Located in the famed South East Corner of Glastonbury Festival from 26-29 June, Shangri-La has returned for 2025 with a fresh look.
Commenting on the back to nature theme, Shangri-La describes the area as “a new landscape of possibility” that is “seeded with imagination, rooted in resistance, and fertilised with rebellion.”
The area includes various stages and workshops, including the Shangri-La Stage, the Grow Room and the Wildings Allotments.
The Shangri-La Stage is surrounded and protected by 40ft PoliNations Trees which have been “reimagined to explore themes of love, loss and land,” says the festival. The new arena “brings a raw and defiant energy soundtracked by Shangri-La’s most eclectic, boundary-pushing line-up yet,” it adds.
The main stage stops three times each night for The Wilding AV Show, an immersive experience that transforms the sculptural trees into living canvases. Designed by FRAY Studio and projected by Universal Pixels, the installation also features vocals from by Rider Shafique, Ngaio and Gardna on vocals, and a performance from the queer collective Shade Cartel.
Elsewhere, the Grow Room is a contemporary greenhouse structure housing a bar and print studio.
Other performances across the weekend also include The Lorefire, by Tootles and Nibs. The performance is described as a “traveling campfire and costumed procession” that incorporates an “interactive musical introduction that mixes traditional folk music with electronic beats,” the festival says.
The new arena brings a “raw and defiant energy soundtracked by Shangri-La’s most eclectic, boundary-pushing line-up yet.”
Kaye Dunnings, creative director of Shangri-La, commented: “In 2024, Shangri-La was described in the press as the ‘most vital and important art event happening anywhere in the world right now’. That was such an honour. A truly life affirming moment. But this isn’t about us.
“This year, we believe Shangri-La is the most important art show for our world. It is vital that we use the incredible platform of Glastonbury Festival to address the things that matter most, and nothing is more important than how we treat our planet and our people.”
