Making an appearance backstage at the Pyramid Stage, Michael Eavis attracted a throng of photographers and journalists as he calmly took questions and gave his verdict on the festival so far. "It's been a mellow one, it's been safe, and it's been much more sustainable, and it's been easier for me personally with Mean Fiddler on board to take a lot of the strain." After the beautiful, yet chaotic madness of 2000 this has come as a relief to many here. Adding to this he said; "We spent £2 million out of our £12 million budget on the fence. Nobody has tried to get over it, apart from one guy who came in and decided he didn't like it and left." The license for next year's event looks certain to be awarded once again as crime levels were a quarter of what they were in 2000, and everybody has definitely felt 'safe' by comparison to two years ago.
One of the biggest ways the future of the festival looks likely to grow is by encouraging the regular Travellers to become a more integrated part of events, the Lost Vagueness area has been one of the biggest successes - a mediaeval village area near the Greenfields with a plethora of performing arts which almost defies description, built by the Travellers, and overseen by ex-fence wrecker Roy, Eavis parting with £30,000 to let their imaginations run wild; "some of the more dangerous stuff - like lost vagueness - I would like to see a future down that road with more of that sort of thing". As for the choice of bands Eavis is always honest, not denying that some people may find the lineup disappointing, but he was unapologetic in saying that there was still plenty of wonderful things that people would and have enjoyed. The future of the festival and Michael Eavis and his daughter Emily looks surprisingly good, despite the inevitable post-festival court appearances and "flack", he remains optimistic and want to up the ante still further as the festival finds its feet once again; "I'd like to increase the amount of tickets sold to 120,000 and the amount given to charity increased to 1 million from the current £7000,000." Just make sure you buy one of those 120,000 tickets, next year, as Glastonbury is back, big time. Words: Mike Flynn quotes by Crispin Auberey Pictures: Alf Goodrich