It’s been two years, but the world’s largest and most famous greenfield festival is back at Worthy Farm this week! So, whether you’re heading to Glastonbury or not, we’ve got the lowdown to make sure you’re kept up to date.
The line-up for this iconic festival was released at the end of May with Billie Eilish making her debut headline on the Friday, Paul McCartney on Saturday and Kendrick Lamar on Sunday with Diana Ross taking the Legend’s spot. Artists such as Lorde, Megan Thee Stallion, Charli XCX, Primal Scream, Bicep and the Sugababes are also performing.
Performances start from as early as 10am with day-time acts from the likes of Years & Years, Glass Animals, Wolf Alice, Koffee, Pa Salieu, Nina Kraviz and TLC.
Glastonbury Festival was originally called Pitton Festival after co-creator, Michael Eavis, saw Led Zeppelin perform live in 1970. The festival was held across two days with The Kinks and Wayne Fontana set to be the headliners. However, they were later replaced by T Rex, Keith Christmas, AI Stewart and Quintessence. 1,500 people attended and tickets cost only £1 – plus this included free milk directly from the farm.
In 1971, the festival’s name was changed to Glastonbury Fair and the date of the festival was moved to the Summer Solstice. 12,000 people attended this year and the tickets were completely free! This was also the first time that the Pyramid Stage was used.
10 years later in 1981, the name was changed again, but this time to Glastonbury Festival and the Pyramid Stage became a more permanent structure. In the Winter months, it doubled up as a cow shed and a feed store.
Over the years, some of the most iconic artists have performed at Glasto, including David Bowie, Lenny Kravitz, Muse, Shakira and Stevie Wonder.
So, if you’re lucky enough to be going to Glastonbury we hope you have an amazing time. But, if you haven’t managed to get your hands on tickets, don’t worry because there are plenty of ways for you to get involved. BBC Music will be presenting the best bits of the festival across TV, radio, BBC Sounds, iPlayer and also online. iPlayer has a dedicated Glastonbury channel launching on Thursday 23rd which will livestream the performances. And if you want to be prepared for Glastonbury 2023, tickets go on sale early October – but you’ll have to be quick!
