Glastonbury Rocks!
The first ever Glastonbury festival took place on the 19th of September, 1970- the day after Jimmy Hendrix died. 1,500 people turned out for the two day festival, paying a £1 entry fee, which not only allowed them to enjoy acts such as Al Stewart and Keith Christmas, the ticket price also included free milk from the farm.
Fast forward thirty-nine years later and you have a complete sell out-festival of the year, taking place over five days, where ticket prices went for a cool £175 and attracted 137,500 festival goers. Glastonbury is the largest greenfield music and performing arts festival in the world and is best known for its contemporary music, also featuring dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and many other arts.
Tickets went on sale for this years event on 5th of October 2008, earlier than ever before, with pre-registered customers able either to pay in full, or place a £50 reserve deposit to be paid by 1st February. The full line up was released on 25th May 2009 and included headliners Blur, Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young on the Pyramid stage.
The Other stage was headlined by Bloc Party, The Prodigy, Maxïmo Park, and Franz Ferdinand. Other notable performers included Fairport Convention (who played at the very first Glastonbury Festival), Jason Mraz, Nick Cave, Pete Doherty, Hugh Cornwell, Status Quo, Dizzee Rascal, Crosby Stills & Nash, Lily Allen. Spinal Tap performed one of a total of two shows worldwide on their Back From The Dead "World Tour".
A major impact on the festival this year was the news of Michael Jacksons death, which spread during the night of 25th June. Various tributes were made to him by performers on June 26th including Dizzie Rascal leading a crowd rendition of Jackson's hit Thriller, and N.E.R.D frontman Pharrell Williams paying respects for Jackson by declaring "It's the music, the music was so incredible", before adding that Jackson "changed music and the way people looked at music." Other performers to pay tribute to Jackson included The Streets, Hugh Cornwell, Lily Allen and Gabriella Cilmi. Within hours of his death, there were t-shirts for sale proclaiming "I was at Glasto 09 when Jacko died" and shops announcing "Michael Jackson has died, 10% off everything."
It is slightly less than 12 months until Glastonbury 2010 kicks off and if the rumours of an expanded festival are to be believed, next year's event, which is the festivals 40th birthday, we will see the event grow in both capacity by 20k and length by one extra day.
Looking for more festival content, then check out our summer festival guide [http://www.handbag.com/entertainment/Summer-Festival-Guide-2009/microsite] at handbag.com
Fast forward thirty-nine years later and you have a complete sell out-festival of the year, taking place over five days, where ticket prices went for a cool £175 and attracted 137,500 festival goers. Glastonbury is the largest greenfield music and performing arts festival in the world and is best known for its contemporary music, also featuring dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and many other arts.
Tickets went on sale for this years event on 5th of October 2008, earlier than ever before, with pre-registered customers able either to pay in full, or place a £50 reserve deposit to be paid by 1st February. The full line up was released on 25th May 2009 and included headliners Blur, Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young on the Pyramid stage.
The Other stage was headlined by Bloc Party, The Prodigy, Maxïmo Park, and Franz Ferdinand. Other notable performers included Fairport Convention (who played at the very first Glastonbury Festival), Jason Mraz, Nick Cave, Pete Doherty, Hugh Cornwell, Status Quo, Dizzee Rascal, Crosby Stills & Nash, Lily Allen. Spinal Tap performed one of a total of two shows worldwide on their Back From The Dead "World Tour".
A major impact on the festival this year was the news of Michael Jacksons death, which spread during the night of 25th June. Various tributes were made to him by performers on June 26th including Dizzie Rascal leading a crowd rendition of Jackson's hit Thriller, and N.E.R.D frontman Pharrell Williams paying respects for Jackson by declaring "It's the music, the music was so incredible", before adding that Jackson "changed music and the way people looked at music." Other performers to pay tribute to Jackson included The Streets, Hugh Cornwell, Lily Allen and Gabriella Cilmi. Within hours of his death, there were t-shirts for sale proclaiming "I was at Glasto 09 when Jacko died" and shops announcing "Michael Jackson has died, 10% off everything."
It is slightly less than 12 months until Glastonbury 2010 kicks off and if the rumours of an expanded festival are to be believed, next year's event, which is the festivals 40th birthday, we will see the event grow in both capacity by 20k and length by one extra day.
Looking for more festival content, then check out our summer festival guide [http://www.handbag.com/entertainment/Summer-Festival-Guide-2009/microsite] at handbag.com
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