Glastonbury: Emily Eavis says 2021 festival is ‘not cancelled yet’ after Mel B claim

Glastonbury is scheduled to run from 23 to 27 June 2021

Emily Eavis has stressed that Glastonbury is “not cancelled yet” amid growing fears that the festival will not be able to go ahead in 2021.

After 2020’s 50th anniversary festival was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, many ticketholders had hoped that the rollout of the vaccine across the UK would mean next year’s event would be able to go ahead.

However, with the emergence of a new strain of coronavirus, the festival’s return seems less likely, with event organiser Eavis telling BBC News last week that they were “quite a long way” from being able to confirm whether Glastonbury 2021 would go ahead.

Former Spice Girl Mel B managed to cause further confusion during an interview with BBC Radio 5 on Monday 4 January, where she told host Nihal Arthanayake that the festival was definitely cancelled.

“I know that Glastonbury’s been cancelled, so a lot of big stage performances are on hold again this year, which is sad but we’ve got to get this virus under control,” she said.

Eavis responded quickly on Twitter, noting that the festival, which is currently slated to happen 23-27 June 2021, was not cancelled at this time.

She also responded to a fan on Twitter who tweeted: “I will only believe that @Glastonbury is cancelled next year if @emilyeavis rings me personally to tell me.”

“Not cancelled yet!” she replied, adding in a second tweet that an official update would be given next year.

Last week, Paul McCartney told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that he suspected Glastonbury would not go ahead in 2021, having been booked to headline the festival in 2020 before it was cancelled.

“100,000 people, closely packed together with flags and no masks. Talk about super-spreader,” he said.