Right now, the raging coronavirus pandemic has basically shut down live music across the planet. This is not likely to change anytime soon. We've just had our first major late-June cancellation. The UK's gargantuan annual festival Glastonbury, set to go down 6/24-28, will not happen this year.
In a letter posted on Twitter this morning, festival founder Michael Eavis and his daughter Emily write, "We are so sorry to announce this, but Glastonbury 2020 will have to be cancelled, and this will be an enforced fallow year for the festival." They write that they're hoping the pandemic will have abated in the UK by June but that they can't do the necessary prep work, with thousands of workers setting up the festival grounds. Those who have already bought tickets can roll those tickets over until next year or get refunds.
We are so sorry to announce this, but we are going to have to cancel Glastonbury 2020. Tickets for this year will roll over to next year. Full statement below and on our website. Michael & Emily pic.twitter.com/ox8kcQ0HoB
— Glastonbury Festival (@glastonbury) March 18, 2020
Every Glastonbury festival is big, but this was set to be an especially big year for the historic festival. This was to be the 50th-anniversary edition of Glastonbury, and the bill included Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, Paul McCartney, and Diana Ross, among many others. The festival organizers didn't unveil the full lineup until last week, and they wrote that they had "fingers firmly crossed" that the festival would be able to happen as planned. But the past six days have been eventful, and now we just have to have fingers firmly crossed that we can leave our houses by August.
