A lot of the Glastonbury Festival headlines are taken by… well, the headliners, but, as regular visitors to Worthy Farm will tell you, a lot of the most interesting action is happening away from the Pyramid Stage and other big arenas.
Take the Tree Stage, for example: established in 2024 as part of the Woodsies area, this is set to return for the 2025 festival, which kicks off tomorrow (25th June) and runs until Sunday. Set beneath a canopy of oak trees, this is a place to relax rather than rave, and features Glastonbury’s first quadrophonic ambient sound system.
“Usually, a system is stereo, and you stand in front of a pair of speakers,” says sound designer Jamie Harley. “With quadraphonic, the music surrounds you. You are immersed in a bubble of sound. Anywhere within the circle will be an interesting area to be - you can move around, and get a different sensation wherever you are.
“It's a very communal and open space. You can walk around and find your space where you're enjoying listening. If the weather is good, it's a perfect place to lie down and float off.”
Sounds blissful - the good news is that, at the moment, it looks like the weather will be playing ball. And despite the Tree Stage’s hi-tech audio capabilities, it’s an environment that Harley believes fits perfectly with the Glastonbury ethos.
“For me, there has always been a slightly cosmic element to Glastonbury,” he says. “It has always been a festival for free thinkers and explorers, and the Tree Stage is a continuation
of that. I think it’s quite old-school Glastonbury in a way. It's a big, warm, beautiful thing that surrounds you with gentle weirdness, essentially.”
Those who do choose to pull up a beanbag will be treated to a a 5-day programme that “zeroes in in on the ambient-immersive through visual art, natural science, body immersion and synchronicity with sublime electronica and experimental quadraphonic audio experiences from renowned artists, presenters and technicians.
2025 Tree Stage highlights are set to include Mary Anne Hobbs and Anna Phoebe presenting a hybrid of DJing and violin playing, a set from electronic Yann Tiersen, and a “dub-inspired immersion” from techno artist Juan Atkins.
The Sunday night closing ceremony, meanwhile, is titled Mastery: Quantum Sound, and promises to “play with the boundaries of sound as meditation and live electronic music.” You can expect an ambient performance from Max Cooper, the debut of Jon Hopkins’ Embodiment Breathing experience, ambient electronica live sets from Hannah Holland and Wata Igarashi, and immersive visuals from Jonny.tv.
The Tree Stage’s main performances occur in darkness over the weekend after the Main Stage headliners finish, running until 3am on Friday and Saturday and 2:30 am on Sunday. A full area programme will also run on Wednesday and Thursday.
“The great thing about the Tree Stage is that it opens when everything else closes,” says Jamie Harley. “So you've got a choice after you've been watching your bands all day to either go back to your tent and fall asleep or come up to Woodsies and get cosmic.”
