PILTON, England — Glastonbury Festival's main stages opened on Friday at Worthy Farm in Somerset, drawing an estimated 200,000 attendees for the first full day of headline performances. The festival runs through Sunday.

The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, founded by Michael Eavis in 1970, remains the largest greenfield music and arts event in the world. His daughter, Emily Eavis, now leads the festival's organisation and curates its line-up across the Pyramid and Other stages.

Organisers have previously signalled that the festival would observe a fallow year to allow the land and local community to recover, a periodic measure the Eavis family has used in past cycles. This has lent additional weight to the 2026 edition for ticket holders and performers alike.

Worthy Farm's opening day typically brings the festival's first major Pyramid Stage acts, alongside late-night activity at the Block9 and Shangri-La areas. Avon and Somerset Police and festival welfare teams prepared for the weekend crowds and warm forecast conditions.

Emily Eavis has consistently framed the festival as a community endeavour, noting that the event depends on the goodwill of nearby villages and thousands of volunteers and charity partners.