Dates: 25 - 27 June
Ticket info: 0906 708 0808
Website: www.glastonbury-festival.co.uk
Glastonbury takes place over the course of three days and is the most famous event on the UK festival scene.
Established in 1971 by Michael Eavis, near Pilton village in Somerset (5 miles from the town of Glastonbury itself), the festival has continued to attract and repel in equal measure. To many it marks the beginning of 'festival season' and to some it is now the embodiment of the commercialisation of the festival movement. One thing remains however, Glastonbury remains a world famous event which marks the beginning of the English summer 'festie' season.
The range of activities/events is impressive and over 80,000 paying guests attend each year. World famous bands perform here and previous line ups have included De La Soul, Public Enemy, The Cure, Bob Dylan and the James Taylor Quartet. The 1999 checklist reads like a who's who of contemporary music: Hole, The Fun Lovin' Criminals, REM and Fatboy Slim.
There are also various fields catering to a diverse range of tastes - drama; comedy; film; green fields; kids events.
Glastonbury bears the torch being at the forefront of the festival scene in the UK. Such a label attracts good and bad press. Whatever your views on the organisation there are some facts which stand up to scrutiny. Greenpeace, Oxfam and WaterAid are the three key beneficiaries of the event and in 1997 £500,000 was donated from direct donations resulting from the festival. Furthermore, Glastonbury plays a role in educating festival-goers with charities, including Greenpeace, able to highlight issues and recruit people to environmentally-orientated campaigns.
