Glastonbury likely to take year off in 2026 according to Emily Eavis

Glastonbury is likely to take a fallow year in 2026, organiser Emily Eavis has confirmed.

The festival will return to Somerset this summer from June 26-30, with headline slots confirmed from Dua Lipa, SZA and Coldplay, with Shania Twain famed for the Sunday “legends slot.”

Little Simz, Burna Boy, The Streets, Disclosure and LCD Soundsystem are also all set to play across the festival’s four days.

The Worthy Farm-based festival periodically takes a year off to allow the land on the functioning cattle farm to rest and regrow, with its last “fallow year” taking place in 2018 — though Glastonbury also had years off in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Talking to Nick Grimshaw and Annie Mac on their BBC Sidetracked podcast, Emily Eavis has confirmed that it will likely happen again in 2026.

“We are due a fallow year,” she said. “The fallow year is important because it gives the land a rest, and it gives the cows a chance to stay out for longer and reclaim their land.”

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She continued: “I think it’s important, I think it gives everybody time to just switch off and the public as well. Then you kind of go away for a bit and it feels lovely when you come back. And I think it’s quite good not to be seen to be cashing in.”

She also spoke about how the festival almost ended in the 90s, with her father Sir Michael Eavis (who founded Glastonbury in the ’70s) ready to call it quits once he reached retirement age.

However, following the passing of his wife in 1999, Eavis decided to continue holding Glastonbury on the site, saying he “might need the festival now.”

Emily offered to step in and help, saying “They were going to retire and go on long cruises and things like that, I was like yeah I’ll help you!” She continued. “Here I am, a few decades on, now we feel like it would be a lovely thing to continue …. It’s been a lifeline for us.”

Read this next: Glastonbury Festival shares full line-up, set times and secret slots

To listen back to the full Sidetracked podcast with Emily Eavis, click here

To check out the full Glastonbury 2024 lineup, click here

Jamaal Johnson is Mixmag’s Digital Intern, follow him on Instagram