Emily Eavis, daughter of Glastonbury Festival founder and organiser of the iconic event that takes place in Somerset in June, has told the BBC that they are working towards the festival going ahead in 2021, but there are no certainties.
Speaking about the festival she said: “We’re doing everything we can on our end to plan and prepare, but I think we’re still a long way from being able to say we’re confident 2021 will go ahead.”
2020’s event would have been the festival’s fiftieth anniversary, with Sir Paul McCartney, Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar headlining. Having to cancel it meant that the organisers lost millions of pounds, much of which goes to help charitable causes. Michael Eavis, the festival’s founder, stated earlier in the year that the festival would go bankrupt if it is unable to go ahead in 2021 without time for the team to prepare for another postponement.
The Glastonbury team joined forces with other festival organisers across the UK to lobby MPs for a fund that would cover the cost of events cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic, something introduced in Germany. It is hoped that such a fund will allow events to continue in future years. Many events, including the live music performances, have been hit particularly hard and as of yet, it is unsure when festivals and live music concerts can resume.
In an exclusive interview with the BBC, Emily Eavis talked about the plans for the upcoming festival. She said: “We’re doing everything we can on our end to plan and prepare, but there are still just so many unknowns and factors which are completely out of control. What we definitely can’t afford to risk is getting too far into the process of next year only for it to be snatched away from us again. We lost millions this year and we can’t risk that happening again.
“… We’re talking about a situation where the goalposts move weekly and sometimes daily. Clearly the vaccine is being rolled out and that’s great news, but there isn’t yet any kind of clarity or consensus on what things will look like in May – when we’d usually have thousands of staff on site, or June when we’d obviously have the festival.
“We’re doing everything we can to plan for next year. The hard part is understanding exactly what we’ll be planning for and what impact that will have on what we’re able to do. Right now, I’m not sure there’s anything we could do that would completely ensure we can welcome 200,000 people to spend six days in some fields in June.”
It is hoped that with the easing of restrictions, the festival can go ahead as planned with the three headliners returning to perform their sets.
You can read the whole interview with Emily Eavis on the BBC’s website.
