Glastonbury Festival timeline
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Glastonbury 1970 - The Inaugural Festival
The first Festival was held on the day after Jimi Hendrix died, over a two day period and before long “word had got around”. It was the Blues... Read more
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Glastonbury Festival 1971
The Festival moved to the time of the Summer Solstice and was known as the "Glastonbury Fayre". It had been planned by Andrew Kerr and Arabella... Read more
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Glastonbury Festival 1978
This became known as the “impromptu” Festival. This happened with the arrival of travellers washed out from Stonehenge who were led to believe that... Read more
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Glastonbury Festival 1979
Now a three day event and was still referred to as the Glastonbury Fayre but with the theme of “the year of the child”. Bill Harkin and Arabella... Read more
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Glastonbury Festival 1981
The name was changed to Glastonbury Festival and Michael Eavis took the helm running the event again. This was the first “Campaign for Nuclear... Read more
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Glastonbury Festival 1982
Again, there was CND involvement and it was this year that Western Region CND took control of the entrance gates and Mid Somerset CND took... Read more
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Glastonbury Festival 1983
1983 called for a licence to be obtained for the event since the introduction of the local Government Act became law, giving local authorities the... Read more
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Glastonbury Festival 1984
In January 1984 Michael Eavis successfully defended 5 prosecutions bought against him by Mendip District Council alleging contravention of the... Read more
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Glastonbury Festival 1985
By 1985 Worthy farm was considered too small to accommodate the Festival so the neighbouring Cockmill farm land was purchased to enlarge the... Read more
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Glastonbury Festival 1986
Again, this was a bigger Festival than the preceding year’s event. Due to the growth there were additions to the farm office, communications,... Read more
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Glastonbury Festival 1987
The council’s decision to refuse the licence was overturned in court only in May. 1987 saw the introduction of the Womad stage to the Festival.... Read more
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Glastonbury Festival 1989
Again there were once again complications with the local council over the granting of the Festival licence. The Police were bought into the... Read more
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Glastonbury Festival 1990 - The 20th Anniversary
The festival took the name of the Glastonbury Festival for Contemporary Performing Arts for the first time, to reflect the diversity of... Read more
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Glastonbury Festival 1992
This was the first year that the donations from the profits of the Festival were made to Greenpeace and Oxfam. Michael Eavis felt that with... Read more
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Glastonbury Festival 1993
The Festival continued to go from strength to strength as it began to get into its stride as a successful and increasingly popular event. The... Read more
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Glastonbury Festival 1994
On 13 June 1994 the famous Pyramid stage burnt down in the early hours of the morning but luckily a replacement was provided by the local company... Read more
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Glastonbury Festival 1995 - The 25th Anniversary
The 25th anniversary of the first Festival was celebrated and saw the return of the two performers from the first event - Keith Christmas and Al... Read more
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Glastonbury Festival 1997
Torrential rain just before the weekend resulted in this being the “Year of the Mud”. Undeterred, festival-goers boogied in their boots to more... Read more
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Glastonbury Festival 1998
Rain again turned parts of the site into a brown quagmire, but resilient campers still enjoyed the evergreen mix of entertainment and all night... Read more
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Glastonbury Festival 1999
The sun finally shone on Glastonbury again, bringing a broad smile to the faces and performers alike. £150,000 was still spent on downpour... Read more
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Glastonbury Festival 2000
This year saw the return of the pyramid stage (the third pyramid stage) – 100 feet high and clad in dazzling silver. There was more camping... Read more
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Glastonbury Festival 2002
The most long-awaited and carefully prepared Glastonbury Festival took place in wonderful weather. The ring of steel fence repelled all non... Read more
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Glastonbury Festival 2003
By 2003, most people had accepted the idea that it was no longer possible to crash the festival and hence it is recognised as one of the most... Read more
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Glastonbury Festival 2004
A massive over demand for tickets frustrated all concerned. The weather in the run up to the Festival was not on our side. However, the improved... Read more
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Glastonbury Festival 2005
Lightning strikes!!! Two months worth of rain in several hours! A once in a hundred year occurrence! For those unfortunate enough to get swamped,... Read more