Glastonbury

Glastonbury Festival is an iconic five-day music and arts event held on a farm in Somerset, England, that has grown from a modest gathering into a world-renowned cultural phenomenon. It was founded by dairy farmer Michael Eavis, who hosted the first edition on his Worthy Farm in the early 1970s. The first festival was a small affair, with around 1,500 attending, and tickets cost just £1, with festival-goers famously treated to free milk from the farm’s cows. That humble, communal atmosphere set the tone for Glastonbury’s ethos, reflecting the hippie idealism and countercultural spirit of its time.

Over the ensuing decades, Glastonbury transformed from that intimate gathering into a sprawling, world-renowned event. By the 1980s it was drawing tens of thousands, and each expansion brought new challenges and innovations. New stages and themed areas were added as the festival evolved from a simple concert into a celebration of contemporary performing arts, featuring not just rock music but also dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and more. Despite occasional setbacks, including battles with local authorities over licensing, and planned “fallow” years when the festival skips a summer to let the land and community recover, Glastonbury’s momentum only grew. Today it is often called the world’s largest greenfield music festival, with more than 200,000 attendees converging on over a thousand acres of countryside to form a temporary city each summer.

As its reputation soared, Glastonbury became a coveted stage for the world’s leading musicians. Some of the most celebrated figures in music have headlined the festival’s iconic Pyramid Stage, from veteran rock stars like David Bowie and Paul McCartney to pop icons like Beyoncé. The bill has spanned genres and generations, also featuring era-defining bands (such as Blur and Oasis) and groundbreaking artists from the worlds of hip-hop and R&B (for example, Jay-Z and Stormzy). These high-profile performances have solidified Glastonbury’s status as a pinnacle of live music achievement. They are often more than just concerts; many sets have passed into legend, talked about for years afterward and seen as defining moments in both the artists’ careers and the festival’s own story. In this way, Glastonbury’s stages have become “where musical history is made”, in the words of one observer, underscoring the festival’s massive influence on pop culture.

Another hallmark of Glastonbury is its long-standing commitment to activism and philanthropy. Far from being an apolitical entertainment event, the festival has used its platform for advocacy since its early years. In the 1980s it forged a partnership with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, turning the festival into a fundraiser and a megaphone for the peace movement. This ethos of giving back has only strengthened over time: Glastonbury regularly donates millions of pounds to good causes, and its official charity partners include humanitarian and environmental organizations like Oxfam, WaterAid and Greenpeace. Attendees encounter numerous causes on-site, from stalls promoting human rights and climate action to eco-friendly initiatives - and the festival itself strives to model sustainability. Recycling programs, renewable energy installations, and even the repurposing of abandoned tents for the homeless (through initiatives like the “Give Me Shelter” campaign) are among the measures that highlight its socially conscious mission. Glastonbury has effectively intertwined music with activism, showing that a festival can be both a celebration and a force for positive change.

As large as it is, Glastonbury has preserved certain traditions that distinguish it from other music festivals. For example, part of its grounds is dedicated to the “Green Fields” - zones with no amplified music, where attendees can explore workshops, healing tents, and a stone circle, all of which echo the mystical, free-spirited vibe of the festival’s early years. The festival’s Pyramid Stage, with its distinctive pyramid shape originally conceived in the early 1970s, has become a defining symbol of Glastonbury, instantly recognizable in photographs and broadcasts around the world. Another unique practice is the “fallow year,” when every few years the festival takes a planned break to let the land recover and to give locals and organizers a breather, a reflection of how interwoven the event is with its environment.

Glastonbury also stands out for the sheer diversity of experiences it offers; one can wander from a raucous rock performance to a tranquil field of meditation, or stumble upon a secret set by a surprise guest on a tucked-away stage. This blend of scale and intimacy, of mainstream spectacle and alternative community, gives Glastonbury an atmosphere of magic and camaraderie that keeps fans returning year after year. What began as a humble gathering in a Somerset field has evolved into a cultural institution, a festival unlike any other, revered not just in the UK but around the globe for its history, its heart, and its enduring creative spirit.