Glastonbury’s proposed replacement event has been cancelled; the cancelled event was planned by the organisers after the Festival’s main June event was cancelled for the second time.
Emily Eavis, one half of the Father-Daughter organisation team, took to her Instagram page to confirm the cancellation of the event.
In May it was announced that a one-off event was being planned to replace the annual 5-day festival which Glastonbury normally held. The replacement event was due to take place in September of this year but was unfortunately terminated.
The September live music event was to be organised to replace the last two cancellations of the Festival due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions enforced due to the current health crisis. The September concert was to be called Equinox, the event organisers had a lot of ‘red tape’ to go through and eventually secured the necessary licenses and permissions from Mendip District Council to allow for 50,000 ticket holders to attend the autumn event. The event appeared to be approved albeit with over 50 conditions and provisions, the festival’s organisers and the team have not yet provided further details on the cancellation. The Instagram post from Emily Eavis is the main cancellation confirmation at this time.
This is not the first cancellation in which Glastonbury has issued, the cancellation of the rescheduled 2020 festival was announced by the Eavis’ in January. The announcement confirmed the event would not be going ahead and gave information on how ticket holders could attend next year’s event. The Festival released the following statement via their Twitter page. “With great regret, we must announce that this year’s Glastonbury Festival will not take place, and that this will be another enforced fallow year for us. In spite of our efforts to move heaven & earth, it has become clear that we simply will not be able to make the festival happen this year. We are so sorry to let you all down. As with last year, we would like to offer all those who secured a ticket in October 2019 the opportunity to roll their £50 deposit over to next year, and guarantee the chance to buy a ticket for Glastonbury 2022. We are very appreciative of the faith and trust placed in us by those of you with deposits, and we are very confident we can deliver something really special for us all in 2022! We thank you for the incredible continued support and let’s look forward to better times ahead. With love, Michael & Emily.”
The 2020 event would have been the 50th birthday of Glastonbury, both organisers were not deturbed in their celebrations however and wanted to still proceed with an anniversary event. Michael Eavis was keen to hold the event this autumn to match the Festival’s birthdate of its first event on 18th September 1970, Eavis previously confirmed his hopeful plans for the eventually cancelled event. “I would like to do something in September. I would like to do something smaller somewhere around the anniversary date of when we started, which was the 18th of September 1970. I would like to consider possibly doing something around that time.” Eavis was then asked if he would recruit big acts to perform, to which he replied. “Yes, but I do need to get reassurance from the ethics people.”
Glastonbury is one of the most iconic institutions in music history, the festival has been leading the way in live entertainment and legendary live performances for over half a century. It is no surprise that the festival’s founder Eavis wanted to celebrate its 50th birthday with a bang.
The festival has seen line-up’s full of rock, soul, folk and pop performers, known for its inclusivity the festival has catered for every niche market and genre throughout the decades. The festival’s first event was held the day after Jimi Hendrix’s tragic death, some may think that it was this tragedy that inspired Eavis to launch the new festival, but his inspiration came from a Blues Festival held at the Bath and West Showground. The initial event’s attendance is not even half of the 250,000 attendees at 2019’s event, in 1970 the attendance was 1,500 ticket-holders who paid £1 to attend the festival. Along with the attendance at the festival, the £1 ticket also entitled the holder to free milk from the farm. Considering that the concert was the festival’s first event the line-up was an impressive who’s who of the era’s popular music, the line-up included T-Rex frontman Marc Bolan, Stackrudge, Quintessence, Keith Christmas and Scottish folk musician Al Stewart.
Whilst the festival’s annual Glastonbury event and proposed September concert are no longer going ahead, music and culture fans will still be able to have a Glastonbury-like experience. During the cancellations of the farm’s events, Michael and Emily Eavis have concentrated on another side of their business. The duo has opened up the famed event location, Worthy Farm, as a campsite open to the public. The new business venture is called Worthy Pastures and allows visitors to connect with one of music’s most iconic venue locations. Entertainment and activities provided to guests include the Pyramid Field, a SUNDAY Craft Market, Walking Routes, Cycling Paths, Table Tennis and the stone circle.
Click here for more information on Worthy Pastures.
