Tag: 11 tips for getting festival tickets

Tickets for the Glastonbury Festival go on sale this week, with millions of fans expected to fight it out for a chance to attend the event, which will run from 25-29 June 2025.

No headliners have been announced yet, but demand is expected to be higher than ever because the festival will take a year off in 2026.

Last year, all 210,000 tickets sold out in just 58 minutes as more than 2.5 million people tried to log on and secure a place.

"There aren't enough tickets for everybody," organiser Emily Eavis told the BBC's Sidetracked podcast earlier this year. "It's one of the worst parts of the job [because] we can't do anything about it. We definitely can't do two weekends.

"But a lot of the time," she added, "people who really, really want to come often get tickets through volunteering or through competitions."

So there's always hope... But if you're brave enough to run the gauntlet of the online ticketing system, here are a few tips that might (might) help improve your chances.

As part of an ongoing (and successful) campaign to stop touts, anyone who wants to attend Glastonbury has to be registered in advance.

The registration window closed on Monday, 11 November - so if you're not on the list already, it's too late.

Everyone else is urged to check their details in advance, to make sure everything is up to date.

You will need to have the registration number and postcode for each person you are buying a ticket for when the sale begins.

Glastonbury tickets come in two flavours - standard weekend tickets and coach weekend tickets.

Weekend tickets mean you can arrive under your own steam by train or car - although beware Glastonbury's legendary tailbacks, and how depleted your energy levels might be on the way home.

Coach tickets are more environmentally friendly and, according to some, increase your chances of success, depending on how remote your starting point is. However, it's important to note that festival tickets are distributed on the coach itself, so you can't cheat the system.

Ticket and coach packages will go on sale at 18:00 GMT on Thursday, 14 November.

General admission tickets will go on sale at 09:00 on Sunday, 17 November.

You can purchase up to six tickets once you reach the booking stage, as long as you have the registration details for each attendee.

Logically, the more people trying for tickets, the better the chances are of securing a space - so make sure all six of you are trying to log on when tickets go on sale (NB not in the same house... see below for why).

Your syndicate doesn't have to be formed of people you're physically going to the festival with. It can be friends, colleagues, aunts, uncles, neighbours or Chris Martin from Coldplay. The point is that you're working together.

Make a group chat so you can co-ordinate your efforts and, most importantly, put all of your registration numbers and postcodes in a shared document so the first person to reach the front of the queue is ready.

The demand for Glastonbury tickets inevitably attracts scam artists and fraudsters, who prey on people's desperation to separate them from their money.

Tickets are sold exclusively at glastonbury.seetickets.com. Avoid the temptation of buying from elsewhere.

This year, Glastonbury has introduced a new queueing system that requires you to log on in advance.

That way, when the ticket sale starts, you will be randomly assigned a place in the queue.

People who join later will automatically be placed at the back of the line, so it pays to be punctual.

Also, 09:00 on Sunday isn't the most sociable time of the week. Set an alarm. Set multiple alarms. Get an insomniac friend to come over to your house and poke you with a stick. Whatever works.

If it's possible (and I apologise for this in advance), you could even drag yourself into work. No matter how good your wifi is at home, a work computer could have a more stable connection.

Using multiple devices and browser tabs can result in errors and may even get you kicked out of the queue, which you definitely don't want.

Sticking to one device per household also makes the process more fair, according to the Glastonbury website.

"Whilst we understand that everyone wants to have the best possible chance of booking a ticket, running multiple devices simultaneously to attempt to access the website is a waste of valuable resources, and doesn’t reflect the ethos of the festival.

"Please stick to one device and one tab, so that you can focus on entering your details without confusing your browser and help us make the ticket sale as quick and stress free as possible for all."

A limited number of people will be given access to the booking system at any one time. Before that, you will be held in a queue.

When (or if) you get through, you will be asked to enter the registration number and postcode for the lead booker and up to five other people. Copy and paste them, instead of entering manually, to avoid errors.

When you proceed, the next page will summarise the details you entered. Check them carefully because they cannot be changed.

If you are booking a coach package, the next step will be to choose the time, date and place you will depart from. It is only possible to book tickets from one departure town in a single transaction.

Once that's all confirmed, you will be asked to enter payment details.

This year, Glastonbury tickets cost £375.50 each plus a £5 booking fee - but at the check-out you will only pay a deposit of £75, with the balance due in the first week of April. (Children under the age of 12 go free, and do not need to be registered.)

Make sure you have enough money in your account (£450 if you're buying for six people) and, crucially, keep your card details to hand.

When the time comes, enter these details exactly as you see them because a mistake could result in the purchase being declined. In some cases, that could leave your registration details being frozen for up to 10 minutes.

Finally, make sure your phone is charged and notifications aren't silenced, in case your bank contacts you for verification.

Once you've made the booking, be sure to check your email for confirmation - including the junk folder.

If you don't receive an email within three hours, ticket-holders are urged to contact See Tickets on their customer service portal.

If you're not one of the lucky ones, there's still hope.

It's possible to get into the festival as a volunteer - typically working three eight-hour shifts in return for a ticket.

And in April, a number of returned or unwanted tickets will be put up for sale. At which point, you can go through the stress of applying all over again.

This won't help you get tickets, but is an essential part of the annual routine.

Nobody except Emily Eavis knows who'll be headlining next year - but rumours are rumours, and everybody enjoys speculating about the line-up.

Oasis, whose reunion tour takes place next summer, have already ruled themselves out. But current contenders for the top slots include Sam Fender, who put on an incredible Pyramid Stage performance two years ago; and Olivia Rodrigo, who's already headlining the BST Festival in London on Glastonbury weekend.

Eminem and Rihanna are among the perennial will-they/won't-they headliners, while Billy Joel and Stevie Wonder are supposedly in the running for the legend slot.

In previous years, piecemeal confirmation of the line-up has started in November, but the full rundown is typically kept under wraps until March.