Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis confirms festival to take year off in 2026
The Worthy Farm-based festival will have an overdue "fallow year" after next year's edition, the first since the COVID-19 pandemic
Glastonbury will take a fallow year in 2026, organiser Emily Eavis has confirmed speaking to The Sun.
She has said that it will be an opportunity to "give the land a rest", following a 2025 event, for which she has said they are, "already in talks with some acts... It’s exciting!"
The Worthy Farm-based festival periodically takes a year off to allow the land on the functioning cattle farm to rest and regrow, with its last "fallow year" taking place in 2018 — though Glastonbury also had years off in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Emily Eavis had previously indicated that this was likely to happen again in 2026 on Nick Grimshaw and Annie Mac's BBC Sidetracked podcast, telling the two broadcasters: "The fallow year is important because it gives the land a rest, and it gives the cows a chance to stay out for longer and reclaim their land.”
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She continued: “I think it’s important, I think it gives everybody time to just switch off and the public as well. Then you kind of go away for a bit and it feels lovely when you come back. And I think it’s quite good not to be seen to be cashing in.”
She also spoke about how the festival almost ended in the 90s, with her father Sir Michael Eavis (who founded Glastonbury in the '70s) ready to call it quits once he reached retirement age.
However, following the passing of his wife in 1999, Eavis decided to continue holding Glastonbury on the site, saying he “might need the festival now.”
Emily offered to step in and help, saying “They were going to retire and go on long cruises and things like that, I was like yeah I’ll help you!” She continued. “Here I am, a few decades on, now we feel like it would be a lovely thing to continue …. It’s been a lifeline for us.”
The festival returned to Worthy Farm over the weekend (June 26-30), with headline sets from Dua Lipa, SZA and Coldplay, with Shania Twain on the Sunday "legends slot."
Little Simz, Burna Boy, The Streets, Disclosure and LCD Soundsystem also played across the four days, which saw the festival criticised by attendees due to overcrowding and safety concerns at certain sets.
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Emily is now looking forward to planning next year, saying, "The festival before a fallow year is always a fun one to plan, because you almost have to fit two years into one."
To listen back to the full Sidetracked podcast with Emily Eavis, click here
To check out the full Glastonbury 2024 lineup, click here
This story was updated on 2/7/2024 to include a confirmation from Emily Eavis regarding a fallow year in 2026.
Jamaal Johnson is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow him on Instagram