the Festival will be televised

BBC announces Glastonbury Festival coverage

By Scott Williams | Published: Mon 1st Jun 2015

Glastonbury Festival 2015 - around the festival site (7)
Photo credit: Andy Pitt

Glastonbury Festival 2015

Wednesday 24th to Sunday 28th June 2015
Worthy Farm, Pilton, Shepton Mallet, Somerset, BA4 4AZ, England MAP
£220 (secured with a deposit) - SOLD OUT
Daily capacity: 198,000

The BBC have announced details of their planned coverage of Glastonbury Festival this summer.

The BBC has over the last 15 years been developing and evolving its coverage of the Festival and in 2014, a record combined audience of 37 million people watched the coverage across television, radio, Red Button and online across 86 territories, including, USA, Brazil, Japan, China, Singapore, New Zealand, Holland, Turkey, Germany, Spain and Iceland.

A statement, (here) reveals that the joined up services under the BBC Music umbrella, will offer unprecedented coverage over the three days, from the big headline acts on the main stages, through to new and emerging talent.

Bob Shennan, Controller BBC Radio 2, 6 Music, Asian Network and Director, BBC Music said, "“Glastonbury is one of the cultural highlights of the year and I’m thrilled that BBC Music is able to present extensive coverage of one of the world’s most iconic music festivals to millions of BBC viewers. Whether it’s tuning in live on television, seeing exclusive backstage moments on your mobile phone, or reliving highlights on Red Button or iPlayer, only the BBC are able to offer the full Glastonbury experience."

The BBC will broadcast over 250 hours of Radio, TV, Red Button and Online streaming, with coverage from six music stages - Pyramid, Other, John Peel, West Holt, Park and BBC Introducing, and will be broadcasting 30 hours of coverage across BBC One (The One Show), BBC Two, BBC Three and BBC Four.

On BBC One, The One Show will kick-off the BBC's TV coverage of the festival on Friday 27 June, with further coverage on BBC Two, BBC Three, and BBC Four.

The Red Button, will allow viewers with Freeview HD, Freesat, YouView, Virgin Media and Sky devices will have access to three BBC Red Button streams. And, in addition to those streams, after 9pm each day, viewers with access to BBC Red Button+ can catch the action live from six stages. 

For the first time, all online streaming will be in HD, providing live performances on the Pyramid, Other, West Holts, Park, John Peel and BBC Introducing stages. 

More action from the event will be transmitted on BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 1Xtra, BBC Radio 2, BBC 6 Music, and BBC Asian Network.

In addition to coverage of the performances throughout the weekend, there will be an extended Essential Mix live from the Shangri-La late night area in the early hours of Saturday morning on Radio 1. Plus, Kanye West’s Saturday night headlining set will be broadcast live on a simulcast across both Radio 1 and 1Xtra, presented by 1Xtra’s Charlie Sloth.

On-demand services will allow viewers to relive over 100 performances on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Glastonbury website, including exclusive backstage sessions in the BBC Music Teepee, as well as a chance to catch a first glimpse of new talent on the BBC Introducing Stage.

This year's Friday headliner is Foo Fighters, on Saturday it will be Kanye West, and closing Sunday night are The Who.

The line-up is vast but here's a few of the other names who will be appearing over the five days - Lionel Richie in the teatime legends slot, Patti Smith & her band, Rudimental, Deadmau5, Paul Weller, The Vaccines, The Maccabees, Suede, The Chemical Brothers (live), Belle & Sebastian, Clean Bandit, Jungle, Jamie XX, Gregory Porter, Super Furry Animals, Jon Hopkins, Sharon Van Etten, Kate Tempest, Wolf Alice, Perfume Genius, Hozier, Father John Misty, Courtney Barnett, Fat White Family, La Roux, Death Cab For Cutie, Kasai Allstars, FFS (Franz Ferdinand & Sparks), Modestep, Circa Waves, Peace, Young Fathers, The Moody Blues, Florence + The Machine, Pharrell Williams, Alt-J, Motorhead, Mary J Blige, Alabama Shakes, Paloma Faith, The Waterboys, The Fall, George Ezra, Cerrone, Robert Hood, Sven von Thulen, Phuture, Awesome Tapes From Africa, Prosumer, Mr G, Erol Alkan, Mark E, Joe Claussell, Honey Dijon, DJ Pierre, Point G, Andy Butler, DJ Pierre, Dungeon Meat, Greg Belson, Horse Meat Disco, Tama Sumo, Gideon, Eats Everything, Jah Shaka, Loefah, Youngsta, Fabio, Flight, Marcus Intalex, Mella Dee, Chronixx, Mavis Staples, FKA Twigs, Caribou, Goat, Future Islands, Run the Jewels, Hot Chip, Flying Lotus, Azealia Banks, Todd Terje, Ryan Adams, Spiritualized, Roy Ayers, The Mothership Returns: George Clinton, Parliament, Funkadelic & The Family Stone, Jamie T, Ben Howard, Mark Ronson, Ibeyi, Rae Morris, Enter Shikari, Lianne La Havas, Jessie Ware, Death From Above 1979, Years And Years, Sleaford Mods, Charli XCX, The Pop Group, Catfish & The Bottlemen, Ella Eyre, Hozier, Declan McKenna, Shields, K.O.G & the Zongo Brigade, MoD, Princess Slayer, Lucy Kitchen, Isaac Lee-Kronick, and Jakl.

The line-up details for areas of Glastonbury Festival announced so far are:

Silver Hayes Dance Area
Avalon Field
The Glade
Shangri-La (The Naughty Corner)
The Common Area
Block 9
Leftfield
Arcadia
Theatre & Circus
Kidz Field

Many, more acts are expected to be confirmed between now and the full announcement, and eFestivals will bring you the news of who has been confirmed to appear then.

For the acts confirmed, rumours, day and stage splits as available, see the Glastonbury 2015 line-up page.

This year's sold out Glastonbury Festival runs for five full days from Wednesday 24th until Sunday 28th June 2015 across over a 1,000 acres of beautiful countryside at Worthy Farm, Pilton in Somerset.

As ever, entry includes a free programme. Once again, the Festival will be raising more than £2 million in funds for Oxfam, Wateraid, Greenpeace and and hundreds of other worthy causes, both local and international.

The full complete line-up will not be announced until next month. Expect something like 2,000 performances at over 100 venues including music, cabaret, theatre, circus, a fantastic Kidz area, poetry, green crafts and information, site art, decor, and loads, loads more ... much more than just the music, so make sure you check it all out!




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