After the Freeman vote, Cllr. Cousins stated “I can think of no one more fitting of receiving this honour.  This is an opportunity to acknowledge that, as founder of the Glastonbury Festival, Michael has helped to promote Glastonbury for over 50 years – both nationally and internationally – a true life-time’s work.”

Cllr. Roney- Dougal shared her enthusiasm for the selection of Eavis for the title, stating; “The festival makes a significant contribution to our local economy, as well as providing year-round employment locally and support for many local organisations, community groups, and charitable causes – and, on an international scale, raising money for such truly ‘Worthy’ causes as Oxfam, WaterAid, Greenpeace, and CND. Our town’s high regard for Michael is clearly shared by others throughout the country and establishment.”

Last night, Michael Eavis was honoured with the Freedom of Glastonbury, in appreciation of his services to the town and the local economy. https://t.co/1qHLJW9QtB pic.twitter.com/3mSiBDO4B3

— Glastonbury Festival (@glastonbury) May 4, 2022

Whilst in the past, a Freeman’s position entitled them to some strange privileges (such as not paying the local taxes). The position these days is largely a symbolic gesture to people of notoriety. However, according to old town tradition, the lucky recipient is henceforth allowed the right to “run his sheep through the centre of the town.” Which I’m sure Mr Eavis will bear in mind.

Earlier today Glastonbury has announced the lineup for their legendary Shangri-La area for this year’s festival on Worthy Farm (22^nd-26^th of June 2022). With acts such as Bob Vylan, Edna Martinez, Kae Tempest, Nova Twins, Bonobo DJ, Shy FX, Warmduscher and Fatboy Slim to name a few. You can see the full lineup poster down below:

The incredible @ShangrilaGlasto is back for Glastonbury 2022!

WE THE PEOPLE: Community, collaboration and hope for the next generation. pic.twitter.com/3CDqtn4vKC

— Glastonbury Festival (@glastonbury) May 4, 2022

Elsewhere, it was announced that Lewis Mcglaughlin won the coveted Emerging Talent Competition. Which saw budding artists from across the country compete for a chance to play on one of the festival’s main stages. Along with a £5,000 Talent Development Prize put up by the PRS Foundation. Upon receipt of the prize, Mclaughlin stated; “Honestly so stunned, all the other acts were incredible. Big thanks to all the judges and everyone involved in the competition.”. The runners up were the Leeds based band English Teacher and rapper Crae Wolf, who each respectively won £2500 and secured a slot of their own at Glastonbury 2022.

Emily Eavis, one half of the Father-Daughter organisation team, took to her Instagram page to confirm the cancellation of the event.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Emily Eavis (@emily_eavis)

In May it was announced that a one-off event was being planned to replace the annual 5-day festival which Glastonbury normally held. The replacement event was due to take place in September of this year but was unfortunately terminated.
The September live music event was to be organised to replace the last two cancellations of the Festival due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions enforced due to the current health crisis. The September concert was to be called Equinox, the event organisers had a lot of ‘red tape’ to go through and eventually secured the necessary licenses and permissions from Mendip District Council to allow for 50,000 ticket holders to attend the autumn event. The event appeared to be approved albeit with over 50 conditions and provisions, the festival’s organisers and the team have not yet provided further details on the cancellation. The Instagram post from Emily Eavis is the main cancellation confirmation at this time.

This is not the first cancellation in which Glastonbury has issued, the cancellation of the rescheduled 2020 festival was announced by the Eavis’ in January. The announcement confirmed the event would not be going ahead and gave information on how ticket holders could attend next year’s event. The Festival released the following statement via their Twitter page. “With great regret, we must announce that this year’s Glastonbury Festival will not take place, and that this will be another enforced fallow year for us. In spite of our efforts to move heaven & earth, it has become clear that we simply will not be able to make the festival happen this year. We are so sorry to let you all down. As with last year, we would like to offer all those who secured a ticket in October 2019 the opportunity to roll their £50 deposit over to next year, and guarantee the chance to buy a ticket for Glastonbury 2022. We are very appreciative of the faith and trust placed in us by those of you with deposits, and we are very confident we can deliver something really special for us all in 2022! We thank you for the incredible continued support and let’s look forward to better times ahead. With love, Michael & Emily.”

The 2020 event would have been the 50th birthday of Glastonbury, both organisers were not deturbed in their celebrations however and wanted to still proceed with an anniversary event. Michael Eavis was keen to hold the event this autumn to match the Festival’s birthdate of its first event on 18th September 1970, Eavis previously confirmed his hopeful plans for the eventually cancelled event. “I would like to do something in September. I would like to do something smaller somewhere around the anniversary date of when we started, which was the 18th of September 1970. I would like to consider possibly doing something around that time.” Eavis was then asked if he would recruit big acts to perform, to which he replied. “Yes, but I do need to get reassurance from the ethics people.”

Glastonbury is one of the most iconic institutions in music history, the festival has been leading the way in live entertainment and legendary live performances for over half a century. It is no surprise that the festival’s founder Eavis wanted to celebrate its 50th birthday with a bang.
The festival has seen line-up’s full of rock, soul, folk and pop performers, known for its inclusivity the festival has catered for every niche market and genre throughout the decades. The festival’s first event was held the day after Jimi Hendrix’s tragic death, some may think that it was this tragedy that inspired Eavis to launch the new festival, but his inspiration came from a Blues Festival held at the Bath and West Showground. The initial event’s attendance is not even half of the 250,000 attendees at 2019’s event, in 1970 the attendance was 1,500 ticket-holders who paid £1 to attend the festival. Along with the attendance at the festival, the £1 ticket also entitled the holder to free milk from the farm. Considering that the concert was the festival’s first event the line-up was an impressive who’s who of the era’s popular music, the line-up included T-Rex frontman Marc Bolan, Stackrudge, Quintessence, Keith Christmas and Scottish folk musician Al Stewart.

Whilst the festival’s annual Glastonbury event and proposed September concert are no longer going ahead, music and culture fans will still be able to have a Glastonbury-like experience.  During the cancellations of the farm’s events, Michael and Emily Eavis have concentrated on another side of their business. The duo has opened up the famed event location, Worthy Farm, as a campsite open to the public. The new business venture is called Worthy Pastures and allows visitors to connect with one of music’s most iconic venue locations. Entertainment and activities provided to guests include the Pyramid Field, a SUNDAY Craft Market, Walking Routes, Cycling Paths, Table Tennis and the stone circle.

Click here for more information on Worthy Pastures.

Despite being heavily linked with the Saturday headline slot at this year’s festival, which has since been filled by Metallica, Prince fans will seemingly be unable to catch their hero perform live at Glastonbury due to issues regarding social media. In an interview with The Guardian, Eavis revealed that though a point had been reached at which they were able to discuss the possibility of Prince performing at the festival, talks broke down due to “all the social media chit-chat now about who might be playing”.

Eavis continued by addressing the leaking of acts, disputing the belief that the festival advertises certain acts early because “there’d be no point to us leaking details because the tickets sell out in an hour in October, before the headline acts are announced. People come for what the event means to them, not the headline acts.”

However, The Sun today featured a piece which suggested that Prince appearing at Glastonbury may not be entirely off the cards. However, other reports including a definitive statement from festival-runner Emily Eavis would suggest that Prince is most definitely not going to be taking to the Pyramid Stage any time soon.

Father and daughter duo and organisers Michael and Emily Eavis revealed they were “blown away” by demand for tickets, while also expressing disappointment for other wanna be festival goers who failed to get one. In a joint statement the two of them said “We have, once again, been blown away by the numbers of people who were hoping to join us at the Festival, and we’re sorry that many of you have missed out on a ticket. We genuinely try to make the ticket system as fair as it can be, but when demand outstrips supply, it is an unfortunate inevitability that some people will be left disappointed”.

Ticketing website See Tickets earlier apologised for the problems suffered by hundreds of thousands of fans as the website suffered from technical difficulties. Before managing to sell as many as 3,000 tickets a minute, the website reported “issues” which led to a “very difficult half an hour”.

What makes this feat even more impressive is the fact that the headliners are still to be revealed, although rumours as always are circling. David Bowie is one of the favourites to headline, after a year which saw him release his first new material in over ten years with 2013’s The Next Day. There are also whispers that the likes of Foo Fighters and Depeche Mode could also make headlining appearances.

Fresh from a performance at this years’ Great Escape Festival, the quartet are all ready to unleash their next single, taken from last year’s record Someone With A Slow Heartbeat. With their second album now a year old, the group have seen their profile steadily grow and are now slowly but surely leaving a stamp on the music world.

With a strong Britpop vibe behind the music, Charlie Straight have been perfecting a sound that Britain itself has failed to reciprocate since the likes of Oasis and Blur were all over the airwaves. Coco is a slow burner with a balled-esque feel about it, and you can feel your body get warmer and warmer with each time you press the replay button (which believe me, you will). Earlier this year the track won the Czech Grammy Award for best song of 2012, and now you can hear why. Close your eyes and feel yourself float away with the music as you become a part of what Charlie Straight are turning into.

The group are currently touring Europe. With aspirations to eventually play at Glastonbury, with more tracks like Coco up their sleeve, it can’t be too long before Michael Eavis stands up and takes notice.

You can listen to Coco below, which is released here in the UK on September 16th.