Can’t wait @glastofest x

A post shared by Ed Sheeran (@teddysphotos) on Mar 16, 2017 at 9:51am PDT

We’re pleased to confirm the news that Ed Sheeran will close this year’s Glastonbury Festival with a Sunday night headline set on the Pyramid Stage. Ed just announced the news on his Instagram page. This will be his only festival show of 2017.

Ed made his Glastonbury debut in 2011 before he had released his first album, at the Croissant Neuf tent in the Green Fields. He last played at the Festival in 2014.

The full Glastonbury 2017 headliner line-up has now been revealed, with Ed joining Radiohead (Friday) and Foo Fighters (Saturday).

We’re delighted to confirm that Foo Fighters will headline the Saturday night of this year’s Glastonbury Festival, on 24 June.

The band have just revealed the news at a special, fan-only show at Frome’s Cheese And Grain venue this evening, which streamed live online.

Said Emily Eavis: “Well, what an extraordinary week! We’re incredibly lucky to have the Foo Fighters headlining on the Saturday night this year – it was obviously devastating when they had to pull out in 2015 – and the thought, effort and generosity they’ve put into this announcement is just unbelievable. Plus, I’m so happy that we’ve been able to help shine a light on Somerset’s local music scene by having one of the world’s biggest bands play in Frome. The Cheese And Grain is a wonderful, not-for-profit venue, which I’m very proud to be a patron of, and it was our first suggestion when the band asked where might be good to do a secret show. They’ve certainly put it on the map now!”

We’re delighted to report that Glastonbury was named Best Festival at last night’s NME Awards in London. Michael and Emily Eavis were there to collect the award, which Glastonbury won for the fourth consecutive year!

Other Glastonbury-related winners were Adele, who won Best Festival Headliner for her performance on the Pyramid Stage, and Coldplay, whose tribute to Viola Beach during their Glastonbury set was named Music Moment Of The Year.

Thank you to everyone who voted for us!

We’re extremely sorry to report that a much-loved member of the Festival’s crew, Toby Lovegrove, passed away suddenly in Thailand this week.

Toby’s family have worked at the Festival for many years, with Toby coming to Glastonbury from early childhood and going on to work as a lighting technician for the Glade and Silver Hayes areas. Toby was a hugely valued member of the Festival’s crew and Glastonbury was, according to Toby’s family, “his favourite place on earth”.

We send our thoughts and our love to Toby’s family and his many friends.

A crowd-funding site has been set up to help pay to bring Toby home from Thailand and to pay for his funeral. Anyone who wishes to donate, can click here.

We’re very pleased to announce our EMERGING TALENT COMPETITION 2017, which is supported by PRS for Music and PRS Foundation. The competition gives new UK and Ireland-based acts of any musical genre the chance to compete for a slot on one of the main stages at this year’s Festival.

The winners of the free-to-enter competition will also be awarded a £5,000 Talent Development prize from PRS Foundation to help take their songwriting and performing to the next level. Two runners-up will also each be awarded a £2,500 PRS Foundation Talent Development prize.

Acts from any musical genre could enter the 2017 competition FOR ONE WEEK ONLY from 9am Monday 30th January until 5pm Monday 6th February 2017. The entry period has now closed. 

To enter, acts needed to supply a link to one original song on SoundCloud, plus a link to a video of themselves performing live (even if it’s only recorded in a bedroom).

With the entries now in, a panel of 40 of the UK’s best music writers will help compile a longlist of 120 acts. The longlist will then be whittled down to a shortlist of 8 artists by judges including Glastonbury organisers Michael and Emily Eavis, before the live finals at Pilton Working Men’s Club in April decide the winning act. For the past three years, all eight of the finalists were offered slots at that year’s Festival.

Recent Emerging Talent Competition finalists include R&B singer Izzy Bizu (a 2016 BRITs Critics’ Choice nominee and winner of the 2016 BBC Music Introducing Award) and singer-songwriter Declan McKenna, who won ETC 2015 and has subsequently signed with Columbia and been longlisted in the BBC’s Sound Of 2017 poll. Last year’s ETC winners were politically-charged Merseyside band She Drew The Gun, who have since released their critically-acclaimed debut album.

Says Glastonbury co-organiser Emily Eavis: “New music is at the very heart of what we do here at Glastonbury. The Emerging Talent Competition has become such an important way for us to find the next wave of talent from across the genres, and then help to shine a light on it. I’m really excited to hear this year’s entries.”

Paul Clements, Commercial Director, PRS for Music, comments: “I am delighted that PRS for Music is once again partnering with Glastonbury Festival for the Emerging Talent Competition – a brilliant initiative that paves the way for many artists at the beginning of their careers. We are all looking forward to seeing which new talents rise out of such a fantastic contest.”

Vanessa Reed Executive Director of PRS Foundation says: “The Emerging Talent Competition is a fantastic opportunity for talented up and coming artists to receive vital support to develop their careers and perform at the iconic Glastonbury Festival. The level of talent each year has been consistently high with recent winner Declan McKenna signing to Columbia, with international festival bookings under his belt, and last year’s winner She Drew the Gun supporting The Coral at Shepherd’s Bush Empire last month following shows in Korea last year. We’re looking forward to seeing which exciting new artists apply this year.”

After a week in which there have been a lot of rumours about the future of Glastonbury and the possibility of a new event away from the farm (named Variety Bazaar), Michael and Emily took the opportunity earlier today to answer questions submitted by readers of the Guardian.

In the wide-ranging interview, they confirmed that Glastonbury Festival will always remain at Worthy Farm; that Variety Bazaar would be an event around 100 miles from Pilton which would run on the Festival’s fallow years; that the new event would be “unique” but run by the same teams as Glastonbury; and that Kris Kristofferson will play the Pyramid at Glastonbury 2017. Click here to read the full interview now.

UPDATE: Applications for the crew catering positions have now closed. Please note that due to the volume of applications we expect to receive we are unable to respond to everyone. Applicants will receive confirmation of whether they have been shortlisted by the end of March 2017.

Chefs

This is full-time paid work and you will be required to work over the Festival. Experience in cooking for large numbers is essential as well as some knowledge of vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free dishes. You will need to be available between the 27th May and the 16th July. Applicants must be aged 18 years or over.

Kitchen/service assistants

This is full-time paid work at the UK living wage and applicants would need to be available between the 27th May and the 16th July. You will be required to work some shifts over the Festival weekend as crew catering will be open during this time. This is hard work, rather than just an easy way into the Festival. The role will involve assisting the catering manager and chefs by performing duties such as food preparation and front of house service. Relevant experience will be essential and you must be aged 18 years or over.

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Applications have now closed. Please note that due to the volume of applications we expect to receive we are unable to respond to everyone. Applicants will receive confirmation of whether they have been shortlisted by the end of March.

Once again, Poetry&Words are opening our floodgates to a delicious deluge of poets from far and wide. Every year we take applications to perform on Glastonbury Festival’s poetry stage, and every year we are awestruck by the hundreds of amazing wordsmiths out there.

Last year we hosted an abundance of talent from international stars Buddy Wakefield and Tanya Evanson, to home grown greats John Hegley and Murray Lachlan Young. If you’d like to walk in their footsteps, then this is your chance! We’re looking for applications from experienced writers and performers, with something quite excellent to offer the audience of the world’s biggest greenfield arts festival.

If you want to apply, please e-mail poetryandwords@hotmail.co.uk with a short bio and 1-3 video and/or audio files of you performing your work, preferably to a live audience. We’d prefer web links, but attachments (of manageable size!) will also be accepted. We will only view one application per person. Further applications will be ignored, so send us your best stuff first time around!

Don’t send Word files of your poems or links to your books, however good they are, as we need to be able to judge the performance element as well. We do pay a fee, but this is only small, and overseas poets in particular should note that we are unable to provide travel expenses. Guest tickets are also beyond our power, but booked poets will receive a ticket for themselves as well as a camping pitch backstage of the Poetry&Words tent.

The deadline for applications is, strictly, 5pm on Friday 3rd March 2017. We regret that we cannot view any applications received after this time, so please make a note of the deadline and make sure you submit as much in advance as possible. Don’t miss your chance!

We hope that you’ll understand that, given the humongous number of applications we receive every year, we are unable to respond to requests for feedback or advice, or to let every applicant know how they’ve done. Successful artists should hear back from us by two months after the deadline.

You can also find us at:

facebook.com/GlastonburyFestivalPoetry 

youtube.com/user/PoetryandWords


poetryandwordsblog.wordpress.com/


twitter.com/GlastonburyPoet 

Photo: Anna Freeman by Matt Gillett

Head over to the Glastonbury Festival online shop where we’ve added some new items featuring Glastonbury posters from years gone by.

Our popular range of retro T-shirts are back in stock, plus we’ve added organic hoodies, poster tote bags and a new tea towel featuring the original 1970 design.

Plus we’ve added all remaining Glastonbury 2016 T-shirts and posters to our SALE section.

Photo: Andrew Allcock

Glastonbury Festival founder Michael Eavis has today announced the date of the 2017 Extravaganza and unveiled a world-famous brass band taking to the stage along with an a top contemporary act. Vouchers for tickets for the event have also gone on sale today. 

The Black Dyke Band will be performing at the 21st Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza in the beautiful grounds of the abbey on August 5 2017.

The Yorkshire-based brass band is the most recorded in the world with more than 350 recordings and has won the European Brass Band Championships 13 times, the British Open Brass Band Championships 30 times and the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain 23 times

The 2017 spectacular complete with traditional firework display will be the 21st Extravaganza to be held at Glastonbury Abbey.

Last year’s event headlined by Van Morrison with Jamie Cullum and the Wells Cathedral School Big Band sold out and Michael said: “I am really excited that the Black Dyke Band has agreed to come to Glastonbury Abbey for this event; they’re marvellous and I’m sure there will be a great atmosphere on the night.

“The Extravaganza is one of my highlights of the year and I’m really pleased we’re able to give people the chance to get vouchers for tickets before Christmas and put it in their 2017 diaries early. We will be announcing the headliner in the New Year and I hope it is going to be a fantastic 21st”

Janet Bell, director of the abbey, said: “The Extravaganza is a highlight of the calendar and the vouchers will make great Christmas presents. We are very grateful to Michael for organising it and his continued support for the abbey. The Black Dyke Band will no doubt be fabulous and we look forward to finding out who the headliner will be in the New Year.

Vouchers can be bought from the abbey shop or online at www.glastonburyabbey.com/extravaganza to be redeemed for adult or child tickets. Advance prices are staying the same as last year with adults £35 and £20 for a child aged six to 16. On the gate prices will be £40 adult and £25 for a child. Accompanied children aged five and under do not require a ticket. Booking and postage fees apply.