Glastonbury Festival
Films and albums recorded at Glastonbury have been released, and the festival receives extensive television and newspaper coverage. Glastonbury is the largest greenfield festival in the world, and is now attended by around 175,000 people, requiring extensive infrastructure in terms of security, transport, water, and electricity supply.
Regarded as a major event in British culture, the festival is inspired by the ethos of the hippie, counterculture, and free festival movements. It retains vestiges of these traditions, such as the Green Fields area, which includes sections known as the Green Futures and Healing Fields.
After the 1970s, the festival took place almost every year and grew in size, with the number of attendees sometimes being swollen by gatecrashers.
Michael Eavis hosted the first festival, then called Pilton Festival, after seeing an open-air Led Zeppelin concert at the 1970 Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music.
Glastonbury Festival was held intermittently from 1970 until 1981; since then, it has been held every year, except for "fallow years" taken mostly at five year intervals, intended to give the land, local population, and organisers a break.
History
A series of concerts, lectures and recitals called the Glastonbury Festivals was established with a summer school in the town of Glastonbury between 1914 and 1926 by classical composer Rutland Boughton (1878–1960), and with their location attracted a bohemian audience by the standards of the time.
They featured works by then-contemporary composers, sponsored by the Clark family, as well as a wide range of traditional works, from Everyman to James Shirley's Cupid and Death.
1970s
Pilton Festival 1970
The festival retains vestiges of this tradition such as the Green Fields area, encompassing the Green Futures and Healing Field.
The first festival at Worthy Farm was the Pilton Pop, Blues & Folk Festival, mounted by Michael Eavis on Saturday 19 September 1970, and attended by 1,500 people.
Glastonbury Free Festival 1971
The "Glastonbury Fair" of 1971 was instigated by Andrew Kerr after being found and introduced to Michael Eavis by David Trippas and organised with help from Jean Bradbery, Kikan Eriksdotter, John Massara, Jeff Dexter, Arabella Churchill, Thomas Crimble,Bill Harkin, Gilberto Gil,Mark Irons, John Coleman, and Jytte Klamer.
Performers included David Bowie, Mighty Baby, Traffic, Fairport Convention, Gong, Hawkwind, Skin Alley, The Worthy Farm Windfuckers and Melanie.
It was paid for by its supporters and advocates of its ideal, and embraced a mediaeval tradition of music, dance, poetry, theatre, lights, and spontaneous entertainment.
The 1971 festival was filmed by Nicolas Roeg and David Puttnam and was released as a film called simply Glastonbury Fayre.
Glastonbury Festival 1979
There was a small unplanned event in 1978, when the convoy of vehicles from the Stonehenge festival was directed by police to Worthy Farm; the festival was then revived the following year (1979) by Churchill, Crimble, Kerr and Eavis, in an event for the Year of the Child, which lost money.
1980s
The 1980s saw the festival become an annual fixture, barring periodic fallow years. In 1981, Michael Eavis took control of the festival, and it was organised in conjunction with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).
In the 1980s, the children's area of the festival (which had been organised by Arabella Churchill and others) became the starting point for a new children's charity called Children's World.
1981 was the first year that the festival made profits, and Eavis donated £20,000 of them to CND.
In the following years, donations were made to a number of organisations, and since the end of the Cold War the main beneficiaries have been Oxfam, Greenpeace and WaterAid, who all contribute towards the festival by providing features and volunteers, who work at the festival in exchange for free entry.
This led to certain restrictions being placed on the festival, including a crowd limit and specified times during which the stages could operate.
1984 saw the stage invaded by children during The Smiths set.
Weather Report played the main stage, and Elvis Costello headlined the last night for almost three hours.
That year saw a wet festival with considerable rain; Worthy Farm is a dairy farm and what washed down into the low areas was a mixture of mud and liquefied cow dung.
This did not prevent festival-goers from enjoying the knee-deep slurry in front of the pyramid stage.
These sound systems would play loud, electronic acid house music 'round the clock, with the largest, the Hypnosis sound system, rivaling the volume of some of the official stages and running non-stop throughout the festival.
1990s
The biggest festival yet was held in 1990; however, the day after the festival ended, violence - between the security guards and new age travellers (the so-called Battle of Yeoman's Bridge) - led to the organisers taking 1991 off to rethink the festival.
This success was carried through to 1993 which, like 1992, was hot and dry.
The 1994 festival also introduced a 150 kW wind turbine which provided some of the festival power.
This festival also included the setting of a new world record on 26 June when 826 people, juggling at least three objects each, kept 2,478 objects in the air.
This was also the year the festival was first televised by Channel 4; concentrating on the main two music stages, providing a glimpse of the festival for those who knew little of it.
Channel 4 televised the festival the following year as well, which proved to be very successful.
As a result of Channel 4's coverage, living rooms across the country were able to experience what a rave might look like, and suddenly dance music - which had been attacked by the establishment and mainstream press for years - didn't seem so dangerous.
Indeed, 1994 was a crucial turning point for dance music's role at the festival. Speaking to The Guardian in 2013 about the Orbital gig, Michael Eavis noted that it marked dance music's appearance on the mainstream agenda.
"What was previously underground made it on to one of the big stages, and there was no going back from there. As the police and the council made me very well aware, the buzz had been around the raves and the market sound systems and in the travellers' fields for years.
The gig opened the way for others such as the Chemical Brothers, Massive Attack and Underworld, who all played high-profile stages in the following years – developments that led to the launch of the festival's Dance Village in 1997.
1995 saw the attendance rise drastically due to the security fence being breached on the Friday of the festival.
Estimates suggest there may have been enough fence-jumpers to double the size of the festival.
This aside, 1995 proved to be a highly successful year with memorable performances from Oasis, Elastica, Pulp, PJ Harvey, Jeff Buckley, Jamiroquai and The Cure.
The dance acts of 1995 were led by Massive Attack on the Friday and Carl Cox on the Saturday.
The festival took a year off in 1996 to allow the land to recover and give the organisers a break.
This would be a pattern which would be followed every five years until 2011, with the gap year moving to 2012. 1996 also saw the release of Glastonbury the Movie which was filmed at the 1993 and 1994 festivals.
This time there was major sponsorship from The Guardian and the BBC, who had taken over televising the event from Channel 4.
This was also the year of the mud,with the site suffering severe rainfalls which turned the entire site into a muddy bog.
However those who stayed for the festival were treated to many memorable performances, including Radiohead's headlining Pyramid Stage set on the Saturday which is said to be one of the greatest ever Glastonbury performances.
The live recording of "Paranoid Android" from this performance, as well as others such as "The Day Before Yesterday's Man" by The Supernaturals, were released on a BBC CD entitled Mud For It.
Tony Bennett, however, overcame the messy environment in an immaculate white suit and tie
.
1998 was also the first year that attendance officially broke the 100,000 mark.
Another hot dry year was recorded in 1999, much to the relief of organisers and festival goers.
The festival was again overcrowded due to fence-jumpers, but this would not prove to be a major problem until the following year, when an additional 100,000 people gatecrashed the site, increasing the attendance to an estimated 250,000 people total.
The 1999 festival is also remembered for the Manic Street Preachers requesting and being given their own backstage toilets; however, it was revealed by the band that this was a joke - the "reserved" sign on the toilet was not at the authorisation of the management.
2000s
2000 saw a new Pyramid Stage introduced as well as new features such as The Glade and The Leftfield.
The festival was headlined by Pet Shop Boys and David Bowie playing 30 years after his first appearance.
The Pyramid Stage also hosted an unusual event on the Saturday morning, with the wedding of two festival-goers,
who had written to the organisers asking for permission to get married there, taking place and conducted by actor Keith Allen in front of a small group of friends and any other festival-goers who still happened to be awake.
This led to public safety concerns and the local District Council refused any further licences until the problem was solved.
The organisers took 2001 off to devise anti-gatecrashing measures and secure the future of the festival,
after the Roskilde Festival 2000 accident (though this was also a scheduled break, one which took place every five years from 1991,
the year after the battle of Yeoman's Bridge, until the 2012 Olympics extended the five-year sequence from the planned 2011 rest year).
which was seen by some as a "sell-out" to corporate culture.
In 2002, the festival returned after its planned fallow year, with the controversial Mean Fiddler now handling the logistics and security — especially installing a substantial surrounding fence
(dubbed the "superfence") that reduced numbers to the levels of a decade earlier.
There were some incidents outside the fence involving frustrated individuals who arrived at the festival assuming they would be able to simply jump the fence and not pay for the music and performances, but despite this the event was hailed as a great success by the media companies that had taken an interest in the festival.
2002 also saw Coldplay headline the Pyramid Stage for the first time while the show was closed by a set from Rod Stewart on the Sunday night.
There were some criticisms of the 2002 festival that it lacked atmosphere,
because of the reduced number of people, which reflected the smaller numbers jumping the fence.
It was also the first year that tickets sold out before the full line-up was announced.
This was also the year Radiohead returned to headline the Pyramid Stage. Revenue raised for good causes from ticket and commercial licence sales topped £1 million, half of which went to Oxfam, Greenpeace and Water Aid.
In 2004, tickets sold out within 24 hours amid much controversy over the ticket ordering process, which left potential festival goers trying for hours to connect to the overloaded telephone and internet sites. The website got two million attempted connections within the first five minutes of the tickets going on sale and an average of 2,500 people on the phone lines every minute.The festival was not hit by extreme weather, but high winds on the Wednesday delayed entry, and steady rain throughout Saturday turned some areas of the site to mud.
The festival ended with Muse headlining the Pyramid Stage on Sunday, after Oasis had headlined on Friday.
Franz Ferdinand and Sir Paul McCartney also performed.
In the British press publications appeared about the use of psychedelic drugs by festival visitors.
The magazine NME pronounced that 2004 would be "the third summer of love" due to the resurgence of the "shroom" that was praised as a natural alternative to ecstasy, which was said to be declining in popularity (LSD fuelled the first summer of love in 1967; ecstasy and LSD the second in 1988).
After the 2004 festival, Michael Eavis commented that 2006 would be a year off — in keeping with the previous history of taking one "fallow year" in every five to give the villagers and surrounding areas a rest from the yearly disruption. This was confirmed after the licence for 2005 was granted.
In 2005 the 112,500 ticket quota sold out rapidly — in this case in 3 hours 20 minutes. For 2005, the enclosed area of the festival was over 900 acres (3.6 km2), had over 385 live performances, and was attended by around 150,000 people.
The Sunday headliner was originally scheduled to be Kylie Minogue, who instead pulled out in May to receive treatment for breast cancer. Basement Jaxx were announced as a replacement on 6 June.Both Coldplay and Basement Jaxx performed a cover of Kylie's "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" during their concert. 2005 saw a big increase in the number of dance music attractions, with the multiple tents of the Dance Village replacing the solitary dance tent of previous years. This new area contained the East and West dance tents, the Dance Lounge, Roots Stage, and Pussy Parlour, as well as a relocated G Stage, formerly situated in the Glade. The introduction of the innovative silent disco by Emily Eavis allowed revellers to party into the early hours without disturbing the locals — a requirement of the festival's licensing.
Following the death of DJ John Peel in the autumn of 2004, the New Tent was renamed the John Peel Tent, in homage to his encouragement and love of new bands at Glastonbury.
The severity of the weather flooded several campsites, the worst affected being the base of Pennard Hill, and seriously disrupted site services. However Mendip District Council's review of the festival called it one of the "safest ever" and gives the festival a glowing report in how it dealt with the floods.
There was no festival in 2006. Instead, a documentary film directed by Julien Temple was released to make up for the lack of a festival.
The film consists of specially shot footage by Temple at the festival, as well as footage sent in by fans and archive footage. Glastonbury was released in the UK on 14 April 2006.
Glastonbury 2007 (20–24 June) was headlined by Arctic Monkeys, The Killers, and The Who on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
Dame Shirley Bassey was also featured.In 2007, over 700 acts played on over 80 stages and the capacity expanded by 20,000 to 177,000.This was the first year that "The Park" area opened. Designed by Emily Eavis, its main stage featured extra sets by several artists playing on the main stages including Pete Doherty and Gruff Rhys, whilst the BBC launched their new "Introducing" stage in the area.
The festival had the largest attendance since the construction of the security fence, and the largest legitimate attendance to date: ticket allocation was raised by 27,500 to 137,500, which were charged at £145 and sold out in 1 hour 45 minutes.
As an extra precaution against touts (scalpers), purchasers had to pre-register, including submission of a passport photo which was security printed into the ticket.Continued periods of rain throughout much of the festival caused muddy conditions, though without the flooding of 2005, in part due to the new £750,000 flood defences.
However this constant rain made the general conditions within the site worse than 2 years before and more like the mud plains of 1998. It was difficult to find anywhere to sit down that had not turned to mud and key choke points, such as the thoroughfare at the front right of the Pyramid stage, turned into a quagmire. Muddy conditions on the temporary roads on the periphery of the site led to delays for people leaving the site.
On 25 June, when the vast majority of festival goers were attempting to leave the festival, cars in the western car parks took over nine hours to exit the site. There was no stewarding provision in these areas, no information was disseminated regarding the delays, no organised marshalling of traffic was undertaken by the festival organisers, and no provision of drinking water was made to people stranded in their vehicles.
Verbal and physical violence was witnessed between festival goers. When cars were finally allowed to leave the site the surrounding roads were found to be clear. Reported crime was down from 2005 but the number of arrests were "well up", after a proactive operation of the police and security on site. There were 236 reported crimes, down from 267 in 2005; of these, 158 were drug related (183 in 2005). 1,200 people required medical aid with 32 hospitalised,[80] most of which were accidents caused by the mud. There was one fatality: a West Midlands man found unconscious early on the Saturday morning died in Yeovil District Hospital of a suspected drugs overdose.
On 20 December 2007, Arabella Churchill, an instrumental figure in the conception of the 1971 festival and since the 1980s area coordinator of the Theatre Field, died at St Edmund's Cottages, Bove Town, Glastonbury at the age of 58.
She had suffered a short illness due to pancreatic cancer, for which she had refused chemotherapy and radiotherapy.She was a convert to Buddhism, and arrangements following her death respected her belief. Michael Eavis, paying tribute to her after her death, said "Her vitality and great sense of morality and social responsibility have given her a place in our festival history second to none".
The Glastonbury Festival 2008 was held on 27, 28 and 29 June, headlined by Kings of Leon, Jay-Z and The Verve on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively, with other notable acts including Neil Diamond, Shakin' Stevens, The Levellers, and Stackridge, who opened the first festival in 1970.Continuing the procedure introduced in 2007, ticket buyers had to pre-register and submit a passport photo between the 1 February and 14 March in order to buy tickets which went on sale at 9 am on Sunday 6 April. Following 40,000 tickets not being sold, the pre-registration process was reopened on 8 April. Several reasons have been cited for this, including the poor weather of the previous four years and the controversial choice of featuring the hip hop artist, Jay-Z, as a headlining act. A day before the festival began, Michael Eavis announced that there were still around 3,000 tickets remaining, making it possible that it would be the first festival in 15 years not to sell out in advance. It had also been announced that any remaining tickets would be sold from major branches of HMV. This year saw the introduction of a new field adjacent to the Sacred space and Park Stage. Not named by the organisers, the festival goers themselves called it "Flagtopia" in reference to the flags located there.
The Festival had always pushed a green agenda and new initiatives in 2008 included biodegradable tent pegs handed out free to all campers and biotractors running on waste vegetable oil.
These new efforts were rewarded with The Greener Festival Award for 2008 alongside a number of other festivals also committed to environmentally friendly music festivals. The 2008 festival was reported to have cost £22 million to produce.
The Glastonbury Festival 2009 took place between 24 and 28 June 2009. In marked contrast with previous years, the 137,500 tickets went on sale on 5 October 2008, earlier than ever before, with pre-registered customers able either to pay in full, or place a £50 reserve deposit to be paid by 1 February. Tickets for the festival sold out.
The Other stage was headlined by The Prodigy, Bloc Party and Franz Ferdinand.
Other notable performers included Jarvis Cocker, Rolf Harris, Fairport Convention (who played at the first Glastonbury Festival), Tom Jones, Steel Pulse, Doves, Lady Gaga, Jason Mraz, Nick Cave, Pete Doherty, Hugh Cornwell, Status Quo, The Gaslight Anthem (in which Springsteen appeared on stage during their song
"The '59 Sound"), Madness, Dizzee Rascal, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Lily Allen, Kasabian, Florence and the Machine, Alejandro Toledo and the Magic Tombolinos.
2010s
The Glastonbury Festival 2010 took place between 23 and 28 June. On the last night, Michael Eavis appeared on the main stage with headline artist Stevie Wonder to sing the chorus of the latter's "Happy Birthday", marking the festival's 40th year.
Damon Albarn's Gorillaz replaced U2. and joined Muse and Stevie Wonder for the Saturday and Sunday headline slots respectively.It was Albarn's second headlining act in two years. Pet Shop Boys returned after 10 years to headline the Other Stage on the Saturday Night. The entire stage set from their Pandemonium Tour was brought in for the performance which was extremely well received. Radiohead's Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood made a surprise appearance with a nine song set.
During 2010 Michael Eavis received a donation from British Waterways of timber from the old gates at Caen Hill Locks in Wiltshire.
This was used to construct a new bridge which was dedicated to the memory of Arabella Churchill.The following year more of the redundant lock gates were used to build the Campo Pequeno amphitheatre.
The Glastonbury Festival 2011 took place from Wednesday 22 until Sunday 26 June 2011.The tickets were sold out within 4 hours of going on sale on Sunday 3 October 2010. Headline acts for 2011 were U2 on the Friday night, Coldplay on the Saturday and Beyoncé on Sunday.This made Beyoncé the first woman to headline at the festival since 1999.
The festival was not held in 2012, giving the site and organisers a "fallow year" which originally would have been in 2011, in keeping with the tradition of taking a break every fifth year. Michael Eavis cited the shortage and likely cost of portable toilets and policing, due to the needs of the 2012 Summer Olympics, as being amongst the reasons.
To mark the 2012 Glastonbury weekend, Eavis was invited to guest edit the local paper, the Western Daily Press, on Saturday 23 June.
During the 2014 festival, a 26-year-old Berkshire man suffered from a suspected reaction to Ketamine and later died in Bristol Royal Infirmary. Despite this, police reported that crime was down 30% from last year but reminded festival goers to look after their possessions.
A few weeks before the 2015 festival Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl fell off a stage during a show in Gothenburg and broke his leg, forcing their late withdrawal from the line-up. Florence and the Machine were moved from second-top on the bill to Friday's headliner, while Florence's vacant gap was filled by Reading & Leeds headliners The Libertines, and their performance was well received.
On 28 August 2015 it was announced that hundreds of pairs of discarded wellington boots from the 2015 festival were donated to the migrant camp at Calais.
Organisation
Since 1981, the festival has been organised by local farmer and site owner Michael Eavis (through his company Glastonbury Festivals Ltd). Eavis ran the festival with his wife Jean until her death in 1999, and is now assisted by his daughter Emily Eavis.
Several stages and areas are managed independently, such as The Left Field which is managed by a cooperative owned by Battersea and Wandsworth TUC, Worthy FM and a field run by Greenpeace.
The sound systems on site have a total power of 650,000 watts, with the main stage having 250 speakers.
There are over 4,000 toilets, 2000 long-drop and 1300 compost, with water supplies including two reservoirs holding 2,000,000 litres (440,000 imp gal) of water.
With the exception of technical and security staff, the festival is mainly run by volunteers. Some 2000 stewards are organised by the aid charity Oxfam. In return for their work at the festival Oxfam receive a donation, which in 2005 was £200,000. Medical facilities are provided by Festival Medical Services who have done so since 1979.
Catering, and some retail services, are provided by various small companies, typically mobile catering vans, with over 400 food stalls on site in 2010.
The camping retail chain Millets, and independent shops, set up makeshift outlets at the festival. Additionally charities and organisations run promotional or educational stalls, such as the Hare Krishna tent which provide free vegetarian food. Network Recycling manage refuse on the site, and in 2004 recycled 300 tonnes and composted 110 tonnes of waste from the site.
Significant logistical operations take place to bring people into the festival by public transport each year. Additional festival trains are provided to Castle Cary railway station, mostly from London Paddington.
This is an intensive operation on the Wednesday and Thursday each year with local bus and coach operators providing these buses over the two days. Additional extra buses normally provided by Go South Coast run from Bristol to the festival.
On the Monday, passengers are transferred back in just one day with additional buses provided to meet the increased requirement. National Express provide extra coaches direct to the festival site from major UK towns and much of this work is subcontracted to smaller coach operators to provide the capacity required.
The festival is powered by Aggreko who provide over 27 megawatts of power to the site with 250 bio-diesel generators, run on 60,000 litres of waste vegetable oil (WVO) fuel.
Location
The festival takes place in South West England at Worthy Farm between the small villages of Pilton and Pylle in Somerset, six miles east of Glastonbury, overlooked by the Glastonbury Tor in the "Vale of Avalon".
The nearest town to the festival site is Shepton Mallet, three miles (5 km) north east, but there continues to be interaction between the people espousing alternative lifestyles living in Glastonbury and the festival. The farm is situated between the A361 and A37 roads.
Worthy Farm is situated at grid reference ST 590 397 in a valley at the head of the Whitelake River, between two low limestone ridges, part of the southern edge of the Mendip Hills. On the site is a confluence of the two small streams that make the Whitelake River. In the past the site has experienced problems with flooding, though after the floods that occurred during the 1997 and 1998 festival, drainage was improved. This did not prevent flooding during the 2005 festival, but allowed the flood water to dissipate within hours.The Highbridge branch of the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway ran through the farm on an embankment, but was dismantled in 1966 and now forms a main thoroughfare across the site. Another prominent feature is the high-voltage electricity line which crosses the site east-west.
Accommodation
Most people who stay at Glastonbury Festival camp in a tent. There are many different camping areas, each with its own atmosphere.
Limekilns and Hitchin Hill Ground are quieter camping areas, whereas Pennard Hill Ground is a lively campsite. Cockmill Meadow is a family campsite and Wicket Ground was introduced in 2011 as a second family-only campsite.
A limited number of fixed tipis are available for hire at the tipi field near the stone circle. Up to six adults can stay in each tipi and each one comes with a groundsheet and raincatcher. Internal bedding and camping equipment is not provided. Tipi Park also offers solar showers and a log-fired yurt sauna to cap off the experience.
Campervans, caravans and trailer tents are not allowed into the main festival site. However the purchase of a campervan ticket in addition to the main ticket allows access to fields just outside the boundary fence; and the cost includes access for the campervan or towing vehicle and the caravan; the car, or other vehicle used to tow the caravan, may be parked alongside it but sleeping is only authorised in the campervan/caravan and connected awning, not in the accompanying vehicle.
The 2009 festival saw changes to the campervan fields; commercial vehicles were no longer classed as 'campervans', all campervans had to have a fitted sleeping area and either washing or cooking facilities, and caravans and trailer tents were allowed back at the festival. Prior to this only campervans were allowed on site, caravans and trailers being banned in the early 1990s after a number were stuck in the mud and abandoned.
Festival-goers can stay at local B&B accommodation but most are not within walking distance of the festival. There are several independent Glastonbury accommodation providers close to the main site, which include smaller campsites for tents, gypsy caravans, geo-domes, private cottages and more - some festival goers choose to be ferried between the festival and their accommodation by quad-bike or even private helicopter.
Cultural references
Various artists have written songs entitled Glastonbury or about the festival including Nizlopi,
The Waterboys and Scouting for Girls. Cosmic Rough Riders included "Glastonbury Revisited" on their album Enjoy The Melodic Sunshine (Poptones) in 2000.
Marcus Brigstocke's comic creation Giles Wemmbley Hogg had a special mock-documentary made about him going to Glastonbury as part of the Giles Wemmbley-Hogg Goes Off series.
Deborah Crombie's novel A Finer End takes place in Glastonbury with references to a fictional account of an original 1914 Glastonbury Fayre as well as the contemporary festival.
Glastonbury is also a setting in John Osborne's 2014 Radio 4 show The New Blur Album.
FESTIVALS 2016
When we think of the great British summer, the first thing that springs to mind for us is always… FESTIVALS! And this year at BIMM we boosted our festival programme to include partnerships with nine incredible UK festivals, offering our students a chance to get involved in everything from performing and stage managing, to live sound operation, on-site reporting and much more.
Glastonbury Festival 2016 England
For those of you thinking about heading out to Europe next summer, you might want to consider going to some festivals.
From April until October there is almost always a festival every weekend somewhere in the UK.
The biggest and best, some say, is Glastonbury Festival which happens almost every year in June.
Usually it runs for four consequetive years and then they take a year off to let the land recover.
The site of Glastonbury Festival is not the town itself, but a tiny village called Pilton. At Pilton there is a farm, Worthy Farm, which has masses of land which is normally full of cows! Yes it is a proper working farm, but for 3 days in June it hosts one of the World’s biggest music festivals.
If you want to go to Glastonbury Festival, it is not quite as straightforward as just turning up in England and buying a ticket.
In my research I found this page on MotorhomeFreedom.com about Registration for Glastonbury Festival – the actual process is that you have to register for the festival first, before you even try and get a ticket!
You can do this now and then the tickets go on sale in October.
This is usually the first Sunday in October. But be aware that last year tickets went on sale at 10 am in the UK and they were all gone by 11 am!
If you live in the US and intend to purchase a ticket in October, this has its own set of problems.
Above all it means that you will have to be wide awake at some unearthly time of the night.
Be aware too that tickets are not cheap, last year they were about £230 GBP which is around $380.
This sounds a lot, but in actual fact there are 100s of bands playing on many many different stages and tons more.
The main entertainment is on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but you can turn up on Wednesday and get camped up.
You don’t have to pay the full amount for the ticket in October, you can reserve it with just a small deposit.
If you don’t manage to get a ticket in October there is usually a re-release of the tickets in April.
These are tickets that have been ordered but the purchaser has decided not to go through with the transaction.
In 2013 festival goers were treated to The Rolling Stones, in 2014 UK rockers Kasabian headlined with Dolly Parton on the Sunday.
One interesting thing about Glastonbury is that the tickets sell out in October without the line up for the weekend being announced. Because Glastonbury is so huge there is always something that is going to entertain you – guaranteed! One of the main attractions of festivals is that you get to experience new music, groups and acts that you would not otherwise see.
There are plenty of other festivals in Europe that are well worth considering if you don’t manage to get to Glastonbury, such as the Benicassim Festival in Spain and Roskilde Festival in Denmark.
Each festival has it’s own flavor, but Glastonbury really does have everything. One thing for sure is that if you do get to go to Glastonbury in 2016, it will be a weekend you will never forget. Highly recommended!
i am not responsible Of any Mistake / USE Of any Kind of Bad Words { Wording } / Any Word
Copy Write All ideas Picture & Articles / Data From Google , Wikipedia & Google Sites & Google Others Web Sites
Thanks Read
Always Remember me in your Payers
Muhammad Younis
Trekker & Mountaineer
Comments
Post a Comment