Glastonbury Festival

For the early 20th-century classical music and theatre festivals, see Glastonbury Festival (1914–1925).

Glastonbury Festival
2016 Glastonbury Festival
GenrePerforming arts festival
FrequencyAnnually, with fallow years (mostly at five-year intervals)
Location(s)Pilton, Somerset, England
Coordinates51°08′59″N 02°35′13″W / 51.14972°N 2.58694°W / 51.14972; -2.58694
Years active19 September 1970 (1970-09-19) – present
Inaugurated19 September 1970; 54 years ago (1970-09-19)
FounderMichael Eavis
Most recent26–30 June 2024
Next event25–29 June 2025
ParticipantsSee lineups
AttendanceMore than 210,000 (2023)[1]
Capacity210,000 (2022)[2]
Organised byGlastonbury Festivals Ltd.
Websiteglastonburyfestivals.co.uk

The Glastonbury Festival (formally the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most summers. In addition to contemporary music, the festival hosts dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret, and other arts. Leading pop and rock artists have headlined, alongside thousands of others appearing on smaller stages and performance areas. Films and albums have been recorded at the festival, and it receives extensive television and newspaper coverage.

Glastonbury takes place on 1500 acres of farmland[3] and is attended by around 200,000 people,[4] requiring extensive security, transport, water, and electricity-supply infrastructure. While the number of attendees is sometimes swollen by gatecrashers, a record of 300,000 people was set at the 1994 festival, headlined by the Levellers, who performed on the Pyramid Stage.[5] Most festival staff are unpaid volunteers, helping the festival to raise millions of pounds for charity organisations.[6]

Regarded as a major event in contemporary British culture, the festival is inspired by the ethos of the hippie, the counterculture of the 1960s, and the free festival movement. Vestiges of these traditions are retained in the Green Fields area, which includes sections known as the Green Futures, the Stone Circle and Healing Field.[7] Michael Eavis hosted the first festival, then called the Pilton Festival, after seeing an open-air Led Zeppelin concert in 1970 at the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music.

The festival was held intermittently from 1970 until 1981 and has been held most years since, except for "fallow years" taken mostly at five-year intervals, intended to give the land, local population, and organisers a break. 2018 was a "fallow year", and the 2019 festival took place from 26 to 30 June.[8] There were then two consecutive "fallow years" due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[9] The festival returned for 22–26 June 2022 with the headliners Billie Eilish, Paul McCartney and Kendrick Lamar. The next festival took place between 21 and 25 June 2023, headlined by Arctic Monkeys, Guns N' Roses and Elton John in his final UK performance.

  1. ^ Farrant, Theo (26 June 2023). "Glastonbury 2023: Here are the biggest moments you might have missed". Euronews. Archived from the original on 21 April 2024.
  2. ^ Malloy, Tomas (16 April 2023). "Glastonbury Festival 2023 capacity: How many people attend the world-famous Somerset event?". www.somersetlive.co.uk.
  3. ^ Digital, Pretty Good. "Glastonbury Festival – Site Layout & Distances". Glastonbury Festival – 21st–25th June, 2023.
  4. ^ "The Worlds's Biggest Music Festivals". CNBC. 24 March 2011. Archived from the original on 23 April 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  5. ^ Hann, Michael (31 January 2018). "The Levellers: 'I'll rag our Brexiteer fans till they cry – or never come back'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 31 March 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  6. ^ "Thousands of people descend on Worthy Farm for Glastonbury Festival". Bathchronicle.co.uk. 24 June 2015. Archived from the original on 12 July 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  7. ^ Stevens, Jenny (27 June 2015). "Glastonbury's Healing Fields: festivalgoer wellbeing is not just for hippies". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 29 December 2019. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  8. ^ "Glastonbury Confirms Details of Next Festival". radiox.co.uk. 5 July 2019. Archived from the original on 5 July 2019. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  9. ^ "Glastonbury 2021 officially cancelled due to Covid pandemic". The Guardian. 21 January 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2021.