Far Out Facts: Everything you need to know about Glastonbury Festival 2024
The hype is building towards Glastonbury Festival 2024. The UK’s oldest and grandest music festival and one of the biggest in the world, this event has become an institution for Brits and global music fans alike.
While even Glasto has been impacted by the saturation and hyper-commercialisation of the music festival scene in recent years, there is still something magical about the venue. There’s nothing quite like traipsing down to Somerset’s Worthy Form in your wellies to see some of the biggest live acts in music today, curated as ever by farm owner Michael Eavis and his daughter, Emily.
Glastonbury embraces the spirit of peace and love, our primal predilection for a sense of community, the elements of the great outdoors, and freedom of artistic expression, arguably unlike any other festival since the original Woodstock. It’s a place where hippiedom feels alive and well, whatever the cost of beer or whichever chart-topping star is performing.
So, what’s happening at the festival this year? Who’s performing, when and where? And how can you be a part of it? Well, Far Out has everything you need to know about Glastonbury Festival 2024 right here.
First up, when is Glastonbury 2024?
Glastonbury 2024 takes place between Wednesday, June 26th, and Sunday, June 30th.
As usual, it occupies the last weekend of June, becoming the focus of media and public attention across the UK for those few days. The majority of the music and all of the big names will appear between Thursday and Sunday.
…and where is the Glastonbury Festival?
Glastonbury Festival takes place on the grounds of Worthy Farm, just outside the small town of Glastonbury, Somerset, in southwest England.
It is situated within 20 miles of the M5 motorway and within 50 miles of the M3 from Greater London. Its nearest major cities are Bath and Bristol, from which there are railway links. The festival also puts on an official coach service from over 100 places around the UK, for which you can buy a ticket along with your festival ticket purchase.
The festival site includes camping grounds, which the majority of festival-goers take advantage of due to the site’s lack of proximity to the town. However, there are some nearby hotels and bed and breakfasts, while neighbouring farms also offer camping facilities.
Who is headlining Glastonbury 2024?
The festival’s main headliners this year are British pop superstar Dua Lipa and Coldplay, who are headlining Glastonbury for a record fifth time, US R&B singer SZA, who’s had three global top-five hits in the past year, and Shania Twain in Sunday’s “Legend” slot.
There are additional headliners on the festival’s smaller stages, including Bristol punk band IDLES, American indie giants The National, and Justice, Jungle and Jamie XX offering the weekend’s biggest dance sets. Irish post-punk group Fontaines D.C. could play the role of show-stealers.
As if that’s not enough, there’ll be a show-stopping appearance from Hollywood A-lister Russell Crowe, too.
And what about the rest of the line-up?
Well, as of the first week of June, even more star names have been added to the billing. These names include Madchester and Britpop stalwarts James, noughties indie-pop band The Zutons, new-wavers Squeeze, punk duo Soft Play, afrobeat great Femi Kuti and legendary DJ Annie Mac.
Among the acts already announced, there are dozens who would be worthy headliners at almost any other festival. But not at Worthy Farm. On the plus side, having some of the most sought-after artists further down the billing does make it easier to catch them, and to avoid clashes between the set times of your favourite artists.
PJ Harvey, LCD Soundsystem, The Last Dinner Party, The Streets, Bloc Party and Janelle Monae are just a few of the massive names on the undercard of set schedules, playing before the headliners show up. As so often happens at the bigger music festivals, it could be one of these less anticipated sets that ends up making your weekend.
Who’s playing when: any clashes to look out for?
It’s Squeeze who kick things off on the festival’s Pyramid Stage at 12.00pm on Friday, before PJ Harvey and LCD Soundsystem rock up for successive sets in the early evening. Dua Lipa is the day’s main headliner. At the same time, IDLES will be entertaining fans of neo-punk rock as headliners of the Other Stage.
On Saturday, back-to-back performances from The Last Dinner Party and Bloc Party stand out in the early evening schedule. There’ll be a mad dash from there to the Pyramid Stage for those wanting to see both The Streets and Coldplay, whose sets almost overlap.
Shania Twain has the classic Sunday late afternoon slot on the Pyramid Stage reserved for legends, before Janelle Monae takes to the stage. Elsewhere, Two Door Cinema Club lead in The National’s headline set on the festival’s second biggest stage. They clash with Burna Boy and SZA, the final Pyramid headliner, meaning indie rock, R&B and dancehall fans will likely be divided between the stages.
You can find the festival’s full line-up, including the schedule of set times, at the official Glastonbury website here.
How many stages are there at Glastonbury?
All in all, Glastonbury has a staggering 100+ stages for performing musicians, comedians, poets, dramatists, visual artists and more. That surely makes it unsurpassed by any other festival in the world for the sheer variety of music and art it offers.
As a music fan, you’ll probably be focusing on the venue’s five biggest music stages: the Pyramid Stage, the Other Stage, the West Holts Stage, the Woodsies Stage (actually a giant tent) and the Park Stage.
The Pyramid Stage is Glastonbury’s biggest and most iconic, where the main headliners have performed every festival since 1985. It has hosted some of the most significant events in the recent history of live music, including Elton John’s farewell last year, the Rolling Stones’ epic performance in 2013, Pulp’s last-minute crowd-pleaser in 1995, Jay-Z’s cover of ‘Wonderwall in 2008, and Beyoncé’s pop takeover in 2011.
So, when does Glastonbury start?
The music starts as early as 11.30am each day on many stages (from Thursday, June 27th). Meanwhile, other performances and activities will be going on pretty much all day every day from Wednesday, June 26th.
…and what time does it finish?
Musical performances tend to finish around 1:00am each night, sometimes going over their time limit. So the very last shows at Glastonbury 2024 should be done by 2:00am on the morning of July 1st.
There was controversy about the finishing time of one of last year’s most anticipated performances, as Lana Del Rey’s headline slot was cut half an hour before she’d planned to finish. This decision was due to the strict nighttime curfew the festival organisers have to adhere to according to their agreement with the local council. Del Rey began her performance half an hour late and so suffered the consequences, much to the anger of her fans.
How much is a Glastonbury ticket?
A standard Glastonbury ticket this year cost £355, plus a £5 processing fee. Purchasers automatically paid a £75 upfront, before having the rest of the cost taken from their payment method in early April.
The great news is, if you managed to get a festival ticket you don’t have to pay extra for accommodation. Just bring your own tent, and you have access to the festival’s camping grounds and facilities for free.
That is unless you want a more glamorous form of camping. Then you can go for one of Glastonbury’s Bell Tents, with bedding included. A four-person Bell Tent will set you back £950 for five nights.
But when do tickets go on sale?
Glastonbury 2024 tickets have already gone on sale multiple times. In order to be eligible to purchase a ticket at all, you had to register your details by October 30th, 2023.
General admission tickets then went on sale in early November 2023. As they do pretty much every year, tickets sold out in under an hour.
Is there a Glastonbury tickets resale?
Resale windows for tickets to the 2024 festival grounds and coach transportation were opened at 6:00pm on Thursday, April 18th, and Sunday, April 21st.
These windows are now closed, the latter after the last tickets sold out within 22 minutes.
How to get Glastonbury tickets now
Unfortunately, as far as anyone is aware, there won’t be any more openings for Glastonbury 2024 ticket sales. The event is now completely sold out.
If you’ve managed to get a ticket, pat yourself on the back. You’ve bagged yourself a place at the most celebrated music show on earth.
If you’ve missed out, there’s always next year. Keep your eyes peeled in the run-up to the event just in case, and otherwise (if you’re in the UK), enjoy the free-to-air coverage of performances across the BBC. And be ready for next October, by which point ticket sale dates for Glastonbury 2025 should have been announced.
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