Earlier today, multiple music outlets reported that the Glastonbury Festival would change its name to the Variety Bazaar and move locations temporarily in two years. The posts were based on a radio interview with the festival’s founder Michael Eavis in which he spoke about Glastonbury’s future. But since then, Eavis’ daughter, who co-organizes the festival, has clarified that Glastonbury is staying put and keeping its name.
In the interview with Glastonbury FM, the elder Eavis said the festival’s full new name will be “The Glastonbury Festival team presents The Variety Bazaar.”
“That’s a good name don’t you think?” he said. “I’ve been a risk taker all my life. In 47 years of taking risks, so far, touch wood, I haven’t come unstuck. This might be one risk too far, I don’t know.”
Radiohead is headlining the 2017 festival, which will take place in its usual location in Pilton, Somerset. The festival will then reportedly take a year off before, as Eavis said in the interview, moving “100 miles away, towards the Midlands.”
“It’s half way to the Midlands from here… and there’s only one landowner,” he said. “I’ve got 22 landowners where I am now. I just wonder whether the next generation will want to negotiate with so many people. It’s a very difficult job to hold it together.”
As the story began to gain traction, Glastonbury organizer Emily Eavis tweeted a statement saying the Variety Bazaar is a separate event and that the festival will keep its name and location.
— Emily Eavis (@emilyeavis) January 17, 2017
When contacted about Eavis’ initial statements, festival spokesman John Shearlaw referred SPIN to Eavis’ tweet. When asked for additional information about the new event, Shearlaw resent the same tweet with “!!”
[FACT]
