Glastonbury tickets go on sale tomorrow

Tickets for next year’s Glastonbury Festival will go on sale tomorrow – eight months before the event.

The celebrated music and arts extravaganza in Somerset, England was criticised this year after tickets failed to sell out on the first day, as usual.

Organiser Michael Eavis said the new scheme would ensure all tickets went to genuine festival goers and that payments could be spread, to ease the cost burden.

Tomorrow music fans will be able to reserve places for 2009 by paying a £50 (€63.77) deposit, or simply buy their tickets outright.

No limit has been set on the amount of tickets a customer can buy or reserve for family or friends, as long as each is matched to a valid registration number.

This summer more than 130,000 revellers watched acts like rapper Jay-Z, troubled singer Amy Winehouse and veteran songwriter Leonard Cohen.

Mr Eavis said of the early sale: “After three years, I am now confident that we have developed the fairest ticketing operation available anywhere, and we are ready to go.

“With the new scheme, backed by the all-important registration process, everyone has an equal chance of getting a ticket. And most importantly, every ticket will be going to a genuine festival-goer direct.

“I’m also convinced that the £50 deposit will help a lot of people to spread the payment for their ticket over a much longer period.”

Next year’s Glastonbury runs for five days from June 24 to 28 across 1,000 acres of countryside at the Eavis family’s Worthy Farm.