Irish Examiner view: Cultural festivals such as Glastonbury feed the soul

After two years of Covid lockdowns, it is time to enjoy all the big shows and festivals that are on offer again

Paul McCartney and Dave Grohl at the Glastonbury Festival. Picture: MJ Kim/2022 MPL Communications Ltd/PA

Glastonbury may have gathered the headlines this weekend for its 50th anniversary but it and all the other big shows and festivals we have enjoyed this summer, with more to come, serve as a poignant reminder of everything we missed during those two dreadful years of lockdown.

It was one such event, the Cheltenham Festival of 2020, which alerted us to the dangers of what came to be known as “super-spreader” events. That took place from March 10-13 two years ago, starting on 'day two' after the WHO classified Covid-19 as a pandemic. The festival attracted nearly 252,000 visitors that year, including a final day crowd of nearly 69,000.

In some senses these large gatherings have replaced the old religious congregations as society has changed

The latest Behaviour and Attitudes survey shows that, while in 1971 75% of people reported that they attended church regularly, the figure is now down to 30%.

Festivals and cultural events are super spreaders of a different kind. They circulate happiness, a spirit of wellbeing, a sense of belonging and common purpose, knowledge, and information. In this they also resemble religion.

Happily we still have many events to come this summer. Glastonbury may be over but there is still the West Cork Literary Festival and the Chamber Music Festival in July and August. The Cork Midsummer Festival had a host of events with sold-out notices. Longitude and Electric Picnic are in the diary for July and September. Galway has its usual rich diet of attractions.

There is much to enjoy. Let’s make the most of it.