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The V&A is putting on a virtual Glastonbury exhibition to mark the festival’s fiftieth year

Share your Glasto stories to contribute to the V&A‘s 360-degree mapping of the festival’s 50-year history

Written by
Katie McCabe
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If you’re one of the 135,000 who managed to put a £50 deposit on a ticket to Glastonbury, you’re probably feeling pretty bummed about this weekend. It was meant to be the big one: five days marking the festival’s fiftieth anniversary. But the whole thing was cancelled, and now we have to wait until 2021 for a Glasto summer. 

Online Glastos have appeared to fill the void. The BBC launched The Glastonbury Experience, uploading archive shows from old headliners to iPlayer – including Beyoncé (2011), Jay Z (2008) and Bowie (2000). In July, we’re getting a virtual version of the Shangri-La stage

And now the V&A museum has announced its tribute, with plans for a seven-day celebration of all things Glastonbury. The museum’s website will be dedicating a page to its collection of festival photos, interviews, vintage programmes and posters. 

Photograph: Festival-goer stuck in the mud, 1990s (c) Ann Cook
Photograph: Festival-goer stuck in the mud, 1990s (c) Ann Cook
Image: 1970 Poster. Copyright Glastonbury Festival
Image: 1970 Poster. Copyright Glastonbury Festival
Photograph: Glastonbury Festival, 1970s (c) Brian Walker
Photograph: Glastonbury Festival, 1970s (c) Brian Walker

To fill the festival lacuna, try some sonic immersion with the V&A’s soundscape by sound designer Gareth Fry. For seven minutes, you’ll hear the noises of the crowds, the Stone Circle and the Pyramid Stage, recorded during a day at Glasto in 2015. 

Photograph: Stormzy on stage, 2019 (c) Jason Bryant
Photograph: Stormzy on stage, 2019 (c) Jason Bryant

If you’re sick of looking and listening to other people’s festival memories, send in your own. You can help build on the V&A’s collection by sharing your stories of the festival, which will contribute towards a 360-degree mapping of its 50-year history. Send your darkest, most embarrassing or heartwarming Glasto moments to glastonbury@vam.ac.uk. No need to keep it clean.

Find out more at vam.ac.uk/glastonbury

Glastonbury’s Shangri-La is going virtual this year with an epic line-up. 

Want more? Try Junction 2’s 3D, three-stage virtual music festival. 

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