The demand for Glastonbury this year has been unprecedented. In a year of political turmoil, global pandemics and social distancing the world has come together to provide the much needed levity we need. In viewing figures that have been published it has shown that, though there has been no official festival, it has been their ‘biggest gathering yet’ in Emily Eavis’ words.
It is fitting that, on what would have been the festival’s 50th anniversary, it breaks the record for the amount of viewers from across the world. So far, there have been 10.2 million programme requests on BBC iPlayer and this is only expected to rise in the coming 30 days as it will gather more for the rest of the days it remains up on iPlayer. The previous record was set by Adele in 2016 who drew in 2.1 million for her headline set.
Wow, for a year without a festival it really was our biggest gathering yet.. over ten million people tuned in. Very grateful to everyone for sharing all your Glastonbury home set ups, all the memories and thanks to the BBC for pulling it all together https://t.co/oODwA1LaNG
— Emily Eavis (@emilyeavis) July 1, 2020
When you look at the sets that have been made available you can see why there has been so much demand for it. With a litany of memorable moments and one particularly iconic set from David Bowie; people have had their hunger for festival season fed with enough for leftovers. Looking through the sets and Twitter for the past couple days has made me realise how important Glastonbury is to people. People have grown up with it and the reactions it evokes from people is something that no other festival can say they do.
It is still disappointing that we will probably never have an opportunity to see a lineup that bumper again. With Paul McCartney, Kendrick Lamar and Taylor Swift all headlining it was going to be one of the biggest festivals with a stellar lineup. Hopefully they can secure a similar lineup next year as having another year out will only make it better for the festival goers.
Ultimately though, all this is good but it will always be shadowed by the towering feeling of ‘What if?’ What if coronavirus didn’t happen? You would be getting over the feeling of seeing music legends, indie heroes, rap favourites and just Glastonbury all together. This is something that only comes around every now and then. Right now it’s neither now nor then, roll on 2021.
