music festivals reading comprehension exercises

Music Festivals

Discussion questions :

1. Do you like music ? What kind ?
2. Have you ever been to a music festival ? Where ? Did you enjoy it ?
3. Have you heard of the Glastonbury Festival ? What do you think it is ? Where do you think it is ?

Read the text :

http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/06/glastonbury_2009.html

People travel from all over the world to experience this 33-year-old event. The first festival took place on a farm in a small village called Pilton, which is near the town of Glastonbury in Somerset, UK. It was held in September of 1970 and was called Pilton Festival – approximately 2,000 people attended. The man who created the festival, Michael Eavis, was inspired by a nearby festival he had visited. The following year, a man named Andrew Kerr wanted to organize a “fair in the medieval tradition” around the summer solstice. Michael Eavis was happy to host the event. A stage shaped like a pyramid was built and 12,000 people attended. There was not another festival until 1979. 

There have been festivals held on most years since 1981 and all the profits are given to charities. It is now formally known as the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and is set in 700 acres of farmland. There are around 25 different stages, fields, and tents where music, theatre, comedy, dance and lots more is all performed.

In 2006, people had to travel to Ibiza in Spain. The site at Pilton in Somerset wss having a break so that the land could recover. These breaks are called « fallow years » and 2012 is also a fallow year for the festival.

Comprehension Questions :

1. When did the Glastonbury Festival begin ?
2. What time of year does the festival occur ?
3. Is there a festival every year ? Justify your answer.
4. True or False – the festival takes place in the city.
5. True or False – the next Glastonbury Festival will be in 2013.

Find Glastonbury on the map.

There are fifteen English words and phrases connected with the Glastonbury Festival in this word search puzzle. Can you find and translate them all?

All the words go across from left to right and down from top to bottom. There are no backwards or diagonal words.

GLASTONBURY                               

SUMMER

CAMPERS

STAGE

MUD

WELLINGTONS

JUNE

ROCK

FESTIVAL

MUSIC

EVENT

CROWDS

TENT

SUN

RAIN

News about Britain 2005 http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/britain/summer_festivals.shtml

UK summer music festivals

What’s your idea of a good time? What about dancing in a rainy field with one hundred and fifty thousand other people while a famous rock band plays on a stage so far away that the performers look like ants?

It may sound strange but that is what many hundreds of thousands of young people in the UK do every summer. Why? Because summer is the time for outdoor music festivals.

Held on a farm, the Glastonbury Festival is the most well-known and popular festival in the UK. It began in 1970 and was attended by one thousand five hundred people each paying an admission price of £1 – the ticket included free milk from the farm.

Since then the Glastonbury Festival has gone from strength to strength – in 2004 one hundred and fifty thousand fans attended, paying £112 for tickets to the three-day event. Tickets last year for the event sold out within three hours. Acts included veteran superstars, such as Paul McCartney and James Brown, as well as new talent, like Franz Ferdinand and Joss Stone.

Although many summer festivals are run on a profit-making basis, Glastonbury is a charity event, donating millions of pounds to local and international charities.

Glastonbury is not unique in using live music to raise money for global poverty. In July of this year, the Live 8 concerts will be held simultaneously in London, Paris, Rome and Berlin. Superstars, such as Madonna, Sir Elton John and Stevie Wonder will perform in order to highlight international poverty and debt.

Vocabulary

stage                                                                                                 simultaneously
the raised floor on which artists play                                                at the same time

outdoor                                                                                             perform
happening outside                                                                            to act or play

from strength to strength                                                               debt
with continuing and growing success                                               something owed to someone else

sold out                                                                                            acts
if something is sold out, all of it is gone (bought)                             here : artists

new talent                                                                                        profit-making
here: successful artists who only just started their careers             bringing money

charity                                                                                              global poverty
generosity towards people who are poor or in difficulties                lack of money in various parts of the                                                                                                          world

fans
very keen supporters or followers of a famous person, group or team

three-day event
a thing (here: a series of concerts) that takes place over three days

admission price
the amount of money you pay to enter a place, for example a concert hall

veteran
a person who has had long experience in some form of activity

live music
music performed by the artists (not played from the tape, CD, etc.)

The Boston Globe’s wonderful Big Picture site has a photo gallery on last weekend’s Glastonbury Festival. There are some amazing images. As usual, it rained.