Glastonbury Festival announces Spirit of 71 Cafe line-up

Glastonbury Festival have confirmed they will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1971 Glastonbury Fair Free Festival by unveiling a brand new area the Glastonbury Fair.

The previously announced The Spirit of 71 stage will be sited in the area, alongside the G Stage (formerly Glade Stage), the Glade Lounge and the newly confirmed Spirit of 71 Cafe with the whole area providing a focus and celebration of the event of 40 years ago, acknowledging the importance of the 1971 Glastonbury Fair Free Festival.

The official website explains:

The original event was orchestrated by Andrew Kerr. Andrew had been inspired by the mystic, John Michell who wrote of the importance of ley lines, the energy channels of the planet, which in ancient times was understood in a golden age where people lived in harmony with the natural order. Andrew’s vision was for a return to this state of enlightenment.

The Festival moved to the time of the Summer Solstice and was known as the "Glastonbury Fair". It was planned by Andrew Kerr and Arabella Churchill who felt all other festivals at the time were over commercialised. It was paid for by the few who supported the ideal, so the entrance was free and took a medieval tradition of music, dance, poetry, theatre, lights and spontaneous entertainment.

It was in this year that the first "pyramid" stage was constructed out of scaffolding and expanded metal covered with plastic sheeting, built on a site above the Glastonbury-Stonehenge ley line. The musicians who performed recorded a now very rare album called Revelations. The Festival was also captured "a la Woodstock" by a 1972 film crew that included Nick Roeg and David Puttnam. This film was called "Glastonbury Fayre".

The 1971 Festival gave focus to the communal feeling of the time that like minded people, whatever their background, could unite in the aim of a spiritual awakening. Glastonbury Fair 2011 will feature performances from some of the original musicians of that time playing music which is as relevant today as it was then, together with current music and performers of the same aspiration.

Whilst the other stages in the new Glastonbury Fair have previously been announced, the new Spirit of 71 cafe line-up is as follows:

Wednesday 22nd June
Michael Eavis Q & A with Dom
Andrew Kerr -' Intolerably Hip' Book signing

Thursday 23rd June
Tom E Lewis
Travelling Libraries
Rory Motion - Comic
Steve Marshall - The Ballad of Genrous John
Malcolm Boyle - Readings from The Madcap
Roy Hutchins - Heathcote Williams Poems

Friday 24th June
Folkface
Howard Marks - Spoken Word
Special guests TBA
Arthur Brown - Interview and Q&A with Dom
Howard Marks - Spoken Word
Andrew Kerr -' Intolerably Hip' Book signing

Saturday 25th June
Glastonbury the Movie - Film
Avalon a field in Glastonbury - Film
Malcolm Boyle - Montage from The Madcap
Howard Marks - spoken word
Paul Goman - Barney Bubbles Sound and Vision Show
Atilla the Stockbroker - The Coldplay alternative
Mick Farren - Stage Discussion with Dom
Gregory Sams - Wonderful Global Change
Andrew Kerr -' Intolerably Hip' Book signing

Sunday 26th June
Gregory Sams - Wonderful Global Change
Andrew Kerr -' Intolerably Hip' Book signing
Paul Goman - Book signing & Q&A with Dom
Live stage discussion: Artisic legacy of designer Barney Bubbles
with Paul Gorman, Billy Bragg, John Cooper Clarke & Jeff Dexter
Howard Marks - Spoken Word

Andrew Kerr has written a book about his life, called 'Intolerably Hip' and it is priced at £14. To buy the book, click here.

Tickets have sold out. Pyramid Stage headliners are U2, Coldplay, and Beyonce. Other acts confirmed include Primal Scream, Mumford & Sons, Queens of the Stone Age, Morrissey, Biffy Clyro, BB King, Wu Tang Clan, Two Door Cinema Club, Metronomy, Tinie Tempah, Rumer, Pendulum, Plan B, Paul Simon, Laura Marling, Don McLean, The Low Anthem, Fleet Foxes, Bright Eyes, The Wombats, The Vaccines, The Kills, Brother, White Lies, Friendly Fires, Jimmy Eat World, Jessie J, Kaiser Chiefs, Eels, TV on the Radio, Bombay Bicycle Club, Noisettes, Cee Lo Green, Chase & Status, Jimmy Cliff, DJ Shadow, Glasvegas, The Streets, Crystal Castles, Wild Beasts, Gruff Rhys, Caribou, Big Audio Dynamite, Warpaint, Brit Floyd, Deacon Blue, Suzanne Vega, Fatboy Slim, Professor Green, Pete Tong, Annie Mac, John Digweed, Subfocus & ID, Melanie, Terry Reid, System 7, Asian Dub Foundation, Lee Scratch Perry, Stereo MC's, The Wombles, Netsky, Bobby Friction, Gorillaz Sound System, Iration Steppas, Mark Thomas, Billy Bragg, Folkface, RSVP, Shlomo's Glasto Circus, Tony Benn, and many more. There are a few more of the smaller stages to be announced, and a few special guests to be confirmed.

To see the line-up in full, along with the latest rumours for some of the other stages, click here >> or to view it as a list click here.

Other attractions will include hands on craft, self-sufficient skill-learning, Hiroshima Peace Flame (burning since 1946), The Rabbit Hole, The Free University of Glastonbury, Mavericks Late Night Cabaret, Strummerville, Cubana Salsa Tent, Hurly Burly, Climate Camp Tripod Stage, HMS Sweet Charity, 'Babylon Uprising' Market Sound System, Arcadia, MP Caroline Lucas, The Dragon Field Underground Piano Bar, The Treehouse Café, The Cider Bus, White Ribbon Alliance Tattoo Parlour, The Crow's Nest Open Mic, The Pilton Palais cinema tent, The Worthy Farm Solar Array, Glastonbury FM, Worthy FM, sound artist Maria Marzaioli, The Glastonbury Firelighter daily newspaper and much, much more!

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

Latest Updates