Glastonbury week: what to expect at the UK’s biggest festival

Glastonbury is arguably the UK’s biggest music festival, and it’s all taking place 24-28 June at Worthy Farm in Pilton. Many Liftshare staff have been going to the festival for years, so it’s hands-down the office favourite. In fact, Liftshare members have registered over 1,000 journeys to Glastonbury every year since 2008, so it’s a community favourite too.

Because we have so many fond memories of Glastonbury, we thought we’d dedicate an entire week of blog content to it, starting with the basics. If you’re a Glasto newbie, here’s some handy insight you should bear in mind for your first trip to Worthy Farm.

Glastonbury festival basics – the main stages

We’ll start with the obvious, which is, that Glastonbury is a massive festival. It’s seriously huge and spans many stages and areas where the glittering 2015 line-up will grace revellers with their presence. There are three main stages in the site, but many people consider the iconic Pyramid Stage to be the highlight, as it’s where most of the biggest acts will play each year. Historically, the stage has hosted such mega-acts as Metallica, Oasis, Radiohead, Kings of Leon and more.

But you don’t want to be standing around there all weekend, because there’s also the John Peel Stage, which is housed inside a grand blue circus-style tent. The stage’s remit is new music – as the late DJ Peel himself was often first to bring new acts to the attention of the masses – and Glastonbury’s history proves this to be true. This stage featured Mumford and Sons before they hit the big time, along with The Black Keys and Calvin Harris. It’s also known for surprise appearances too, so keep an eye out!

Lastly, The Other Stage rounds off Glastonbury’s trio of main areas, and hosts an eclectic mix of the biggest artists around. There’s no overall theme but you can expect only the best on show.

Are there other stages? What else is going on?

There are over a hundred stages in total (that’s not a typo) and yes, there’s lots going on! In fact, the Glastonbury website says it perfectly by suggesting that the festival is actually like lots of little festivals mashed together. There’s much to see and different ‘flavours’ to try over the long weekend. For starters there’s the Theatre and Circus area, which includes open air performance stages, cabaret events, poetry readings, along with countless workshops, ground performers and more.

The Silver Hayes area delivers dance and techno courtesy of the Sonic Stage, while the Wow! and Pussy Parlure stages bring underground beats, live DJs and big global acts. There’s also raggae and DJ acts at the Gully, dancehall and dub at The Blues and the legendary BBC Introducing stage that showcases the finest acts of tomorrow.

Renowned for its innovation and dedication to an unforgettable show, Glastonbury also includes some truly marvelous stages in the form of Shangri-la, the dance pop-up city that is Block9, tribal vibes and Celtic rituals at The Common and so much more. Seriously, we’d be here all day.

But if it does all get too much when you’re there, The Green Fields offers 60 acres of literal green fields that include some peace and quiet if the stages get too much. These spaces house a pop-up city of craft stalls, wind chimes, play areas for younger festival-goers, and softer sounds for when you want to relax for a spell.

Also, is that… a flame-spewing spider?

No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you, that is a large, metal, flame-spewing spider in the video above. The beast is the focal point of Arcadia, a 360 degree field of music that kicks off at 23:00 every night of the festival. Due to the miracles of science – and possibly wizardry – the music that places in this area can’t be heard outside the spider’s  sound field. We’re not sure how they do it either, but just look at how cool this is!

Liftshare to Glastonbury for affordable travel and fun times!

If you are heading to Glastonbury in 2015, be sure to search Liftshare’s friendly community of over 430,000 drivers and passengers to see who else is going your way. Using our site you can offer your spare car seats or request and accept a lift from drivers heading to Worthy Farm for a split of the petrol cost. It’s far cheaper than train, more social and better for the environment too. Our free iOS and Android apps

Stay tuned for more Glasto-Week fun tomorrow on the Liftshare blog!

Image credit: wonker

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