LGBTQ+ icon and acting legend Ian McKellen joined the Scissor Sisters onstage during Glastonbury Festival 2025, and was moved to tears by the crowd chanting his name.
Ian McKellen, best known for his roles as Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Magneto in the live-action X-Men franchise, turned his hand to popstardom, joining queer pop superstars Scissor Sisters onstage at 2025’s Glastonbury Festival.
The 86-year-old acting juggernaut surprised festival goers after joining Jake Shears and the rest of the New York-based band on the Woodsies stage for Saturday’s (28 June) headline set.
McKellen appeared to perform his monologue from the Scissor Sisters’ 2010 single “Invisible Light”, from their third studio album Night Work.
In an Instagram Reel posted by both the Scissor Sisters and BBC Radio 2, the queer icon can be seen backstage fighting back tears and holding his face after his performance, as the crowd chants, “Sir Ian McKellen” to the tune of The White Stripes’ “Eleven Nation Army”.
“Sir Ian McKellen getting some well deserved Glasto love!” the caption reads.
“I love this man,” wrote one X user above a clip of the video, while another added, “Ian McKellen Guest appearance in Scissor Sisters set! Legend.”
“Gandalf coming out with Scissor Sisters was NOT on my Glasto 2025 bingo card!” another Glastonbury reveller wrote on a separate TikTok of McKellen onstage.
@mrnaturalhistory You shall not PASS… Out tonight… Or maybe I will? #glastonbury #glastonburyfestival #ianmackellen #gandalf #scissorsisters @Scissor Sisters ♬ original sound – Mr Natural History
McKellen’s spoken word piece, which makes up the third chorus of “Invisible Light” reads:
Babylon
Where bricks of mortared diamonds tower
Sailors lust and swagger, lazing in moon’s beam
Whose laser gaze penetrates this sparkling theatre
Of excess and strobed lights
Painted whores
Sexual gladiators
Fiercely old party children
All wake from their slumber to debut the Bacchanal
Come to the light
Into the light
The invisible light
Glastonbury Festival 2025 featured a landslide of queer talent and favourites, including rap supernova Doechii, Charli XCX, JADE, Olivia Rodrigo, Kai Tempest, CMAT, Lola Young and more.
McKellen suffered a fall off stage during a performance of Player Kings in June 2024, but later said that he had no plans to stop working, even at the age of 86.
“What else would I be doing if I wasn’t working? I shall take the rest of the year off and then get back to work in January,” he said at the time.
And clearly ‘working’ extends to dipping his toes into the life of a pop star. Icon.
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