Glastonbury organisers have announced plans to launch a scaled down virtual replacement for the three day music festival on May 22nd, with artists including Coldplay set to perform.
The festival’s 50th anniversary extravaganza, originally scheduled for 2020, has been cancelled for the second consecutive year amid health and safety concerns regarding the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
Speaking to Radio 2 presenter Dermot O’Leary on Wednesday morning, Emily Eavis revealed they will be replacing the main event with a five hour special filled with a roster of special guests, to be held at Somerset’s Worthy Farm and available to stream at just £20 a ticket.
Exciting: Glastonbury organisers have announced plans to launch a scaled down virtual replacement for the three day music festival on May 22nd, with artists including Coldplay set to perform
The livestream event will also give festival regulars an opportunity to revisit some of the venue’s popular landmarks, among them its legendary stone circle.
She said: ‘Since last March we have been working on our first global ticketed live stream event. It’s taken a long time to get to this point, and we’re pleased to announce today that on the 22nd of May we’re going to be streaming an incredible line up of artists, all from Worthy Farm.
‘We’re taking you through a five hour journey during an evening at Worthy Farm with artists, so it’s going to be like the festival but without people.’
Big plans: Emily Eavis broke the news in an interview with Radio 2 host Dermot O’Leary on Wednesday morning
She added: ‘Essentially we have got incredible bands like Coldplay, Damon Albarn, Idles, Michael Kiwanuka, Jorja Smith and lots and lots of very special guests along the way.
‘We’re going to take you on a journey through all of those spots that you know and recognise from Worthy Farm, so the woods, the railway line, the stone circle, and it’s going to build into this whole epic journey.’
Eavis also confirmed the one-off event will be directed by Paul Dugdale, who previously worked with Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift on their respective Netflix tour documentaries.
Coming soon: Coldplay later confirmed their participation in a tweet shared with their 23million Twitter followers
Tickets will cost an affordable £20 each and will be unlimited, with the livestream taking place across four different time zones.
She added: ‘We always try to keep the ticket price down. Some people said, “You could charge £60.” We were like, no.
‘For a while we thought we could do it for free. But actually, we do need to have a ticket price and £20 seems really reasonable for that many acts.’
The move will also recoup some of the enormous £5million Worthy Farm lost after being forced to cancel their 50th anniversary event in 2020.
Eavis said: We know we’re not going to recoup £5million, obviously, but we will be able to make a bit back.’
Popular choice: Eavis reavealed Jorja Smith (pictured at Glastonbury in 2019) will also be performing
Coldplay later confirmed their participation in a tweet shared with their 23million Twitter followers, describing the event as a ‘five hour magical mystery.’
Other guests to feature at the event include Wolf Alice, Haim and Kano, with tickets on sale now.
It was announced in January that the prestigious festival, which runs annually, had been cancelled for the second year running due to the pandemic.
Eavis later suggested that Glastonbury could return in some form, saying an application had been made to put on a concert in September.
Main man: Damon Albarn was another artist mentioned by Eavis during Wednesday morning’s announcement
In a post on Instagram she said: ‘For those asking for an update on our plans later this year, we have put an application in for a licence for a concert at the farm in September (around the time we’d usually do Pilton Party).
‘Of course, we’ve no idea yet whether we’ll [be] able to do that, but we wanted to get the application in to be in with a chance.
‘Unlikely we’ll have any news for a couple of months – but will let you know right here when we do.’
Old times: But fans will be missing when the virtual event takes place at Worthy Farm in May
Looking ahead: Eavis has previously suggested that Glastonbury could return in some form, saying an application had been made to put on a concert in September
She added: ‘It’s not definite that it’ll go ahead but needed to set the early wheels in motion now.
‘It’s so good to dream up plans and hope that some of these things could potentially happen later this year…’
This year’s festival was sold out after tickets from last year’s event, which would have marked its 50th anniversary, rolled over.
Sir Paul McCartney, Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar were all due to perform.
Not happening: It was announced in 2020 that the prestigious festival, which runs annually, had been cancelled for the second year running due to the pandemic