POP MUSIC

NO FEST: One of England’s most acclaimed rock festivals is taking a hiatus this summer after 25 years. Michael Eavis, the farmer behind the eclectic Glastonbury Festival, has announced that he is taking a year off, in part to redesign the event and attempt to get its legal capacity raised from 80,000 to 100,000 for 1997.

But there’s also speculation that the year off coincides with an expected run by Eavis as a Labor Party candidate for Parliament and that any violence or controversy surrounding a rock festival could be fodder for an opponent’s campaign. But Eavis insists there’s no connection.

“Many of my Labor supporters have been putting on the pressure not to have a break,” he says. “But I need a rest.”

* More news from London: Cranberries singer Dolores O’Riordan has teamed with Marianne Faithfull for a version of the latter’s song “Dreamin’ My Dreams” (produced by Van Morrison and Gavin Friday), planned for release as a single benefiting the Women Against AIDS charity. Meanwhile, Lush’s as-yet-unnamed album will feature a duet between the band’s Miki Berenyi and Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker on a song titled “Ciao!” described as a “camp and countrified anti-love song.”