Glastonbury and “gay” are not traditional bedfellows. Gays go to Glasto of course (the all kinds of music-loving, trendy, woolly kind), but it’s not known for the kind of high-camp performers who play the annual Pride mainstage – happening a week on Saturday.

So the presence of NYC Downlow at Glastonbury this year is significant. It is the first gay event at a major UK festival. And it’s not “gay” as in hi-NRG and Kylie, but rather something seedier, harder, harking back to the fledgeling gay clubs of the 1970s.

Downlow, like disco, is a US import. Black-men-who-have-sex-with-other-black-men (but don’t identify as gay) are “on-the-downlow”. NYC Downlow harks back to the days before commodified sexuality, moisturised muscles and Will & Grace. It’s a celebration of late 1970s homosexual culture.

Fusing music and performance, this club-cabaret-subculture tent hosts a collective of London’s underside, including the team behind Horsemeat Disco, which has become an immensely popular alternative club night in South London, and the lip synchers from the trendy East London restaurant and performance space Bistrotheque.

Jonny Woo and Paul (Ma’) Butcher will leave the safe confines of the Truman Brewery, off Brick Lane, for an extra messy evening of Gay Bingo, now a firm London fixture.

From the legendary Trannyshack in San Francisco comes the drag queen Suppositori Spelling. Brighton offers up operatic diva Le Gateux Chocolat and Landfill Cabaret. No one is getting out alive.

The tent, themed around a 1970s Manhattan gay bar, will feature steaming drains, flashing “don’t walk” signs and trannies with ‘taches; an homage to New York before it was Disneyfied, when it was still dangerous (and fun). Don’t miss the “vogue off”, with trannies trying to out-vogue one another. A “vogue ball” will feature winners in difererent categories including “butch queen at a festival”.

The main event is a reenactment of the Stonewall Riots outside the tent, which – if staged as historically accurate – might require the quick donning of body armour. Drag queens will attack security guards with feather boas. Meanwhile, the “tranny olympics” will feature such events as the 50-yard stiletto dash.

The evening will begin with Jonny Woo telling the story of a group of lonely clones looking for love in 1970s San Francisco. Woo reveals that Michael Eavis himself, who has a mightily impressive beard, will play one of the clones. Everyone is welcome, provided that they have a moustache. No moustache, no entry: false moustaches, costing £1 which goes to charity, are issued at the door.

*NYC Downlow Tent is in the Circus Field, from 8pm to 8am, tonight, Sat & Sun

Editor's choice

• The 100 Best Films of the Decade
• 70 facts you didn't know about Marvel
• The 50 Biggest Movies Of 2010