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Glastonbury used to be about freedom. Now it’s £400 and involves a spreadsheet
Developing
In Short: Glastonbury, once a symbol of free love and music, now requires a spreadsheet to secure a ticket, priced at £400 for 2027.
Free love and music for all have well and truly disappeared from Glastonbury, according to reports. While the festival has been stratospherically divorced from its hippy roots for decades, today’s announcement about 2027’s tickets could hardly be less groovy, baby.
In 1971, the organisers drew up a manifesto setting out its environmental and spiritual ethos, based on the idea of Glastonbury as a place for the “expression of free-thinking people.” It’s hard to argue that this noble aim has stood the test of time, with 2027’s attendees expected to drop hundreds of pounds on a ticket without even knowing what it’ll get them.
Glastonbury has a history of genuine experimentation, but tickets that cost half a month’s rent make it hard to justify taking much of a chance.
What's still developing
- Free love and music for all have well and truly disappeared Sit in any UK pub for long enough and eventually you’ll come across an old rocker reminiscing about sneaking into Glastonbury by climbing over a wooden stile, or whatever, back in the 90s, to catch an addled glimpse of Pulp or Sinéad O’Connor.
- On sale from 4 October (but only if you’ve pre-registered by 25 September), nine full months before the festival itself, just getting in requires a level of forward planning (not to mention cut-throat admin, spreadsheets and frantic WhatsApps to manage the ticket-buying process) surely at stark odds with what’s supposed to be a party.
Sources
- The i Paperlink