Glastonbury’ Live From Worthy Farm livestream was blighted with technical issues on Saturday night, causing delays of more than an hour. Due to the issues, fans who paid for tickets to the show were left unable to access this year’s livestream event for nearly two hours. Organisers of the event said the technical issues, which led to two-hour access delays to the Live At Worthy Farm event, were “unacceptable”.
Event producer and promoter Driift Live said it had the “heaviest of hearts” and was “mortified” that people were “locked out” of the feed. A statement apologised to the “amazing artists who gave their time to perform, and to all the backstage crew and partners who worked so hard with us over many months to make this historic show a reality”.
Due to the technical issues, people were unable to access the livestream until almost 9pm, after reports of an “invalid codes” error message surfaced online. Big acts were due to perform at the pre-recorded event, which was held at various locations on the site of Glastonbury Festival.
However, performances by Wolf Alice and Michael Kiwanuka, who were early on the bill, were missed by fans as they battled with the error. To catch up on the missed performances, organisers promised users would be able to rewind the live stream when they finally got in.
Thousands of fans on social media complained that access codes they had been given for the event were being flagged as invalid. At 8.10pm, hosts, Driift Live released a statement on Twitter, informing viewers they should be able to access the live stream soon. However, by 9pm the stream, which thousands of people bought tickets for, was made free for everyone.
Glastonbury organiser, Emily Eavis took to Twitter to apologise for the stress caused to fans from issues with the livestream. Eavis said they will show the whole film again, giving people a chance to “catch up on any bits you missed. I really hope you can enjoy the rest of it tonight. And, again, I’m just so sorry for anyone who’s had issues.”
Despite the technical difficulties, the five-hour show, which was directed by Grammy-nominated Paul Dugdale, also featured stars like George Ezra, Jorja Smith and Idles. The event was streamed for fans again on Sunday night, and supported the festival’s main charities Oxfam, Greenpeace and WaterAid.
Due to the dismay of fans, Glastonbury, due to be staged in June, was called off for the second year running due to COVID-19, following last year’s 50th anniversary celebration cancellation. Earlier this week, Mendip District Council approved a two-day licence to the festival organisers to hold an event in September on the iconic pyramid stage.
