Britons' appetite for music in the mud appears to have reached its limit. Glastonbury, the biggest greenfield music and performing arts festival in the world, has suffered a decline in numbers registering to buy tickets, in sharp contrast to a boom in smaller, 'boutique' festivals across the country.
Inspired by a Led Zeppelin gig at the Shepton Mallet Blues Festival in 1970, Michael Eavis set up the Glastonbury Festival and has seen it become the archetype for what is now a full-blown national love affair with festivals. Last year all 135,000 tickets sold out in two hours, with more than double that figure registering to buy.
But registration is significantly down this year, a trend variously blamed on the line-up and the weather. Eavis admitted that the choice of headliners - Kings of Leon, Jay-Z and the Verve - might account for the decline. 'We haven't got the super, big, big headlining acts,' he said. 'It's not like a Radiohead or a Muse or a Coldplay is it?'
More tactfully, his daughter and co-organiser Emily pointed to the weather - even by Glastonbury's dismal track record, 2007 was a miserably wet year that resulted in a muddy quagmire: 'People only remember the last festival ... so I don't blame them, to be honest.'
Some festivalgoers have complained that the event has become too commercialised. One of Glastonbury's most popular attractions will not be present this year: Lost Vagueness, known as a 'festival within the festival' with eight venues and 1,500 performers, has been scrapped after a decade.
The novelty of an online registration system designed to stop ticket touts - which crashed due to demand last year, forcing the deadline to be extended - may also have worn off.
Neil Greenway, of the festival news website efestivals.co.uk, said: 'Registration was a new thing so there was interest in it, everyone and their dog did it. But they've all tried it now, so numbers have fallen. Even last year, someone started a poll on the Glastonbury website forum asking if those who'd registered were actually going to buy tickets. Only two-thirds said yes.'
But Glastonbury's minor wobble does not reflect the bullish festivals market. 'There are more festivals than ever before,' said Greenway, whose site already lists more than 400. The scene is now increasingly international.
Melvin Benn, managing director of Festival Republic, promoter of many UK festivals, said the line-up for this year's Leeds and Reading event 'will blow everything else out of the water' when it is announced tomorrow, and the number of boutique festivals is on the increase.
'Festivals have become part of British culture,' Benn said. 'In 2002, the BBC started broadcasting Glastonbury live into everyone's living room so it became something even your granny knew about. Now festival culture's entrenched. I don't know any other country that's as obsessed as Britain. I looked at putting on a festival in Australia in March - I was told no one would come because it might rain. In this country it doesn't make a ha'porth of difference.'
Boutique festivals have been a huge growth area in Britain. With big-name bands traditionally appearing at large events, such as Glastonbury, V or Reading, smaller festivals have built reputations by focusing on atmosphere - such as Latitude, which is set in beautiful woodlands on the Suffolk coast - or particular music genres, such as the Beautiful Days festival in Devon, run by the band the Levellers.
Alex Trenchard, organiser of the 2,000-capacity event Standon Calling in Hertfordshire, said: 'There's definitely more public interest, and it reflects other business sectors. Just as people want farmers' markets and local produce instead of supermarkets, they want smaller, more intimate festivals. The smaller events seem to serve local areas. But it's a tough market among the smaller festivals. A lot have tripped up by expanding too quickly. We started as a word-of-mouth event and took the time to perfect the event before we grew.'
The Isle of Wight-based Bestival has seen attendance grow from 6,000 in 2003 to 30,000 in 2007. Its founder, Radio 1 DJ Rob da Bank, said: 'There's never been a better time for medium and small festivals. But I think festivals now need to constantly evolve. You have to book shit-hot acts no one else has, get a lot of varied acts, or have a unique selling point, like Glastonbury has with its heritage.'
A growing number of festivalgoers are travelling abroad. 'Festivals like Lowlands in Holland and Denmark's Roskilde have exceptional line-ups,' said Chris Macneikan, of international event and entertainment company Continental Drifts. 'Going to events like this lets people experience a completely different situation - festivals are now like a rite of passage.'
Benn added: 'Most of the European and American promoters come to Britain and steal our festival ideas and reinterpret them. We influence them and then we go over and see them, it's terrific.'
British music weekly NME now has a media partnership with Benicassim in Spain. Deputy editor Krissi Murison said that fans regard travel as part of the experience: 'They can get a cheap flight out to a festival with guaranteed sun, camp by the beach and see big bands. The Spanish festivals - Benicassim, Sonar and Primavera - seem particularly popular with UK audiences. Last year at Benicassim, where Arctic Monkeys and Muse headlined, the crowds were split 50-50 between the Brits and Spanish.
'Then there's festivals like Exit in Serbia which has also seen the number of UK attendees steadily growing over the past five years, presumably because it's set in a 17th-century fortress and costs little over £70 for a four-day pass, compared to, say, £150 for Glastonbury.'
So are Michael and Emily Eavis worried by the decline in registration? While everyone agrees that Glastonbury 2008 will be a huge success, Emily is not alone in her concern about the weather. 'The mud was bad last year,' said Greenway. 'I've been going since 1986 and this is the first time I've wondered: should I go?' Rob da Bank, who has attended for the past 16 years, agrees: 'That amount of rain was almost enough to put me off.'
But Continental Drifts' Macneikan has inside information. Calling The Observer on Friday, he said: 'I'm at Glastonbury now, with Michael Eavis discussing the new late-night area for 2008 - Shangri-la. He says there are lots of ladybirds around at the moment - a sure sign it's going to be a sunny year for the festival.'
Europe's big days out
The other big festival crowd-pullers this summer include:
Where Open'er Festival, Gdynia, Poland
When 4- 6 July
Cost Approx £54 with camping
Confirmed acts Goldfrapp, Massive Attack, the Chemical Brothers
Where Oxegen, Punchestown Racecourse, Naas, Co Kildare, Ireland
When 11-13 July
Cost Approx £150
Confirmed acts Kings of Leon, Rage Against the Machine, Aphex Twin, the Editors
Where Exit Festival, Novi Sad, Serbia
When 10-13 July
Tickets £72 for four days; £14 extra for camping
Confirmed acts Sex Pistols, the Gossip, Primal Scream
Where Festival International de Benicassim, near Valencia, Spain
When 17-20 July
Tickets £132 for a four-day pass
Confirmed Acts Babyshambles, My Bloody Valentine, Spititualized
Where Melt!, Grafenhainichen, Germany
When18-20 July
Tickets Approx £65
Confirmed acts Bjork, Kate Nash, the Wombats, Franz Ferdinand
