Glastonbury: Festival is 50 years old but this year is different
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Meet the family celebrating their own Glastonbury at home.
There will be no tents, stalls or packed stages at Glastonbury this year.
Covid-19 means that the huge music festival has been moved to a virtual venue.
#GlastoAtHome will be a virtual festival experience with live streams, podcasts and even playlists to get people in the spirit.
The event is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and the 2020 festival is different to anything that has gone before it - but there have been LOTS of changes over the last 50 years.
Are you having your own #GlastoAtHome? Let us know in the comments!
Original Glastonbury Fayre poster!
#GlastoAtHome is certainly worlds away from the first ever Glastonbury festival back in 1970!
Back then it was called 'Glastonbury Fayre.' and it cost £1 per ticket which included a free glass of milk. The milk came from the cows kept at Worthy Farm in Somerset, where the festival still takes place.
About 1,500 people attended. Compare that to 2020, when 135,000 tickets were bought before it had to be cancelled.
From 1970 to 1980, the festival grew bigger and bigger each year, attracting artists who were huge stars at the time.
By 1981, tickets cost £8 and 18,000 people were there.
There are now 79 stages at Glastonbury
This was the year the event's name changed from 'Glastonbury Fayre' to 'Glastonbury Festival.'
The Pyramid Stage is a lot more glamorous than a cow shed these days
1981 was the year the 'Pyramid Stage' was built and used - after the acts had gone home it was used as a cow shed!
With the 1990s came yet another new name... 'Glastonbury Festival for Contemporary Performing Arts' and by now ticket prices had risen to £38.
There were 70,000 festivalgoers who went to the Somerset for the 20th anniversary!
From 1,500 in 1970 to 300,000 in 1994 was quite some growth in under 25 years!
In 1994 300,000 people were at Glastonbury, breaking its record for festival attendance!
Fast forward another 10 years to 2000 - the year of the new millennium.
David Bowie on stage at Wembley Arena in 1995
Tickets were £87 and 100,000 people came to hear headline act David Bowie.
2000 was also a record year for the amount of people who tried to 'gatecrash' - or get into the festival without paying!
Stevie Wonder played the Pyramid Stage in 2010
In 2010, 40 years of Glastonbury was marked with 135,000 weekend tickets bought at £185 a ticket - that's £184 more than they were in 1970 and there was no free milk by now! Milk is still delivered to the campsites but people have to pay for it.
Headline acts included, Muse, Stevie Wonder and Gorillaz.
At the 2010 festival there were 4,600 toilets!
2020 - Well, that brings us to now.
#GlastoAtHome will bring more people to the festival than ever before, and there is quite a lot to get involved with.
There will be virtual tours, past performances re-lived, live streams and a whole BBC web page dedicated to bringing the best 'at home' experience!
Will you be having your own #GlastoAtHome? Let us know in the comments!
- Published18 March 2020
- Published25 June 2019
