Police escort Stormzy to TRNSMT headlining set after flight delay

Stormzy looks set to make his headline slot at Scotland’s largest music festival after being given a police escort following a flight delay.

Fears were sparked for the rapper’s appearance at TRNSMT after his flight was delayed for two hours.

Now, he has been given a police escort to Glasgow Green and joked he is “going up in the world” and like “the Queen”.

The rapper is due on stage at 9.20pm to close the first day of the TRNSMT festival but posted on Instagram that his flight has been delayed for two hours.

He wrote: “3 flights missed in 24 hours now this one’s delayed by 2 hours. Having a mare.”

He later posted videos of being escorted to the festival site by police motorcycles.

He said: “Man’s going up in the f****** world. We’ve got the f****** police escorting us… Man’s the Queen fam.

“This is gangsta.”

Earlier, festival director Geoff Ellis told PA: “Stormzy had a great Glastonbury and he only wanted to do two festivals this year.

“When we got the call, pretty much a year ago, saying he wants to do Glastonbury and TRNSMT, that’s really cool to get.

“He played the first year here and had a fantastic gig, went on about 4pm and had a full crowd watching him and that was great. I certainly won’t be missing him.”

Mr Ellis also addressed speculation about the future of the T In The Park festival, which he organised before it was put on hold in 2016, telling the BBC the much loved event has “run its course”, adding “it’s all about TRNSMT for us now”.

Thousands of music fans have headed to Glasgow Green for the first day of the three-day festival.

Crowds basked in the sunshine with temperatures topping 20C (68F), and organisers urged those attending to use suncream and stay hydrated.

Organisers said by 5.30pm some 130 people had visited medical staff on site for minor ailments, many sun-related.

By that time, eight people had been arrested for minor disorder offences.

Mabel and Gus Dapperton were the first acts to appear on the main stage ahead of performances by Years And Years, Gerry Cinnamon, who did not let a broken guitar hamper his performance.

Headlining the women-only Queen Tut’s stage, at the festival for the first time in an attempt to address the gender play gap is Lauren Spiteri, niece of Texas star Sharleen Spiteri.

She said she is “proud” to be on the stage dedicated to up and coming female artists.

She added: “I’m just excited to be part of it, I think it’s really nice that TRNSMT are celebrating women in music that my be overlooked and that are just doing it on their own and I’m very proud to be sharing a stage with these amazing women.”

Around 50,000 music fans are expected to attend each day at the TRNSMT festival which takes place on Glasgow Green from July 12-14.

Catfish And The Bottlemen and George Ezra headline on Saturday and Sunday respectively while other bands appearing over the weekend include Bastille, The Kooks, Sigrid and Richard Ashcroft.

Snow Patrol and Jess Glynne were in the original line-up but were replaced by Scottish artists Lewis Capaldi and Emeli Sande after pulling out in the weeks before the festival.

The good weather is expected to continue with a few showery spells possible on Friday and Saturday and a bright sunny day on Sunday, when forecasters predict temperatures of 23C (73.4F).

Alex Burkill, a forecaster at the Met Office, said: “There is lots of warm humid weather to come with just a few showers on Friday and Saturday but otherwise dry and bright throughout the whole thing.”