Bummed you’re missing out on going to Glastonbury? It’s no surprise, considering that tickets to the historial UK music festival tend to sell out each year long before the lineup is ever announced.
This year’s bumper edition is no different, with the Rolling Stones topping the bill, alongside headliners Arctic Monkeys and Mumford & Sons, with what looks like nearly every musical act from the Northern Hemisphere.
However, music fans who can’t actually be on ground at the three-day festival will be still be able to experience some of its glory, with the BBC promising extensive coverage of Glastonbury 2013, and with such an enormous lineup its only fitting that the BCC are giving it Olympic-sized treatment.
As BBC News themselves report, the broadcasters have unveiled plans for the first “truly digital” coverage of the summer music festival, promising 250 hours of live music broadcasting from Glastonbury’s six main stages both online and on-air.
BBC’s controller of popular music, Bob Shennan, calls it the “first truly digital Glastonbury experience,” saying the effort is a “monumental logistical challenge” as part of a new four-year deal with the music event, but one the broadcasters are up to the task of, their plans shaped by their experiences in covering the London 2012 Olympics. “We will be covering six stages and offering live streaming in a way we have never have done previously… to deliver the best Glastonbury experience for all our audiences.” – Bob Shennan, BBC
“We’ve learnt a lot from the experience the BBC had in 2012,” Shennan says of the BBC Olympic coverage, which broadcast the games on 24 dedicated TV channels. For Glastonbury, the BBC controller says, “we will be covering six stages and offering live streaming in a way we have never have done previously… to deliver the best Glastonbury experience for all our audiences.”
The BBC coverage will feature more than 120 live gigs broadcast on eight channels through TV and radio, as The Guardian reports, with 34 hours of TV coverage will be split across BBC’s four main channels, but may have issues with screening with the big drawcard, the Pyramid Stage performance from the Rolling Stones, due to outstanding rights issues still to be settled.
But the biggest audiences will be found online, through four major platforms. “Just as we did at the Olympics and for the first time at a big music event, [coverage] will be available on PC, mobile, tablet, and connected TVs,” said Mark Friend, head of BBC’s multi-platform coverage. “Whether you are at home, work or on the go you are going to be able to get this stuff, making it really accessible and easy to find.
“We expect mobile and tablet viewing and listening to reach unprecedented levels, particularly over the weekend,” said Friend. The iPlayer BBC app has already been downloaded by more the 2 million mobile users in anticipation for the event, “most people expect to get audio and visual content on their mobile devices when they want – tablet usage has quadrupled since the last Glastonbury,” Friend added. “We expect mobile and tablet viewing and listening to reach unprecedented levels… tablet usage has quadrupled since the last Glastonbury.” – Mark Friend, BBC
It’s the biggest and broadest coverage the BBC has committed to the festival since they started documenting the event 16 years ago. “The BBC have stuck with us through thick and thin since 1997 and they’ve earned their stripes the hard way,” said Michael Eavis, Glastonbury’s legendary festival founder, organiser, and benevolent owner of Worthy Farm. “It’s been quite a journey since 1997, and to have a complete record of what we’ve been up to over the years is music history gold dust.”
Glastonbury, which was put on hold last year due to the Olympics and to recover from its 2011 edition, is expected to draw 135,000 people to this year’s event which includes a number of Australian bands flying at Worthy Farm, with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Tame Impala, Jagwar Ma, and Xavier Rudd representing their country in the enormous lineup.
Melbourne soul-certified nine-piece Saskwatch are also a late addition to the bill, after managing to raise the necessary finances needed through their “Get Saskwatch To Glasto” crowdfunding campaign, breaking the $20,000 goal set on their Pozible pledge page with just 25 hours left until deadline.
The Glastonbury visit will no doubt boost the band’s profile, even among such a ginormous lineup, which you can view below, and with such a large and eclectic mix, it really does suit the ‘something for everyone’ cliche. But come the weekend of June 28th, one thing is guaranteed, those clashes are going to be just as much as a nightmare to navigate as the mud of Worthy Farm
Glastonbury Festival 2013 Lineup
Click to enlarge
