Glastonbury Festival 2024: Carhenge details revealed with 'hypnotic show of lights' set

The iconic Carhenge has returned to Glastonbury Festival, with a number of events announced. 24 mutated vintage cars are stacked into a Stonehenge-like structure in the heart of the festival site.

The striking structure, which was first built in 1987, will be accompanied by an "hypnotic show of lights" and music. Festival-goers will be able to explore the "art made of waste" which will be created in the William's Green area by long-time Glastonbury collaborator artist Joe Rush, from the Mutoid Waste Company.

Organisers say each lintel plays tribute to an iconic pillar of counterculture, a culture liberated from conformism and consumerism. Revolutionary heroines and heroes from the margins of society, including longtime collaborator Vivienne Westwood, rock n' roll guitarist Chuck Berry, Hawkwind's Nik Turner, father of Afrobeat Fela Kuti, and Lee Scratch Perry, pioneer of dub, reggae and ska.

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Throughout the weekend, revellers can expect a Notting Hill Carnival workshop, Fulu Miziki drumming session and workshop, Notting Hill Carnival parade and performance and a late-night Fulu MIziki parade and performance.

Carhenge will be brought to life through a hypnotic show of lights from designer Ed Warren, and the sounds of Fulu Miziki or “music from the garbage” in lingala. From the centre of the henge these “African Mutoids” from Kinshasa, dressed in scrap, fusing music, art, dance and fashion, will perform and play their afrofuturist beats with percussion instruments made of trash.

Echoing the night-long drumming sessions of the original 1987 Carhenge, percussionist Jo Bucket will be adding his own flavour to the circle, along with daily processions from the Notting Hill Carnival crew. The percussion frenzy will come to a head on Saturday night when all the acts join together for an epic drumming jam.

When the drums stop, a series of audio ‘soundscapes’ will accompany Carhenge each journeying deep into the subversive spirit of the characters represented in the henge, with music, sounds and spoken word.

A spokesperson for Glastonbury Festival said: "Carhenge will be brought to life through a hypnotic show of lights from designer Ed Warren, and the chaotic sounds of Fulu Miziki or “music from the garbage” in Lingala [a Bantu language]. From the centre of the henge these “African Mutoids” from Kinshasa, dressed in scrap, fusing music, art, dance and fashion, will perform and play their afrofuturist beats with percussion instruments made of trash."

They continued: "Echoing the night long drumming sessions of the original 1987 Carhenge, percussionists Joe Bucket and Katanga Sound will be adding their own flavour to the circle, along with daily processions from the Notting Hill Carnival crew. The percussion frenzy will come to a head on Saturday night when all the acts join together for an epic drumming jam.

"When the drums stop, a series of audio ‘soundscapes’ will accompany Carhenge each journeying deep into the subversive spirit of the characters represented in the circle, with music, sounds and spoken word."

Glastonbury Festival begins on Wednesday, June 26 and ends on Sunday, June 30. The BBC will be covering the festival throughout June and into July.