Glastonbury announce The Variety Bazaar for 2019
The legendary festival will have a name change when in moves to its new site in two years’ time
The UK's most-loved music festival will have a new name when it moves to its temporary new location in 2019.
Festival founder Michael Eavis reveals that the 2019 festival will be situated on a new site “100 miles away, towards the Midlands,” while the ground at the current site near Glastonbury in Somerset recovers, before things return to normal in 2020. Speaking to Glastonbury FM, Eavis also revealed that the 2019 entry will go by a new name: the less than catchy "The Glastonbury Festival team presents The Variety Bazaar."
Eavis' daughter Emily has since clarified that the Variety Bazaar is a separate event organised by the team behind Glastonbury, adding: "Glastonbury Festival will always be called Glastonbury and will remain at Worthy Farm."
— Emily Eavis (@emilyeavis) January 17, 2017
Discussing the Variety Bazaar, Eavis said on Glastonbury FM: “That’s a good name, don’t you think?", before admitting the risk in changing the festival’s name and location. “I’ve been a risk taker all my life," he added. "In 47 years of taking risks, so far, touch wood, I haven’t come unstuck. This might be one risk too far, I don’t know.”
The new name hasn't gone down too well on Twitter, however. Jamie Milton says it all with this tweet.
I can only imagine Jools Holland saying the words "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE VARIETY BAZAAR!" and that is not a good thing
— Jamie Milton (@jamiemilton_) January 17, 2017
Glastonbury will go ahead as usual this summer, take a break in 2018 and go to the new site as "The Variety Bazaar" in 2019 before returning back home in 2020 to the original Somerset site. Radiohead are confirmed as one of this year's headline acts; Foo Fighters and Depeche Mode are among those also rumoured.