Glastonbury Festival
| Glastonbury Festival | |
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| Location(s) | Pilton, England, United Kingdom |
| Years active | 1970 - present |
| Date(s) | last weekend of June (3 days) |
| Genre(s) | Rock |
The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, 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 km²), 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 Pilton Festival, 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 drug taking .
Festival Site
The festival takes place in South West England at Worthy Farm between the small village of Pilton and Pylle, six miles west of Glastonbury town overlooking the famous landmark Glastonbury Tor in the mystical "Vale of Avalon". 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 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 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 greenfields, 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 festivalgoers, 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. More recently, the Mean Fiddler Organisation, now controlled by Clear Channel, a US-based media conglomerate, have taken a 40% stake in the festival. The Mean Fiddler contract is a rolling one reviewed every five years. 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.
In an interview on his 70th birthday, in October 2005, Eavis voiced concerns over the Clear Channel take over, and amid rumours that his daughter, Emily, would be taking an increasing role in the organisation, Eavis stated that he wishes to carry on organising the festival until he has to retire .
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 composted 110 tonnes of waste from the site .
Glastonbury over time
This section is largely based on A Brief History of the Glastonbury Festival .
1970s
The first festival, a smallscale event of 1,500 people called the Pilton Festival, was in 1970, followed by the larger scale Glastonbury Fayre of 1971. Performers in the 1970s were generally jazz and folk artists. In 1971 the festival featured the first incarnation of the "Pyramid Stage", built from scaffolding and metal sheeting. 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.
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.
1990s
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.
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
Acts: Chemical Brothers, Moby, Travis, Morcheeba, Basement Jaxx and David Bowie
In 2000 the third Pyramid Stage was introduced, a 100 ft silver structure, also doubling as a winter barn, and a new area, The Glade was also added. Widespread gatecrashing led to the festival taking a break during 2001 while new anti-gatecrashing measures were devised. Newpapers reported that while 100,000 tickets were sold, an estimated 250,000 people were in attendance. This was probably due to the unusually good weather that fortnight. This was also the first year of The Leftfield - a tent organised by Trade unions which also appears at a number of other British festivals. 2000 also saw the birth of the first Official Glastonbury Website with offices on the interstage road in the hospitality area.
2002
Headline acts: Coldplay, Stereophonics, Rod Stewart
In 2002 the festival returned after a break with 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.
Amongst the actsof the pyramid stage was Roger Waters with many of his classic Pink Floyd numbers. This was the first time a special speaker system had been set up amongst the audience to enable sound effects to appear to be moving around amongst the crowd.
2003
Headline acts: R.E.M., Radiohead, Moby
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. Feeder made their main stage debut, and the The Manic Street Preachers returned for the first time since 1999, this time without their own toilets.
From the ticket and commercial license sales charities received more than £1million, half of which went to Oxfam, Greenpeace and Water Aid.
2004
Headline acts: Oasis, Sir Paul McCartney, Muse
In 2004 tickets sold out within 24 hours amid much controvesy 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 .
Headline acts : The lineup for the 2004 Festival was officially announced on 2004- 06-01. Oasis, Paul McCartney and Muse headlined the Pyramid Stage on Friday, Saturday and Sunday respectively, whilst the Chemical Brothers, Basement Jaxx and Orbital headlined the Other Stage. Other bands appearing included the Raveonettes (New Tent), Simple Kid (Acoustic Tent), Baghdaddies (Avalon Stage) and Sister Sledge (Dance Tent). In addition 2004 was the inaugural year of the festival's Unsigned Performers competition to play main stages. The Subways took the title and played the Other Stage.
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.
2005
Headline acts: The White Stripes, Coldplay, Basement Jaxx
As in previous years, the 112,500 2005 tickets 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. Other notables who performed include New Order, The Killers, Kaiser Chiefs, Doves, Kasabian, Interpol, Athlete, Razorlight, Bloc Party, British Sea Power, Primal Scream, Ian Brown and Brian Wilson.
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.
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 floods that left some areas of the site under more than four feet of water . The severity of the weather flooded several campsites, the worst affected being the base of Pennard Hill, and seriously disrupted site services.
Following the death of DJ John Peel in the previous autumn, the New Bands Tent was renamed the John Peel Tent, in homage to his encouragement and love of new bands at Glastonbury.
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.
2006 feature film
As there is no festival in 2006, a documentary film directed by Julien Temple will be released. This will comprise of specially shot footage by Temple at the festival, as well as footage sent in by fans and archive footage. Glastonbury will be released in the UK on April 14, 2006.