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Damon Albarn has also been speaking to the NME and has revealed that Gorillaz will be playing some “Big gigs” during 2010, but not Glastonbury Festival

“Are we playing any UK festivals? I wouldn’t want to go and play Glastonbury or anything because I think it would be very difficult and I would be setting myself a very high benchmark.
But we are definitely going to play some big gigs in the UK, or in England, or in London or whatever. This year. Definitely.

The band are sounding really good and I’m really excited about it. I try to keep myself busy, I don’t think it’s good to rest on your laurels.”

While speaking to NME.com at the NME Awards last night, Emily Eavis announce that

“We’ve got some amazing things coming in all the time,” she explained. “We’ve just had a confirmation from a completely random thing which we didn’t see coming and is totally amazing. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you what it is but it’s worth waiting for.”

hit the NME.com link above to see a video of the interview

For the first time, Glastonbury Festival has been granted a new licence without a licence hearing.

The festival has been granted a new licence to run until 2016, with 2012 being used as a fallow year.

Other key facts of the licence are:

• No change in the number of ticket-holder and staff (177,500)
• The total amount of sound generated from stages will not increase
• The hours of alcohol sales will not increase
• The main emphasis behind security plans will remain the same
• The provisions of welfare and medical services will remain the same
• Extra Car Parking, Camper Van and Camping Space made available

As part of their new licence, organisers now have contingency plans in place to help minimise disruption to motorists and local residents. This includes opening the Car Parks on Tuesday Night instead of opening on Wednesday at gate opening time and a new access road.

As part of the new licence agreement, performances on The Pyramid Stage, Other Stage and Jazzworld Stage must finish at Midnight, smaller stages can operate until 12.30 and The Park Stage will have artists performing on it from the Thursday.

UPDATE:

The Campervan fields will be open from Midday on the Tuesday before the Festival. Toilets, water and refreshment facilities will be available.

The Car parks will be open from 9pm on the Tuesday before the Festival. Toilets will be available (as well as the areas being lit) but no refreshment facilities will be available.

DO NOT try and turn up in a car from Midday, you’ll be sent away until 9pm.

Further details can be found in the letter below from Melvin Benn to Mendip Council Read the rest of this entry »

Glastonbury Festivals have been running a poll on wether flags should be banned from in front of the Pyramid Stage….and the results are in.

13,178 votes were cast (after the removal of duplicate votes) from 71 different countries.

Votes in favour of banning flags…. 5909 or 45%
Votes against banning flags…. 7269 or 55%

So, flags won’t be banned and to all those people that voted against the ban, this is what you have permitted…Thanks

flags

Glastonbury Festival Organiser, Michael Eavis, is preparing to invest in 1,500 Square metres of Solar Panels, which will generate the same amount of power annually as used by 40 homes.

The panels (all 1,100 of them) will go on top of the barns at the farm. It is expected that the panels will generate 200kW of power on a clear, sunny day. Power not used by the farm will be transported to the National Grid.

The system will save around 100 tonnes of CO2 a year (or the annual footprint of 10 people in the UK) due to the panels creating clean electricity.

Michael Eavis:

“It’s a very exciting project for us. We first had renewable energy at the Festival in 1979 and we’ve been trying to increase it ever since. We want the Festival, and the farm, to be as green as they can be. The solar panels will make a huge contribution towards that.”

Work will begin to install the panels on August 1, as long as planning permission is granted and surveys confirm that the barn roof is strong enough to hold the panels.

Emily Eavis has been talking to Radio 1’s Newsbeat and say that the line up for Glastonbury Festival 2010 is “Pretty much finalised”

“We’re pretty much sewn up now. We’re still confirming the Sunday night headliner. Apart from that we’ve pretty much finalised the Pyramid Stage, which is good. There are rumours about everyone I think. I think this is the first year that people genuinely don’t know who is going to be playing, which is a good thing.”

Emily Eavis says there’ll be a mix of old and new this time round.

“We’ve got amazing highlights from the full 40 years and also some people who haven’t played before, one headliner in particular.“

The BBC reports that Glastonbury Festival Organisers have started to bid for a new licence for the festival.

The applications asks Mendip District Council to allow for the car park to be opened on Tuesday rather than Wednesday morning and for additional Camping Space.

If the Council grants the changes, the festival would be secured until 2016. They would also have to surrender the current licence and work under the obligations of the new licence.

The consultation deadline for interested parties is 20th of January 2010 and a final decision is due in February 2010

In an interview with Lauren Laverne, on BBC 6 Music today, Emily Eavis was asked about “Rumours & Strong Rumours”. She hinted that Dizzee Rascal and Bodger & Badger would be playing, saying “We’ve gotta have Dizzee, I think that’s a given.”

Lauren proceeded to ask about other rumours, including Green Day, which resulted in a definate “No” from Eavis.

Eavis spoke briefly about acts that are wanting to play, which could result in an absolutely cracking festival. “A lot of bands really want to play but because we’ve only got three nights to headline, I think a lot of people are going to be doing secret sets. There will be a lot of surprises, more than we’ve ever had.
“It’s really interesting booking it because a lot of bands are saying, ‘We really want to do it but how about we open the Pyramid Stage rather than close it?’ And it’s like, ‘That’s a good idea!”

Guitarist for U2, The Edge had been interviewed by The Times Online.
In the interview, he was asked for his views on The Glastonbury Festival. Here’s what he had to say

“By the time Glastonbury hit its stride we were doing our own thing. It didn’t seem right for us then. It feels like we really have to do it because if we don’t do it now, we never will. I’m obviously familiar with the festival’s ideal but I’ve never experienced it. I used to be sceptical of its roots, the hippy thing. I’m going along to check it out as much as anything but I have a good feeling about it. I’d like to hope we can make our mark”

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