Glastonbury, Goodbye to (NME)

GOODBYE TO GLASTONBURY?

HELLO, READING...

LAST WEEKEND'S Glastonbury Festival may have been the last, but the Reading rockfest is poised for a comeback.

The Glastonbury promoter, Michael Eavis, said after the three-day event: "There are too many people, and too many problems". Eavis had a licence for 55,000 festival-goers, but gatecrashers and other unexpected arrivals put the attendance last weekend to closer to 100,000, which may have cost the festival its future. CND will be anxious, if this is the case, for the event raises more for the anti-nuclear organisation in three days than it can get in the rest of the year.

News reports that the Reading Festival will be back in action this August after a two-year absence have been described by the festival's organisers as "premature".

As NME closed for press, there was only a 50-50 chance that the event will return this year. The absence of Britain's longest-running rock festival was caused by the Tory-controlled Reading Council requisitioning the fest's traditional site for redevelopment, at the same time making it clear that the event was no longer welcome in the town. But Labour gained control of the council in the spring elections, and earlier this month invited the promoter to reactivate the event.

Whether that can happen this year depends on a suitable site being found (the former camping area is under consideration) and being able to contract bands at such short notice. The final decision will be made in the next few days.

Booker Jack Barrie said: "If it does happen this year, it will be a smaller event than the public is accustomed to, but it will return in all its glory next year."