History of Glastonbury

1970 (19th September): The first Festival was held the day after Jimi Hendrix died, over a two day period and before long "word had got around". It was the Blues festival at the Bath & West Show-ground that had inspired Michael Eavis to begin a festival of his own although on a smaller scale. It had an attendance of 1,500 people and costed £1 for a ticket and free milk from the farm.

1971 (20th-24th June): The festival moved to the time of the summer solstice and was known as the "Glastonbury Fair". It had been planned by Andrew Kerr and Arabella Churchill who felt all other festivals at the same 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 lay line. The musicians who preformed recorded a now very rare album. The Festival is also captured "a la Woodstock" by a 1972 film crew that included Nick Roeg and David Puttnam. This film was called "Glastonbury-Fayer". the acts included Hawkwind, Traffic, Melanie, David Bowie, Joan Baez, Fairport Convention and Quintessence. the Attendance was estimated at 12,000 the tickets were free.

1981 (19th-21st June): The name was changed to Glastonbury Festival and Michael Eavis took the helm running the event again. This was the first "Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament" festival. Michael helped positively towards the peace movement by holding the festival. Michael helped positively towards the peace movement by holding the Festival at Worthy farm to benefit the Mid Somerset CND campaign. Michael had to convince National CND and said that with proper management the Festival could be turned into a profitable venture. Agreement was reached with national CND sending out information in the mailings, handing advanced ticket sales and allowing the use of the CND logo. It was up to michael to provide the money, arrange entertainment and organise the event, liaise with the authorities and organise market stalls ect. It was the year that it was decided to build a new pyramid stage however, this time it was a permanent structure, doubling as a cowshed and animal food store during the winter months. It took two months to build the permanent pyramid stage out of telegraph poles and ex-MOD metal sheeting. The CND logo was not present at these festival, as it was to heavy to lift into position at the apex. Michael Eavis eventually handed over approximately £20,000 to a very grateful CND. The acts that played were; New Order, Hawkwind, Taj Mahal, Aswad, Gordon Giltrap. The attendance was at 18,000 and the ticked costed £8.

1990 (22nd-24th June): The festival took the name of the Glastonbury Festival for Contemporary Performing Arts for the first time, to reflect the diversity of attractions within the Festival.  It was the twentieth anniversary of the first Festival but unfortunately ended with a confrontation between the security teams and travellers who were looting the emptying festival site.  This resulted in 235 arrests and £50,000 worth of damage to property and hired plant. Acts that preformed included The Cure, Happy Mondays, Sinead O’Connor and World Party, and the attendance was 70,000 while the Tickets costed £38 and the Programmes costed  £3.

1991 (25th-27th June): The sun finally shone on Glastonbury again, bringing a broad smile to the faces and performs alike. £150,000 was still spent on downpour precautions. The widest range of entertainment ever was on offer, with over 300 bands a kaleidoscope of theatre, comedy and cultural adventures, and more than 250 food stalls -  all published on a buzzing Glastro web site and broadcasted on BBC2. Greenpeace, Water Aid and Oxfam again Benefited. This year's event was sadly overshadowed by death of organiser Michael Eavis's wife Jean. A winged wicker sculpture was ceremony burned in her honour, whilst fireworks erupted into a moonlit sky. a few of the acts were; REM, Manic St Preachers, Fatboy Slim, Hole, Blondie, Al Green, Skunk Anansie, Lonnie Donegan, Marianne Faithful and Courtney Pine. The Attendance was 100,500 and the tickets costed £83 including a programme.

1994 (24th-26ht June): On 13 June 1994 the famous Pyramid stage burnt down in the early hours of the morning but luckily a replacement was provided by the local company who also provided stages for the NME and jazz stages. It was also the first appearance of the wind turbine beside the main stage providing 150 kw of power for the main stage area. Channel 4 televised the event live over the weekend an it increased the appeal of the festival to a wider audience. On the Saturday night there was a shooting incidence involving five people but no one was badly hurt. But there was the first death in the festivals history when a young man was found dead from a drug overdose. £150,000 was donated to Greenpeace, £50,000 to Oxfam and some £100,00 to local charities and good causes. The acts included; Bjork, Manic St Preachers, Orbital, Van Morrison, Lemonheads, Elvis Costello, Galliano and the Levellers. The attendance was 80,000 and the ticket price was £59 and £5 for the programme.