Glastonbury tickets have sold out just half an hour after going on sale, but last year’s festival still holds the record for the speediest-ever sale of the 120,000 Worthy Farm tickets. The speed with which tickets sell out had increased each year: in 2012 it took one-hour-40-minutes, in 2013 one-hour-27 mins, and last year just 25 minutes. This year took slightly longer, 32 minutes until all tickets had been sold.
The hashtag #GlastonburyTickets was the top trending topic on Twitter from early on Sunday morning. The festival had warned fans not to have more than one tab open at a time, because of a timeout system that could see pages refreshed as would-be festivalgoers attempt to enter their details.
The sheer number of people attempting to buy tickets led to inevitable difficulties with page loads and queue times. After 15 minutes, ticketing website See Tickets said crashes were occurring because the booking site was “currently processing the maximum possible number of transactions per second.”
“Please note, due to the volume of people attempting to buy tickets at the same time, it may be that someone else manages to complete their purchase before you do,” it warned.
The first batch of 15,000 tickets, which were festival and coach packages, sold out on Thursday night. Those who managed to navigate the rush for tickets expressed delight on social media on Sunday morning, with several saying they had found it easier to purchase tickets using 4G on the phone.
Glastonbury ticket prices for 2016 have increased to £228 (Dh1,274)- plus a £5 booking fee, though children aged 12 and under get into Worthy Farm for free. The event will take place from June 22-26.
The final chance for fans to get tickets is at the resale for unwanted tickets in April. Festival organiser Michael Eavis has previously said all of the headliners for the next two years have been booked, with four of the acts having headlined the festival before, and the other two first-timers. Eavis had been expected to take a year off from the festival in 2017, but he confirmed last month that a 2017 festival will go ahead, with a year off now taking place in 2018. Coldplay are favourites to headline next year’s festival. William Hill have given the band, who are currently working on their seventh album, A Head Full of Dreams, odds of 4/1 to headline the Pyramid Stage. Chris Martin and co have headlined the festival three previous times: first in 2002, then in 2005 and 2011. Foo Fighters are currently at 6/1, in spite of Emily Eavis’ denial that the rock band would perform their previously cancelled headline set, while Adele is at 5/1.
