prepared for the evening's star-studded finale undaunted.
"It's gone very well in spite of the rain, in spite of the mud," upbeat festival founder Michael Eavis said on Sunday.
"Believe it or not the drains have actually worked ... the show compensates for the weather ... the sun's not everything."
Other big acts on the third and final day of Glastonbury include British music sensations the Kaiser Chiefs, angsty rockers Manic Street Preachers, Californian indie band Cold War Kids, and Arkansas' The Gossip.
More than 1200 people had been injured by Sunday, mostly with sprains and bruises from slipping in the mud at Eavis' farm in southwest England set up in the 1970s as a musical hippy haven.
Police said one 26-year-old man had died from a suspected drugs overdose and that despite far more people on site than last year there were fewer arrests and these were mostly drug related. Only 31 thefts were reported.
Downpours were forecast for the rest of the festival but organisers said the flooding would have been much worse without the new 100,000 pound ($NZ264,206) drainage system and other precautions installed by 71-year-old Eavis.
"I was completely unprepared for the Glastonbury experience," said Norwegian singer Lawra Somby, with the group Adjagas, who had to walk barefoot through the mud because he had the wrong shoes before he togged up with boots and raincoat.
Many people were fretting about how they would exit the rural muddy site on Monday.
American indie rock kings The Killers rounded off the second day of the festival on Saturday night with a storming 1-1/2 hour-long set leaving the main stage audience cheering for more.
Against a pyrotechnic display The Killers played some of their biggest hits, like All These Things That I've Done and Smile Like You Mean It.
Bad boy rocker Pete Doherty and his band Babyshambles, dressed as 1930s gangsters, played a popular set, with Doherty's partner supermodel Kate Moss joining in on backing vocals.
Dirty Pretty Things, featuring Doherty's former Libertines band mate Carl Barat, made their debut Glastonbury performance, singing tracks including Gin and Milk. Barat squashed this year's Glastonbury rumour that the Libertines would reunite for the festival. "I'd love to play with Pete one day," he said.
As The Killers played their set, music legend Iggy Pop and the Stooges played on the Other Stage. Iggy, in a trademark wild gesture, invited a fan on stage. Once one fan was on stage the floodgates opened and Iggy was soon swamped by up to 400 fans.
During the stage invasion, Ron Asheton's Fender guitar was stolen and one man was arrested for indecent exposure.
- REUTERS
