Today's Glastonbury Festival draws roughly 200,000 people and sells out its entire ticket allocation within minutes, at £408 per ticket for the 2027 edition — the most expensive in the festival's history. Its actual predecessor, held on a Somerset dairy farm in 1970, charged £1, included free milk from the farmer's own herd, and still lost money.
September 19, 1970: The Pilton Pop, Folk & Blues Festival
Michael Eavis, a dairy farmer at Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset, had no prior event-organizing experience and a hefty overdraft when he decided to put on his own music event, inspired by the nearby Bath Blues and Progressive Rock Festival, which had recently hosted Led Zeppelin. He originally booked The Kinks to headline — but they pulled out, reportedly after seeing the event described as a 'mini-festival' in a newspaper.
Marc Bolan Steps In
With The Kinks gone, Marc Bolan headlined instead, alongside Keith Christmas, Stackridge and Al Stewart. About 1,500 people attended, paying £1 for entry — a price that notably included free milk from Eavis's own dairy cows, a detail that says as much about the event's improvised, farm-scale origins as anything else from that first year.
A Financial Failure That Became a Cultural Institution
The first festival didn't solve Eavis's money problems — he made a loss on it. It also wasn't held every single year at first, and the event's now-iconic name wasn't even settled until 1979, when it became simply 'Glastonbury Festival,' dropping the original Pilton Pop, Folk & Blues Festival title. What kept it going wasn't profit; it was Eavis's continued commitment to the counterculture ideals — art, music, and alternative community — that had drawn him to the idea in the first place.
From 1,500 People to a Ticket Ballot
Today's festival introduced a registration-and-photo-ID ticketing system specifically to combat touting, a structural response to demand that the 1970 organizers, struggling to fill a single field, could never have anticipated. The gap between £1 plus free milk in 1970 and £408 selling out in minutes for 2027 is, genuinely, one of the more dramatic economic transformations in modern festival history.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did the first Glastonbury Festival make money?
No — Michael Eavis lost money on the inaugural 1970 event, despite roughly 1,500 attendees paying for entry.
When did it become known as Glastonbury Festival?
The name was settled in 1979. The original 1970 event was called the Pilton Pop, Folk & Blues Festival.
Who headlined the first festival?
Marc Bolan, brought in after the originally booked headliners, The Kinks, pulled out.
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Editorial Team
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