Why there won’t be Glastonbury in 2026 as the festival takes a fallow year

With Glastonbury 2025 well underway, many music fans may be looking ahead to next year to return to Worthy Farm. However, the festival will be taking its traditional fallow year.

• READ MORE: Glastonbury Festival 2025: See the full line-up, stage times and stage splits

The festival traditionally takes a year off for one in every five to allow the farmland to recover. It’s a concept that originates from agricultural practices, where land is left unplanted to improve soil quality and to allow it to replenish its nutrients for cattle grazing.

The festival’s last official fallow year was in 2018, but organisers had to cancel two consecutive years in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.

Last July, organiser Emily Eavis said that the festival would once again take a fallow year to “give the land a rest”.

“The festival before a fallow year is always a fun one to plan, because you almost have to fit two years into one,” she said of 2025’s edition of Glastonbury.

It also offers a break for the community in Pilton, where the festival is held. Speaking about fallow years in today’s edition of The Glastonbury Free Press, Michael Eavis said: “I invented those in the ’80s, because it was very stressful with the licence, the police, the village, the press and the council.

“I thought, ‘We’ll give them all a break so they’ve got nothing to complain about for a bit!’ And of course, the farm gets a rest. It was a really good idea. I think we’ll be ready for a break next year!”

Michael and Emily Eavis opened the gates to the iconic Worthy Farm event early yesterday morning (Wednesday June 25). Many fans had camped outside overnight and travelled from across the world to be greeted by the festival bosses and their family, accompanied by a brass band.

Last night also saw early arrivals treated to a circus and acrobatics show on the Pyramid Stage, followed by the traditional fireworks from The Park.

Music at Glastonbury kicks off tonight, with the likes of Heartworms, Maruja and Fat Dog set to perform across the site.

Tomorrow’s first day sees headline sets from The 1975 and Loyle Carner alongside the likes of Biffy Clyro, Franz Ferdinand, Wet Leg, Supergrass, Self Esteem and two highly anticipated ‘TBA’ secret sets – with the one on Woodsies predicted to be Lorde and the Pyramid slot rumoured to be Lewis Capaldi.

The weekend continues with Charli XCX, Deftones, Neil Young, Olivia Rodrigo, The Prodigy, Rod Stewart and many more. Check out the full line-up and schedule here.

A number of significant changes have been made to the site at Glasto this year, with Emily Eavis revealing that they had been “trying to make as much space as possible” and “selling a few thousand less tickets” for 2025.

She also said that she “did not believe” that the BBC would be broadcasting Neil Young’s headline set – with him currently not appearing in their coverage plans for the weekend – as well as discussing Kneecap’s controversial slot with the band’s Mo Chara facing terror charges, arguing that “everyone is welcome here”.

Check back at NME here for the latest news, reviews, interviews, photos and more from Glastonbury 2025.

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