Graeme Thomson

The festivalisation of TV

Televising Glastonbury has changed the festival, and in turn transformed television

Pyramid programming: television makes Glastonbury feel far more conventional than it is. BBC 
issue 27 June 2020

The Glastonbury festival has undergone a series of metamorphoses in the 31 years since I first attended as a 15-year-old fence hopper (as, indeed, have I, thank heavens). One of the most significant changes, to pillage Gil Scott-Heron’s famous prophecy, is that the evolution has been televised. Back in 1989, if your boots weren’t on the ground — often a quagmire, though not that year — you missed out on all the fun.

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