The BBC has announced plans to commemorate what should have been this year’s Glastonbury festival with a weekend of special programming.
For the second year running, Glastonbury will not be going ahead in 2021 due to the pandemic, with the BBC revealing that the last weekend in June will be dedicated to some of the music event’s best ever moments across TV, radio and the iPlayer.
Friday 25 June will be dedicated to the 1990s, while Saturday 26 will be centred around the festival’s highlights from the 21st century.
Meanwhile, Sunday 27 will be devoted to Glastonbury “legends”.
Highlights from the Live At Worthy Farm event, a live-streamed musical performance that took place last month, will also be available to watch on the BBC iPlayer, while past Glastonbury sets from Radiohead, Kylie Minogue and Fela Kuti will be shown on BBC Two and BBC Four over the course of the weekend.
Jo Whiley is also set to present an hour-long documentary on BBC Two telling the story of how the Live At Worthy Farm event was put together.
Lorna Clarke, controller of BBC pop music, said: “Summer wouldn’t be complete without a celebration of Glastonbury on the BBC and this year will be no exception.
“We’ll be making many of the spectacular performances that the BBC and Glastonbury Festival have worked together to capture over the years available across TV, radio and digital platforms.
“I’m also delighted that Emily and Michael Eavis have allowed us to broadcast highlights from Live At Worthy Farm, for listeners and viewers to enjoy whenever they wish and wherever they are.”
While Glastonbury will not be able to go ahead in 2021, a special one-off event is set to take place at Worthy Farm in September.
Up to 50,000 attendees will be permitted to attend this one-day music event, but overnight camping will not be allowed.
Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis recently told NME that the event would be a larger version of the Pilton Party, an annual fundraising concert for villagers, workers and local residents, and would be called Equinox.