Over the weekend, Glastonbury held their paid virtual event, but fans didn’t get to enjoy it. Due to technical difficulties, the UK’s biggest music festival suffered quite a conundrum. With tickets at $28 (£20), fans couldn’t see Coldplay, Jorja Smith, George Ezra, and more. To compensate, organizers had to release a free stream link within two hours instead, missing out on all that profit.
The “Live at Worthy Farm” show started at 7 pm (2 pm ET), but malfunctioned as soon as it started. Complaints reamed the internet when they couldn’t see Wolf Alice. The intent is to help artists come back financially from the pandemic and its halt to the music industry and touring. However, it’s devastating that this test run failed. A fan even stated that the event wasn’t up to the standard that a festival as important as this is supposed to meet. Ticketed viewers came from all over the world so we can understand the disappointment.
Driift, Glastonbury’s event company, relayed their mortification to their unacceptable technical issues. Since the incident happened on Saturday, they identified the problem and stated that the problem didn’t exist for streamers in North America or Australia. But that left the rest of the world’s fans perturbed. As a replacement to the live event that would’ve taken place this year, it would’ve provided funding relief for their 2022 event. Grammy-nominated director Paul Dugdale created the five-hour production that took viewers on a virtual tour of the festival site.
“Again, I’m so sorry for the issues in the first part of the stream. But thank you for all the messages of support, as well as the incredible responses we’ve seen to the film itself. We put our heart and soul into making this film, and we are so proud of it. We are also hugely grateful to all the artists who gave their time to deliver such stunning performances.”
Emily Eavis, festival organizer
For those that want to try again, the show will be streamed again on Sunday. For anyone wanting a refund, they can look out for Driift’s form. Otherwise, tune in this coming Sunday.
