Historic environment: Glastonbury Festival c.1970 to the present day
The Origins of Glastonbury Festival
Glastonbury Festival began on a Somerset dairy farm. Worthy Farm, owned by dairy farmer Michael Eavis, hosted the first event on 19 September 1970, the day after Jimi Hendrix died. It was called the Pilton Pop, Folk and Blues Festival. Around 1,500 people attended and paid one pound, which included free milk from the farm. The event had a small makeshift stage; the atmosphere was informal, communal and countercultural.
The following year, in 1971, a larger event took place under the name Glastonbury Fayre. This event was influenced by the idealism of the late 1960s counterculture: free admission was charged, alternative therapies and crafts were offered alongside music, and the event was associated with hippie values and the idea of a natural, communal gathering. T. Rex (then billed as Tyrannosaurus Rex) had headlined the inaugural 1970 festival; David Bowie performed at the 1971 Glastonbury Fayre, giving an early morning performance that has passed into festival legend.
The first Glastonbury event took place on 19 September 1970, organised by Michael Eavis at Worthy Farm, Pilton, Somerset. Approximately 1,500 people attended and paid one pound each, including free milk. It was called the Pilton Pop, Folk and Blues Festival. The modern festival grew from this small, informal beginning.
The Pyramid Stage and Early Growth
The Pyramid Stage was first constructed in 1971 by Bill Harkin, a designer influenced by the alternative architecture movement. Built from scaffolding covered in a polythene skin and shaped as a pyramid — reportedly aligned with the Cheops pyramid — it gave the festival a striking visual identity that persisted through multiple rebuilds. The current Pyramid Stage is a large permanent steel structure, but its distinctive shape remains.
The festival did not run every year in its early decades. It was held intermittently in the early 1970s, and became an annual event from 1981. During the 1980s, the festival grew steadily in size and ambition. It gained a reputation not only for music but for its eclectic mix of theatre, circus, cabaret, healing fields and market stalls. It also developed a distinctive political character: the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) received a portion of the profits for many years from 1981.
The early 1990s exposed serious problems. The growth of the illegal rave and free party movement meant that Glastonbury became a magnet for large numbers of gatecrashers and festival-goers who had not paid. The 1992 festival saw estimated crowds of 70,000–80,000, far exceeding the licenced capacity, and there were significant public order concerns. Security became a serious issue throughout the mid-1990s.
The installation of the famous “Super Fence” — a steel perimeter fence several miles long — in 2002 transformed the festival’s physical form. The fence ended the tradition of free entry for those who could not afford a ticket or climbed in without paying. It made Glastonbury a secure, ticketed event with defined entrances. Critics argued it destroyed the festival’s countercultural spirit; supporters argued it saved the event from being shut down by the local council and police.
Glastonbury in the Twenty-First Century
By the 2000s, Glastonbury had established itself as the world’s largest greenfield music festival. Attendance regularly exceeded 200,000. The festival adopted a fallow year system — years with no festival — to allow the farmland to recover. Fallow years occurred in 1988, 1991, 1996, 2001 (foot-and-mouth disease), 2006, 2012, and 2018. The absence of a festival heightened demand and reinforced the event’s special character.
The programme diversified significantly. Dance music, which had been marginal in the early years, gained its own dedicated spaces in the 1990s and 2000s, including the Dance Village and the Park Stage. The “Legends Slot” — a Sunday afternoon performance by a veteran or legacy artist — became one of the most watched moments of each festival, featuring artists such as Shirley Bassey (2007), Paul McCartney (2004), and David Bowie (2000). The BBC began broadcasting extensive live footage from Glastonbury in the late 1990s, extending its audience far beyond the site itself.
Glastonbury connects to the broader themes of entertainment and leisure across the full period. It is a modern version of a tradition of communal, outdoor festivity that stretches back to medieval feast days and harvest festivals. Like the medieval fair, it combines music, performance, trade and community gathering in a rural setting. Like the Victorian music hall, it made entertainment accessible to large numbers of people — though now a ticket costs hundreds of pounds rather than a shilling.
The festival’s history also illustrates key themes of change: the shift from countercultural idealism (1970s free admission) to commercial spectacle (2000s sold-out ticketed event with corporate sponsorship); the impact of broadcasting technology (BBC coverage from the late 1990s turning a local Somerset event into a national cultural institution); and the tension between mass participation and exclusive access (the fencing controversy of 2002). It is a microcosm of how British popular entertainment changed over the twentieth century.
Glastonbury Festival links to the wider thematic study in two ways: it is a continuation of the tradition of communal outdoor festivity (medieval fairs, harvest festivals); and it shows the modern tension between accessible popular entertainment and commercial exclusivity. BBC coverage from the late 1990s and streaming from the 2010s transformed a local Somerset event into a global cultural institution.