The , commonly abbreviated to '''Glastonbury Festival''' or '''Glasto''', is the largest
Greenfield music and performing arts
Festival in the world. The festival is best known for its contemporary music, but also features dance, comedy, theatre, circus,
Cabaret and many other arts. In 2005, the enclosed area of the festival was over 900 acres (3.6 km&
2), had over 385 live performances and was attended by around 150,000 people.
Originally Glastonbury was heavily influenced by
Hippy ethics and the free festival movement in the 1970s, especially the
Isle Of Wight Festival . Organiser
Michael Eavis claims he decided to host the first festival, then called , after seeing an open air
Led Zeppelin concert at the nearby Bath and West showground in 1970 . The festival retains vestiges of this tradition, including the Green Futures/Healing Fields area and the reputation for alternative culture.
The festival takes place in s are believed to converge on the Tor. The nearest town to the festival site is
Shepton Mallet , three miles north east, but there continues to be interaction between the people espousing alternative lifestyles living in Glastonbury and the festival itself. The farm is situated between the
A361 and
A37 roads.
Worthy Farm is situated 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
Flood ing, though after the floods that occurred during the 1997 and 1998 festival, drainage was improved (see ''
Timeline '' below). This did not prevent flooding during the 2005 festival, but allowed the floodwaters to dissipate within hours. The
Bridgwater branch of the
Somerset And Dorset Joint Railway ran through the farm on an embankment, but was dismantled in the late 1960s and now forms a main thoroughfare across the site. Another prominent feature is the high-voltage electricity line which crosses the site east-west.
In recent years the site has been organised around a restricted backstage compound, with the pyramid stage on the north, and other stage on the south of the compound. Attractions on the east of the site include the acoustic tent, comedy tent and circus. To the south are the green fields, which include displays of traditional and environmentally friendly crafts. In King's Meadow, the hill at the far south of the site, is a small
Megalith circle which, like
Stonehenge , is coordinated with the
Summer Solstice . The circle was constructed in 1990 with the appearance of age, and has no archaeological interest .
The backstage compound, restricted to normal festival-goers, is populated almost entirely by bands and their support crews. Ironically, the backstage bar, Lulu's, is the cheapest bar at the festival, and hosts many charity functions and auctions.
The festival is organised by local farmer and site owner
Michael Eavis (through his company Glastonbury Festivals
Ltd ), who has hosted the event since its inception. Since 2002, the
Mean Fiddler Music Group has taken on the job of managing the
Logistics and security of the festival through a 40% stake in the festival management company. Each year a company, joint owned by Glastonbury Festivals Ltd and Mean Fiddler
Plc , is created to run the festival, with profits going to the parent companies. Glastonbury Festivals Ltd donates most of their profits to charities. The Mean Fiddler contract is a rolling one reviewed every five years.
In April 2005, . Its politics remain to be seen.
Several stages and areas are managed independently, such as
The Left Field which is managed by a
Cooperative owned by the
Trades Union Congress , and a field run by
Greenpeace .
With the exception of technical and security staff, the festival is mainly run by volunteers. Stewards are organised by the aid charity
Oxfam and the
Bars are organised by the
Workers Beer Company , sponsored by
Budweiser , who recruit teams of volunteer staff from small charities and campaign groups. In return for their help, typically around 18 hours over the festival, volunteers are paid in free entry, transport and food, while their charities are given donations by the organisers.
Catering, and some retail services, are provided by various small companies, typically mobile catering vans. The camping retail chain
Millets , and many independent shops, set up makeshift outlets at the festival. Additionally many charities and organisations run promotional or educational stalls, such as the
Hare Krishna Vegetarian food stand.
Network Recycling manage refuse on the site, and in 2004 recycled 300
Tonnes and
Compost ed 110
Tonnes of waste from the site .
This section is largely based on ''A Brief History of the Glastonbury Festival'' .
The first festival, a small scale event of 1,500 people called the ''Pilton Festival'', was created by
Michael Eavis in 1970, followed by the larger scale ''Glastonbury Fayre'' of 1971, now also with the important help of
Andrew Kerr and Winston Churchill's grand-daughter
Arabella Churchill . The 1971 festival featured the first incarnation of the "Pyramid Stage", built from scaffolding and metal sheeting. It was paid for by its supporters and advocates of its ideal, and took a medieval tradition of music, dance, poetry, theatre, lights and spontaneous entertainment. Musicians during the 1970s were mainly jazz and folk artists. The 1971 festival was filmed by
Nicolas Roeg and
David Puttnam and was released as a film simply called ''
Glastonbury Fayre ''. The festival was not held again until an unplanned event in 1978, and a planned festival the following year which lost money. The festival has been an annual fixture since 1981, albeit with breaks in 1988, 1991, 1996, 2001 and 2006.
In 1981 the festival was organised with the
Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament (CND). That year a new Pyramid Stage was constructed from telegraph poles and metal sheeting (ironically, ex-
Ministry Of Defence ), a permanent structure which doubled as a hay-barn and cow-shed during the winter.
In the 1980s the children's area of the festival (which had been organized 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 entrance.
Since 1983 large festivals have required licenses from local authorities. This led to certain restrictions being placed on the festival, including a crowd limit and times during which the stages could operate. The crowd limit was initially set at 30,000 but has grown every year to over 100,000. In 1985 the festival grew too large for Worthy Farm, but neighbouring Cockmill farm was purchased.
1990 saw the biggest festival yet, however violence at the end of the festival between the police and
New Age Travellers led to the organisers taking 1991 off to rethink the festival.
The festival returned in 1992 with an expanded festival, which proved to be a great success. This success was carried through to 1993, which like 1992's festival was another dry, hot year.
In 1994 the Pyramid Stage burned down just weeks before the festival, a temporary main stage was erected in time for the festival. 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 it provided a glimpse of the festival for many who knew little of it. Channel 4 also televised the following year as well which also proved to be very successful.
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The following year 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 ,
PJ Harvey and
The Cure . This was also the first year of the festival having a
Dance Tent to cater for the rise in popularity of dance music, following the success of
Orbital 's headline appearance the previous year. 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 from now on. 1996 also saw the release of ''
Glastonbury The Movie '' which was filmed at the 1993 and 1994 festivals.
The festival returned in 1997 bigger than ever. 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.
This caused many festival goers to leave early on the Friday, or not even bother to attend after radio and television reports gave details of just how muddy the site was.
However those who stayed for the festival were treated to many memorable performances, including
Radiohead 's headlining Pyramid set on the Saturday which is said to be one of the greatest ever Glastonbury performances.
In 1998 the festival was once again struck with severe floods and storms, again some festival goers departed early but those who stayed were treated to performances from acts such as
Pulp ,
Robbie Williams and
Blur . 1998 was also the first year that attendance officially broke the 100,000 mark.
1999 was a hot dry year, much to the relief of organisers and festival goers. Memorable performances from
R.E.M. ,
Fun Loving Criminals and
Al Green were among the highlights. Again, the festival was overcrowded due to fence-jumpers, this however would not be a major problem till the following year when the festival suffered from massive numbers of fence-jumpers. This surge increased the attendance to an estimated 250,000 people. The 1999 festival is also remembered for
The Manic Street Preachers requesting and being given their own backstage toilets.
2000 saw a new Pyramid Stage introduced as well as several new features such as
The Glade and
The Leftfield . The festival was headlined by
David Bowie playing 30 years after his first appearance. This year also saw an estimated 250,000 people attend the festival (only 100,000 tickets were sold) due to gatecrashers. This led to public safety concerns and the local
District Council refused any further licences unless and until the problem could be solved. The organisers took 2001 off to come up with anti-gatecrashing measures to ensure the future of the festival. It was at this point that the Mean Fiddler Organisation was invited to help.
In 2002 the festival returned after a break, with 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. The lower attendance led to a much more relaxed atmosphere and massively reduced crime levels compared to previous years. There were some incidents outside the fence involving frustrated individuals who arrived at the festival assuming they would be able to jump the fence, but despite this the event was hailed as a great success. 2002 also saw
Coldplay headline the Pyramid Stage for the first time.
By 2003 people got the idea that it was no longer possible to crash the festival and hence it is recognised as one of the most successful years to date. The number of tickets available to the public was increased slightly over 2002, partially in response to criticism that the 2002 festival was underpopulated and lacked atmosphere. The tickets sold out within one day of going on sale, in marked contrast to the two months it took to sell a similar number in 2002. It was also the first year that tickets sold out before the full lineup was announced. This was also the year
Radiohead returned to headline the Pyramid Stage.
From the ticket and commercial license sales charities received more than £1million, 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 many 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. However
Sir Paul McCartney 's Saturday performance cheered many festival goers up.
After the 2004 festival, 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 for 2005 sold out rapidly - in this case in 3 hours 20 minutes , leaving many thousands of potential attendees frustrated.
The Sunday headliner was originally scheduled to be
Kylie Minogue , but she pulled out in May to receive treatment for
Breast Cancer .
Basement Jaxx were announced as a replacement on
June 6 . 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 Parlure, 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 opening day of the festival was delayed by heavy rain and thunderstorms: Several stages, including the Acoustic Tent (and one of the
Bars ), were struck by
Lightning , and the valley was hit with
Flash Flood s that left some areas of the site under more than four
Feet of water . The severity of the weather flooded several
Campsite s, 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.
In 2006, a documentary film directed by
Julien Temple was released to make up for the lack of a festival. The film comprises 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 April 14, 2006.
See ''
Glastonbury Festival Line-ups '' for listings.
