Upcoming Glastonbury event chance to see Worthy Farm in new way

Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis has said the upcoming online music event will allow people to see Worthy Farm in a way they have not before.

This weekend sees acts including Coldplay, Damon Albarn, Haim, Idles, Jorja Smith, Kano, Michael Kiwanuka, Wolf Alice and more take part in the livestream event, Glastonbury presents Live at Worthy Farm.

The event will feature performances hosted from well-known sites around the farm, including the Stone Circle and Pyramid field, and comes after the festival was cancelled for a second consecutive year.

Eavis told PA news agency: “You get to see it (Worthy Farm) in a way which people never see it, which is just the pure, beautiful farm that is in a really incredible, beautiful setting. But also, you’ll get to see the bands in a way you’ve never seen them before because there’s no audience, so you’re going to really be getting into these performances and that’s something really special as well.”

Singer-songwriter George Ezra and Irish disco producer Roisin Murphy are also on the bill, while festival co-founder Michael Eavis, 85, will lead a spoken-word narration of the five-hour event with the help of Harvey and Cocker, plus Kate Tempest, George The Poet and Kurupt FM.

Wolf Alice are the first act to perform at 7pm, followed by Kiwanuka, Ezra and Haim, with Coldplay performing at 9.05pm before Blur frontman Damon Albarn and Jorja Smith.

A special unannounced guest will take to the stage at 11.05pm before rapper Kano then DJ Honey Dijon featuring Murphy.

Emily Eavis said: “It’s so exciting to be able to create and build an event even though it’s not for real people to attend, or an in-person sort of thing, but it’s really lovely to be able to get our crew back to be working on something on the ground that people can enjoy from home.

“And we’ve got people tuning in all over the world, from Venezuela, to Kenya and literally, you name it, this is a truly global event. And that’s a really exciting element of it. That’s the first time we’ve ever done anything, actually, that can be enjoyed and at the same time by everybody who wants to around the world.”

The livestream event comes after the acclaimed music festival has been cancelled for two years in a row because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Asked about Glastonbury 2022, Emily said: “It’s pretty much done. There’s still work going on with the line-up, but we have got a lot of artists on board for the next year. So we’re quite far down the road with that.”

The livestream is taking place on May 22, with encore screenings on May 23.

Tickets can be purchased at worthyfarm.live