Glastonbury Festival organisers have secured a licence for a one-off concert this September, after the main festival was cancelled for a second year.
Mendip District Council, which covers the festival’s location, has this week approved the licence, allowing up to 50,000 people to attend the show.
It does not guarantee that an event will take place in September, but means the first hurdle has been cleared.
Organiser Emily Eavis recently told music magazine NME that the event would be called Equinox.
The regular Glastonbury Festival normally takes place in June and attracts 200,000 people.
Emily Eavis says the proposed autumn show would be a larger version of the annual Pilton Party, which Glastonbury runs as a “thank you” and fundraiser for villagers, workers and other local people.
“We do that every September, but it will just be bigger and the public can come down,” she said.
The festival is not expected to be formally confirmed for several weeks, with organisers keen to avoid a situation where they announce a show, only to have to cancel it again.
If it does go ahead, it will be a one-day event, although the original application had proposed a two-day festival.
According to the conditions in the licence, the concert would be held solely on the Pyramid Stage, with no camping allowed, and the 50,000 capacity would include the audience, performers, staff and crew.
Permission was granted days before the Glastonbury site hosts a global live-stream concert, with performances from Haim, Coldplay, Wolf Alice, Jorja Smith, George Ezra, Michael Kiwanuka and a yet-to-be-announced special guest.
The ticketed event will “help to secure the festival’s return in 2022”, organisers said.
But speaking to the BBC 6 Music radio station on Wednesday, Emily Eavis said plans for next year’s comeback were already fully under way.
“We are going to throw everything at 2022,” she said. “The light is coming in. We’re able to move out of this very awkward time and plan to be back in fields again and to be watching live music and camping for five days outside with 200,000 other people.”
“That is now a possibility and it’s looking highly likely that that will happen next year.”
“So we’re booking bands for that [now]. It’s hugely reassuring to be able to actually plan something that might happen.”
