West Holts Stage

A look at The West Holts Stage, Glastonbury. The West Holts Stage is one of the major stages at Glastonbury Festival. However, unlike The Pyramid, Other and Park Stages, West Holts never seems to get too crowded.

I think for some reason The West Holts Stage gets overlooked. I have no idea why because amazing artists are performing there every year. West Holts is where you will find reggae, psychedelia, jazz, hip-hop and much more. This is the funky stage.

It’s all in the name

The name West Holts comes from farming. Worthy Farm is a working farm after all. So the name refers to a “halt” or a gate where cows could cross the former railway line. The previous name for this stage was The Jazz World Stage and it first appeared in 2010.

Every year the West Holts lineup is as eclectic as the genres of music I mentioned above. This is the reason why I love this stage so much. At Glastonbury 2024 my favourite performance was held here. Heilung blew us all away. I was looking at people around me and their mouths were agape. Which is pretty impressive considering the Glastonbury crowd have seen everyone.

Another spine-tingling moment was when Kae Tempest performed on The West Holts Stage. It was just after the Grenfall fire and Kae Tempest came out and basically did an hour of poetry that broke our hearts.

Karen and I were crying our eyes out. I thought it was just us and then I looked around and everyone was crying their eyes out. It was quite surreal to be in a mass crowd where everyone is crying.

If I am not mistaken, West Holts is also the only stage at Glastonbury that has artist signings. Watch a gig and then meet your favourite artist. Perfect.

Another great reason to visit The West Holts area is to have a pint (or 3) at one of my favourite bars at Glastonbury. The Brothers Bar is always buzzing. The bar and Brothers cider began at Glastonbury Festival in 1995. Now it is the official cider of Glastonbury Festival.

Who has performed on The West Holts Stage?

Here are just some of the perormers that have played The West Holts Stage:

• Kelis
• Sudan Archives
• Candi Staton
• Sleaford Mods
• Roisin Murphy
• Acid Mothers Temple
• WU-Tang Clan
• Lizzo
• Jeff Goldblum
• The Jacksons
• Underworld
• Earth, Wind and Fire
• Hot Chip
• The Mothership Returns: George Clinton, Parliament, Funkadelic, & The Family Stone
• MIA
• Bryan Ferry
• The Wailers
• Chic Ft Nial Rodgers
• Public Enemy
• Bobby Womack
• Jimmy Cliff
• Femi Kuti

I told you that it is eclectic! Just have a look at some of those acts. Almost all of them legends. If this was any other festival, those acts would be playing the main stage. If you want to listen to any of the above, you can do by listening to my ultimate Glastonbury Playlist. It has acts from every Glastonbury, starting in 1970.

Glasto Latino

There will be a more in depth look at Glasto Latino in another post but I thought I would mention it, especially if you are new to Glastonbury.

To the right of The West Holts Stage is Glasto Latino, Glastonbury’s latin stage. At my first Glastonbury I ended up in here on my first night. I then lost all my friends but stayed anyway because the vibe was so great. Needless to say, I have had a soft spot for this stage ever since.

If you are looking for great latin music then this is the venue for you. In the daytime there are latin classes too so you can show of your moves later on the evening.

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Writing this article made me realise just how blessed we are when we go to Glastonbury. There are so many amazing stages and venues it is hard to decide on which one to head to. In my opinion you should only have a few acts a day that you want to see. Then head out to different stages and watch someone you normally wouldn’t watch. You will discover some amazing music.

See you on the farm!

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