Virtual Glasto!
No festival... but stars to play 5hr show streamed online from Worthy Farm
THE coronavirus pandemic may y have killed off Glastonbury Festival - for a second year running.
But fans can still enjoy some of the e biggest bands in the world on an ‘epic c journey’ through Worthy Farm – and d they won’t need their wellies – organisers - announced yesterday.
Coldplay and Damon Albarn will join a host of artists to perform across the e Somerset site for a five-hour event that t will be streamed live on the internet.
Organiser Emily Eavis said: ‘It’s going g to be like the festival but without the e people.’ She told BBC Radio 2: ‘ We’ll ll take you on a journey through all those e spots you recognise – the woods, , the railway line, the Stone Circle, the e Pyramid Field, and it will build into o this whole epic journey around the site e into the night.’
The event, called Live at Worthy Farm, m, will also be ‘interspersed by a spoken n word narrative, written and delivered by y some very special guests, guiding festival-goers - on a journey through the sacred d valley in Somerset’.
It will be broadcast across four different rll global time zones on May 22 and will be directed by Grammy-nominated Paul ul Dugdale, who has worked with artists s including Adele. Tickets cost £20.
In a statement, Miss Eavis – whose father Michael launched Glastonbury in 1970 – said: ‘It will feature a rolling cast of artists and performers who have all given us enormous support by agreeing to take part in this event, showing the farm as you have never seen it.
‘There will also be some very special guest appearances and collaborations. We are hoping this will bring a bit of Glastonbury to your homes and that for one night people all over the world will be able to join us on this journey through the farm together!’
Glasto was due to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2020, but was cancelled days before a national lockdown was announced on March 23. Sir Paul McCartney and Taylor Swift were scheduled to headline the main Pyramid Stage, while Diana Ross was booked for the Sunday afternoon ‘legend’ slot. Fans took to creating makeshift Worthy Farms in their gardens to watch past coverage on the BBC.
The Eavis family were last month forced to cancel this year’s event. But Glastonbury, which attracted 200,000 festival goers in 2019, is ‘good for next year’, Miss Eavis confirmed. She added: ‘We have a combination of bands that were meant to play last year and then we’ve got some new people who are touring.
‘We’ve got a different line-up but there are things you will recognise too.’
With lockdown restrictions due to lift on June 21, other big events including the Isle of Wight Festival and Reading and Leeds are scheduled to go ahead.
‘Bring festival to your homes’