Ace the Glastonbury experience from home: Here’s your AAA pass

With or without the Foo Fighters (Dave Grohl – we salute you, but you didn’t have to take ‘break a leg’ literally), Glastonbury has ARRIVED!

If you missed out on buying a ticket this year, you may well be fed up of all those social media updates from your friends’ packing woes or smug out-of-office responses. But especially because you’ll have all the internet access you want at home (no trekking around trying to find a WiFi cow for you, my friend!), we’ve written this handy online guide to watching the best bits of Glastonbury - and you don’t even have to go near any mud! (But feel free to go and roll in some if you really want to get into the spirit of the weekend.)

1. Expect the Unexpected

From the controversy of Jay-Z headlining in 2008, to Dolly Parton’s amazing 2014 country music performance, Glastonbury has catered to many a musical taste over the years. Just make sure you know your Glass Animals from your Super Furry Animals, and Twin Atlantic from Lower Than Atlantis (an actual, genuine mistake on my part during the festival season last year) by looking at the line-up well in advance, and reading all the artist info you could ever need!

2. Build your own campsite in the living room

Avoid the hassle of finding a camping space and laying claim to your own patch of grass/mud by collecting together all the bedsheets in the house and recreating your favourite childhood den. Then revel in the A-list view of all six stages live-streamed throughout the weekend on the BBC Glastonbury website.

And if you accidentally miss your favourite artist because of the (non-existent) queue for your clean, dry, fresh-smelling bathroom, there’ll be 120 full sets for you to catch up on in BBC iPlayer.

We also recommend you take a photo of that lovely, never-ending toilet roll and send it to your poor portable loo-using festival-going friends. (Oh no, don’t worry, they won’t have signal.)

3. Take a look at the moments when music made history

So you might not have been there when Beyoncé wowed the Pyramid Stage audience in 2011 with her fierce performance, or when the crowd invaded the stage for The Smiths’ set in 1984, but that’s not to stop you from watching some classic Glasto performances straight from the archives.

If you weren’t there swaying along with the crowd for Radiohead’s iconic 1997 headline set (maybe, like me, you were too young and were sent to bed when the EastEnders doof doofs came on TV), you can still watch *that* Karma Police moment and more.

4. Explore Glastonbury – avoid all the mud!

One of the best bits about Glastonbury is the magnificent Somerset countryside and Worthy Farm itself. Spend time relaxing and whiling away the hours by keeping an eye on a live feed of the campsites, the main stages, and the rolling hills in the background – without losing track of a single mate on the way!

This brings me to another very important life question that’s been keeping me awake at night – what exactly happens to Worthy Farm when everything gets cleared away? Founder and dairy farmer Michael Eavis has been revealing just that in a short-but-sweet BBC iPlayer Exclusive.

5. Soak in the atmosphere backstage - without soaking your feet in whatever it is that lurks on the ground

Want to see Imagine Dragons having a mud fight backstage? Or maybe a spontaneous collaboration between the magically-healed Dave Grohl and the amazing Lionel Ritchie? Well, if the latter of two actually happens (although wonderfully, the former definitely did!) the first place to catch it will be via @BBCGlasto on Twitter and Instagram, BBC iPlayer on Facebook and you can use the hashtag #BBCGlasto too.

With so many mind-blowing bands and artists to look forward to, we recommend you set your own smug out-of-office response: ‘Sorry, I’m watching Glastonbury. I’ll respond on Monday having lost none of my possessions, friends or dignity, but totally awestruck - and I haven’t missed a moment.’

The Glastonbury live streams begin Friday, 26 June.

Glasto coverage begins on Friday, 26 June at 7pm both on BBC Three and on The One Show on BBC One. Full sets from over 90 artists will be available in BBC iPlayer for 30 days after broadcast on TV. For full coverage details please see the BBC Glastonbury website.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.