Euronews Culture journalist Jonny Walfisz is on the scene at Glastonbury to experience the highs and lows of the UK's most impressive and arguably famous music festival. Whether you're on your way there or not, follow our essential guide to what's happening on the ground. And so it begins.
Over the next two days, over 200,000 people will descend on Worthy Farm in Somerset for the . A month ago, weather reports were suggesting that this year would be the first in recent memory to present a classic washout event. A typical southwest English summertime with rain showers and footfall churning the dairy farm’s fields into rivers of squelching mud.
At the time, the UK was dealing with one of its wettest years on record. Then suddenly, a week before it began the weather changed. Worthy Farm is in an area of England defined by its ancient grounds littered with ley lines and pagan history.
Perhaps some of that pre-Roman magic was at play as today, as the festival gates opened, the sun bore down on Glastonbury. There are a few reasons why this year’s edition of the UK’s biggest and most significant music and culture festival is special. The first is rooted in changes to the festival areas.
Primarily, the iconic Arcadia dance stage has retired its arachnid-themed steel girder set-up. In its place is The Dragonfly, an impressive installation of the titular insect created out of the shell of a Royal Navy helicopter. The Woodsies Stage (formerly known as the John Peel Stage) has also.
