Three years in the making, Francis Whately’s film is a social and musical history of the world’s greatest music festival.
Glastonbury: 50 Years and Counting is driven by the festival’s principal curators, Michael and Emily Eavis, and many of the artists who have appeared there between 1970 and 2019 – Billie Eilish, Florence Welch, Dua Lipa, Fatboy Slim, Noel Gallagher, Chris Martin and more.
Balancing the driving forces of social conscience and hedonism, Glastonbury has always been both a world apart and a barometer of the state of the nation.
Looking at the hippie days, CND, the contribution of the travellers, dance music, Britpop, The Wall, the impact of television and the first black British solo headliner, this program takes viewers backstage and deep into the archive to reveal the forces that have driven this alternative nation between utopia and dystopia, the greatest night of your life and a muddy field in the middle of nowhere.
This is not a chronological plod through the Festival’s evolution but a thematic and story-driven exploration of the peaks and troughs, and the agonies and ecstasies that have shaped Glastonbury’s 50 years.
