Michael Eavis: ‘I told Prince Harry to stay up all night at Glastonbury’

Festival organiser also says he has already booked headliners for Glastonbury 2014

Delivering his regular Sunday morning press conference at 11am today (June 30), Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis confirmed that Prince Harry attended the festival on Saturday.

The 77-year-old farmer and festival organiser revealed that he told the royal he should stay up all night to get the best of the event: “I recommended that he should go through the night, because the nightlife is really what Glastonbury is all about,” said Eavis.

“At three in the afternoon, you won’t get it, will you? So I told him to get his taxi driver to come back at five in the morning and, you know what, he lasted until four in the morning, so he saw all the best stuff,” he said.

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“He had lots of mates with him and they were all having a good time I think. He didn’t want to make a formal thing of being here or anything. I didn’t have a drink with him because I don’t drink during the festival.”

Eavis dubbed last night’s headliners, The Rolling Stones “brilliant”, adding that their booking was long overdue. “The Stones were the best thing – it had to be, didn’t it, 43 years of me, 50 years of them, we finally come together and we’re on the same page at last.”

The organiser said that he was impressed by the band’s onstage presence. “Mick Jagger’s energy, leading that band with such a passion and so much skill was absolutely amazing. Seeing him moving… I’ve never seen anything like it,” Eavis commented. “I’m quite a bit older but I couldn’t go like that – and I can keep going, but not at that pace!”

Eavis said that the mechanical phoenix that sprung into action during the Stones’ set last night took a year to make and cost “more than I’d like to say”. He said the bird will come to life on another two occasions today, including during Mumford And Sons’ headline set. “I’ve got to get my money’s worth, haven’t I?” he said.

The event boss confirmed he has already booked three headliners for next year’s festival, but refused to name any, saying that the bands would only be announced once tickets were on sale. Eavis said that picking headliners is difficult because “there aren’t many left… There were maybe a dozen headliner potentials so we’re running out of headliners but we’ve got the last three for next year”. Asked if any of those headliners are veterans in the league of the Stones, he said, “Ever so slightly, yeah.”

Glastonbury 2013 concludes today with performances from The xx, Mumford And Sons, Bobby Womack and more. As is his tradition, Eavis has already declared it the best Glastonbury ever. “I say this every year, I know it’s really, really boring but it’s actually true – it really is the best festival we’ve done, without a shadow of a doubt.”

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