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Half of Glastonbury tickets sold | |
(about 23 hours later) | |
Half the tickets for 2009's Glastonbury music festival have been sold already, eight months before the Somerset festival is due to take place. | |
Tickets went on sale on Sunday morning and by early evening more than half the 137,500 places were snapped up. | |
Fans were able reserve places by paying a £50 deposit, or they could buy their tickets outright for £175 each. | |
Spokesman John Shearlaw said he was "chuffed" so many tickets had gone for the event at Worthy Farm, Pilton. | |
Next year's Glastonbury runs for five days, from June 24 to 28. | |
'Extraordinary' | |
The early ticket sale comes after last year's event failed to sell out on the first day. | |
Despite that, Shearlaw said he had not expected the tickets to sell out so far in advance. | |
"That would have been extraordinary, without a line-up and eight months before the event," he said. | |
"You can look at it from both sides because if they had all sold out, there would have been eight months of turning people away. | |
June saw the most diverse audience for 10 years or so, and hopefully this new fairer ticket system will mean that we have a great crowd again in 2009 Michael Eavis | |
"We are very calm about it - it's a vote of confidence." | |
He added being able to pay a deposit so early for the ticket helped out students. | |
"It's brilliant that here we are in October talking about a festival that isn't happening until next year. | |
'Genuine fans' | |
Organiser Michael Eavis also said the scheme was to ensure tickets went to genuine fans and make it easier for them to pay by spreading the cost. | Organiser Michael Eavis also said the scheme was to ensure tickets went to genuine fans and make it easier for them to pay by spreading the cost. |
On the festival's website, he said: "It's really exciting that people are still remembering one of the best festivals we've ever held and are clearly already looking forward to the next one. | |
"June saw the most diverse audience for 10 years or so, and hopefully this new fairer ticket system will mean that we have a great crowd again in 2009." | |
Glastonbury 2008 saw more than 130,000 revellers watch acts like US rapper Jay-Z, Amy Winehouse and veteran songwriter Leonard Cohen. | Glastonbury 2008 saw more than 130,000 revellers watch acts like US rapper Jay-Z, Amy Winehouse and veteran songwriter Leonard Cohen. |
Festival co-organiser Emily Eavis told the BBC news website in September that the headliners for next year should be announced "pretty soon". | |
"It's not Coldplay, it's not U2 and it's not the Rolling Stones," she said. | |
She also said Franz Ferdinand and The Ting Tings would be "somewhere on the bill" after playing a show for locals. | She also said Franz Ferdinand and The Ting Tings would be "somewhere on the bill" after playing a show for locals. |
Ms Eavis said the booking of acts had been brought forward in response to the earlier ticket sale. |