Skip to main content
Christian Eede
22 May 2024, 15:15

Arcadia repurposes Royal Navy helicopter for new Glastonbury arena

Joy Orbison, Shygirl, Eric Prydz and more will play the area at next month's festival

Arcadia repurposes Royal Navy helicopter for new Glastonbury arena

Arcadia has shared details of its stage at this year's Glastonbury festival.

Dubbed The Dragonfly, the new arena will be adapted from a former Royal Navy helicopter, with the team behind Arcadia saying they hoped to repurpose a "weapon of destruction into a unifying symbol".

With a focus on running its staging as environmentally friendly as possible, The Dragonfly will be powered by batteries that have been charged off-site, as well as wind and solar energy. This follows on from last year's area also being run exclusively on renewable energy.

Among the acts set to play The Dragonfly across the weekend are Joy Orbison, Shygirl, Eric Prydz, Barry Can't Swim, Fatboy Slim, Amelie Lens and Andy C. There will also be b2b DJ sets between HAAi and KI/KI, and Hedex and Bou.

Arcadia is famed at Glastonbury for its fire-breathing spider staging, which has been a fixture of its area since 2007. That will be forgone this year for The Dragonfly.

In a statement, Arcadia founders Pip Rush and Bert Cole said: "We've loved the challenge of forging something so new as our main Glastonbury installation – it's been hard to contain the excitement and keep this under wraps.

"Arcadia's firmly back to its roots with some deep repurposing of insane military machinery to create a ground-breaking centrepiece for our boldest ceremonial arena yet, opening profound new levels to the experience."

Arcadia will also be launching a daytime kids' area, The Alchemists' Playground, which will serve as a space where children can learn about "repurposing, engineering, design and performance".

You can see the full Arcadia line-up for 2024 below.