The Glade History
The Glade Area was spawned from the Avalon Field in the late ’90s.
At the time, the Avalon Stage was expanding its sound from traditional British folk origins with the likes of the Peat Bog Faeries, Roy Harper, John Martyn, and Martin Carthy, to a range of experimental and psychedelic sounds from acts like Ozric Tentacles, System 7, and Squarepusher.
A precursor to The Glade, Avalon also celebrated world music with staple acts including Tony Allen, The Selecter, Mad Professor, Pee Wee Ellis, Transglobal Underground, Adrian Sherwood and West African Griot musicians, Moussa Kouyaté and Sona Diabaté.
It was these rhythms, stories, and sounds that laid the groundwork for much of the emergent dance music that The Glade would go on to programme.
As Banco de Gaia’s, Toby Marks, told BBC 6 Music: “Avalon was the first area to recognise new electronic music and this is one of the first times that dance music had been given more space at the festival”.
Seeking a home for this fusion of sounds and expansion of genres to thrive, a new home at Glastonbury was found; a space to facilitate, nurture and explore the history and the future of dance music.
A new area was decided on at the heart of the festival. Using a small triangle of poplar trees and mature woodland tucked below the embankment, it was named The Glade.
Out of the immediate success of The Glade at Glastonbury, the Glade Festival was spawned – the first ever dedicated electronic dance music festival running from 2004 to 2009.
Today, The Glade continues to celebrate world music, recognising it as the foundation for so much of the dance music we programme. The Glade is a melting pot for dance and roots music, blurring boundaries between genres and celebrating the new forms they take, through live band and electronic performances.
The Glade has become known as the destination for lovers of alternative underground dance music, leftfield and experimental sounds, dub, and reggae, celebrating the collaborative spirit of these sounds.
As Funktion One creator, long-time collaborator and friend of the Glade, Tony Andrews, says: “The Glade is about experience and we need to discover, or start thinking with the communal mind – we need to make that evolutionary step”.
