“Carrying ever higher traffic as more customers adopt the technology”
As of this moment in time (Monday, 27th June), EE – Glastonbury‘s technology partner for the seventh year running – has carried more than 165TB of 4G/5G data so far and expects another 5 – 10TB to follow further, as people head out home.
Just for comparison’s sake, that’s roughly a 60% increase on the 2019 edition of the Festival.
Marc Allera, CEO of BT’s Consumer Division: BT, EE and Plusnet, said: “5G on EE performed well, carrying ever higher traffic as more customers adopt the technology. Plus we carried approx 3.4m voice calls. That’s 200k more than 2019, bucking the trend at other events. It’s good to talk!”
Adding: “A huge thank you to all of our team who worked so hard to install the seven temporary masts – and maintain our two permanent EE sites – that covered Worthy Farm. You helped keep the equivalent of a city the size of Newcastle (200k people) connected.”
Earlier this year, EE released the official Glastonbury 2022 app, making it available to download on both iPhone and Android.
The free application was designed to give music fans the chance to stay connected with the latest live Festival updates, navigate their way around the over 900-acre site and create their own personalised line-ups.
Originally due to be released on Monday, the 6th of June, the app finally went live on Android on the 7th of June – and after a slight lunch delay, saw the iPhone version be released one day later, on the 8th of June.
After its initial release, the app saw a number of updates which included the much-loved A-Z search function – which at first, was missing from the first iteration of the 2022 app.
Bringing its “superfast network” to Worthy Farm, EE installed seven temporary masts, adding to the two permanent sites it previously installed to cover the farm.
New for 2022 – a Wifi-enabled robotic rooster (shown above) was placed on the Festival site by EE, to remind revellers when headline acts are about to start playing on the Pyramid Stage.
The rooster, which doubled as a free Wifi hotspot for festival-goers, gave passers-by audio reminders by playing famous songs from the headliners 30 minutes before the artists were due to begin their sets – and thus giving people the chance to make their way to the stage.
The rooster was accompanied by a golden egg (shown below) which, if photographed and posted on Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag #EEWifiRooster and EE tagged, saw users entered into a contest to win prizes including side-of-stage tickets for a performance on the Pyramid Stage.
Meanwhile, Glastonbury 2022 was brought to a close on Sunday (26 June) by headliner Kendrick Lamar who closed the Pyramid Stage that night.
Lamar’s performance came after the Festival made history with both the youngest-ever headliner in Gen-Z, icon Billie Eilish, and the oldest-ever headline in Sir Paul McCartney, both playing a pandemic-delayed 50th birthday bash for the greatest music festival in the world – three years after the last instalment took place in 2019.
During his historic headline performance, Macca wowed the crowds with a show-stopping setlist which included surprise guest appearances from both Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl as well as American-born star Bruce Springsteen.
Other highlights included Diana Ross commanding a mammoth crowd at her Sunday teatime Legends Slot.
The Motown soul singer treated the crowd to a selection of classics including ‘I’m Coming Out’, ‘Baby Love’, ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’, ‘Stop! In The Name Of Love’ and at the conclusion of ‘Chain Reaction’ pink confetti was launched from the Pyramid Stage.
Elsewhere, on the Saturday of the Festival, we found out Lily Allen was making her way to the Glastonbury site, thanks to an Instagram story she shared that afternoon, for what turned out to be a surprise secret guest appearance with Olivia Rodrigo on the Other Stage.
Other secret sets included performances from Jack White, who played The Park Stage on the Sunday, and George Ezra, who took to the John Peel Stage, earlier that day.
You can still catch over 90 sets and key tracks from the five filmed stages available to watch on BBC iPlayer – including Pyramid Stage performances in Ultra High Definition.
For a full (A-Z) list of sets, and individual track performances (as well as Glastonbury-related content prior to 2022), currently available on the iPlayer, click on the + buttons below.
Glastonbury 2023 will take place at its natural home in Worthy Farm, Pilton, Somerset, from Wednesday the 21st to Sunday the 25th of June.
You can now view a constantly updated list of acts confirmed and rumoured for Glastonbury 2023, here.
The first wave of Glastonbury 2023 tickets traditionally goes on sale in October, which is then usually followed by a resale of any unpaid or cancelled tickets sometime in the Spring (March/April).
In addition to the ticket sales, some other opportunities for getting to Glastonbury include entering competitions, working at the Festival and volunteering – once those options make themselves available.
To learn more about registration, the sale process and how you can maximise your chances of getting Glastonbury 2023 tickets, click here.
