This week it was announced that Glastonbury Festival would not take place in 2021, as a result of COVID numbers rising in the United Kingdom. However, founder Michael Eavis has suggested that he would still like to host an event this year, on a smaller scale.
On Thursday morning, a statement was released by the event founders, stating that the 2021 festival could not safely go ahead, due to the coronavirus pandemic. In conversation with LBC, Eavis said that he hoped some kind of event could take place later in the year, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the event.
Glastonbury Festival was inaugurated in 1970, with the most recent event taking place in June of 2019. With an average attendance of 203,000 people, the festival has hosted the likes of Adele, Lionel Richie and Paul Weller.
“With great regret, we must announce that this year’s Glastonbury Festival will not take place, and that this will be another enforced fallow year for us. I would like to do something smaller somewhere around the anniversary date of when we started, which was the 18th of September 1970. ”
In 2020, the festival hosted a ‘Virtual Glastonbury’ online, featuring virtual entertainment. It included documentaries about the event, and performances from artists who should have performed at that year’s event.
Many ticket holders were supportive of the decision, sharing their memories of the festival on social media.
The organisers have stated that ticket holders have the opportunity to roll their £50 deposit over to next year, when the event can hopefully take place. They have also stated that a like-for-like booking cost will be in place for the 2022 festival, meaning that the ticket prices will not increase. Ticket holders do not have to do anything for their ticket booking to roll over, but they can cancel their ticket booking for a full refund, without cancellation fees.
