Glastonbury Festival
Monday, June 22, 2026
The Glastonbury Festival, commonly referred to as Glastonbury, is the largest greenfield music and performing arts festival in the world, held annually at Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset, England, typically in late June. Founded by dairy farmer Michael Eavis in 1970, the inaugural event was called the Pilton Festival and featured T. Rex as the headlining act, attracting approximately 1,500 attendees with admission priced at one pound including free milk from the farm. The festival has since grown into a massive cultural phenomenon, drawing over 200,000 attendees. Glastonbury is renowned not only for its music across multiple genres but also for its distinctive ethos incorporating environmental sustainability, social activism, and the performing arts. The festival's iconic Pyramid Stage, introduced in 1971, stands at the heart of the site. Glastonbury has hosted legendary performances by artists including David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, Beyonce, Radiohead, and Paul McCartney.
History
Michael Eavis, a dairy farmer, organized the first Glastonbury Festival on September 19, 1970, the day after Jimi Hendrix's death, inspired by the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music. The 1971 festival featured the first Pyramid Stage and a paid attendance of 12,000. The festival was held irregularly in its early years and skipped several editions due to financial and logistical challenges. The 1990s saw massive growth and the establishment of the Worthy Farm site's permanent infrastructure. A major expansion occurred in the 2000s with the addition of more stages and increased capacity. The festival took fallow years every five years to allow the land to recover, a practice that continues. Glastonbury has a tradition of donating proceeds to charitable causes, including Greenpeace and Oxfam.
How It's Celebrated
Glastonbury Festival spans over five days with hundreds of performances across dozens of stages including the Pyramid Stage, Other Stage, West Holts, John Peel Stage, and the Park Stage. Beyond music, the festival features the Green Fields area dedicated to environmental activism and alternative healing, the Theatre and Circus fields, and the Shangri-La district with immersive art installations. The Glastonbury Experience includes craft workshops, spoken word performances, and political debates in the Left Field. Festival-goers camp on Worthy Farm for the duration, creating a temporary city. The festival is famous for its famously unpredictable British weather, ritual mud, and the tradition of the 'Glastonbury Tor' pilgrimage.