大象传媒

To mark what would have been the Glastonbury weekend the 大象传媒 is bringing you The Glastonbury Experience featuring over 100 archive performances available to watch on 大象传媒 iPlayer or listen to on 大象传媒 Sounds and a dedicated channel showing nothing but great performances from the Glastonbury archives from Thursday 25th to Monday 29th June.

Friday at Glastonbury is usually when the music kicks off, and to celebrate, artists have been sharing stories about their most memorable Worthy Farm sets.

Here's the inside tales from Foals, Ellie Goulding and more...

Ellie Goulding's 2016 Glastonbury set was, by the singer's own admission, the "proudest moment" of her career to date. And it's easy to see why - performing on the Pyramid Stage at sundown is always going to stick in the memory as a truly special moment. Goulding really gave it her all too, saying that she "damn near perished" on the stage because she was "so keen for you all to have a good time".

The best thing about Glastonbury, says Foals frontman Yannis, is "the sense of freedom, abandon and community that's there". He told us that his band's secret set at the Park Stage last year felt like a "mass communion", adding: "We were just bowled over by the amount of people that were there. Supposedly it was the most people that have ever been at the Park Stage. It was overwhelming to look out at." Another memorable moment came during the set - when their guitarist accidentally cut open his finger mid-set, with blood splattering over his instrument, what Yannis calls an "ultimate rock and roll Glastonbury moment."

It's a wonderful sight at festivals when you see the crowd having just so much fun. That's exactly what happened during Sigrid's Glastonbury set last year, and one young fan in the front row in particular. The Norwegian star remembers "seeing this girl, front row. She knew all the words. She knew all the dance moves and she was so into it." Sigrid went on to tell us: "She was there with her dad and he was like, properly dancing as well." The singer found out who the young fan was afterwards and send her love to Nina. All in all though, it made for "maybe my favourite festival moment ever."

Playing the Pyramid Stage for the first time was already a big deal for Brighton rock duo Royal Blood. In fact, they had it pencilled in the diary for over a year and had spent "a lot of time mentally preparing". But their 2017 set turned out to be the setting of a huge celebratory event, as it came on the same time that there weekly charts were announced. And who was at No.1? You guessed it, the band themselves. "There was a lot of excitement going on backstage and a lot of celebrating," they remember. Upon learning the news mid-set, the band stopped to toast with a bottle of bubbly before continuing with their raucous performance.

While we're showing Kate Tempest's Glastonbury set from 2019, the artist says that Glastonbury as a whole - not just one given year or set - has always meant a lot to her. "I love Glasto and I’m missing it," she wrote on Twitter, adding that she's "had some of the best weekends... in that beautiful chaos." Beautiful chaos indeed!