Emily Eavis reveals Glastonbury capacity cut to avoid overcrowding

Festival organiser also shared that staff did not believe the festival suffered from overcrowding last year, despite complaints from some fans

Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis has revealed that the festival sold “a few thousand” fewer tickets this year in an attempt to reduce overcrowding.

Last year, complaints emerged of huge crowds at certain sets to the point that security were forced to shut down entry to more fans.

The 2025 event is sold out but apparently will not use its full 210,000 capacity when it takes place at Worthy Farm in Somerset later this month.

Speaking to the BBC’s Sidetracked podcast, Eavis said she wanted to see if the reduction could “make an impact on some of the busier times”.

“It’ll be interesting to see just how that affects the dynamics on site,” she said of the reduced crowd sizes.

Organisers have apparently also created more room at the Other Stage, the festival’s second-biggest arena, where Charli XCX will headline on the Saturday night.

Charli XCX is expected to draw huge crowds at Glastonbury (Getty)

After the festival bought extra land, there will also be more room at the Shangri-La nightlife area.

Eavis said she had held a meeting of around 250 Glastonbury staff and asked whether anyone believed the festival was overcrowded last year – apparently no one put their hand up.

“I was like, [that’s] interesting because there’s a lot of talk, some people think that it was,” she said.

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Ticket-holders will also be encouraged to use different routes and make use of the entire site in a bid to ease congestion.

Eavis said that the festival’s app planner, with which fans can note which artists they want to see, had helped organisers predict which areas were likely to be busiest at specific times.

“The app was really accurate last year. People plan what they're going to see,” she said. “We can see what they’re going to see, which is really useful for us from a crowd perspective.”

Emily Eavis said the festival app was a useful way of tracking the most popular sets (PA)

She revealed that, since the Covid pandemic, people tended to move “more in a herd” and so her goal was to emphasise that there are “like 10 routes to anywhere”.

This year’s festival takes place between Wednesday 25 June to Monday 30 June and will be headlined by The 1975, Neil Young and Olivia Rodrigo.

Other artists on the eclectic lineup include Grammy-winning rapper Doechii, rock band Wunderhorse, pop star Charli XCX, singer RAYE, Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap and mysterious band Patchwork.