An ethical approach
Of course you don’t get away with running an event as massive and as hugely populated as Glastonbury Festival without stamping down a rather large and significant carbon footprint. Michael Eavis, himself a committed environmentalist, has long been savvy to this - integrating ethical and carbon-neutralising features into the festival wherever possible.

In fact, while listing the festival’s green attributes it’s hard to know where to start, there are so many. The industrious post-festival composting and on-site recycling perhaps? Or maybe the solar showers and She-pee loos (that encourage toilet rather than hedge 'soiling' by keeping queues down)?  Lessening the environmental impact of the festival is without a doubt at the top of the agenda, and the ‘greening’ process already in place certainly puts Glastonbury Festival at the top of the pile when it comes to festivals with a conscience.

Fran Healy, Lead singer of Travis sums Glastonbury Festival up nicely:

“Glastonbury stands for:

G = Gathering

L = Life

A = Art

S = Smiling

T = Toilet paper (do not leave home without it)

O = The Original

N = Nature

B = Bonfires

U = Umbrellas

R = Rock ‘n’ Roll

Y = You haven’t been to a festival until you do Glastonbury.”

Courtesy of: Glastonbury – An oral history of the music, mud & magic by Crispin Aubrey & John Shearlaw

Free spirit
A strong sense of spirituality underpins Glastonbury Festival, as well as an eccentric essence that unequivocally sets it apart from its rivals. There’s a real sense of wonderment, chaos, energy and an enjoyment of the surreal, the random and the truly bizarre. Where else would you find a sweaty ‘ravey Davey’, a naked new-age hippy and a 90-year-old juggler on a unicycle happily jostling alongside one another among cowpats and cider…

There’s also the fact that Michael Eavis has always strived to combine pop and polemics - the festival’s musical and political relevance often singing from the same song sheet. For example, the festival was seen as a youthful and pertinent rallying point against Thatcherism in the 1980s.

“From day one the festival was always intended to be a political rallying point. I always wanted it to be a campaigning vehicle, a way of raising awareness about social and political issues and raising funds for charities.” (Michael Eavis)

Although renowned for turning into a mudfest (the English weather does seem to have a habit of turning thunderously temperamental as soon as the tents go up), Glastonbury Festival has not lost any of its attraction or reputation as the highlight of the UK’s festival season.

A truly worthy and illustrious English ICON, Glastonbury is a fine example of how the simplest ideas with the simplest of philosophies (i.e. lets just have a magnificent, memorable weekend of music, mud and madness) are often the best ones.

We should also feel very proud that Glastonbury Festival has remained an event for all and sundry – the quirkier the better in fact. Year after year, thousands of people from all over the country gather in a predominantly peaceful manner and trouble between festival-goers remains rare.

The English are often stereotyped as being reserved and restrained: what a load of compost! If there’s one event that screams we know how to have the time of our lives and get wet and dirty while we do it - it’s Glastonbury Festival.

“The festival certainly does seem to attract a fair few loons! It harks back to the traditional medieval festivals taking place in Britain where people would really let their hair down. I like the way Glastonbury Festival has retained that medieval, devil-may-care spirit.” (Michael Eavis)