On Wednesday of this week Glastonbury Festival would have been opening its gates to celebrate its 50th anniversary. But like all other current live music events the Coronavirus outbreak forced the festival’s cancellation. More than 140,000 paying guests who would otherwise have been congregated in Somerset’s Vale of Avalon watching Kendrick Lamar, Paul McCartney, Taylor Swift, Diana Ross and the proverbial supporting cast of thousands perform will now have to make do with the BBC’s Glastonbury Experience, wall-to-wall coverage across the corporation’s television, iPlayer, radio and Sounds’ platforms which will include a series of special shows reflecting upon the festival’s 50 year history.
The festival sells out in a matter of only minutes year after year, such is the demand for tickets. And for the vast majority of people Glastonbury is the greatest show on earth, a cultural event unlike any other and which for both paying punter and performer alike is often seen as one of the best experiences of their entire lives.
Here God Is In The TV takes a look back at the last couple of decades of the Glastonbury Festival through a series of photographs:
Photo credit: Simon Godley
