After years of muddy wash-outs, it was supposed to be a vintage year for Glastonbury. But as the sun rose this morning for the first day of the festival, revellers had already faced fire and rain.

Heavy showers fell late last night on the canvas city now adorning Worthy Farm, and the 137,500 ticket holders, most of whom have now arrived, face more showers throughout the weekend.

The rain was the second trial festivalgoers have faced. On Wednesday afternoon, fire broke out at a scrap yard a mile from the Glastonbury site in Pilton, Somerset, forcing organisers to close one of the main entrances.

As traffic backed up around the site, police closed the A37, to the north of the festival site, forcing revellers to take detours and grit their teeth through long delays.

But the Met Office has delivered good news to the embattled festival, predicting only light rain over the next three days. Forecasters say that while revellers can expect gusty winds, the mud baths of recent years are unlikely, although some patches of grass have already given way to slimy brown.

Organisers, however, are unlikely to relax until Saturday night after gauging the reaction to controversial headliner Jay-Z.

The decision to book the American hip-hop star has outraged long-time Glastonbury fans, who see the festival as a rock event.

Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher publicly derided the decision: “I'm not having hip-hop at Glastonbury. It's wrong.”

But as Jay-Z arrived in London this week, he rubbished the controversy over his booking: “At the end of the day, these barriers that they have are only put up to separate us. There is only good music and bad music.

“The world should be all about mixing culture.

“Hip-hop is music in its art form. It should be accepted and respected. It’s all the same thing, it’s just coming from a different perspective.”

Rumours abound that the music mogul, who recently signed one of the biggest contracts in music history, will be joined on stage by his pop star wife Beyonce Knowles and Coldplay friend Chris Martin.

Other performers include Leonard Cohen, Neil Diamond, Amy Winehouse, Kings of Leon and The Verve.

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