Glastonbury, Britain's most popular celebration of music and performing arts, is now in its 43rd year.

Organisers had expanded the viewing area as a large proportion of the 135,000 festival-goers on the sprawling 900-acre farm sought to witness this small piece of music history. The Glastonbury festival, held at Worthy Farm in Somerset, England, began as a hippie gathering of 1,500 people in 1970.

It now has 58 stages and formal accommodation ranging from pre-assembled tents to glamorous yurts costing several thousand pounds. It continues to sell out months in advance even though Britain's unpredictable weather often transforms it into a mud-bath. This year, the Arctic Monkeys and Mumford and Sons were among the headliners with the Rolling stones making their Glastonbury debut.