1980 – YEAR OFF
After the problems with finances, the organisers took a year out to regroup and plan ahead. It was well worth it because the following year…

GLASTONBURY CND FESTIVAL – 19–21 JUNE 1981
THE ONE WHERE NEW ORDER BRING EVERYONE DOWN
Now renamed the Glastonbury Festival, Michael Eavis hooked up with the Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament for the first time, with the charity handling the publicity side and ticket sales. The festival makes a profit for the first time, donating about £20,000 to CND. The proper Pyramid Stage made its debut in 1981, made of corrugated iron and telegraph poles and doubling up as a cowshed the rest of the year. Lucky cows, eh?

Performances this year include Glastonbury stalwarts Hawkwind and Gong, plus the arrival of the post-punk likes of the New Order (whose gloomy set is their biggest show since the suicide of Ian Curtis the year before), poet John Cooper Clarke and that great lost band, The Sound.

Line-up:
Aswad, Ginger Baker, Chicken Shack, John Cooper Clarke, Decline And Fall, Pete Drummond, Gordon Giltrap, Gong, Roy Harper, Hawkwind, Hinkley’s Heroes, Robert Hunter, The Jazz Sluts, Taj Mahal, Beverley Martyn, Matumbi, New Order, Rab Noakes, Nick Pickett, The Sound, Supercharge, Talisman, Judy Tzuke (billed, but apparently replaced by Ronnie Lane and Friends).

GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL – 18–20 JUNE 1982
THE ONE WITH THE RAIN AND THE LASER SHOW
1982 was the first big Glastonbury washout, with the highest recorded rainfall for 45 years on the Friday. Still, this was the first year to feature the laser show after the acts had finished, backed by Gary Numan’s “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?”. The bill featured folk loon Roy Harper, Factory mope-funksters A Certain Ratio and Van Morrison, making the first of many appearances, with some of the performances filmed by ITV and broadcast at some ungodly hour.

Line-up included: A Certain Ratio, Aswad, Black Uhuru, The Blues Band, Jackson Browne, Randy California, The Chieftains, Climax Blues Band, John Cooper Clarke, Ekome, Funkapolitan, Roy Harper, Richie Havens, Van Morrison, Osibisa, Hean-Phillipe Rykiel and Dedier Maherbe, Sad Café, Steve Wally.

How’s my driving? Festival-goers arrive at Glastonbury ’82 (contains live footage of a real Mini Metro):

GLASTONBURY CND FESTIVAL – 17–19 JUNE 1983
THE ONE WITH THE RADIO STATION AND PROPER TOILETS
New local gvernment laws introduced this year mean that the 1983 festival requires Michael Eavis to apply for a license for the first time with numbers set at 30,000 and more provision made for water, toilets and other facilities. Another first was the arrival of Radio Avalon, the festival’s very own station. radioavalon.co.uk

Music-wise, there was a definite ska/reggae feel to ’83, with sets from The Specials, The Beat, Terry Hall’s Fun Boy Three and UB40. Bringing up the less frantic end of the musical spectrum were Marillion and pan pipe specialists Incantation, then enjoying a Top 20 hit with Cacharpaya.

Line-up included: A Certain Ratio, The Beat, The Chieftains, Fun Boy Three, Incantation, King Sunny Ade, Marillion, Curtis Mayfield, Melanie, UB40.

GLASTONBURY CND FESTIVAL – 20-22 JUNE 1984
THE ONE WITH THE SMITHS
Despite defending some prosecutions against the previous year’s festival, 1984’s event was the best-organised yet, with proper car parks and stewards making their debut. The Green Fields made their first appearance, although rumours that they were a stipulation of Morrissey’s contract that he have somewhere nice and quiet to lie down remain unconfirmed. The Smiths played amidst a hail of gladioli and produce a truly legendary Glastonbury performances in front of a reported 35,000 people.

Line-up included: Joan Baez, Black Uhuru, Elvis Costello, Ian Dury, Fairport Convention, Howard Jones, Fela Kuti, The Smiths, The Waterboys, Weather Report.

GLASTONBURY CND FESTIVAL – 21-23 JUNE 1985
THE ONE WITH PAUL WELLER AND THE MUD
A month before Live Aid, another washout greeted the 1985 festival, with some delightful knee-high pools of slurry spread liberally around the site, which had expanded significantly with the acquisition of the neighbouring farm. With the craic ably supplied by The Pogues and the mod duds by The Style Council, not even the presence of Bob Geldof and the Boomtown Rats could dampen spirits. “We’ve had the mud bath and proved we can still cope with the conditions,” beamed the eternally optimistic Michael Eavis.

Line-up included: Aswad, The Boomtown Rats, Roger Chapman, Joe Cocker, Echo And The Bunnymen, Ian Dury, James, Hugh Masekela, The Men They Couldn't Hang, Microdisney, The Pogues, The Style Council, Working Week.

GLASTONBURY CND FESTIVAL – 20-22 JUNE 1986
THE ONE WITH LEVEL 42 AND A LOT OF BACKCOMBING
Notable by its absence in ‘86 was the rain, while the new Classical Tent allowed the more genteel of festival goers to escape from Half Man Half Biscuit’s onslaught of puns and childrens’ TV references. Many of the mid-80s heavyweights add gravitas to the festival’s reputation, including the smooth sounds of Level 42 and Simply Red, while the indie scene is represented by The Housemartins, The Woodentops and the pre-makeover Fuzzbox. The Cure headline for the first time, with a selection of poptastic hits and gloomy anthems, including a version of A Forest which concludes three days after the festival ends (well, that’s what it seemed like at the time).

Line-up included: Billy Bragg, Ted Chippington, The Cure, Dream Syndicate, Frank Chickens, The Go-Betweens, Half Man Half Biscuit, The Housemartins, June Brides, Level 42, Madness, Microdisney, The Nightingales, The Pogues, The Psychedelic Furs, Simply Red, Ruby Turner, The Woodentops, The Waterboys, We’ve Got A Fuzzbox And We’re Going To Use It.

GLASTONBURY CND FESTIVAL – 19-21 JUNE 1987
THE ONE WHERE NEW ORDER CHEER EVERYONE UP
Glastonbury 1987 very nearly didn’t happen, with the license only granted in May, following an appeal. Nevertheless, 60,000 punters turned up to enjoy the festival, which added the WOMAD Stage for the first time. New Order kicked off their headlining set with the lengthy instrumental Elegia and legendary US power-punk pioneers Hüsker Dü also appeared on Friday afternoon, performing one of their last shows in the UK. Gaw bless ‘em.

Line-up included: Billy Bragg, The Communards, Julian Cope, Elvis Costello, Felt, Gaye Bykers On Acid, Green On Red, Hüsker Dü, Ben E. King, Van Morrison, New Order, Courtney Pine, Pop Will Eat Itself, Michelle Shocked, The Soup Dragons, That Petrol Emotion, The Triffids, Trouble Funk, The Weather Prophets, The Woodentops, World Party.