Jazz World Stage

Greenpeace and Oxfam became the Festival’s main beneficiaries as Glastonbury’s focus on green issues and the environment continued to grow. Tony Cordy launched the Kidzfield in its now permanent location.

Licensed attendance increased by 10,000 and advance tickets to Glastonbury sold out by mid-June. The Festival included the NME music stage, as well as circus, cabaret, jazz, cinema and 60 acres of green activities. With security increasingly becoming an issue, Michael Eavis decided a double fence would be required for the next Festival.

Plans for the Festival were almost destroyed when a fire reduced the Pyramid Stage to ashes. A replacement stage was hastily erected, linked up to the Festival’s first wind turbine which supplied 150 kilowatts of power for the performances. Channel 4 broadcast the Festival live for the first time.

For the 25th anniversary of the Festival, two artists from the first event were invited back to play. The line-up included Oasis, The Cure and Pulp, who replaced The Stone Roses after John Squire was involved in a cycling accident.

Torrential rain in the week leading up to the Festival resulted in 1997 being the ‘year of the mud’. The first proper Greenpeace area included a reconstruction of their Rainbow Warrior Ship and solar-heated showers. The BBC filmed the Festival this year, beginning a longstanding relationship with Glastonbury.

In 1998 the official attendance topped 100,000 for the first time and resilient campers enjoyed the evergreen mix of entertainment in spite of the rain. There were over 1,000 different performances on 17 stages, including a new stage for emerging talent called the New Stage.

In a year of firsts, the Glastonbury Festival website was launched in 1999 and the Festival hosted an artist in residence for the first time - Kurt Jackson. The Festival was dedicated to to the memory of Michael’s late wife Jean Eavis

The third Pyramid Stage debuted in 2000 – it was 35 metres high and four times larger than the previous Pyramid Stage. David Bowie delivered one of the all time great Glastonbury performances, his first appearance at the Festival since 1971.

After a year off, Glastonbury returned in 2002 with a steel fence positioned around the entire site to deter gatecrashers. Coldplay played the first of many headline sets on the Pyramid Stage.

The 2004 site featured improved infastructure and drainage to help combat the unpredictable English weather. More than 1000 acts peformed across the site over the Festival’s five days, including a headline show by Paul McCartney, and performances in the new Left Field.

Tickets to Glastonbury 2005 sold out in under three hours – a new record – although exceptionally rainy weather on the Friday halted some performances. The Dance Tent expanded to become the Dance Village, and the New Bands Tent was renamed the John Peel Stage.

New area The Park was launched by Emily Eavis, while in the late-night area, newcomers Block9 launched their NYC Downlow venue. Michael Eavis was awarded the CBE for services to music.

JAY-Z headlined on Saturday night, beginning his set with an acoustic rendition of Oasis' ‘Wonderwall’. Glastonbury’s late-night offer continued to grow with the arrival of Shangri-La and Arcadia.

A ticket-deposit system was introduced before Glastonbury 2009, helping the Festival sell out two months in advance. On the Pyramid Stage, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen and Blur headlined.