The Glastonbury Festival
The Glastonbury Festival is one of the biggest, and certainly the most popular, annual music festival in the whole of the UK. Staged in Pilton, Somerset, the festival has existed on and off since 1970 and has seen some of the biggest names in music, theatre, dance, comedy and culture grace its stages. Traditionally held over the last weekend in June and lasting for 3 days, the festival is synonymous with the alternative music scene and an active youth scene.
History
The Glastonbury Festival was first devised by farmer Michael Evans who wanted to recreate the live music experience he himself had witnessed during Led Zeppelin’s performance at the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music in 1970. Heavily influenced by the prominent hippy culture of the 1960’s and early 70’s, the first Glastonbury festival was an immediate success and its popularity, in terms of both the number of attendees and number of performers increased with every subsequent year. In recent years, as many as 150,000 tickets are sold for the event, with many of the festival’s proceeds’ being donated to charities.
Weekend Experience
Part of the thrill of the Glastonbury Festival experience is the whole weekend experience. Although tickets can cost as much as £200, fans have access to a full three days of live music, comedy acts, dance shows and art exhibits. Also, despite the often “less than desirable” weather conditions of the English summer; a large part of the fun of the festival comes in camping. In fact, many will argue that a majority of the fun derives from leaving your home comforts behind and dancing around in the muddy fields filled with thousands of tents.
Line-ups
The success of any live music event depends heavily on the quality of the musical acts on show, and this is something that Glastonbury has always been able to deliver its fans. The first ever event featured T-Rex as the main headline band, while other popular acts such as David Bowie, The Cure, New Order, Pulp, Oasis, R.E.M, Paul McCartney and Beyonce have all headlined the event.
Image: stocker1970 – Fotolia