'We'll definitely see you back here next year' - Emily Eavis on Glastonbury Festival ahead of Global Livestream event
Watch Kylie Pentelow's interview with Emily Eavis and Damon Albarn
Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis has said she's feeling "really hopeful" about the iconic festival returning next year after two years of being cancelled due to the pandemic, saying "we'll definitely see you back here next year".
Talking to ITV West Country, Emily said: "I'm really hopeful about 2022. Really optimistic actually. Genuinely I think it will happen. I don't think I'd have said that for certain about 2021 last year. So we're feeling really good about next year."
The festival was cancelled two years in a row during the pandemic which Emily says was a "very difficult time".
A one-off virtual event was announced in March which will take place this weekend, 22/23 May, with some huge names set to perform.
Emily also said that live events need some insurance in the future: "I think it's really important to get the whole live music industry up and running. I think events need some insurance for this year while there is a level of uncertainty."
Emily says the festival will start with her father - Glastonbury founder and organiser Micahel Eavis - reading a poem.
"We've got Coldplay, Wolf Alice, Haim, Damon Albarn - I mean to be honest all of them I'm incredibly excited about because we've put this bill together as a dream line up. So we're really excited about it."
She added: "It's a great honour to have all of these artists come here and perform for us, and create these shows that are completely unique."
Talking about whether it was the right decision to cancel this year, Emily said: "I don't think there's any chance we'd be able to run an event of 200,000 people, the week after everything opened up.
"I think, you know, they've just done the trial events for 5,000 - so it's step by step. And I think things are looking good for 2022.
"We might do a concert in September if we can. So we'll see how that goes. It's Covid dependent."
Mendip District Council approved a license for a two-day concert in September, but the organisers are yet to decide whether it will go ahead.
She said the people she thinks have been hit the hardest is the crew, so this weekend they've "created a show which gives people work and puts everyone back on the ground", adding, "it's a good feeling".
But looking at next year, she feels confident things will be back with a bang. She said: "When this bounces back, it's going to bounce back big time.
"Everybody - kids, young people who have missed out on two years of gigs and festivals - everybody is just going to be desperate to get back out into the fields and to dance."
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