U2 rocked Glastonbury with a 'Greatest Hits' performance, instead of their present 360 tour gig as anti-tax U2 protests fizzled on the night.

Glastonbury is the headline British rock festival which U2 had to miss last year due to Bono's back injury

The band opened with their smash 'Even Better Than The Real Thing' followed by 'The Fly'.

An effort to float a massive balloon protesting U2 paying their tax outside Ireland failed when security deflated he balloon before it could take flight.

The message on the balloon was "U Pay Your Tax 2"

Bono was in top form on the night

"We're sorry we had to phone in sick last year," he told the 50,000 present.

"But this is a great occasion for us. A pilgrimage, almost."

"It could be the lines, it could be the jetlag, but it's a special feeling being here," he said before launching into 'One'.

The band had a long discussion over which songs should be played for the Golden Oldies night

"There were an awful lot of opinions," said drummer Larry Mullen. "Everyone had a view about how it should go."

"There were the 'Where The Streets Have No Name' camp and then the more subtle approach, the 'Achtung Baby' dynamic approach, where you build slowly.

Then there were those who thought we should open with '40' (from U2's 1983 album 'War'). We went through a number of combinations."