In pictures: Glastonbury through the years as festival celebrates 50th anniversary
This weekend marks the 50th anniversary of the very first Glastonbury Festival.
The coronavirus pandemic may have put paid to the world’s largest green-field and performing arts festival’ in 2020, but Glasto is still celebrating 50 years since its opened on September 19, 1970.
In its first year, Glastonbury began as a small festival which cost £1 to get in and you even got a free bottle of milk from the local farm with your entrance fee.
The first ever Glastonbury Festival attracted a crowd of just 1,500 - quite a contrast to the 200,000 revellers who attend the festival now on each of its three days.
With a rich history and humble beginnings, we thought it was only right to celebrate this iconic festival’s birthday through some of its most unforgettable visual moments.
Ian Sumner started taking photographs of Glastonbury in the mid-1980s and recalls the atmosphere back when the festival was smaller and local.
He told Yahoo News UK: “People turned up with dogs, horses, motorcycles and they could camp in tents very close to the stage.
“It was more-or-less wandering around at your will because there weren’t the tight security checks there are now. But there was a lot more trouble then, there were people selling drugs, it was more threatening.
“Local hippies who lived in Glastonbury would never pay, it was like their own festival, it was not commercial at all.”
Some of Sumner’s photographs capture the essence of this freedom as festival goers rode in on horses with their babies and camped wherever they pleased.
A decade or so later, Matt Cardy, a professional photographer since the late 1990s, spoke of his experiences of Glastonbury as it gained a name for itself across the globe.
“It has always fascinated me and I've always loved the energy behind it. It feels bigger than anyone or anything.
“I have had so many magical moments there, it keeps calling me back to it.
Cardy explains: “As a photographer I cover many different types of events, but there is something uniquely special about Glastonbury.
“I always like stuff that is emotive, that captures a feeling, a mood or a time. That’s what I enjoy trying to capture.”
