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Glastonbury Festival, one of the world's most celebrated music events, will not take place in 2026. Organizers have confirmed that the cancellation is part of a long-standing tradition of scheduling a "fallow year," designed to give the farmland, local community, and event staff a necessary period of rest and recovery.
Festival co-organizer Emily Eavis made this announcement to signify the Glastonbury Festival's continued dedication to sustainability and land management, as the festival will return in 2027.
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Co-organiser Emily Eavis told the BBC:
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"The fallow year is important because it gives the land a rest, it gives the cows a chance to be out for longer and reclaim their land."
She added:
"Sustainability and the need to live in harmony with the land has always been vital to Glastonbury Festival, and I think it's important because it just gives everybody a little time to just switch off".
In farming, fallow years are often implemented when farmers refrain from planting crops to allow the soil to replenish itself. This allows the land time to replenish its nutrients, making it more suitable for cattle grazing. Although the festival's last official fallow year occurred in 2018, organizers canceled the event for two consecutive years, in 2020 and 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
What is the Glastonbury Festival?
The Glastonbury Festival is the largest greenfield music festival in the world, held most years at Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset, England. Initially organized by Michael Eavis in 1970, the festival has evolved into a massive event attended by nearly 200,000 people.
It is known for its eclectic lineups, which include rock, pop, hip-hop, dance, folk, jazz, and world music, as well as its wide-ranging arts program featuring theatre, circus, cabaret, comedy, poetry, and more.
The festival is held on over 900 acres of farmland that are converted into a temporary city, featuring several main stages and hundreds of side stages, as well as markets, camping fields, and communal areas. Musicians such as David Bowie, Beyoncé, Radiohead, Paul McCartney, and Jay-Z, among many others, have performed iconic shows in Glastonbury.
It is this unique blend of local heritage and international popularity that makes Glastonbury distinctive and what organizers aim to preserve through initiatives like the planned 2026 fallow year.
This year, the Glastonbury Festival took place from June 25 to 29 at Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset. Music poured out of 120 stages with almost 3,972 artists, world-class headliners, legends, and new artists. Some of the headliners and stand-out performances at the festival include The 1975, Neil Young, and Olivia Rodrigo.
Organizers have decided to give Worthy Farm and the surrounding community a much-needed break by declaring 2026 a fallow year. This move signifies their dedication to caring for the land and ensuring the festival's future.
