What you need to know about Glastonbury's new, one-day festival

With Glastonbury set to remain as a virtual event this summer, it has just secured a licence for a one-day 'real life' festival in September.

Somerset’s Mendip District Council has approved 50,000 people attending the show - a quarter of Glastonbury’s regular 200,000 attendees.

While the festival hasn’t been confirmed - and there's no word on acts yet - this licence means that it will be allowed to go ahead in theory.

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Emily Eavis, co-organiser of the festival, told NME earlier this week that the event would be called “Equinox”, adding that it would be a larger version of the annual Pilton Party, which Glastonbury runs each year as a “thank you” fundraiser for locals.

"We do that every September, but it will just be bigger and the public can come down," she added.

So, is Glastonbury back on?

Not quite. While the main Glastonbury festival, which tends to be held in June, has been cancelled for the second year in a row - instead opting for a streaming event this year - Equinox will be a much smaller, one-day version of the festival.

With a smaller crowd, the concert will be held solely on the Pyramid Stage and the 50,000 capacity will include staff, crew and performers as well as the audience.

Eavis is already planning for the 2022 festival. She told BBC 6 Music: "We are going to throw everything at 2022.

"The light is coming in. We're able to move out of this very awkward time and plan to be back in fields again and to be watching live music and camping for five days outside with 200,000 other people.

"That is now a possibility and it's looking highly likely that that will happen next year. So we're booking bands for that [now]. It's hugely reassuring to be able to actually plan something that might happen."

How can I get tickets to Glastonbury’s one-day festival?

At the moment it’s unclear how tickets will be sold for the event and whether or not those who secured tickets for the 2020 and 2021 festivals will have the chance to apply.

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But it will be open to the public so more information should be revealed soon.

What are the rules around festivals this summer?

As the current roadmap stands, lockdown should be completely eased by 21 June which should allow festivals to go ahead at full capacity this summer.

However, with the government currently reviewing social distancing guidelines as a result of the spread of the Indian variant of Covid-19, the decision may put a halt on the hundreds of music festivals, like Reading and Leeds, set to go ahead this summer.

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“The vast majority of UK festivals cannot feasibly take place without being able to run at full capacity, which is not compatible with social distancing measures. However, the wellbeing of the public is paramount,” Paul Reed, chief executive of the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) told iNews.

“Festival organisers also do not want to hold events until it is absolutely safe to do so, and they can be certain that doing so will not put additional pressure on the NHS.”

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