Veteran rockers Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young are set to rock the Glastonbury festival, the world-famous celebration of arts and music which gets into full swing on Friday.

Organisers Michael Eavis and daughter Emily have returned to the festival's rock roots after criticism last year when they invited US rapper Jay-Z to play the coveted Saturday night headline spot.

The rapper was blamed for slow ticket sales, but his electrifying performance helped re-establish the festival's reputation and this year's 137 500 tickets were snapped up five months ago.

Eavis, who has overseen Glastonbury's transformation over nearly four decades from a few bands on his farm in southwest England to one of the world's biggest festivals, said this year's headliners would please traditionalists.

"The headliners are thoroughly, thoroughly predictable," the eccentric 73-year-old farmer told the Guardian newspaper before the five-day festival opened on Wednesday, leading up to the weekend climax.

Neither Canadian folk-rocker Young (63) or 59-year-old Springsteen, affectionately known as "The Boss", have played the festival before. British indie-icons Blur will appear after re-forming last December.

True to its hippie roots

Renowned for hosting diverse performers ranging from rock to reggae, African folk to ambient dance and burlesque to breakbeat, the festival remains true to its hippie roots but also welcomes cutting-edge acts.

On the main Pyramid Stage, Young, Lily Allen, The Specials and Fleet Foxes appear on Friday; Springsteen, Spinal Tap, Dizzee Rascal and Kasabian play on Saturday; and Blur, Madness, Tom Jones and Status Quo perform on Sunday.

On the Other Stage, Bloc Party, Ting Tings, Lady Gaga and White Lies play on Friday; Franz Ferdinand, Maximo Park, Peter Doherty and Pendulum perform on Saturday; and Prodigy, Glasvegas, Bat For Lashes and Yeah Yeah Yeahs appear on Sunday.

Other stages include the Acoustic Tent, Dance Village, JazzWorld and the John Peel stage for up-and-coming bands.

More leftfield tents and stages host comedy, circus acts, theatre, political discussion, poetry and alternative health treatments.

Apocalyptic dream-world

Other performing areas include Trash City — "An apocalyptic dream-world straight from the pages of a 2000 AD comic" — and Shangri-La — a "retro-futuristic citadel, 'Bladerunner'-inspired city of pleasures gone wrong."

Eavis first organised the festival in 1970, the day after Jim Hendrix died, and fans who came to see acts including Marc Bolan and Al Stewart paid one pound each for entry and free milk from the farm.

This year's Glastonbury opened its doors to guests on Wednesday but it will not be until Friday when the live music begins that the tented city will reach its full extent. Perhaps the biggest worry for visitors to Worthy Farm in the south-west English countryside is not the line-up but the unpredictable British summer weather.

Glastonbury has been regularly beset by torrential downpours — a deluge in 2005 washed away 500 tents — knee-deep mud and cases of trench foot in revelers. The Met Office is cautiously optimistic about this year's chances, but advises that festival goers pack their wellies as showers are possible.

For Eavis, times are gradually changing, as he prepares to hand over fully to daughter Emily in 2012.

"I'm living on top of the hill now, away from the farm," he told the Guardian on the festival site. "So (Emily's) taking over the house, which is nice. A new generation of Eavises can live here."

"I still feel I have an important role to play. Even if I go I'll worry about the drains, the rubbish, the recycling. There will be a gradual process of her taking it over."

AFP