Glastonbury Festival Has Been Cancelled Due To Coronavirus

Glastonbury Festival has officially been put on hold until next year, due to coronavirus.

The international music festival was meant to take place on June 24th to the 28th - with Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney, Kendrick Lamar and Diana Ross as headliners - but organisers Michael and Emily Eavis have now released a statement confirming that it won't be going ahead as planned.

"We are so sorry to announce this, but Glastonbury 2020 will have to be cancelled, and this will be an enforced fallow year for the Festival," they said in a statement.

"Clearly this was not a course of action we hoped to take for our 50th anniversary event, but following the new government measures announced this week - and in times of such unprecedented uncertainty - this is now our only viable option.

"We very much hope that the situation in the UK will have improved enormously by the end of June. But even if it has, we are no longer able to spend the next three months with thousands of crew here on the farm, helping us with the enormous job of building the infrastructure and attractions needed to welcome more than 200,000 people to a temporary city in these fields.

"We would like to send our sincere apologies to the 135,000 people who have already paid a deposit for a Glastonbury 2020 ticket."

The festival added that they would be offering those who had already bagged a ticket to Glastonbury the option to carry their £50 deposit over and keep their ticket for next year.

This option will be happening automatically unless buyers specify otherwise.

Those who would prefer their £50 deposit refunded will also be able to do so by contacting See Tickets in the coming days. They will have until September this year to make this decision.

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The statement confirmed that further information - including details on rolling over coach packages, official accommodation bookings and local Sunday tickets - will be added to the Glastonbury website in the coming days.

Emily and Michael signed off: "The cancellation of this year's festival will no doubt come as a terrible blow to our incredible crew and volunteers who work so hard to make this event happen.

"There will also inevitably be severe financial implications as a result of this cancellation - not just for us, but also the festival's charity partners, suppliers, traders, local landowners and our community.

"We were so looking forward to welcoming you all for our 50th anniversary with a line-up full of fantastic artists and performers that we were incredibly proud to have booked.

"Again, we're so sorry that this decision has been made. It was not through choice. But we look forward to welcoming you back to these fields next year and until then, we send our love and support to all of you."

It's not clear whether this year's stellar line-up will be carried over until next year.

We'll update you when we know more!

Topics: Coronavirus, Covid-19

Joanna Freedman

Joanna is a journalist at Tyla with a particular interest in highlighting women's issues and telling inspiring first person stories. She's also their resident foodie, and loves covering exciting new beauty launches, too. Contact her at [email protected].

@joannafreedman