Dolly Parton wows Glastonbury crowds – but was she miming?

Dolly Parton has been hailed as the "undisputed queen of Glastonbury" after she drew one of the biggest-ever crowds to the Pyramid Stage last night.

Thousands of revellers cheered as the 68-year-old country music star performed her famous hits such as Jolene and 9 to 5, as well as a new song written especially for the festival entitled Mud.

She took centre stage on most of the front pages this morning, with newspapers widely praising her "dazzling" performance.

In a five-star review for The Guardian, Rebecca Nicholson describes her as "ridiculous, yet sublime". Wearing "rhinestones, more rhinestones, and an extra sprinkling of rhinestones", Parton strutted across every inch of the stage, cheering, hollering and clapping, says Nicholson. "She was so wonderfully entertaining that when the big screen cut out for a mere fraction of a second, the entire arena gasped, as if to say: 'Don't you dare take her away from us.'"

Even Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls was urging his Twitter followers to watch her set on television, describing her final song, I will always love you, as "brilliantly performed".

Dolly Parton at Glastonbury - what a set - brilliant finale encore - if you missed it on Red Button, watch it on BBC2 shortly..

 

— Ed Balls (@edballsmp) June 29, 2014

Parton also won five stars from the Daily Telegraph's Neil McCormick, who named Parton the "undisputed queen of Glastonbury". She played guitar, melodian, banjo and saxophone and sang "like a nightingale", says McCormick. "It may have been a festival bill full of uncompromising rock bands but it was a veteran country and western star who stole the show."

Indeed, the audience for Parton was larger than that for Friday and Saturday's headliners, Arcade Fire and Metallica.

Yet, many viewers at home were convinced that Parton was miming, complaining of a time lapse between her mouth movements and the sound.

As much as Dolly Parton *is* fabulous, it does look like a bit of miming going on #Glastonbury Or effects of too much plastic surgery?

 

— wafflycat (@wafflycat) June 29, 2014

Sky News anchor Kay Burley complained on Twitter that she was let down by the alleged miming, writing: "Oh, Dolly is miming. How disappointing."

But a spokesman for Parton insisted that the singer's vocals were live and Stephen Fry also came to her defence. "Believe me, that is not miming. If it appears not always to lip-sync that's an HD live processor issue," he tweeted.

I think I know quite a lot about how TV is made. Why are people saying @DollyParton is miming? She’s fooling me…

 

— Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) June 29, 2014

The Daily Mail's Jan Moir also dismisses the very idea that the "pint-size knickerbocker glittering glory" was miming, praising her as the "ultimate professional".