Diamond Member Pelican Press 0 Posted May 30, 2025 Diamond Member Share Posted May 30, 2025 This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up How it has changed through the years Dawn Limbu BBC News, West of England This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up Glastonbury Festival has become a world famous event Glastonbury Festival has evolved significantly from its humble beginnings in 1970. Back then, tickets cost £1 and included camping and a free pint of milk from the farm. More than 50 years later, Glastonbury Festival has become a global phenomenon, showcasing some of the biggest names in music. So how has the festival changed over the years? This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up Tickets sold for £1 in 1970 1970 – £1 tickets and free milk Attendance: 1,500. Tickets: £1 The first Glastonbury Festival, which was known then as the Pilton Pop, Folk and Blues Festival, took place in September 1970, coincidentally a day after Jimi Hendrix died. Festival organisers Michael and Jean Eavis were inspired by the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music and by the success of the Isle of Wight Festival and Woodstock in the USA. For just £1 a ticket included camping and a pint of milk from the farm and approximately 1,500 people attended the event. That year, recent chart-toppers The Kinks and Wayne Fontana were advertised on the tickets as the headline acts, although both pulled out. They were replaced by a band called Tyrannosaurus Rex, who were one of the biggest groups in the *** in the early 1970s. This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up The first Pyramid stage was built in 1971 1971 – The birth of the Pyramid stage Attendance: estimated at 12,000. Price: Free The following year, the festival was held in June to coincide with the summer solstice. Re-named Glastonbury Fair, entry was free and the number of visitors increased to 12,000. The festival’s famous Pyramid stage also made its first appearance. Constructed from metal and plastic sheeting, the stage was deliberately placed on the Glastonbury-Stonehenge ley line (a network of lines which are said to connect sites with spiritual and cultural significance). 1979 – ‘Year of the Child’ Attendance: 12,000. Tickets: £5 In 1979, the festival was held over three days and officially known as ‘Glastonbury Fayre’. The theme for 1979 was the ‘Year of the Child’. Special provision and entertainment was provided for children and it was at this event that the concept of the Children’s World charity was born, which still exists today and works in special schools throughout Somerset and Avon. Despite the numbers attending, organisers suffered a financial loss and no one wanted to risk another festival in 1980. It was also this summer that Michael Eavis’ youngest daughter, Emily was born. 1981 – Glastonbury Festival Attendance: 18,000. Tickets: £8 The festival returned after a year’s break, now officially named ‘Glastonbury Festival’. Organisers partnered with Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). CND was involved with promotion, ticket sales, and received a donation of £20,000 from the festival. It was in this year that it was decided to build a new sturdier version of the Pyramid stage – one that could be used all year round. When famous acts weren’t performing on it, it could be used as a cowshed and a store for animal food. Using telegraph poles and Ministry of Defence metal sheeting as core materials, the new stage took two months to build. This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up The famous Pyramid stage burnt down in 1994 1994 – Pyramid stage burns down Attendance: 80,000. Tickets: £59 On 13 June 1994 the famous Pyramid stage burnt down in the early hours of the morning – just two days before the festival. Fortunately, a replacement was provided by the local company who also provided the stages for the NME and Jazz stages. It was also the first year that Glastonbury was televised. Channel 4 covered the event over the weekend. In 1997, the BBC took over broadcasting the festival. This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up Mud-spattered rock festival goers in the crowd at the Glastonbury Festival 1997 – ‘Year of the mud’ Attendance: 90,000. Tickets: £75 including official programme. Torrential rain just before the festival weekend resulted in 1997 being dubbed the “year of the mud”. The festival covered 800 acres by this point and many revellers were photographed dancing to the acts in their wellington boots rather than the latest fancy footwear. This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up David Bowie performed on the Pyramid Stage in 2000 2000 – Return of the Pyramid Stage Attendance: Official estimate, 100,000. Unofficial estimate, 200,000. Tickets: £87 including programme This year saw the return of the Pyramid stage (the third to be built) – it was 100 ft (30.4 metres) high and clad in dazzling silver. There was also more camping space with the introduction of a special family campsite. However, this year saw a huge influx of gate crashers. People This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up to join the party. David Bowie headlined the festival with a two hour show which was shown in full for the first time on television. This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up Michael Eavis said it was clear they had to be able to control the numbers and keep the festival safe 2002 – ‘Super fence’ installed Attendees: 140,000. Tickets £97, including programme During the 1990s, when the festival’s popularity was rapidly increasing, break-ins were particularly rife at the festival site and after a high influx of gatecrashers in 2000, Michael Eavis was fined for breaching licensing conditions. As a result his team built a £1m “super fence” when the festival returned in 2002, putting an end to mass break-ins. The ring of steel repelled all non ticket holders and 140,000 legitimate festival goers attended that year. This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up Biblical rain fell on Glastonbury in 2005 2005 – Extreme flooding Attendance: 153,000. Tickets: £125 including programme In 2005, a storm caused chaos at Glastonbury. Almost a month’s worth of water fell in a few hours on the festival’s opening day, washing tents down the hills and flooding campsites. More than 400 tents were submerged in floodwater. There were reports of people having to swim to their tents to retrieve their belongings – and some people were spotted canoeing around the campsite. Fire services pumped three million litres of water from the area, leaving it strewn with litter, sleeping bags, tent poles and mud-covered tents. In the years that followed it was reported that Mr Eavis spent £750,000 on flood prevention measures. This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up People had to canoe or swim to their tents to retrieve their belongings 2007 – New stage introduced Attendance: 135,000. Tickets: £145 including programme This year saw the introduction of Emily Eavis’ Park Stage, bringing a whole new section of the Festival site to life, whilst the Dance Village cemented its reputation in its second year. The Unsigned Bands competition became the Emerging Talent Competition, which generated thousands of entries and a host of worthy winners playing on many of the Festival stages. This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up Jay Z became the first hip-hop artist to headline Glastonbury in 2008 2008 – First hip-hop headliner Attendance: 134,000. Tickets: £155 including programme There was quite a stir in the lead-up to 2008’s Glastonbury after rap megastar Jay-Z was announced as Saturday night’s headline act. Jay-Z’s headlining slot was controversial due to the festival’s traditional focus on guitar-based rock and pop music. However, Jay-Z defied the doubters and became the first major hip-hop artist to headline Glastonbury, marking a turning point for the festival’s line-up. 2019 – Last before Covid This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up Stormzy performed at Glastonbury in 2019 wearing a Union Jack stab-proof vest Capacity: 203,000. Ticket price: £248 Jay-Z’s performance in 2008 carved out a path for more hip-hop and rap headliners. Stormzy dominated Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage in 2019. While wearing a stab-proof Union Jack vest, he used his set to highlight inequality in the justice system and the arts. This year’s Glastonbury Festival would be the last for the next two years due to Covid-19 pandemic. 2022 – Glasto returns Ticket price: £280 Capacity: 210,000 Thousands of music lovers welcomed the return of the Glastonbury Festival in 2022, after a forced hiatus due to Covid-19. This year’s festival also featured its youngest-ever solo headliner in Billie Eilish and Sir Paul McCartney as the oldest. As well as the music, climate activist Greta Thunberg also This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up , telling festival goers the earth’s biosphere is “not just changing, it is breaking down”. This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up Music lovers welcomed the festival’s return in 2022 after a forced hiatus 2025 – Last before fallow year Capacity: 210,000. Tickets: £373.50 + £5 booking fee Glastonbury Festival will return on 25 June this year. Festival organisers have announced British band The 1975, rock legend Neil Young and US pop star Olivia Rodrigo will be headlining. Rod Stewart will also perform on Sunday afternoon in the “legend slot” – 23 years after his last appearance at the festival. This year will be last festival before the 2026 fallow year to let the field recover. If you were unable to get yourself a ticket for the world’s biggest music festival – don’t worry – the BBC will have extensive coverage throughout Glastonbury 2025. This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up #changed #years This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up 0 Quote Link to comment https://hopzone.eu/forums/topic/263628-how-it-has-changed-through-the-years/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
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