Prepare to put the summer into Somerset. Yes, Britain’s biggest alfresco bash is about to kick off again. Glastonbury 2025 is set to be an extra-special one. There will be no 2026 event as the festival takes a fallow year. This year’s Glasto-goers could go large to compensate.

As always, the BBC will provide wall-to-wall coverage of all the action. So fear not if you failed to secure a ticket, which sold out in a mere 35 minutes. Watching along at home will be almost as much fun and a lot less sweaty. From lineup highlights to secret sets, controversies to crowd-spotting, here’s your ultimate viewing guide.

The headliners

It’s a year of first timers …
It’s a right old ragbag at the summit of the bill. Most rumoured names (Oasis! Springsteen! Rihanna! Stevie Wonder!) failed to materialise. Instead, two of the Pyramid stage’s three top spots go to first-time headliners. Friday is the biggest night of their careers for the 1975, fronted by Matty “son of Denise Welch” Healy. No pressure, lads. On Sunday, it’s the turn of US pop-punk princess Olivia Rodrigo who, as far as we know, isn’t related to any Loose Women.

… but there are still plenty of golden oldies
Sandwiched in between on Saturday is grizzled guitar goblin Neil Young and his band the Chrome Hearts. The coveted Sunday teatime “legends slot” will be occupied by Rod Stewart, joined by former Faces bandmate Ronnie Wood. Sir Rod the Mod might be 80 with health worries but insists he’s “more than able to pleasure and titillate”. Do ya think he’s sexy? Actually, don’t answer that.

On the Other stage, the headliners are homegrown hip-hopper Loyle Carner, pop polymath Charli xcx (dress code: lime green) and dance veterans the Prodigy – their first Glastonbury appearance since the death of frontman Keith Flint, shortly before the 2019 festival. Expect emotional tributes to the twisted firestarter.

Acts to watch

The festival’s worst clash?
Fresh from winning best rap album at this year’s Grammys, Florida firecracker Doechii headlines the West Holts stage on Saturday night and will be much talked-about. Her set clashes with Charli xcx, providing a fiendish scheduling dilemma for pop fans. Luckily, TV viewers can flip between both.

The hot tips
Connoisseurs are abuzz about Baltimore hardcore heroes Turnstile on Sunday. Also eagerly awaited are sets from Mercury prize winners English Teacher, Isle of Wight darlings Wet Leg, Irish crooner CMAT and the force of nature that is Self Esteem (all Friday). Taylor Swift-approved singer Beabadoobee and the Glasto debut of Little Mix alumnus Jade follow on Saturday, before the resurgent Wolf Alice and rap poet Kae Tempest on Sunday.

The West Holts headliners, electro duo Maribou State, are set for a breakout Friday night set. US-Ghanaian rapper Amaarae should be suitably fun for Saturday night, as should Ezra Collective, who always bring the jazz party to Pilton. South London soul diva Raye plays the Pyramid before Young.

Brace for nostalgia!
Nineties music fans are well served on Friday by Alanis Morissette, Busta Rhymes, En Vogue and Supergrass. Noughties indie kids will be kept happy too, courtesy of Franz Ferdinand (Friday), TV on the Radio (Saturday), the Libertines and the Maccabees (Sunday). Is it too hot for skinny jeans?

Surprise secret sets

There’s always frenzied speculation about A-list acts playing secret sets. This year’s rumour mill has been busier than usual. Slated for a plum Pyramid stage spot at 6.15pm on Saturday is a mystery act called Patchwork. There are also tempting “TBA” slots on the Woodsies and Park stages.

Chappell Roan, Lady Gaga and Sabrina Carpenter have been optimistically mentioned. More realistically, Haim, Lorde, Green Day, Kings of Leon and Pulp are widely predicted. The other Britpop band on the comeback trail, of course, are Oasis. Their reunion tour kicks off in Cardiff a week after the festival. Could the Gallaghers be plotting a stealth warmup gig at Worthy Farm? Cider-fuelled sibling fisticuffs – let’s have it.

The controversies

The press will be primed and ready at 4pm on Saturday when Irish republican rappers Kneecap take to the West Holts stage. There were calls for the Belfast trio to be axed from the lineup after footage emerged of them allegedly telling fans to “kill your local MP”. The band were investigated by police and member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh was charged with a terrorism offence. Expect them to respond “robustly” during their set.

Later on Saturday night comes Neil Young, who caused a kerfuffle in January when he accidentally announced his headline slot – by cancelling it. Young declared that he was dropping out due to the BBC’s “corporate control”. Two days later, he backtracked, blaming “an error in the information received”. I wonder if corporation executives will cut short his coverage in retaliation?

How to tune in

As is traditional, Glastonbury’s official broadcast partner will infuriate BBC bashers with copious coverage. With live streams of the five biggest stages, there will be more than 90 hours of performances on iPlayer’s dedicated Glastonbury channel.

On broadcast TV, there’s extensive programming across BBC One, Two and Four. A tag team of Clara Amfo, Lauren Laverne, Jack Saunders, Huw Stephens, Jamz Supernova and Jo Whiley will guide viewers through the standout sets, while introducing intimate performances at their vantage point overlooking the Park stage.

Audio-wise, 6Music’s schedule is devoted to All Day Glastonbury for six days (see what they did there?). Radios 1, 1Xtra, 2 and 4 will also broadcast live from Worthy Farm. There are three visualised episodes of Sidetracked, the hit music podcast hosted by Annie Macmanus and Nick Grimshaw. Other BBC “brands” doing special editions on-site include The One Show, Woman’s Hour and CBeebies Bedtime Stories. Don’t have nightmares about gurning ravers on stilts, children.

The spotters’ bingo game

Tick them off as you spot them on-screen! Shout “Glastobingo” when you’ve collected the set! Or don’t! We’re not the boss of you – Michael Eavis is!

• Crowd shot of girl in bikini top, perched on the shoulders of her heavily perspiring boyfriend.

• Jo Whiley gushes about “the mystical vale of Avalon”, “magical ley lines” and “the unique spirit of Glastonbury” while sitting on a hay bale.

• Flags in front of the Pyramid stage include a Welsh dragon, an EU logo, Moo Deng, sad Oompa Loompa and “I heart sausages”.

• Time-lapse sequence of stages being constructed and marquees being erected.

• Gang of male festival-goers dressed as Donald Trump/the papal conclave/Beetlejuice/Minions.

• Gang of female festival-goers dressed as Melania Trump/Sabrina Carpenter/cowgirls/Wicked witches.

• Aerial shot of campsite as voiceover says: “For one weekend only, this sleepy corner of Somerset transforms into a tent city.”

• Cutesy clip of a toddler in fairy wings, face paint and ear protectors, allowed to stay up way past their bedtime.

• Huw Stephens sports sturdy walking boots and multiple lanyards, while introducing an acoustic set from someone you’ve never heard of.

• Despite it being a sunny year, cameras somehow manage to find a semi-naked punter covered in mud.

Wildest moments ever

Magic Alex (2019)
“Who is sober enough to sing these lyrics along with me?” When rapper Dave asked for help with his song Thiago Silva, he spotted 15-year-old Alex Mann in a PSG shirt bearing Silva’s name. Plucked from the crowd, bucket-hatted Alex delivered a word-perfect rendition. The crowd went wild. He went viral.

When the lavvy breaks (1998)
In what was diplomatically dubbed “an unfortunate operational error”, the dance tent was flooded with gallons of excrement. A machine which was meant to suck up excess sewage did the opposite and pumped it in instead.

Hey Jude Bellingham (2024)
The festival didn’t screen Euro 24 games due to clashes with live acts. Louis Tomlinson became a cult hero by doing it himself. For England’s last-16 tie against Slovakia, the One Direction alumnus drove to Argos to buy a TV, generator and dongle. He set them up in the campsite, word spread and a crowd gathered, many not realising who’d pulled off the coup.

Bottomless brunch (1987)
In what’s known as the “trouserless year”, dozens of festival-goers roamed the site in their underpants, looking for their trousers after thieves took them from their tents. Piles of stolen trousers were eventually found in a ditch. It remains a mystery.

Muddy hell (1997)
There have been many soggy Glastos, so imagine how biblical it must have been to go down in history as “the year of the mud”. Relentless rain saw bands cancelled as arenas became waterlogged. Tour buses were immobilised. Marquees became a swamp. By Sunday, the Other stage started to sink into the slurry.

Recreate the festival vibe at home

Five easy ways to feel as if you’re in a Somerset field
• Put the central heating on max and close all the windows for that “sleeping in a sweaty tent” authenticity.
• Decant all drinks into plastic bottles or wobbly paper cups. Serve lukewarm.
• Persuade a neighbour to play ear-splitting drum’n’bass between 3am and 9am, eliminating the slim possibility of sleep.
• Don’t turn on the lights after dark. Navigate around your house with a weedy torch instead and keep bumping into things.
• Stand in front of the TV behind someone taller, so you have to crane around them to glimpse the screen. If you must sit down, do it in a camping chair with restricted view.

Worthy Farm factoids

• With a population of 210,000 for the weekend, the festival site becomes England’s 24th biggest city.
• Van Morrison is the most frequent Pyramid Stage performer, appearing eight times between 1982 and 2005. Coldplay have headlined the most times with five.
• The site has more than 3,300 toilets – approximately one loo per 60 people – as well as 700 metres of male urinals. The festival sprawls over 450 hectares of land – the equivalent of 500 football pitches or 10 Vatican Cities.
• The perimeter barrier is 8km long. At 4.12 metres tall with a 45-degree overhang to prevent climbing, it’s known as the “Super Fortress Fence”.
• Elton John became the most-watched headliner in history last year, with 7.6 million viewers tuning in to the BBC broadcast - far exceeding the 4.1 million record set by Ed Sheeran in 2017.