last weekend's Eavis' Glastonbury Festival update

Glastonbury Festival 2016

Wednesday 22nd to Sunday 26th June 2016
Worthy Farm, Pilton, Shepton Mallet, Somerset, BA4 4AZ, England MAP
£228 - SOLD OUT

Daily capacity: 203,000

Glastonbury Festival organisers Michael Eavis and his daughter Emily both appeared separately in news articles over the weekend to give updates on the progress of the Festival and hints about the future.

In an interview with the BBC published (here), Emily revealed two of the three 2016 headliners are confirmed in writing, and a third verbally agreed, and looking further ahead the headliners for 2017 are already pencilled in. Furthermore 80 per cent of the bill for the main stages for next year's music event is already in place with bookings until mid-afternoon on most of the main stages.

Emily is quoted as saying, "Two out of three are confirmed in writing and one is verbally confirmed. One of the headliners I shook hands on at this year's festival, so that was the first confirmation of 2016. We are incredibly lucky to have such great headliners for next year, it couldn't be any bigger."

"We are about 80% of the way there already. We are so lucky at the moment to have so many huge bands touring and wanting to play. That's one of the reasons we are doing a festival in 2017 - we already have the headliners pencilled in for that too, which is unusual.

"I feel quite passionately that there are enough headliners for at least another 15 years and that doesn't take into account the new bands coming through, of which there are more all the time. There's so much great music out there."

Emily also revealed that she's also just secured a big name for the final day, adding, "The most recent confirmation was our Sunday teatime slot, which is something I'm personally very excited about. It's a major coup for us and a genuine surprise. I don't think anyone has rumoured or guessed this one."

She goes on to say, "Lionel [Richie] last year was just incredible, what a moment for us all. I think the Sunday afternoon slot is a fourth headline slot in a way, that's what it has become."

She also talked more about a new area to be located in woods, a hint she dropped on Instagram earlier in the year, of that she imparted, "We are introducing a new area in the woods, which is going to be really magical. The other change is one that is happening to the John Peel stage, but more information will be coming on that soon.

"We also have some other additional small stages and areas and we're doing a bit of tweaking to one of the markets too. Strummerville had a great year on the hill, so will stay there, and Arcadia have some ambitious plans for next year too."

Emily also talks about their support for refugees."We have just organised an auction for the Oxfam refugee appeal which raised over £100,000, which is a good start. One of our key litter pickers, Liz Clegg, is in Calais looking after people out there and organising clear-ups and giving infrastructure support.

"We have sent our first aid kits, ponchos, wellies, T-shirts and this week we are sending out a load of bins from the festival so they can have fire pits rather than run the risk of campfires spreading, which has been a huge problem. Pip and Bertie from Arcadia are also fundraising to build the camp a fire engine, which will help enormously."

Meanwhile her father Michael who turned the Christmas Lights in Burnham-On-Sea last weekend has been talking about the possibility of a move of the Festival according to The Sunday Times (here) after concerns over the safety of a gas pipe running through the Glastonbury Festival site which may force the move to a new location. He disclosed that he has an excellent site ready if that happens within 20 miles of Glastonbury.

The pipeline has been monitored over previous years, with gas technicians visiting the site prior to the start of the Festival to mark out a 10m exclusion zone. Marquee pegs can penetrate up to one metre into the ground, and therefore only small tents are allowed in this area. Offiicals also supervise the erection of the superfortress perimeter fence where it crosses the pipeline.

Speaking in Dublin last week, Eavis explained, "We’ve got a gas main running through the site. They [Mendip District Council] said this is dangerous and I said 'well it's been there for years and so have we'. Every year they make a fuss about this pipe.

"We're supposed to stop people dancing on it, which is a pretty impossible thing to do.They say that if they are all dancing on the pipe at the same time they could fracture it." Eavis also said he had met police representatives to discuss concerns over terrorism at the event following the Paris attacks.

He added that the decision was made at the last Festival "to turn the pressure down on the pipe", and in case it proved too problematic they had found a back-up location. He went on to explain, "I have a reserve site at the moment that’s pretty sorted. So if I get any problems with Worthy Farm, then I can move it about 20 miles up the road. I hope I don’t have to do that because the festival is really about the farm and Glastonbury and the vale of Avalon – all the mystery and legends of the area. So it wouldn’t be quite the same if we had to move it away for the sake of the gas pipe. But you never know."

To donate to Oxfam's Emergency Refugee Crisis Appeal to help people in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and closer to home in Europe too (click here).

For more information and to support the crew from Arcadia, reknown for their fire belching spider, who are trying to raise £8,500 to build a small fire truck to be used at the Calais refugee camp (click here).

Glastonbury Festival will take place on 2,000 acres around a farm in Pilton, Somerset over five full days from Wednesday 23rd until Sunday 27th June 2016. 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 a host of local charities and causes.

Tickets for Glastonbury Festival have sold out. There will be a re-sale, which is likely to be in April or May 2016. In order to buy a ticket Festival goers over the age of 12 must be registered, with online registration only taking a few minutes, this needs to be completed before trying to buy a ticket. Children aged 12 and under do not require tickets and do not need to register.

Registration does not mean you have bought a ticket, but you can't buy a ticket without a registration number.

To register click here.

There are no acts confirmed yet for 2016. 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!

As usual eFestivals will bring you the very best-sourced rumours, allowing festival-goers to see who is playing long before the bands are formally announced - keep your eyes on the Glastonbury 2016 rumours, updated as we receive information.

Help us to help you - if you hear of a band that's playing, please let us know.

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