Glastonbury lawyer says 2021 festival is going ahead as planned
Glastonbury Festival‘s General Counsel Ben Challis has said plans are moving ahead for the festival to be staged in June 2021 despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The entertainment lawyer, who has represented the festival for 26 years, said work on the Worthy Farm bash will begin in March.
“For 2021 we will have to start building in March, or the end of March because its a big festival and it takes a lot to build, and no one wants to do a ‘light Glastonbury’,” he told Behind The Noise Podcast’s Marc Farquhar earlier today (October 26).
Challis added: “The plan would be to rebook the 2020 bill, it will move everything, including our 50th-anniversary celebration to 2021”.
Behind The Noise #73 – Ben Challis(Glastonbury Festival)
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Spotify- https://t.co/rEbjVV4siE#glastonbury #glastonburyfestival #glasto #glastonbury2020 #glastonbury2021 #benchallis #liveevents #wemakeevents #marcfarquhar pic.twitter.com/1EkkMZ9Qun— Marc Farquhar (@marcfarquhar) October 26, 2020
Asked whether there were many people requesting a refund after this year’s event was cancelled in March, Challis said: “It was literally a hand-full, it was extraordinary. No one wanted a refund.”
His words echoed organiser Emily Eavis’ comments back in August when she said: “For those who have been asking, we have no plans to move next year’s Glastonbury to September 2021 – we’re still very much aiming for June.”
She explained that there will be no ticket resale this month because “so few people have asked for a refund (next year’s Festival remains sold out), meaning we don’t have enough tickets to resell”.
Meanwhile, Michael Eavis recently spoke about the possibility that “massive testing arrangements” could be put in place at next year’s event.
“The testing is going so well now, there could be massive testing arrangements,” he said.
“Do we want to test 200,000 people three times – when they leave their home, when they’re halfway here, and when they get to the [festival] gate – so that we’re clear of COVID?”