Mark Cann introduced himself as an employee of Glastonbury festival. We were told he was the deputy to Michael Eavis, founder of Glastonbury however this title came about from strange situations. Really Mark was just a very good friend of Michael and took up the role as the production manager for the Pyramid stage and other stages later on in Glastonbury’s life. The first festival Michael put on was in fact on September 19th 1970 under the name Pop Folk and Blues which was free (and free milk!) and about 1000 people attended. It was 1971 which saw the first Glastonbury festival which was funded buy Arabella Churchill grand daughter of Winston Churchill and Andrew Kerr which was put on to raise funds for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament a.k.a the CND. Bowie and Traffic headlined the event that lead Glastonbury to become the ongoing annual event it is today. The festival in 1981 was headlined by New Order and raised a massive £20,000 at the time for the CND, the biggest contribution they had ever had. Glastonbury grew and grew and by 1985 65,000 people attended. By 2000 the festival came into trouble with the local authorities due to many festival goers gate crashing the event by climbing through the fences or building tunnels underneath. This almost doubled the expected capacity attending and crime was at its highest. Michael and his team were told the festival could not happen again.
Two years later the festival was back and better than ever before, after months of presenting plans, rejections and reinvention 2002 saw the new fortress fencing preventing gatecrashers amongst a whole new management plan, and with Melvin Benn from Festival Republic (the company running the likes of Reading and Leeds Festivals) joining the team, the local council agreed it was worth “the hassle”.
Mark Cann’s main point throughout the talk was that Glastonbury is unlike other festivals and there are a few key points which sum it up. He mentioned that Michael Eavis grew up a Methodist, believing in advancing the cause of those less fortunate, gradual change and improvement, embrace equality and raise consciousness. Another belief of Michaels is too respect the land as well as wanting people to share their experiences. Glastonbury’s intention was to celebrate all that is good in the human spirit to bring people away from the drudgery of day to day life and raise awareness of good causes, all whilst listening to the world’s top artists and having an incredible time.
Environmental and ecological issues are at the top of the list in running the festival. A whopping 48% of rubbish is recycled from the festival, a lot higher than any other major festival. Charitable causes are another major part of Glastonbury, these days Oxfam, Greenpeace and Wateraid who are the charity veterans of the festival, split over £1,000,000 each year. Local charities receive £500,000, and the event has also funded many local projects in Pilton including; building new school classrooms, a new low-cost housing scheme and local community centres amongst many others.
I think it’s a great thing, many of the major festivals simply put them on so at the end of it they can live a plush lifestyle, which I suppose is fair enough. However I think the whole festival atmosphere is built on communication and care for each person around you, which is what makes Glastonbury so spectacular. You go to Leeds and Reading festival and you’re bombarded with advertisements and endorsements; Red Bull Tents, Carling stages, Tuborg tents at Download festival, Virgin everything at V and so on. Glastonbury wants to minimize branding and pull as much resources as it can from the local area and support local people.
There was some controversial debate towards the end of Mark’s talk, during the Q&A sesh, where a lady asked something along the lines of Why put an act like Beyonce headlining the main stage at Glastonbury? When I think of Glastonbury I think alternative, easy listening, hippies… She then went on to argue about her love for rock and that it should be like Download blah blah blah which Mark amusingly replied with Well if you don’t like it, don’t come. Which he then went on to apologise for saying. I thought he really shouldn’t be apologising! I thought this was quite an odd point coming from the lady’s mouth, which has never even spoke at Glastonbury. Having been to the festival a few times myself, it was funny to see this kind of view. However, I’ve come to think that maybe people will think this by having artists like Beyonce headlining, I mean she is probably one of the most mainstream popstars out there. It doesn’t help that this is the only the footage the BBC show, missing the real heart of Glastonbury. Mark then reiterated the fact that the festival has always been about a wide range of music, and my meaning of alternative music may have a totally different meaning to yours. I agree when someone mentioned Even if you didn’t like music you would still have an amazing time as it’s more of a different planet. The vast size of it is mind-blowing, and for it then to be filled with all things weird and wonderful, with some of the tops artists around the world performing, I can’t see how it compares to any thing else. It has everything many other festivals lack.
Mark Cann finished the talk with a rather morbid thought. Glastonbury is on the way out – Michael Eavis. Apparently within the next three or four years, we could be seeing our last Glastonbury Festival, due to the commercialisation of the festival scene and Michael believes it may turn into something he doesn’t want. This really upset me. I’m hoping after the year out his mind would have changed. I have a real love for this festival, and it was a great opportunity to meet one of the founding souls of something so unique. I’ll be fast on the ticketline come October when 2013’s tickets go on sale, and will be keeping my fingers crossed in hope for Glastonbury’s long, long life.
By Claudia Waller, a level 3 student in Music Technology.
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