Glastonbury Festival organiser Michael Eavis talks to crowd at Pilton Party

Glastonbury Festival 2009

Wednesday 24th to Sunday 28th June 2009
Worthy Farm, Pilton, Shepton Mallet, Somerset, BA4 4AZ, England MAP
£175 - SOLD OUT

Daily capacity: 150,000

Glastonbury Festival organiser Michael Eavis has confirmed there will be no big names announced for next year's line-up before tickets go on sale next month.

The Pilton farmer spoke to eFestivals whilst he wandered through the crowds on a warm Friday evening at The Pilton Equinox Party. The event which was held in what is normally the cinema field had a selection of festival food stalls, and a bar selling drinks including 'Pilton Pop' real ale, and a line-up of four live acts.

The first act on were Major Major who won their opening slot in a band competition supported by festival organiser Michael Eavis. Before the second act The Travelling Band were due to take the stage, the compere announced that the line-up had changed and The Ting Tings would be headlining because Franz Ferdinand's drummer Paul Thomson, had returned to Glasgow because his wife had gone into labour.

The Travelling Band were playing their summery tunes, which they have brought to festivals throughout the season and the large marquee was full of well over three thousand people when the festival organiser was spotted greeting people in the crowd.

Michael Eavis spent time chatting to fans and took a moment to speak to eFestivals. He appeared relaxed and upbeat, and was looking forward to tickets for his festival going on sale on Sunday 5th October.

"Do you like the £50 deposit idea, we have this year?" he asked, before adding, "I think it's a terrific idea." The offer of being able to secure a ticket for just £50 should certainly help those festival goers suffering from the credit crunch, with the rest of the payment not due until after Christmas.

Mr Eavis was also proud to confirm that the festival had contributed 22 houses to social housing in the area, "Stone built cottages for local people to live in, it's really important for me to provide this social housing."

The festival organiser also declared he was really happy with how the festival is organised these days and spoke of how pleased he was with the way he and Melvin Benn worked together, "Melvin's very good with the technical stuff, dealing with meetings and licensing, he's much better at that than me, it means I'm able to do the things I'm good at."

Mr Eavis was asked if he would confirm any of the acts for the festival, he replied, "No, no names, we never do that before tickets go on sale" adding that there would possibly be an announcement at the end of the month after tickets have gone on sale.

When asked how well he felt tickets would sell the local farmer replied he wasn't worried, "Once they go on sale we'll keep selling them all the way through until they're all gone."

"Have you heard about Franz Ferdinand? he asked, "Their drummer has had to go, and Emily's partner is playing drums." He added cheerily, as he turned to have his photo taken with some members of the audience.

Franz Ferdinand did in fact take to the stage moments later however as a trio. They declared that the baby was a boy, and entertained the crowd with a few acoustic numbers including 'Jacqueline', and 'The Dark of the Matinee'. Then Emily Eavis' boyfriend Nick Dewey did indeed join them on drums for a few hits including 'Take Me Out' and then the band's own drum technician got behind the skins to finish the set.

The evening, which is held by the festival as a thank you for putting up with the summer event, was rounded off with a vibrant performance by duo The Ting Tings who had the crowd jumping to 'That's Not My Name' and 'Shut Up And Let Me Go'.

After a warm evening, four live acts and dry weather the crowd left happily, and the money raised is used for local projects and it's expected that all the acts will be playing Glastonbury Festival in 2009.

Everyone who plans to the come the Festival must register, and that includes children aged 13, 14 and 15. Each ticket sold will feature a photograph of the person in whose name it is registered and will be non-transferable. So if you plan to buy tickets for friends or family you must make sure they all register!

Registration does not reserve or guarantee you a ticket when they go on sale at at 9am on Sunday 5th October, but if you don't register you will not be able to buy a weekend ticket for Glastonbury Festival 2009. All registered festival-goers will have two options. They can either buy a full weekend ticket at a price of £175 (plus a booking fee of £5). Alternatively, tickets can be reserved at a cost of £50 per ticket. The balance will be payable by Sunday 1st February 2009. With both these options, the number of tickets available per transaction for registered customers is now unlimited.

Payment made for tickets by card for UK sales (both online and by telephone) will be by the following debit cards only - Visa Debit, Visa Electron, Switch/Maestro Domestic and Solo. Credit cards will not be accepted for UK sales. For the purpose of ticket sales the UK includes Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

Expect something like 2,000 performances at 50 or so venues including music, cabaret, theatre, circus, a fantastic Kidz area, poetry, green crafts and information and loads, loads more ... much more than just the music, so make sure you check it all out!

We already have some extremely well-sourced rumours of who might be playing next year, although we're aware that as yet the Festival has no firm agreement with any act ... Glastonbury 2009 rumours >>.

Music on the main stages runs from around 11am each morning until 00:30 on the Friday and Saturday and midnight on the Sunday (longer stage running times than just about every other festival), with entertainment on some of the smaller stages running later (until 6am in Shangri-La).

For detailed information on all aspects of the festival, click here.

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