Glastonbury Festival's 50th anniversary cancelled due to coronavirus

18 March 2020, 11:08 | Updated: 23 March 2020, 11:34

The Somerset Festival, which was set to take place from 24-28 June this year, has announced its delay due to the pandemic.

Glastonbury Festival 2020 has been postponed due to coronavirus.

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The Somerset festival - which was set to celebrate its 50th anniversary from 24-28 June this year with Kendrick Lamar, The Beatles legend Paul McCartney and Taylor Swift all headlining the Pyramid Stage - has now announced it will no longer be taking place due to the pandemic.

Taking to Twitter, the festival organisers wrote: "We are so sorry to announce this, but we are going to have to cancel Glastonbury 2020. Tickets for this year will roll over to next year. Full statement below and on our website. Michael & Emily".

Their statement begins: "We are so sorry to announce this, but Glastonbury 2020 will have to be cancelled, and this will be an enforced fallow year for the Festival.

"Clearly this was not a course of action we hoped to take for our 50th anniversary event, but following the new government measures announced this week - and in times of such unprecedented uncertainty - this is now our only viable option."

See their full statement here:

https://www.nhs.uk/coronavirus

The festival adds: "We understand that it is not always easy to secure a Glastonbury ticket, which is why we would like to offer all those people the chance to roll their £50 deposit over to next year, and guarantee the opportunity to buy a ticket for Glastonbury 2021".

However, those who do not want to keep their deposits will be given a chance to get a refund in the coming days.

The festival had just shared its first line-up last week, with the likes of Noel Gallagher, Sam Fender, Kelis, Supergrass, Skunk Anansie and Thom Yorke all booked on its prestigious line-up.

Glastonbury Festival is the latest large scale music event to suffer due to the coronavirus, following after Snowbombing, Coachella and SXSW, which were all cancelled or postponed.

Last year's festival saw headline performances from Stormzy, The Killers and The Cure.

Coronavirus: Festivals and gigs cancelled and affected due to the pandemic