The
Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, commonly
abbreviated to
Glastonbury Festival or
Glasto, is the largest
[1] 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 km²),
had over 385 live performances
[2] and
was attended by around 150,000 people.
Glastonbury was heavily influenced by
hippy ethics and the free festival movement in the 1970s, especially the Isle of
Wight Festival. Organiser Michael Eavis stated that he decided to host the first
festival, then called Pilton Festival, after seeing an open air Led
Zeppelin concert at the nearby Bath and West Showground in 1970
[3]. The festival retains vestiges of
this tradition, including the Green Futures/Healing Fields area and the
reputation for alternative culture.
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The festival takes place in South West England at Worthy Farm between the
small village of Pilton and Pylle, six miles east of the town of Glastonbury,
overlooked by the Glastonbury Tor in the mystical "Vale of Avalon". This makes
it an important "New Age" area: many ley lines are believed[4]
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.
Festival Site: Worthy Farm
Worthy Farm is situated (map) 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 (see Timeline below). 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.
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. Constructed in 1990 to
simulate an ancient stone circle, the site has no actual archaeological interest
[5].
The restricted-access backstage compound 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.
Organisation
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. Michael ran the festival with his wife Jean until her death in
1999, and is now assisted by his daughter Emily Eavis. 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.
Several stages and areas are managed independently, such as The Left Field
which is managed by a cooperative owned by the Trades Union Congress
[6], Radio Avalon and a field run by
Greenpeace [7].
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 composted 110 tonnes of waste from the site
[8].
Glastonbury over time
This section is largely based on A Brief History of the Glastonbury
Festival [9].
1970s
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 help of Andrew Kerr and
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. The 1971
festival was filmed by Nicolas Roeg and David Puttnam and was released as a film
simply called Glastonbury Fayre. Although there were unofficial
gatherings, 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.
1980s
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.
FUTURE CINEMA HITS GLASTONBURY 2007
Future Cinema will present the Chinese Cinema Palace in
Glastonbury in the Lost Vagueness field from 22 to 24 June. Inspired by the film
‘In the Mood for Love’, the tent will include vintage cinema seats, red coconut
matting, red lanterns, old Chinese movie prints, and red lighting...
Festival-goers will be able to retire in the cinema tent to watch a programme of
international short films and music videos presented by Future Shorts, as well
as acts by 19-27 (the company of acclaimed poet Suzanne Andrade), and other
theatrical artists. This will be accompanied by performers and atmospheric
projections.
This year will be Future Cinema’s third at Glastonbury – in 2004 and 2005 it
created a Vintage Cinema tent where each year around 5000 people passed through
to watch the best short films from around the world while being attended to by
popcorn girls and other performers. |
1985 was a wet festival with lots of 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 didn't prevent the festival-goers from wallowing in the knee-deep slurry in
front of the pyramid stage.
1990s
1990 saw the biggest festival yet; however, violence at the end of the
festival 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. The festival returned in 1992 with an expanded festival, which proved
to be a great success. 1992 was the first year that the new age travellers were
not allowed onto the site for free and a sturdier fence was designed. 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 proved to be very successful.
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, Jeff Buckley 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
[10], 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. (see here), 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.
2000s
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 devise anti-gatecrashing measures and secure 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 hiatus, 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 most people had accepted 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. [11]However Sir Paul
McCartney's[12] Saturday performance
cheered many festival goers up. The festival ended with Muse headlining the
Pyramid Stage on Sunday.
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 [13], 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
[14]. Basement Jaxx were announced as
a replacement on June 6. Coldplay 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 Parlure, as well as a
relocated G Stage, formerly situated in the Glade
[15]. 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 2005 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 floods that
left some areas of the site under more than four feet of water
[16]. 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.[17]
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 14 April 2006.[18]
The 2007 festival will take place between June 22-24. Tickets will go on sale
on April 1st 2007 at 9am and cost £145. Purchasers will have had to have
pre-registered, including submission of a passport photo, during February.[19]
