The first Festival was held on the day after Jimi Hendrix died, over a two day period and before long “word had got around”. It was the Blues festival at the Bath & West Showground that had inspired Michael Eavis to begin a festival of his own although on a smaller scale.
Acts included: Marc Bolan, Keith Christmas, Stackridge, Al Stewart, Quintessence
Attendance: 1,500.
Price: £1 including free milk from the farm.
1971 (20th - 24th June)
The Festival moved to the time of the Summer Solstice and was known as the "Glastonbury Fayre". It had been planned by Andrew Kerr and Arabella Churchill who felt all other festivals at the time were over commercialised. It was paid for by the few who supported the ideal so the entrance was free and took a medieval tradition of music, dance, poetry, theatre, lights and spontaneous entertainment. It was in this year that the first "pyramid" stage was constructed out of scaffolding and expanded metal covered with plastic sheeting, built on a site above the Glastonbury-Stonehenge ley line. The musicians who performed recorded a now very rare album. The Festival is also captured "a la Woodstock" by a film crew that included Nick Roeg and David Puttnam. This film was called "Glastonbury Fayre".
Acts included: Hawkwind, Traffic, Melanie, David Bowie, Joan Baez, Fairport Convention and Quintessence.
Attendance: estimated at 12,000.
Price: free.
1978 (28th - 8th July)
Festival. This happened with the arrival of travellers washed out from Stonehenge who were led to believe that a festival was taking place. After persuasive discussion, a free mini Festival did take place. There was little organisation and few facilities layed on but somehow it did not matter - the stage was powered by an electric meter in a caravan with the cable running to the stage.
Attendance: 500.
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1979 (21st - 23rd June)
Now a three day event and was still referred to as the Glastonbury Fayre but with the theme of “the year of the child”. Bill Harkin and Arabella Churchill were the instigators on this occasion and turned to Michael Eavis for financial backing. He secured a bank loan against the deeds of the farm. Special provision and entertainment was provided for children and it was at this event that the concept of the Children’s World charity was born which still exists today and works in special schools throughout Somerset and Avon Again, despite the numbers attending, the organisers suffered a huge financial loss and no one wanted to risk another festival in 1980. It was also this summer that Michael’s youngest daughter, Emily was born.
Acts included: Peter Gabriel, Steve Hillage, Alex Harvey Band, Sky and the Footsbarn Theatre. Attendance: 12,000. Tickets: £5.
1981 (19th - 21st June)
The name was changed to Glastonbury Festival and Michael Eavis took the helm running the event again. This was the first “Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament” festival. Michael helped positively towards the peace movement by holding the Festival at Worthy farm to benefit the Mid Somerset CND campaign. Michael had to convince National CND and said that with proper management the Festival could be turned into a profitable venture. Agreement was reached with National CND sending out information in their mailings, handling advance ticket sales and allowing the use of the CND logo. It was up to Michael to provide the money, arrange entertainment and organise the event, liaise with the authorities and organise market stalls etc.
It was this year that it was decided to build a new Pyramid stage. However, this time it was a permanent structure, doubling as a cowshed and animal food store during the winter months. It took two months to build the permanent Pyramid stage out of telegraph poles and ex-MOD metal sheeting. The CND logo was not present at this Festival, as it was too heavy to lift into position at the apex. Michael Eavis eventually handed over approximately £20,000 to a very grateful CND.
Acts included: New Order, Hawkwind, Taj Mahal, Aswad, Gordon Giltrap.
Attendance: 18,000. Tickets: £8.
1982 (18th - 20th June)
Again, there was CND involvement and it was this year that Western Region CND took control of the entrance gates and Mid Somerset CND took charge of all the information.
This year was a muddy year with lots of bad weather. In fact, the highest rainfall for a single day in 45 years was recorded on the Friday but it was also the year of the first laser show backed by Tubeway Army's "Are friends electric?".
Acts included: Van Morrison, Judie Tzuke, Jackson Browne, Roy Harper, Richie Havens.
Attendance: 25,000. Tickets: £8.
1983 (17th -19th June)
1983 called for a licence to be obtained for the event since the introduction of the local Government Act became law, giving local authorities the power to regulate such events by stipulating the conditions. Mendip District Council issued a Public Entertainment Licence which set a crowd limit of 30,000 and went into considerable detail about access roads, water supply, hygiene and so on. It was also the first year that the Festival had its own radio station, Radio Avalon. £45,000 was eventually raised for CND and local charities.
Acts included: Marillon, The Beat, UB40, Curtis Mayfield, King Sunny Ade.
Attendance: 30,000. Tickets: £12. Programme price: 80 pence.
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