Brit Music Scene

Glastonbury Founder Michael Eavis Makes 2009 TIME 100 Influential People List Posted: 30 Apr 2009 06:57 PM PDT The annual Glastonbury music festival is one of the biggest in the world, both in terms of the number of people who attend, and the worldwide acclaim for the event. The man behind it all? Step forward Michael Eavis, the dairy farmer turned festival supremo. Eavis, now 73-years-old, started holding the Glastonbury festival in 1971 after being inspired by Led Zeppelin’s performance at the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music the previous year. It’s since been held every year or two and grown bigger and bolder. As the founder of the festival, Michael Eavis has made the 2009 TIME 100, a list of the most influential people on Earth. Chris Martin, lead singer of Coldplay, wrote the tribute piece explaining why Eavis deserved his place on the list. He said: “Anyone who’s ever picked up a guitar dreams of playing Glastonbury. It’s the biggest rock cathedral in the world.” “Michael is one of the people to whom I owe my life and career. Every year he does a thank-you for the surrounding village where the festival takes place. He asked Coldplay to play this little fete and picked us up at the airport. It was like being met by a friendly uncle. We were sitting in the back of his farm vehicle that smelled of cheese and cattle when he said, ‘Maybe you’d want to headline next year?’ We spat out our drinks! It remains the biggest event in our band’s life. It changed everything.” High praise indeed, but deserving seeing as Eavis saw the promise Coldplay were displaying long before most other people in and out of the industry did. And I’m sure there are many other bands who can also say the same. In recent years, Eavis has tried to move with the times. He and his co-organizer Emily (also his daughter) caused controversy when they invited Jay-Z to headline a typically rock and folk oriented festival. Their decision was shown to be correct when thousands packed in to watch Jay-Z perform and most people considered it a highlight of the event. Glastonbury remains a must-attend for every music fan - if only to experience the true horror of sharing toilets with 150,000 other people. And Michael Eavis deserves the majority of the credit for this fact. Not the toilets, but the rest of it. [Photo Source: Newscom] Tags: Brit, British, Chris Martin, Coldplay, Glastonbury, Jay-Z, Led Zeppelin, Michael-Eavis, Time, TIME 100, UK Post from: Brit Music Scene Share This

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