Glastonbury likely to take fallow year in 2026 – Emily Eavis

By Laura Harding, Deputy Entertainment Editor

Glastonbury is likely to take a fallow year in 2026, organiser Emily Eavis has said.

The festival usually takes place four out of every five years, with the fifth year reserved for rehabilitation of the land.

The last official fallow year was 2018, but the festival was also cancelled in 2020 and 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic and had “enforced fallow” years.

Asked if she had plans for the 2025 line-up, Eavis told the BBC’s Sidetracked podcast: “Not yet, we are talking to people.

“The thing with line-ups is, you think its looking one way and then it changes. So at the moment I would say no, but I have a vague idea in my head of who is going to be doing it next year.

“Then we might do a fallow year after that, we are due a fallow year.

She added: “The fallow year is important because it gives the land a rest, and it gives the cows a chance to be out for longer and reclaim their land.

“And it gives everyone time to switch off. And I think it’s quite good not to be seen to be cashing in. At the best time when we could just rake it all in, to go ‘no’ is so important, that ethos, now more than ever.

“Sometimes you just need to calm it all down and come back with a renewed excitement and enthusiasm.”

Eavis’s father, Sir Michael Eavis, founded the festival on his Somerset farm in 1970 and is still involved, but his daughter and her husband Nick Dewey take on the majority of the organisation.

This year singer Dua Lipa, SZA and Coldplay will headline the world-famous Pyramid stage,

Eavis also said this year will feature a call for peace, led by performance artist Marina Abramovic, on the festival’s main stage.

She said: “It’s just a few minutes of silence, with her on the stage, and that’s going to be a beautiful moment.”