The Sound at Glastonbury 2025

Every summer Glastonbury becomes not just a festival of music but a festival of sound engineering. The size of Worthy Farm, the variety of its stages and the pressure of broadcast-level performances mean the audio infrastructure is on a par with any global tour. The sound at Glastonbury 2025 felt both familiar and fresh. Trusted suppliers and proven systems delivered the backbone, but there were also a few key changes, and the scale of the work remained staggering.

The Pyramid Stage once again anchored the site with RG Jones at the helm. Their Martin Audio MLA system has been the Pyramid’s signature for years, and this year was no exception. Large MLA arrays with companion MLX subs provided the coverage, tuned with MLA’s trademark “hard avoid” to protect neighbouring fields. Control was through DiGiCo surfaces at both front of house and monitors, but many headliners wheeled in their own consoles and playback racks for consistency. This is typical at Glastonbury: the house system carries the weight, but artists bring touring packages to preserve their sonic identity.

Across the field, the Other Stage was powered by Entec Live with a d&b audiotechnik rig. KSL and GSL arrays, supported by SL-SUB low-frequency enclosures, filled one of the busiest arenas of the festival. D80 amplification handled the muscle, and DiGiCo SD-series desks were in place at FOH and monitors. Some of the larger acts layered in personal monitor rigs and their own Avid or DiGiCo consoles, though most leaned on Entec’s heavy-duty d&b system.

West Holts also carried the RG Jones badge, staying faithful to Martin Audio. The emphasis there was on keeping energy in the crowd while controlling spill towards the food market lanes, a task the Martin system handled with finesse. Meanwhile, SWG Events looked after four other stages—Woodsies, The Park, Left Field and BBC Introducing—each tailored with a Martin Audio array appropriate to its size. A notable change this year was BBC Introducing: it has moved away from its enclosed tent into an open saddlespan structure, and at the same time switched to Martin Audio. That meant a bigger, more open PA to match the less contained architecture, and the difference was immediately obvious to regulars.

Perhaps the most talked-about sound came from The Glade, where Funktion-One’s Vero VX system was deployed by Audio Plus. Funktion-One’s Tony Andrews described it as “probably the best sonic experience of my life,” and anyone who stood in front of the asymmetric F124/F132 sub arrays could understand why. The system presented depth and width in the soundstage with unusual poise at festival volume, and for many it was a highlight of the weekend.

Block9 remained the late-night cathedral of dance, its two stages once again equipped by RG Jones with Martin Audio arrays. The Genosys tower carried the Martin signature, while IICON’s sculptural face hosted a Wavefront Precision Longbow system in immersive six-point layout designed by Simon Honywill. Touring DJs often arrived with their own playback racks and monitoring packages, but the house PA was the foundation of the experience.

In The Common, Neuron AV continued to showcase Danley Sound Labs point-source systems. The Temple in particular impressed with a four-point in-the-round configuration of Jericho mains and SH-series fills. The impact was physical, yet coherent, exactly as the area’s rave heritage demands.

And finally, Arcadia’s Dragonfly spectacle returned with L-Acoustics L and K Series loudspeakers hung in a multi-point immersive pattern. Here the PA and the structure are one design, and artists plug into a fully integrated environment rather than bringing anything of their own.

What was different this year? Most stages stayed loyal to their partners, but two changes stood out. The BBC Introducing stage not only changed its loudspeaker brand but also its very architecture, moving to an open saddlespan that demanded a bigger PA footprint. And The Glade’s Funktion-One VX rig drew unusual levels of praise, even from the manufacturer, as a benchmark for sonic quality in the open air. Together they reminded us that even in a festival as traditional as Glastonbury, sound design continues to evolve.

References

• RG Jones: Across Four Stages at Glastonbury Festival
• Installation International: Glastonbury 2025 Preview – Audio splendour across the stages
• ProSoundWeb: SWG Events Deploys Martin Audio at Glastonbury
• Installation International: BBC Introducing Stage adopts Martin Audio
• Funktion-One: Vero VX delivers best-ever Glade sound
• Installation International: Danley Sound Labs powers The Common