Tickets for Glastonbury Festival 2011 will go on sale at 9am on Sunday, October 3rd, costing £195 (+ £5 booking fee and P&P). You will be able to book your tickets by paying a £50 deposit per person, either online at www.seetickets.com/g2011 or on the booking line: 0844 412 4635. 

Tonight on BBC4 from 8pm there's a series of programmes about Glastonbury. Apart from a best of compiliation, there's this which looks good.

Hello Glastonbury!

Tuesday 31 August
8:00pm - 8:50pm
BBC4

Michael Eavis has given away more details about the Sunday night headliner for next year's Glastonbury, saying he has booked an "American artist" for the slot.

Eavis confirmed earlier reports that two of the three headliners for the June 24-26 festival have now been booked.

He told Heart Radio that the Sunday night headliner is someone he's "been wanting to have for years".

"We've got two out of three headliners already sorted," Eavis explained. "There's an American artist that I've been wanting to have for years and yonks and yonks and yonks. So it's confirmed."

After confirming that the artist will play on the Sunday evening of Glastonbury, Eavis added: "I can't tell you who it is. I really cannot tell you who it is. I can't tell you a thing about it," although he did admit he was "thrilled" about the booking.

Eavis has previously also said he's asked U2 to play the event after they were forced to pull out this year, but the Irish band are yet to give him a definite answer

http://www.nme.com/news/glastonbury/52455

Singing in front of people is always a daunting experience, so you can hardly blame Glastonbury Festival founder Michael Eavis for being nervous when he sang with Stevie Wonder live on stage.

With merely two hours' notice, Michael joined the soul star for his rendition of Happy Birthday as part of the festival's 40th anniversary celebrations.

Since then, many people have joked about his singing voice, asking him if he can sing in tune.

Michael is adamant he can, saying: "Obviously I was very flattered and I do sing a lot - I'm not afraid of singing - but the techie people didn't give me an ear plug.

"There was millions of people cheering at me which is lovely, and I couldn't hear the tune so I was having to wing it.

"And of course being a singer anyway - we do the chapel thing every Sunday, singing hymns and really enjoying ourselves - and so I can sing in tune but I didn't know what the tune was. So I was just lip reading it and making the best of it."

Stevie Wonder wasn't the first person to ask Michael for a duet either; the previous night's headliners Muse also asked if he would sing John Lennon's Imagine with them.

Said Michael: "But then they changed their minds so I got dropped by Muse and taken on by Stevie Wonder - wasn't that good?!"

Booked headliners

Now that that's cleared up, Michael declared - as he does every year - that this year's festival was the best ever.

"It was absolutely fantastic, it really was the best we've ever had. People always say that, but the weather was the best we've had for 20 years.

"The other side (Shangri La, Arcadia and Block 9) was fantastic. That's not the main attraction, but those things are gaining strength. It was a huge investment but people love that sort of thing.

"Although it is very good to get headline artists, like Stevie Wonder and Muse, that's not the whole story. There's a lot more going on at Glastonbury and that's why we're so popular."

Talking of headline acts, two of the three main performers have already been booked. Unfortunately he would not give any clues as to who they might be; all he would say was that he was "absolutely thrilled" and that they will top this year's event.

He did confirm that he has asked U2 if they would like to headline the Pyramid Stage on the Friday night, but he is still waiting to see if they are available.

But that's not Michael's main concern at the moment as this weekend sees his other event, Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza, take place.

Musical extravaganza

The event features two nights of music and is seen as a thank you to the town for putting up with the chaos that the main festival brings.

Although Saturday's event with Madness headlining has sold out, Sunday's classical show still has many tickets for sale.

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is performing with violinist Nicola Benedetti, someone whom Michael is a fan of.

"She's a great star. We're really lucky to have her."

Despite the classical night historically being difficult to sell tickets for, Michael does not want to drop it and replace it with more well-known acts.

"It is an extra liability for me as we have to sell the tickets to make it work. We have loads of tickets left.

"I thought about dropping it (the classical music night) but I do feel the abbey is suited to the classical music. It has that classical tradition; the first Christian church, King Arthur... that all lends itself to classical music.

"We have to keep it going as I think it's a very valuable evening's entertainment. We can't sell that night out, it would be wonderful if we could but if we sell 5 or 6,000 tickets I'll be happy.

"The Sunday format is tried and test with the water, fireworks, big screens and orchestra. I want people to just turn up on the day, and enjoy themselves."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/somerset/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8887000/8887931.stm

Inviting over 150,000 people onto your land for five days of fun and frivolity is always going to leave its mark.

Clearing up after Glastonbury Festival normally takes hundreds of litter pickers about a month to remove the site of all of the debris left behind.

But this year Worthy Farm's fields have been cleared quicker than usual and the cows have left their 'Mootel'.

The festival says this is because people listened to their message of 'leave no trace'.

On the screens to the side of the Pyramid Stage, videos were played asking people to take all of their belongings home.

The videos, which featured a limerick voiced by children, warned people of the impact rubbish can have on the ecology of the farm.

The dry weather at this year's event is also believed to have played a part, as people were not in such a rush to pack up unlike in 2007 when a mass deluge of rain saw thousands of tents left behind.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/somerset/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8846000/8846627.stm