Eavis Declares Triumph

Organiser reflects on Glasto highlights

29 June 08 - Glastonbury organiser Michael Eavis spoke to the BBC this morning about the trials and tribulations of this year's Glastonbury. 38 years after he founded the festival, Eavis declared this to be the best ever Glastonbury.

He firmly believed that the event had triumphed in the face of slower ticket sales and critics who were sceptical about the line up.

He said this year's event had laid a strong foundation to build on in future years:

"We're in the safety zone now. There was a danger of losing it last year with all the mud. Then the media didn't think we had great headlines this year but we proved them wrong. The headliners have been absolutely brilliant. I mean, I'd say we had double headliners last night."

Jay Z triumph

Eavis was especially pleased with Jay Z's performance and said he was glad the rapper proved the sceptics wrong:

"It's quite an unusual thing to do, to bring hip hop music from the streets of New York to Glastonbury. And for it to be really successful - it's a real triumph."

But would the festival organisers risk it again next year?

"I'm not saying that,” Eavis said, then added:

“We've done it now and we pulled it off. Especially with all the doom and gloom about what it was going to be like and us not selling tickets."

Tickets sell out

He then confirmed that the final few tickets for the event had shifted:

"We sold out on Thursday night by the way. We sold out completely. I’ll admit it was a struggle getting there, but we did, which is great."

"It's quite an unusual thing to do, to bring hip hop music from the streets of New York to Glastonbury. And for it to be really successful - it's a real triumph." Michael Eavis

But whilst Glastonbury might be just out of the danger zone, they still have an ongoing tug of war with commercial competitors:

“We're in a much stronger position now and the headliners will actually want to come back. The problem is we can't pay them millions. The big commercial festivals can pay three or four million and we can only pay them about 200 000.

“It’s a very delicate balance between the commercial pressures for the headline acts. Why should they work for me for £200 000 when they can get £3 or £4 million from the commercial events? It’s a very difficult decision.”

Eavis said he hopes that Glastonbury’s reputation and ethos would keep attracting the big names:

“The only reason they should do it is because it’s good for them with their record sales, good for their image, good for us and the charities we support.”

Amy defended

He also defended Amy Winehouse despite the fact that she appeared to lash out at a fan for touching her boob during her performance last night.

"She was absolutely brilliant and I think she became a superstar last night I really do."

He was adamant that her performance was solid and even let slip that she had asked him if she could headline the event next year:

"You know what she asked me at the end of that show? She said can I headline next year Michael? I don't know whether her manager would approve of that request but she said wasn't that brilliant, can I headline next year?"

Too middle aged

And when he was asked whether there would definitely be a Glastonbury next year, he felt certain there would be:

"Oh yes, there'll be one next year no fear. We've got two more to do after this one and then we'll have a year off."

Glastonbury has faced criticism in the past both for being too middle aged and then for not being middle aged enough. Michael said he didn't want to alienate any age group:

"I don't want to trail over that ground about us not wanting middle aged people. Look at my age and we've got loads of people over 40. It's a bit like a Sunday school at church, you need youngsters coming into it or you all grow old together. This year we've certainly got the youngsters.”

Meanwhile this year’s Glastonbury stats speak for themselves:

The capacity of the crowd was 170 000 in total.

There were 336 arrests - up on last year's 160.

And a whopping 2200 treatments at medic centres.


Elizabeth Alker