GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL 2022: 22ND-26TH JUNE, 2022

The Glastonbury Rock Festival has been going on for more than forty years now. It’s been through a lot: starting with fires and mass fights to floods and local authorities’ protests. 

Once the festival was a hippie event, and now music lovers from all over the world come here to see it. 

Imagine summer. No cultural events in England compare to Glastonbury. 

South-West England. Somerset County, the farm belongs to the festival founder. It still holds the event to this day. That’s not just a farm where the event takes place. Here local farmer Michael Eavis arranged the first one. He is still directly involved in its preparation. In 1970, Ivis, inspired by the concerts he rocked out on, decided to organize a festival himself. 

‍About one and a half thousand people came to the concert. 1 pound sterling per ticket. The headliner is T-Rex and Marc Bolan. And each visitor has a glass of milk for free! How can one resist?

Three days. 

3.5 square kilometers wide. Top music legends. Crazy performances and fancy costumes. 

People are pitching tents here to see it. 

‍In 2000, David Bowie headlined that festival. And that was, sure, legendary. 

Legendary, the festival promoted vegetarian views and exclusively sold only vegetarian food. 

The festival day falls right on the pagan solstice festival. That gives it sort of an esoteric vibe. There is more to it, as the stage has a pyramid-like form. Six years of hiatus went painful, for sure. For that are locals to blame. Noise complaints had done their evil work. The festival has been taken down.

But it was not to be done…

One day, a group of youngsters celebrated the summer solstice at Stonehenge. They later went to the Glastonbury venue and blew up a concert there themselves. It went absolutely spontaneously. They were unstoppable, uncompromising, and rebellious. 

Those 500 people made the festival reborn.  Now it’s 195 pounds per ticket, but that’s only if you catch it as the sell-out comes rapidly. Sometimes, even before the festival starts. 

Actually, it’s not the best area, practically speaking. The soil is unstable due to the nearby rivers. Therefore, prepare to be bathed in mud. It might feel like a specific type of fun at that point. Grab rubber boots and raincoats. That would not necessarily save you — yet, you would not want to be clean. 

For sure, it’s a nicely-organized, pretty safe festival. Lots of extra activities included: to watch and to try. Limber up by doing yoga after breakfast. And hit the fields for a crafty activity break.

The festival hosts some top music stars you might want to see, hear and sing along with, such as:

Paul McCartney

Billie Eilish

Kendrick Lamar

Diana Ross

Lorde 

First Aid Kit

Idles,

 and more!

Düsseldorf Jazz Rally is a famous annual festival in Germany, uniting jazz music artists and enjoyers. For three days in June the entire city of Düsseldorf in Germany will be transformed into a massive stage – this year, the dates fall on 2 June – 5 June, 2022. 

With over 250,000 visitors coming to celebrate the music fiesta every year, Düsseldorfer Jazz Rally is one of the most prominent festivals to be found in Germany, and the finest jazz experience in Western Europe. This year, it marks its 28th edition. After two years of pandemic-related break, it is a welcome return, although shadowed by some modifications for the sake of healthcare. To follow the contemporary trends and hygiene requirements, there will be fewer concerts and venues, but more top-class artists appearing at the event for the first time.

History of the Jazz Rally

Inspired by the similar festival in Brussels, the first Jazz Rally in Düsseldorf was held over an early summer weekend of 25-27 June, 1993. The event was so popular that it continued to take place every year on the same dates.

During the festival in 2001, some of the concerts were held outdoors; despite continuous rains, almost 280,000 visitors showed up, and open-air concerts became a tradition of the event.

In 2016, it was decided to move the festival dates to coincide with Pentecost, which is celebrated on the 50th Sunday after Easter.

Recent events have brought around changes. Usually, there was one fixed attendance fee – you paid once and had access to all concerts during the day, with the exception of the three biggest ones on Burgplatz, for which reservations were needed. However, due to healthcare concerns, from this year on, there will be no tickets for the whole event, but instead individual tickets for the concerts with guaranteed admission to the location.

Venue location

It is called a Rally, and not without a reason. For three days, the entire city of Düsseldorf transforms into a jazz stage, with venues both indoors and outdoors. There are live performances at around 30 venues in the city center and the Old Town. Most venues are located around the waterfront area near the Rhine river, which transforms into a multi-block stage with a festive atmosphere. Visitors can take a stroll around the city and listen to different bands of their liking – you can visit literally dozens of musical acts in one single day. In that respect, the relatively small area of Düsseldorf is rather a merit – everything is within walking distance, and besides, the city is proud of the event and heartily welcomes jazz fans every year. A varied array of outdoor sets is one of the Jazz Rally’s strongest attractions. The eclectic mix of locations has included not only traditional theaters, but also nearby castles, opera foyers, and an airline hangar once. Some musicians and bands play in the streets for free. Although the official start of the festival is on Friday, the first performances can be heard on Thursday evening.

Here, on the planet Earth, our home and cradle of our civilization, oceans cover more than 70 percent of the surface.

“There is no Planet B” Stephen Hawking.

We consider this to be a celebration day, though, when it comes to June 8th, we should all be looking toward improving the global environment. 

We are all as a society obligated to provide a future for ocean life, as our lives depend on it, too. We’ve been growing both scientifically and socially through centuries, thus, it is time for an international collaboration movement. 

The General Assembly declared June 8 the World Oceans Day on December 5, 2008. 

Our oceans nourish us, as it gives us all the drinking water, coastlines, most of our food, the oxygen, provide the climate, and fertilise our soil. And what have we been giving it back?

Again, the ocean is ¾ of the surface of our planet. More than three billion people depend on marine biodiversity – think about it. The carbon dioxide we emit is also neutralising by the ocean by 30 percent. That is preventing global warming. More than 200 million people work are somehow related to the marine sphere – that is how they provide their living. 

Every year for the last decade the motto is promoted. 

So, back in 2009 – Our ocean, our future, our responsibility. 

For 2012 – Youth – The Next Wave for Change

2015 – Health Oceans, Healthy Planet

And for 2018 – Clean our Ocean!

On the World Ocean Day, you might want to:

1. Become a part of the community, donation-fund, volunteers, movement, or collaboration. You may as well just spread awareness by sharing both scientific and societal information online. 

2. Moreover, there are plenty of events being organised worldwide, so consider joining them if you can. We’ve made a list of some of them, you’ll find it after scrolling a little more.

3. If possible, avoid eating meat and seafood, for by doing that, you support a poorly managed fishing industry that crushes marine ecosystems constantly. Meat consumption is also problematic for the environment. Go veg for a day or a week if you can!

4. Educate yourself and your close-ones.

Go watch a scientific marine-themed movie along with someone. Those are actually quite entertaining, and to prove that we’ve found some: 

5. Consider switching for a long-lasting bottle, cups, straws, bags, etc. 

You’ve probably seen those terrifying photos of turtles being trapped with straws around their bodies. So, 8 June is just the right day to start a non-plastic or almost non-plastic lifestyle. 

6. Have a beach-trip weekend. 

We tend to appreciate things by interacting with them. So, if you live close to the seacoast or the ocean coast, go breath, swim, or simply watch the sunset. If possible, do a local cleaning campaign and pick us some trash (move it to the dump, obviously, yet, you might as well consider sorting and recycling it properly).

Many people dedicate their lives to marine conservation activism. Though we’re not speaking about them today, we’ll pitch the names of those battling for the environment and making it more successful than others. Those people are to set us an example. 

Tiza Mafira: fighting against plastic bags in Indonesia, as we all should on a governmental level. Yet, even a small group of people or just one person can organise the initiative. It all starts with individuals.   

Afroz Shah: organises the world’s largest beach cleanup 

Another example of how powerful the idea is. Not only do he and his volunteers clean up the beaches. They also educate kids in school from time to time. They chose the right strategy: changing the new generation mindset. 

Hugo Tagholm: surfs for our lives along with the Surfers Against Sewage organisation. Bring the fighting for the environment into your life by making it your hobby. 

Here are the events coming soon:

10 JUN
Science Talks Live from the National Oceanography Centre – Online
TIME 10:00 am

20 APR
Oceanic Global’s Earth Day 2021: Ancient Wisdom & the Ocean – Online
TIME 3:00 pm

15 MAY
World Oceans Day Art Gallery 2021 – Online
TIME 5:00 pm

‍10 MAR
Mesoamerican Reef Anniversary (MAR Day) 2022 – Online
TIME 5:00 pm

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