Glastonbury Festival: How it has changed through the years

BBC News

6 days ago

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?
1970 - £1 tickets and free milk
Attendance: 1,500. Tickets: £1The 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 UK in the early 1970s.
1971 - The birth of the Pyramid stage
Attendance: estimated at 12,000. Price: FreeThe 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: £5In 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: £8The 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.
1994 - Pyramid stage burns down
Attendance: 80,000. Tickets: £59On 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.
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.
2000 - Return of the Pyramid Stage
Attendance: Official estimate, 100,000. Unofficial estimate, 200,000. Tickets: £87 including programmeThis 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 climbed fences and crawled through ditches 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.
2002 - 'Super fence' installed
Attendees: 140,000. Tickets £97, including programmeDuring 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.
2005 - Extreme flooding
Attendance: 153,000. Tickets: £125 including programmeIn 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.
2007 - New stage introduced
Attendance: 135,000. Tickets: £145 including programmeThis 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.
2008 - First hip-hop headliner
Attendance: 134,000. Tickets: £155 including programmeThere 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
Capacity: 203,000. Ticket price: £248Jay-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: 210,000Thousands 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 made a surprise appearance, telling festival goers the earth's biosphere is "not just changing, it is breaking down".
2025 - Last before fallow year
Capacity: 210,000. Tickets: £373.50 + £5 booking feeGlastonbury 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.