Christopher BarrettThe producers and promoters of online live event Live At Worthy Farm said the issues experienced by users during the Glastonbury Festival livestream were “unacceptable” and that the team were “mortified”.
Fans of the festival who had paid £20 to access the virtual Live At Worthy Farm concert, featuring acts such as Coldplay and PJ Harvey, were effectively locked out for up to two hours and unable to use access codes to view the footage.
After two hours of problems with the livestream, Glastonbury organisers launched a free stream, allowing fans to tune in without payment, but technical limitations meant it was only able to be rewound for an hour.
The BBC said it will broadcast a director’s cut of the livestream in the coming weeks, and the whole film has been made available to stream for ticket buyers for a week.
UK-based ticketed livestream concert promoter Driift launched last August and has since had a run of success with many livestreamed ticketed online shows by acts including Niall Horan and Kylie Minogue.
Driift issued a statement apologising to Glastonbury’s organisers, artists, backstage crew and partners, while clarifying that a third-party was responsible for the technical failure and it was awaiting a full technical report.
Festival organisers Emily Eavis said she was “gutted about the technical issues” and “so sorry” to anyone who had issues.
Regarding the BBC deal she said, “Since the BBC first broadcast footage from Worthy Farm in 1997, Glastonbury and the BBC have enjoyed a brilliant relationship, so I’m thrilled that they’ll be showing highlights of our Live At Worthy Farm special”.