How Adam Gainsborough books the Greenpeace stage.

0:00Miguel Hello and welcome to GlastoCast, the unofficial Glastonbury Festival podcast. In this episode, we will talk about the latest announcements from the festival and share a conversation we had with Adam Gainsborough, the founder of This Is Now Agency and music booker for the Greenpeace Field. I'm Miguel, and as always, I am joined by Jessi, How are you doing, Jessi?

0:32Jessi Hey, Miguel, it's been a while, hasn't it? I'm really, really good, thank you. So good to hear your voice.

0:38Miguel Well, it's our first episode of 2023. Many things happened so far. Uh, we are recording this at the end of April. Uh, resale has just happened this last weekend. Uh, the main poster, of course, has been out for some time, and we are now, uh, excitedly waiting every day for any new area poster or any other news from the festival that may But before we get to that and start discussing this year's festival, I would actually love to hear about your preparations. How is that going for you at the moment, Jessi?

1:18Jessi Yeah, I mean, um, you know, I've booked the annual leave from work. Um, I'm doing the same as last year, so I will be on site this time from Saturday through to Monday. So what's that, 9 days? Yeah, so I've booked my whole week off from work, um, and then a couple of recovery days as well.

1:39Adam Gainsborough Yeah, yeah.

1:40Jessi Um, but yeah, we're, we're just starting to think about logistics, um, because we'll be taking the campervan again, um, and she's an old bird. I think I've mentioned this before, but she's 1972, but running very well at the moment, touch wood, that I've got here. Um, so yeah, we've literally just this week started talking about we need to get the campervan kind of out of storage and give her a good clean and then, you know, start to slowly pack with all the things we're going to need for a week and things. And then, yeah, just logistics of, I think Ben's going down a couple of days before me, uh, with the camper van. And then it's whether I go down by train or whether I come down with a car. I don't know. So it's, it's all those kinds of conversations happening at the moment.

2:21Miguel I remember last, last year, I think you end up, you were in a wedding and then you got a hike, someone to Glastonbury or something. How long did that happen?

2:30Jessi Yeah, yeah, I was at, um, a hen do on the Friday and Saturday. That was it. But it just so happened to be in Cornwall, the hen do. And so on our way back on the Sunday, I just said to my friend who was driving us, I was like, can you just drop me at Glastonbury? Um, she was actually joining us on the Wednesday, you know, she was coming down with the ticket. So she quite enjoyed dropping me off and seeing everybody crazily running around and stuff. So yeah, yeah, it was good fun.

2:55Miguel When was the last time you guys used the camper van?

2:57Jessi Oh, we used it loads last year. Um, We used it, uh, gosh, lots in August. We went to Boomtown and then Stowaway Festival, and, uh, like, we went to a friend's wedding that didn't have loads of accommodation options, and I was like, can I bring the campervan? They said, yep, fine. Um, so yeah, it got quite a bit of use last year. But, um, we keep it— so my parents have an actual decent watertight garage out there that's big, so it It is stored at my parents' house because I have a small garage in London, but, um, I'm sure you'll all understand that a garage in London is a tiny, tiny, very leaky affair. So yeah, she spends the winter at my parents' house, so it's just a case of dusting her off and going for a clean.

3:43Miguel Before you start going with the camper van, did you used to do that annual tent check before the festival, or you would just take it and hope for the best?

3:50Jessi Oh, I mean, Being 100% honest, Miguel, if anybody asks me that, I always say, oh yeah, I always get a tent out, I always give it a waterproof, I always give it a clean. But if I actually am 100% honest, I think I maybe did that twice. Most of the time I just go, yeah, it's fine, it'll do. And then if there's any disasters, I bring enough like gaffer tape and—

4:12The Glasto Thingy All right.

4:13Jessi God knows what else to sort it out.

4:15Miguel I see. So it's the case of do as I say, but don't do as I do.

4:19Jessi Yeah, yeah, exactly that. Although I will say, like, the thing with me is that I have firstly have 2 very like high quality tents, so they're not cheapy ones. Um, and also whenever I use them, if I don't pack them away wet, like I always make sure I air them out so they're totally dry when I pack them away and I pack them away very well. So I guess I'm just kind of trusting my own, uh, you know, what's the word? Like, I guess tent maintenance, but not really maintenance.

4:47Adam Gainsborough Yeah.

4:48Jessi I'm quite confident in that I've put them away well and they've been in a dry place. So yeah, um, but I do get them out sometimes if somebody's borrowing one of my tents. I always get them out because I, I wouldn't like somebody to borrow my tent and then turn up and have a big hole.

5:02Miguel Yeah, yeah, but there's also the case you go to so many festivals. I, I always do that because I mostly go only to Glastonbury, so I always do the— I open the tent, I air it out, so maybe I clean it again, even though I also take the care. But anyway, we're going to a different subject that we already spoke about. Uh, it's just— I mean, it's just, uh, very amazing. You had this amazing different experience last year. You arrived before the gates opened and you're staff camping, and now you go with the camp event. And, uh, what I wanted to ask really, because as we know there's so many ways to do Glastonbury— I mean, we end up having almost a conversation about that, uh, so— but I think maybe there's always some learning or adapting, and every time something changed. So is there anything you do differently the second time around?

5:45Jessi Oh, I mean, I do have to keep pinching myself, and I am you know, very aware that I'm so lucky with how it's kind of turned out. Like, I have had a few friends say to me, like, you're definitely only dating Ben because of the Glastonbury connection. And then they're only 10% right, but you know, it's a very excellent perk. I mean, we, we got together because of our— one of the major things was how much we both loved Glastonbury. So it's nice to have somebody to share that with. And it is, you know, such a cool thing to be able to do. Am I going to do anything differently? Um, so I'm hoping things will be a little bit calmer as far as, um, the different paths around the festival are, because that's what I sort of struggled with last year. I think we talked about this.

6:35The Glasto Thingy Yeah.

6:35Jessi The phone signal was fine trying to find my friends, uh, but it was kind of when I knew where they were. Actually, I'm quite a fast walker and I know my way around Glastonbury very well. I don't get lost, so Usually I should be able to get there very quickly, but I found last year just the, the different pathways and everything, it was so much busier than I'd ever seen it before. So yeah, I found that we stayed quite a lot around the sort of Greenpeace West Holts Glade area, you know, mainly out of convenience, uh, but, but also just like if I messaged my friend and they said, oh yeah, we're, um, we're over at Silver Hayes, I knew that I couldn't get there in like 20 minutes. It would take me more towards an hour, and then by the time I get there, they might want to move on and things. So We, we did a lot more sort of pre-planning last year. We did a sort of like, right, okay, at this time we're gonna be here, and that kind of thing. So yeah, I guess I'm just hoping it'll be easier to move about a bit. And apart from that, I don't really think I'm gonna do too much differently. Yeah, I'm gonna try— I'm definitely gonna go to the Pyramid Stage more because firstly, I love all 3 headliners this year, um, and last year I only went for Diana Ross for like 40 minutes. I didn't even stay for her full complete set. So I definitely want to make sure, um, well, I'm 100% going to be at 2 of the headliners. The 3rd one is a bit of a we'll see. But yeah, so more Pyramid time, I think.

7:54Miguel Right, fantastic. But, uh, let's say maybe even because first time with the camper van, first time in the staff camping, uh, so is that anything that didn't work or anything you need to change? Maybe, uh, is there anything you adding to your camping equipment?

8:07Jessi Oh, um, I'm definitely going to invest in some slightly better earplugs, um, because the West Holts stage do their sound check in the morning, and if you've been out till 4, 5, 6 in the morning, they do their sound check at about 9, and the speakers are pointed directly at our, our field basically. And last year I did okay, I think I talked about this, but definitely some even better earplugs will be good. I don't really think we've upgraded anything in the camper van too much. I've bought a few extra like lights for the camper van so that we can put some like colored lights on, bit of disco vibes in the camper van. I might get us some nice new chairs as well. I'm tempted to bring— we've got like an outdoor barbecue thing. I, I need to check on the rules. I might get told off, but because we're there for a good 5 days before the punters come, I, I think it'd be really nice to do a little barbecue with some of the other, um, some of the other workers. So tempted to bring that, but also don't want to get in trouble, so we'll see. Yeah, there's a few things, but we had the campervan last year, um, and it was great, and I'm excited to have it again this year, and I'm excited to have a shower again every day like I did last year.

9:18Adam Gainsborough Yeah.

9:18Jessi It was amazing.

9:20Miguel Oh, actually, by the way, all this talk about the crew, last year it kind of happened a little bit last minute and you already had your— you bought your ticket, you paid your balance. What's the case for this year?

9:31Jessi Yeah, so, well, in November I, you know, was lucky enough to get a ticket. I'd had my normal system. We had all our teams and my team got through. You know, all the while my boyfriend's saying to me, you don't need a ticket, it's fine. Like, I usually have a spare. He's— well, he said, I always have a spare. That's part of the, you know, the deal that he's struck, you know, with his company struck or whatever. So he was trying to convince me that everything would be fine and I don't need a ticket. But obviously in November I was like, to be honest, babe, between now and then, you know, you could break up with me or die. So, which is harsh, I know, but it's true. I was like, anything could happen. So yes, I paid, I paid my £50 deposit in November, and then when the uh, deposit payment window kind of came open again in April. All week I was saying, I'm gonna pay for my ticket, I'm gonna pay for my ticket. And Ben just kept saying to me, you really, really don't have to. But can you imagine the anxiety of like— I, I would just say to him like, have you got it written in an email, like how many tickets you've got? Have you— is there any kind of confirmation? And he was like, no, no, it's just like a gentleman's agreement, we talk on the phone. As if I'm going, babe, you don't understand that. What, what if I don't pay my balance and then something happens? But he convinced me. I have not paid my balance, so mine was one of the ones that went back into the resale pot. And since then, there has been an email that he's shown me that, that is confirmation that I, I will be fine. But yes, it was, it was a very, um, stressful, like, week. And, you know, Ben's just arguing with me going, honestly, you don't have to. And there's me like, but please, you don't understand.

11:15Miguel Yeah, no, I think, I think I will feel the same, and most of our listeners as well. I mean, even after you pay the deposit or the balance, that is the moment you're just waiting for the email and something more tangible that says, yes, you're going, relax. So I completely understand you. So, uh, before we continue, I think now is the time then that I do need to share with our listeners, uh, that sadly I won't be attending the festival this year. I said, uh, it's going to be the first time since I started Going back to 2011, because now it will be the moment, Jesse. You probably would ask me, "And Miguel, how are your preparations going?" Well, and it's a combination of many small reasons. I don't want to dive into that. It's not really the focus for our conversation today. But let's just say that the stars aligned differently and just leave it at that. Of course, I had an amazing run many, many years going without any interruptions. I I helped so many people join me throughout the years, and the first time maybe someone is gonna. go because of me, because I'm actually giving up my space and I'm quite happy with that, if I'm honest. Of course, I am dreading a little bit. How is it going to feel when the festival is actually on? Because it's going to be a whole new set of feelings, maybe.

12:27Jessi I was going to ask you that, Miguel. Like, I hope you're abroad or something that you can just turn off your phone and not think about it.

12:33Miguel Exactly. I still don't know if I'm going to do the home experience, maybe book myself something else to do during those days, or just maybe shut out completely from the festival updates or what's happening and just hear your stories after. So that part is not planned. What we want to say is that doesn't change the plans we have for the podcast. So we'll still be releasing episodes whenever we can, and we'll be looking for interesting guests to come and talk to us and stories to share from our listeners. So always going to continue as before. And yeah, now that this is out of the way, uh, let's talk about Glastonbury 2023.

13:09Jessi No, like, well, I will miss you there, Miguel. I'll miss bumping into you in the naughty corner when we're both very, very drunk and have no idea where we are. It's gonna be very, very fun. But you'll be back hopefully next year or the year after. Like, I will— I'm sure we will have those experiences again anyway. And you're stuck with me, gonna have to be listening to me chatting about it, you know, on this podcast. So I'm sure I'm gonna make you desperate to get back in. So—

13:35Miguel I'm sure, I'm sure it's gonna happen.

13:38Adam Gainsborough No worries.

13:45Miguel While everyone was expecting update and hoping for the poster drop, the first big list of artists show up in The Guardian in a not so positive article actually focusing on the all-male lineup of headliners, which Emily Eavis called a pipeline problem. It was quite a peculiar thing to happen this year because that's when we actually had about 50 names at the end of the article thing. So people start talking, what's going on? Where is the poster? Which ended up coming, well, I don't know, a couple of hours later. I do wonder, I don't know how, what happened behind the scenes. If the festival knew the Guardian was about to release the article or if it was planned to be after the poster and, or they didn't know and they have to run and release the poster, who knows? But that's what happened this year, Jessi. What, how was it? What do you think of that?

14:32Jessi Yeah, I mean, usually with these things is that the newspapers will know, you know, they'll, they'll get an email from the festival. This is just how I know it works for other festivals actually. So I can't 100% confirm with Glastonbury, but I'm Sure, is that they normally get an email around 12 hours before, which gives them a chance to write their articles. But the, there's normally a strict embargo is the word. So they have like, yeah, they say this information is strictly embargoed until 9:00 AM on the date or whenever it was. And it means that, you know, exactly at that moment, then the newspapers can release their news and then it's, you know, it's timely and they don't have to wait for the poster and then write the article and then drop it. So, I'm going to assume that somebody made a mistake at The Guardian and pressed go at the wrong time, because I think it was out by about 7:30, 8 in the morning was when I started getting people texting me about it or something. I was on my way to work, and then I think we got the poster. It, it feels like it was sort of 9:30, 10-ish, something like that. So, about an hour later. So, I, I'm pretty sure that, um, you know, somebody pressed go too early and then—

15:38Adam Gainsborough Yeah.

15:39Jessi they sort of shimmied the poster forward or whenever it was. But do you know what, I was excited when it dropped because honestly, this is probably the most me lineup that Glastonbury's ever had. Um, normally there's a couple of people on the poster I like, and then there's people that I go and listen to and it turns out that I like. And, you know, between the poster drop and the festival, or I get people who are much more, um, musically diverse than me that go, oh, we absolutely have to go and see this, these guys, you'll love them, or whatever. But no, this time, yeah, I know, I, I totally agree that, uh, you know, the diversity is an issue. Um, I think that they said something about it being all white men, but actually Guns N' Roses, Guns N' Roses have 2 non-white members. So I thought that was a bit bad journalism, let's say. Still, it's not good enough, we all know that. Um, but I do agree with Emily Eavis is that, you know, women— to be a headliner, you have to be a certain, um, not just caliber but also status. And unfortunately, women don't get dragged up, um, that hierarchy as quickly as they should. And definitely, you know, people of color and women of color definitely don't get dragged up as quickly as they should. Um, not saying they don't have the talent, it's that the system just kind Doesn't ensure they get there as quickly. And sort of historically, you know, there's been a lot of white male artists all through the '80s and '90s, you know. So, and people still want to see those names that have been around for 20, 30 years, a kind of legacy vibe. So yeah, I think there's a lot of work to be done. I think Glastonbury are doing what they can, but it did seem a bit, um, bad timing considering all last year Emily was talking about sort of female headliners and, and aiming for a 50/50 split on the lineup and all this kind of stuff. And then literally the next poster they release, you know, was, was so the other way.

17:37Miguel Yeah, I mean, the thing you say about the embargo, I do understand, but there's also the question if they knew that— of course Emily Eavis gave the interview, so she was aware about, uh, some of the content— but I wonder if they knew that the, the articles, the, the article seems to be focused a lot of that instead just talking about the, the interview, it felt a little bit apologetic. So that's why everything was a bit, a bit funny this year. And they could have put it in a different light, maybe to say like, oh, we're really sorry, we try our best, but look at all the amazing things we also have for you. Because then the article also have these other little tidbits which mentioning that Lizzo could totally be a headliner, but then is not. And they call it like, uh, they are opening for Guns N' Roses and co-headliner. So everything became a little bit messy, I guess, but by trying to justify Instead of just taking the blow and dealing with it and, and, and reaffirming that Glastonbury is committed to change and the change forward. I thought it was a bit, uh, funny, some of the bits of the article, to be honest.

18:39Jessi I think it was just— that's exactly what you said, is it? The fact that they changed the poster and put Lizzo at the top because she wasn't. It was just renamed. Um, and, and then, you know, Eavis was saying that she's co-headliner with Guns N' Roses, which, to be honest, is like my dream lineup, isn't it? Um, but, uh, but then also when Lana Del Rey had like a, you know, public meltdown on Instagram or whatever and was like, I'm headlining the Other Stage, why isn't this reflected in the poster? And then they changed it again, which obviously kind of helped, helped that agenda. Just on the Lana Del Rey thing, like, I get it with her. I do understand what she's saying, but it's been the practice for a number of years now that most posters of every big festival have the headliners, like literally the headliners of each day that the festival goes on. So if it's a 3-day festival, 3 headliners, 2-day festival, 2 headliners, and then everybody else is alphabetical. And the reason they do that is just to stop the arguments between different artists and their agents and demanding more money for being further up the poster and this, that, and the other. That's been the practice. I think we spoke about it with Captain last year. That has been the practice for many, many years now, you know, and I think that was what was messy is that they released a poster, then they released a poster with Lizzo on the top, then they replaced, you know, released another one with Lana Del Rey. It just felt a little bit like, you know, it hadn't been 100% thought through, had it?

20:06Miguel But I feel that the fact that the festival added Lizzo's name at the top, it becomes a bit funny to explain when you say, oh, hey, it's just the headliners at the top. Everyone else is alphabetical. Oh, so Lizzo's headlining. About that.

20:19Jessi Yeah.

20:19Miguel So that's why everything became a little bit messy. And then they go and do a third poster where now you have the Other Stage headliners. And I think maybe it's the end of it, but it just, anyway, it became a bit messy. But the work is ongoing and they are pushing for it. And I hope that they not just go around with this saying it's an industry problem and just try to make, be the change they want to be, you know, just maybe be more courageous. Not courageous, it's not the word. But anyway, I feel like it does, in the case of Guns N' Roses, Mm-hmm. could be, maybe it's now or never, I guess.

20:57Jessi Yeah.

20:58Miguel Uh, Elton John, it is, maybe it is, he said it's gonna be, yeah, yeah, it's supposed to be the last concert, but I think he already said that before, end up touring again, but still, it is also set like a very special moment. So that's why I'm, what I'm getting is my problem is Arctic Monkeys.

21:17Jessi Yeah, yeah, yeah.

21:19Miguel No problem, but But if, if I would remove one headliner and to, to try to bring more diversity, that'll be the one. But still, I understand a lot of people love them and they're still 3 great and big acts that are going to be playing Glastonbury.

21:36Jessi Yeah, for me, like, the dream headliners would have been Guns N' Roses, Elton John, and Lizzo. Like, those are the 3 days. But, you know, I'm fine. I, I get to see— I get to stand hopefully at the front and watch Lizzo and then Guns N' Roses. And the rumor is, is that Lewis Capaldi is before Lizzo. And I love Lewis Capaldi. Yeah. Okay. That's going to be a lovely Saturday night for me. Lewis Capaldi, Lizzo, and then Guns N' Roses. But I can't confirm the Lewis Capaldi, by the way. That's just what I've been told.

22:02Miguel And that's something, again, on the headliners. I don't know if I'm just— I'm wrong on thinking this is happening. And because you know more about the industry and you go to more festivals, it feels now— I don't know if it's a post-Brexit kind of thing, But the headliners at Glastonbury are now also who is touring in the UK this year and end up that that band is also playing British Summertime at Hyde Park or other festivals. So now it feels like the headline at Glastonbury is something that is not that special. Let's say this happened last year, it's happening this year. Am I crazy to think this is now how it's working?

22:40Jessi It's definitely happened for a few years, but I think you might be right that it might be that 2016 was the year that this changed. Yeah. I know 2017, 2019, last year, it definitely feels like at least one of the headliners will be British Summertime headliners or what's the other one? All Points East headliners is another one, something like that. So I think that makes sense.

23:07Miguel All Points East would be more like sharing Park and the Other Stage bookings. Probably it's also the case that many major artists are doing their own tours or they do massive tours. The case Like Beyoncé, who's still doing her own tour after many years. And I guess maybe the combination of touring UK has probably become more difficult. And yeah, a bit of everything, I guess. Well, that's about it. Let's have a look then, Jessi, at the main poster. And is that— well, you already said, but you can talk again how Lizzo following Guns N' Roses is going to be a fantastic night for you. Tell me about that. And then if there's any other— what other names? I Exciting you in the past? Yeah, of course.

23:52Jessi I mean, I don't really want to go on and on about it, but I saw Lizzo, um, of course about a month ago now, uh, at the O2. We had Golden Circle tickets, um, because I was very impressed that the Golden Circle tickets were super reasonable. They were only £15 more than a normal standing ticket. Okay, so me, me and my friend were like, yeah, let's do that then for 15 quid, sounds great.

24:14Miguel Yeah, just sorry to stop, but it feels very worth it Golden Circle to be a Gold Circle to be in this place, right?

24:21Jessi Exactly. I was like, I want to be up close. And, you know, she's so fantastic. So yeah, it was so good. We, we, you know, we were probably about 10 foot from her at one point. Like, we were right on the corner of, um, she had, you know, a platform that goes out into the crowd and then like a sort of circular mini stage at the end of that. And we were like right near that. I got— yeah, it was, it was just fantastic. And all of her dancers and her stage show and, oh, it was just great. So I think on the Pyramid Stage, that is going to be phenomenal. I know she's going to pull out some serious—

24:52Miguel Yeah, yeah.

24:53Jessi Like, it's going to be sort of Beyoncé levels of exciting, you know, visually and whatever it might be. So really, really looking forward to that. Um, and then Guns N' Roses, I, you know, everybody always goes, oh, what if Axl's crap? Um, and I get it, but let's just say I've, I've seen them recently. I saw them at Download like 2019, and they were actually pretty good. And I, you know, I love my '80s rock and I know so many of their songs, and I think it will just be such a moment to be there with my mates seeing that kind of music because it doesn't always come to Glastonbury, that kind of music, you know. Like, I've had, I've had it over the years. We've had the Metallica, we've had, um, uh, oh my God, my brain has gone missing. But, um, yeah, we've had a few over the years, but, um, it, it's just so nice to see it. So I'm really, really looking forward to that. I think it's going to be Some good rock and roll for the Pyramid Stage. I'm excited.

25:44Miguel There is the question if this whole thing of calling Lizzo opening for Guns N' Roses or co-headlining, if she will have a bigger slot than usual, maybe more time or even more access to do something with the stage itself to make it a larger performance. So we'll be curious to see what happens.

26:04Jessi Yeah, I'm hoping she has a slightly longer slot and, you know, instead I reckon Guns N' Roses would probably have asked for like a 2 and a half hour, and then maybe they get cut down to 2 hours and Lizzo has an hour and a half, you know? So it's like a full-on proper— I don't know, we'll see.

26:17Miguel All right, great. And any other names?

26:20Jessi Uh, yes, of course. I'll stop going on about the top line.

26:24Miguel Um, yeah, um, I'll be honest speaking because now there's a second top line then. Yeah, so we have Lana Del Rey, Lil Nas X, Wizkid, and the, uh, Yusuf Cat Stevens, which Uh, will be the legend slots.

26:37Jessi Yeah, I'm, I'm not so fussed about, um, Cat Stevens, which I know sounds terrible. I know that they're so influential in music, but you know, for— it's not really a legend slot for me, to be honest. Um, I've heard that Blondie are playing either before or after, so I will definitely come and see Blondie. So therefore I'll maybe catch a bit of, um, Cat Stevens. We'll see. Lana Del Rey, some of my friends are really, really into I've never really got into her, but I might end up there, you know, see what she's all about.

27:08Miguel I do like quite a few of her albums, actually, especially some of the latest ones. But I don't feel like it's a live act I would like.

27:17Adam Gainsborough Yeah.

27:17Miguel And I think this is something you hear about Lana Del Rey a lot. So I haven't checked anything on YouTube to see how is her live act recently, but I'll have my doubts as well if I would go. But it is someone I do listen. But other than that, I think If I look at the poster and especially mentioning that as the second top line now, I do not know about the others. I mean, Cat Stevens, yes. Lil Nas, I'm aware who he is, but never listened to it. Wizkid, I got lost there.

27:47Jessi Yeah, not gonna lie, I don't know who Wizkid is either, but Lil Nas X I think will be excellent. Like, I always have such good memories of like Miley Cyrus and You know, and even like Kylie and stuff. I think it's going to be that sort of level of afternoon, I don't know, just craziness. I think he's going to be excellent. And some of his tunes, I do enjoy quite a lot of his tunes. So I think it's going to be good. Going to be lots of fabulous outfits at Lil Nas X, I reckon.

28:15Miguel Because I'm not sure if it's confirmed, but are we assuming those are the 3 other stage headliners? Is that the case?

28:21Jessi Oh, I don't know. I haven't actually— I would assume so.

28:25Miguel Yeah, no, because you've just mentioned Afternoon and then—

28:27Jessi Oh yeah, good point. I hadn't thought about that.

28:31Miguel All right, anyway, let's see who else you like to mention.

28:35Jessi Well, I don't really want to go on and on too much, but there's just, I mean, Fred again is just one of those DJs that obviously has absolutely gone through the moon this past like year, year and a half. I've seen Fortet a number of times. I've seen Skrillex a number of times. I have yet to see Fred again, so yeah, I'm excited about that. And I'm crossing everything that all 3 of them will do the B2B that they've been doing a lot recently. So crossing everything for that. Um, Christina and the Queens, I've seen her a number of times, even at Glastonbury. Depending on what stage she's on, she's always fantastic. So depending on the stage, I'll be there. Stage and time, obviously. I guess there's a few others. I'll just reel off a few names, but Alt-J, I saw them years ago, haven't seen them for years. I think they'll be really good. Um, Kelis, I've seen her a few times and she's been excellent every time, so would love to see her again. Loyal Khana, I saw at Snowbox, was fantastic, would love to see him again. Royal Blood, oh, just again, that's another afternoon memory I've got, and just those drums, I'm really, really keen for it. Um, Texas, God, that'll take me back to my childhood— well, teenager, teenage years. And, um, yeah, there's a few others on there, but yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm I'm just really happy with it, really. Um, just go— I know not to go on and on about the headliners, but just to agree with you, Arctic Monkeys is the one that I'm not 100% I'll go see. Yeah, Ben doesn't really do Pyramid Stage, and he's agreed that he'll come and see Lizzo and Guns N' Roses. I don't think he'll come to Elton John, but I absolutely have to go. And yeah, Arctic Monkeys. I'm pretty sure that means the Friday will be the night that I go to the Naughty Corner at like 10 PM or 9.

30:14Miguel Yeah, yeah, that's good.

30:14Jessi Early night.

30:16Miguel Actually amazing. Yeah, uh, if I'm honest, I would probably be very interested in Lizzo and Guns N' Roses, even though Guns N' Roses, uh, I just somewhat— I was exposed to them when they were in the height of their fame, but it's not someone I had the album and would play it, but I know all the classics, so I, I would maybe give it a chance. But I would like to see Lizzo, and I would, would want to be there for Elton John. Uh, and other than that, as you say, I think I mentioned, uh, Manic Street Preachers, they were on the poster 2020, so I was sad to see they didn't come back for last year, so we'll try to catch that. And a bit of pop, Carly Rae Jepsen, why not? Hot Chip is always there. I think I've seen this so many times. It's always a blast though, so it would depend on the clashes. And I was thinking, even though Fatboy Slim is also always at the fest, so I think it's been some time since I catch a little bit of Fatboy Slim. So maybe I will be looking to see where he's going to play because I 2020, I, if I'm not remembering wrong, I think he was going to play the Other Stage. So I think probably was going to be his biggest slot in some time at the festival, I guess.

31:25Jessi I would love to see him on a big stage because every time at Glastonbury, he always plays like a too small stage and then it's really crap when you get there because you, you're either too squished or you can't hear or something. And every time I've seen him, he's been excellent. Um, but yeah, God, he would be amazing on the Other Stage. I'd love to see that.

31:42Miguel And as you say, Fred again, who's been just becoming bigger and bigger. And I also didn't have the chance to watch him live, so I will be hoping to be able to see him. Now it's hitting me that if I was there— I will pretend I'm there. I'm gonna keep talking about some other names. As you say, OJ, it's been so, so long since I watched them live. So again, happy to see them on the on the list. It's a bit of indie. You got Phoenix and Warpaint, War on Drugs, really good names. So that's quite exciting. But, uh, on the same— on the similar note that I mentioned that the second top line now, there's some names I'm not that familiar. I was quite surprised with the West Holts poster because that's one where usually I have a few artists I definitely want to be there, but this year is not the case. And I think other than that, Christine and the Queens, as you said, is always fantastic. I think 2016 I saw them play at Other Stage. And it's good to see The Church touring again. And Fever Rays is someone I've never seen live, so I will definitely be there. But yeah, as I say, it is a strong lineup as usual, a good mix of all the genres, and it's going to be a fantastic edition of Glastonbury. I'm so happy you're going to be there to tell me all about it when you come back.

33:04Jessi I will be telling you all about it. I'm so looking forward to it. It's mad to think that it's like It's like less than 2 months away.

33:11Adam Gainsborough Crazy, isn't it?

33:12The Glasto Thingy Yeah. Hey up, GlastoCast, Thingy here. Here's a few minutes on this year's Glastonbury announcements. So what do we know? The first lineup poster came on the 3rd of March. This was the earliest ever, coming one day sooner than last year. Interestingly though, it had the fewest names on it since they started publishing a first poster back in 2014. There are only 54 names on it this year. The previous lowest was 65 in 2019. It's normally around about the 70 mark. The highest, though, was 89 acts included, and that was on the 2020 poster, the festival that never happened. The area lineups also started much earlier than usual when West Holts was announced on 14th of March. Previously, these had always begun in April. There's actually a conspiracy theory or two as to why this happened. Was it A, to show more diversity after some negative reaction to the first poster? B, to give a chance to sneak in a change to the first lineup poster that allowed Lana Del Rey to be moved up to the second line where she clearly thought she belonged? Or, and most likely, C, because they wanted to Anyway, we had to wait until the 13th of April for the next 2, when Silver Hayes and Avalon came in quick succession. Now we're in May and they're coming thick and fast. As I record this, 11 areas have had their lineups published, with at least another 7 more to go and squeeze them in before the full lineup comes out at the end of the month, which Emily Eavis confirmed was going to happen yesterday. A few changes to the normal run of things with the announcement of Carhenge and the earlier poster for Woodseas. Woodseas, of course, is the rename of the John Peel Stage. Their lineup has always come with the full lineup release along with the Pyramid and the Other Stage. Did have a poster last year, but that was after that full lineup had been announced. We've also had the new map, always a highlight of the Glastonbury year. Changes of note here was the loss of Cineramageddon and the Williams Green music tent. This, I think, is a real shame, by the way.

35:26Adam Gainsborough Way.

35:26The Glasto Thingy Unless somewhere new is announced, I believe it reduces the opportunity for up-and-coming bands to appear. Other than that, there's Sonic being replaced by The Levels, more room at Arcadia, and the spot where BBC Introducing is located is now called The Reach, and some staff and public camping has moved about. In thingy news, Calafire, who's a member of the E-Festivals forum, has created an all-new shiny Glasto thingy website. Easier to use than the one that I cobbled together, with a few new features. You can find it at theglastothingy.com. And if you want to find any information plus links to all Glastonbury announcements since 2000, also with a new feature that shows you when each of the individual stages had their announcements over the years, it's the place to be. Did I sound like an advert then? I'm trying to sound like an advert. I'm available for voiceover work. You can of course still find me waffling away on Twitter and Instagram. at the Glasto thingy. And that's it for me. Hopefully we can catch up on the farm again. Ta-ra!

36:30Miguel Now for a second part of the episode, we do want to share an amazing conversation we have with Adam from This Is Now Agency.

36:39Jessi Yeah, I'm so glad we managed to get Adam to give us some of his time. He manages some of my favorite artists that I mentioned on this podcast all the time. And if you ever see me in person, I talk about them all all the time, such as Beans on Toast, who we've had on this podcast himself. Then there's Oh My God! It's The Church, uh, Dusty Moonshine Big Band, Will Varley, loads and loads that we'll go into. But, um, yeah, he's an absolute legend. He's been in the industry for many, many years, and now he's the booker for Greenpeace. So it was so good to get him on. Here we go. So today we have got with us the founder of This Is Now Agency. He has been going to Glastonbury for a number of years. I'll get him to say the exact number himself shortly. And he's involved with the festival most of that time for working as, uh, and now he is the main booker for the Greenpeace stage as well, which is awesome. So we've got Adam Gainsborough with us today. Um, lovely to meet you, Adam. And yeah, anything I've missed out from your intro?

37:37Adam Gainsborough Uh, I think you summed it up nicely. Uh, I, I actually book Greenpeace stage with, uh, with someone else, um, James Barnett, who's been doing it for a number of years when it— since it was actually just the stage was a wigwam.

37:51Jessi Amazing.

37:51Adam Gainsborough And they put a little stage in front of it. So yeah, I booked that along with James Burnham. Other than that, a sterling intro. Thanks. And thanks for having me.

38:01Jessi Brilliant. Thank you so much for joining. I guess we'll just crack straight in. We've got a number of questions for you. Just for the listeners, I said to Adam, if you could just give me like, you know, a couple of paragraphs on your, you know, how you've been connected with Glastonbury so we can start putting together some questions. The email I got in response could have been a dissertation, basically. I was very, very impressed. Um, so yeah, we've, we've put together a few questions, but, um, I'm sure we'll go off on tangents and things. But, um, I'll, I'll crack off, and this is the question that we always ask our guests. Um, can you summarize, I guess, your Glastonbury story? Or perhaps can you just tell us about your first Glastonbury, and then we can go forward with some questions from there?

38:42Adam Gainsborough Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I will say that I'm now 40 years And I've been going to festivals for over half of my life. So I'm not the best of marrying up the memories I do have at festivals. A, maybe at the right festival or 2, or 2, what year that was. I can't do years. And that's through being lucky enough to be going to festivals for that long and other things. So Um, but I certainly remember my first time at Glastonbury. Um, I guess like my story at Glastonbury started the year before the year I didn't go, um, for the last time, which was 2010. And we'd come to— myself and my then partner had gone to see Stevie Wonder in Hyde Park on, let's say it was Saturday night. And then the next night, Stevie Wonder was headlining Glastonbury, obviously the Pyramid, and we were watching it from our sofa. And one, we were like, yeah, last night's show was definitely better. And the other was like, why the fuck aren't we at Glastonbury? Like, we go to every other festival. Like, why aren't we there? Like, it always scared me, like, through the sheer volume of people that attended, you know, 200,000 people. I mean, a few years before that, you know, it kind of wasn't always selling out, was it? But when it was like all over TV, it was, the crowds were huge and our friends went, but we didn't go. But, and then the next year I was lucky enough to get a job and that enabled me to go. And the first year that I went was 2011. So I've missed all like the bad weather. I mean, there's been a couple of rainy ones. 2016, some people say it was the worst one, but I had a cracker of a year. Um, but yeah, the reason why I went is because, um, I was, started a job at a company called Finger Lickin' Management. And well, it was a record label still, but I came on board and to transform it into a management company along with Abel Reynolds. But my first time at Glasto was with an act that I was looking after called The Correspondents. And, um, they played a couple of times before, I think, but kind of tiny little cabaret side stages. And we had a booking at The Glade. And I remember we got picked up from wherever we were. in a ute, like a van without a top on. And we were sat in the back and driving up the train track of Glastonbury that runs alongside Field of Avalon, straight down Shangri-La. We're riding through there, obviously slowly because it was the crowd, you know, there's a crowd there. And there was people like jumping onto the van going, oh my God, it's you! Oh my God, it's you! To the correspondents, not me, obviously. What time are you playing? What time are you playing? And it was just this like magical thing where there was hype for the band that I was with and, you know, and it was just the excitement started instantly. And they went on and the show was fantastic. As you would imagine, the correspondents were incredible. But my memory of the festival kind of stops there.

41:59Jessi That was my next question. I was going to say, if you— did you do the full weekend or did you just come for when the Correspondents played and stayed for a day and left? Or if you remember?

42:08Adam Gainsborough I, you know, I, I— it's rare unless I'm actually doing tour managing back in the day. It's rare that I left a festival before Monday.

42:17Miguel But it worked out quite, quite nicely for you that you intended to go to Glastonbury and then suddenly you were already booking your first act Yeah, I mean, it's, yeah, it works out amazingly well.

42:29Adam Gainsborough And, you know, I've never had to be on my computer for hours trying to book tickets. You know, I've been very lucky in that respect. And since then, it's, you know, it's my most favorite place on earth. There's, I haven't found a better party. I mean, the party that contains another 200 parties all at the same time. Yeah, I'm getting shivers down my spine just talking about it. Yeah, it's my most favorite place on earth. So to have been back every once since and to be involved as I am now, it blows my mind, you know.

43:01Jessi It's gonna be a long podcast if you're getting the shivers. That's what happens to us when we talk about it. That's why we do this. We just love talking about it. We do it forever.

43:08Adam Gainsborough Yeah. I mean, you could, you could with anyone. It's just like, because the more you talk about it, the more you remember about it as well. You know, if you're like me, you don't have the best of memories. Yeah, it's like, it's It's like, you know, you only get to see it once a year. It's like talking about a distant relative that maybe you've lost or, you know, that you love that lives across the other side of the world that you just don't get to see, but get excited when it's coming up and it's over in a flash, but it's still, you know, it's the best thing going.

43:35Miguel 2011 was also my first one.

43:37Jessi No way.

43:39Miguel Yeah, but no one shouted when they saw me though.

43:41Adam Gainsborough Okay.

43:43Miguel But similarly, I don't have many memories. I understand what you're saying. And it's all, I mix everything, all the years, all the memories are all combined together. but the feeling is always there. That is what's magical.

43:54Jessi Yeah, I've been called out on Twitter many times when I say, I say something on one podcast that I say, oh yeah, that was definitely 2014, and then the next time I say it was 2015.

44:03Adam Gainsborough Yeah, as long as you know it was at Glastonbury, then it doesn't really matter, you know.

44:06Jessi Exactly, exactly. Do you reckon it was, um, you said you've gone back every year because you just knew it was the most magical place. Do you reckon it was because you've— that's the one memory you've got? Do you reckon it was when you were on that, on the back of the truck, and you were going through all the people and everyone was so You know, just fun and vibey, I guess, and all jumping in the van. Do you reckon that was when you went, even before they played, you were like, cool, we're coming back here now?

44:29Adam Gainsborough Yeah, I, I think so. It's, it's just like with Glasto, there's so many new experiences as well. So although that, like, that memory is, you know, I think if I thought longer on it, there'd be some other memories. I, I definitely remember dancing with, um, with Mr. Bruce and his friend and Jade Adams, who's the comedian, um, about 5 AM in like Block9.

44:53The Glasto Thingy Mm-hmm.

44:54Adam Gainsborough I know that happened. There was like, I think that was Sunday morning, like Monday morning. But yeah, there's just, you know, with going to so many festivals, you know when there's a good one, you know when there's been a mistake or there's been a big fuck-up on site or something like that.

45:09Jessi But Glastonbury, there's just a, there's just a constant pull I think, like, you know, just because you say you've been going to music festivals for 20 years and Glasto for what?

45:19Adam Gainsborough Um, I think it's 13.

45:21Jessi 13.

45:22Adam Gainsborough Yeah, yeah.

45:23Jessi Um, you know, just music festivals in general, what was your first draw to come? Like, I guess basically, have you— has it always been because of your position in the music agent— music, um, oh, music industry is the word I'm looking for. Um, or did you start going kind of before that and then that was What, what got you into the industry?

45:43Adam Gainsborough Oh yeah, yeah, totally. Yeah, so I went, I think it was, um, my 18th birthday, went to Homelands at Matterley Bowl where Boomtown now is. And it was like Judge Jules, Paul Van Dyke. I have the poster still. But we, like, my brother and our friend went and saw the Plump DJs were playing then. I passed up that gig actually. Um, so I've been going since I was 18, but I was like DJing at this time and putting on nights down in Chichester and Bognor on the South Coast. And then a few years after that, doing like online radio and loads of gigs in London and whatnot and moved to London. And then like at the age of 26, found out what I wanted to do or worked out what I wanted to do. And it was work with artists and kind of do the logistics. So whether it was, you know, booking shows or trying to get signed or, you know, just doing legwork for people making great music. Um, so I kind of fell into it through a friend asking me as a favor to reply to a booking inquiry that he had. And I was like, well, I've never done it, but I'll reply to the email. Let's see what happens. So yeah, you know, it's not always been via a guest list to festivals, but my mum used to buy me Glade Festival tickets for my birthday or 2. And, um, Great mum. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She didn't and kind of doesn't know too much about what went on, but, um, there is a hilarious story about me talking to my mum on a Monday after eating like 300 grams of mushrooms on Psychedelic Blade. I was that high for a week. Um, yeah, I only recently told her that I'd eaten a lot of mushrooms, but she's like, I think I, I think I know that. Yeah. So yeah, I'll be going a while.

47:30Miguel Well, maybe this is a good segue because I was going to ask you what inspired you to start your own agency or when was the moment you thought you could take on this challenge?

47:38Adam Gainsborough So I'd, after like replying to this email and getting 1 gig, 2 gigs, you know, 4 gigs and signing a couple of other bands, I had this little agency called C23 Management and we had a MySpace page and everyone And then I got asked to, you know, I then started working at a company called Get Involved who owned Bestival and Campestival and straddled various kind of departments of like sponsorship management and PR within that company, but worked at the first Campestival. But then I got asked to join another agency and bring my roster to them. And it was Finger Licking Records. It was my favorite ever record label. So, you know, my first ever business card had Finger Licking Management on it and I was like, what the fuck? What, what is going on? Um, and, you know, and then signed Public Service Broadcasting and The Correspondents, too many Ts. But then you work for someone for a couple of years and, you know, you have some different ideas to people. And so I thought, you know, I don't need to ask any more questions. Let's start my own company and see what happens. And that was 2013, and we just celebrated our 10th anniversary weekend just gone. So it was sure, you know, pure want and drive to get good acts more gigs and more exposure really was the reason why I started.

49:09Jessi Amazing.

49:10Miguel Yeah, congratulations on that. Yeah, yeah.

49:12Jessi Thank you. So this is now, is 10 years old, you're saying?

49:15Adam Gainsborough Yeah, yeah, 10 years old on the 15th of April, like literally last, last weekend.

49:20Jessi Yeah. Cool. Um, yeah, that's amazing. I mean, I love that you— it sounded like you did a lot of— well, you did a lot of legwork for other people, and that— I think that's what people don't necessarily ask me, but they ask Dulcie, who, you know, I'm quite good friends with. And now they always say to her, like, you know, how do I get into the industry and stuff? And she always says to them, just, you need, you need to just get in there and do the dog's work, basically. Yeah, you know, get in there, um, definitely do some stewarding, definitely do some volunteer stuff, and, you know, just get your fingers in lots of pies, try lots of different things, and then you over time build up the expertise, and then you can, yeah, start your own thing. So awesome.

49:56Adam Gainsborough Yeah, totally. I think that's— it's the best place to start as well because you see what happens from the ground up. You know, I was— I worked for Get Involved for 6 weeks for zero money and delivered the first headline they ever had at the first ever Camp Festival onto stage on time. Um, and then I was on £50 a day, you know, for however long after that. It takes time, but it's definitely— if, if your interest is there, it's definitely worth sticking at because it is a great but volatile industry. Um, but it, it comes with a lot of perks.

50:30Jessi I can imagine. But cool. Um, so I've got here, next question is basically about, again, this can be Glastonbury or not. Um, obviously we love talking about Glastonbury, but I'm sure you have, uh, other awesome stories to tell as well. Um, I guess some of the most like memorable shows you've booked over festivals. So, you know, this is over spanning over a number of years, it sounds like, but, you know, are there any funny stories about shows that stood out for, I don't know, good or maybe just Stressful reasons, I don't know.

51:01Adam Gainsborough I mean, I guess the more I think about it, the more I will remember stressful reasons. And excuse my voice, I had the flu about 4 weeks ago. And well, I mean, we were supposed to do this podcast a couple of weeks ago, but I had zero voice and I'm on about 90% now. So, but stressful gigs, I guess we spoke about this on Saturday actually. Beans on Toast, on every, generally every tour that I book, we'll end in London because it's generally the biggest show of the tour. One, it takes longer to sell, and two, it will hopefully be the highlight of the tour. Um, but Beans on Toast coming out absolutely blind drunk at Islington Assembly Halls, that was kind of, wasn't so stressful, but it was just like, mate, what are you fucking doing? Like, so drunk, he said the other day, he went home without his partner, completely forgot he had a partner and just went home. She couldn't find him. And then he wasn't answering his phone.

52:05Jessi Found it.

52:07Adam Gainsborough Went home and there he was in bed. But he said, Millie, that's the last ever time he's been drunk on stage. And that was, you know, he does drunk folk music very well, but he's no longer drunk, you know. Uh, you know, there's, there's been some real memorable ones. I mean, a lot, a lot of Glastonbury, you know, when again Beans on Toast, when he sends me a song on an email and I actually didn't notice it was even on there because he was, he was chatting about I can't get to Glastonbury. And he said, I've written, I've written a song about it. Didn't tell me it was attached. I didn't see it for a couple of emails. And he was like, have you listened to it? I was like, I listened What? And this was the first, I'm pretty sure this is the first year that we worked together. So it was 2013, uh, or maybe 2014. But yeah, he's like, I can't get a gig at Glastonbury. I haven't not played for like 15 years. What the fuck's going on? And he does end up, or I end up getting him a gig at Glastonbury. I think it was the, um, Truth Stage. But that was for an artist who was so kind of prolific at the festival and his part of the furniture manager. For him to not be playing, that was kind of like, wow, I kind of, I've got to step up there and damn do my job, you know? And it's not as if I'd been booking at Glasto for long, but I'd known Chris Tofu, who books Shangri-La. I'd known him through the correspondence. He's a big champion of vintage sounds. And Biff Mitchell at The Glade. But anyway, but some magical times. I think of other people that aren't Beans. I mean, too many teas at Transmusicales Festival in France was a massive moment. But yeah, Glasto, I think every show at Glasto, because, you know, you have every agent trying to get every act booked at Glastonbury. People want to play there. So any show at Glasto is truly a moment, really. Like the Oh My God! It's The Church last year when they played Avalon Stage at 7 o'clock, I think Friday night, and they packed the tent. And, you know, you're up against at least 20 household names playing on other stages, at least if not more. And if you can pack a 10-hour at that time, if you can pack a 10-hour anytime at Glasto, you're doing well.

54:23Jessi Mm-hmm.

54:24Adam Gainsborough Um, so that was a good one for those guys. I mean, Beans's first show on Avalon, Will Farley's first show on Avalon, Skinny Lister on Avalon, uh, public service broadcasting on West Holts. And that was 2014, but they got put up against Dolly Parton, and I wanted to go and see Dolly Parton. I think half the band wanted to go and see Dolly Parton. So they, they pulled like 12,500 people to their show, which is half the field. So you were like, amazing, you know, which is great because everyone wanted to go and see Dolly.

54:56Jessi Yeah.

54:57Adam Gainsborough You know, so yeah.

54:59Jessi Love it.

55:00Miguel Um, we've got Miguel No, I was just going to say, because you say when Beans on Toast couldn't get a gig at Glastonbury, it was hard for you to do your job. Can you actually tell more about this process? Because as you say, every agency is trying to bring the artist. So, and you have your own roster, maybe. How do you find the lineup? How do you present? How do you bring to the stages? How do you decide? How do you negotiate this? How do you find the slots?

55:28Adam Gainsborough I mean, every stage, and, you know, there's apparently over 100 stages at Glastonbury. I say apparently, but, you know, I'm sure, excuse me, I'm sure there are. You know, it's easy to believe that number. I think every year you learn another email address from a stage that you might not have, one, known about, or two, been able to get in touch with before. So I guess, yeah, building your contacts and And just through going, you know, it's like the Silver Hayes is booked by Team Love, who book Love Saves the Day and Forwards Festival. The Park is booked by the same guy that books Green Man. You know, you have relationships with these people anyway. But yeah, you just need to be sending an artist details and hope that the booker knows who they are. You know, we got to the point with the roster that most people are known, but, you know, it's only, it only really struck me this year doing this for, I mean, booking shows for nearly 15 years. You know, there are hundreds of other agents doing what I'm doing, emailing the same people.

56:37The Glasto Thingy Yeah.

56:37Adam Gainsborough So if you get a response, you're lucky. If you get a booking, fucking brilliant, you know, because you look at Avalon Stage, they've got, you know, 8 bands a day. For 3 days. So there's 24 bookings. That's not a lot.

56:51Jessi Yeah, not many. I was going to ask, um, sort of what time of year you're sending these emails. Could it just be interesting to know, like, you know, maps are just starting to come out now. We had the main poster about a month ago. But, um, yeah, I, you know, are you emailing like right after? Are you basically emailing in August, September, or is it, you know, there's a bit of a pause and then it comes in in the autumn, or?

57:12Adam Gainsborough Uh, every stage is different. Basically. So depending who you're pitching is, you need to wait to the right time. So, um, but apparently Pyramid Stage is, is underway for next year, you know, and far down the line. But some stages like, um, the Bandstand, it's obviously just a small stage, but a pinnacle stage, you know, they start booking in February. We on Greenpeace stages start booking in January. So yeah, every stage is different, but You need to learn when stages are booking before you get to the point where you're annoying someone that you're emailing them too much.

57:48Jessi Time it right.

57:51Adam Gainsborough Yeah, yeah, as with everything in life. So, but, um, yeah, it's, it's, it's in the year. And, you know, I don't have the roster that are going to be playing on Pyramid, you know, or the Other Stage. West Holts, I think, might happen next year. Um, but, you know, fingers crossed, Steve. Um, but so I don't know how far in advance people are talking to them, but, you know, they probably have a list already for next year that some people that they couldn't make work this year, or if artists were out of album campaigns and stuff. So amazing.

58:28Jessi It's funny. So when you were talking before and sort of naming all, um, all the sort of artists and stuff like Skinny Lister, etc., it's funny. I had a memory back to a podcast, uh, just after the 2019 festival because that was the day I spent the entire Thursday when you did your This Is Now takeover of Greenpeace. Yeah, I just said to everyone, I was like, it's everyone I love. It was Will Barley, Dirty Moonshine, uh, Beans on Toast, Too Many Teas, Oh My God, It's Church. I was like, it's literally, um, yeah, I'm clearly just slightly obsessed with everybody you've got on your roster, Adam, basically.

59:00Adam Gainsborough Yeah, it's, it It's, you know, like the ethos of the roster is unique entertainment. So it's like, there's no 2 acts the same. And I believe every act on the roster is unique in the world they have, whether that's through persona or performance or sound. But there is a running theme through them that all the shows are really next level and something that you've never seen before. So no wonder you're a fan of most.

59:26Jessi And like, is there a way— do you sort of balance like within that roster, and maybe even when you're booking, um, a stage, like do you try and balance different genres? Because yeah, you're right, I feel like of the bands that I know and, you know, see of yours regularly, they are all different and things like that. Is there— is it difficult kind of balancing those genres and styles of music, or do you just go, no, I don't mind, I've just seen this person, I've just this artist and they're fantastic, I'll take them.

59:55Adam Gainsborough I mean, with the roster, I am super particular as any agent would be, but because it's only me booking the shows, you know, there is no other agent. I look after the acts. If you want to have a look, it's thisisnowagency.com. So, but it's one, it's the performance. Well, I say that though, the most recent guy that I signed, a guy called VC Pine, I've not seen him live, but he came highly, highly, highly recommended by, um, a friend at Up Here called Katie Smith, who was like, this guy's next fucking level. And he sent me his debut album, which comes out on the 7th, 8th of September, sorry. Uh, and it just blew my socks off. It's insane. So we've started working together. Um, so yeah, I guess the music is is at the forefront because what am I selling to bookers and festivals and whatnot? But really it's the performance and it's them as people, to be fair. Like, I don't, no one likes working with dicks. Um, and there's no time for it, you know? Um, so, and I'm sure people have decided to not work with me because they think I'm a dick. Because that happens. Um, but yeah, it's, it's funny because, yeah, there's no 2 genres the same. Even like, you know, you could say, oh, you've got Beans on Toast and Will Varley. But yeah, they're folk musicians, but they are completely other— at the other end of the spectrum to one another, I think, you know. But yeah, it's, it's, there's something I haven't— I don't quite know what it— well, I guess it's my personal taste. If I don't like something, I'm not going to do it. because otherwise I've got to lie to people when I'm trying to get them gigs.

1:01:42Jessi To be honest, I, I feel like that's how I would do it.

1:01:46Adam Gainsborough So yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, it makes the job easier because you're just being honest and passionate.

1:01:53Jessi Yeah, yeah, you've got to sell it. And yeah, exactly, if you're passionate about it, that comes through. Yeah, awesome. I'm gonna have to go and just check out VC Pine for sure.

1:02:01Adam Gainsborough Oh, please do.

1:02:02Jessi Yeah, yeah, that'll be added to my list.

1:02:05Miguel So Adam, just a question that occurred to me, uh, just now while we— I was hearing you, because we discussed how you went from being a festival punter, and now, and then you start booking the artists for the festivals. But, uh, is it mainly work for you, or while you are at the festival, are you able to have your own free time, go and enjoy? And I think especially for Glastonbury, are you there for the 5 days? Do you stay overnight? Do you, are you, do you go to the naughty corner?

1:02:31Adam Gainsborough Um, I'm— so Glastonbury now, I'll arrive, I think this year It's aiming to be Monday night. Um, and I'll leave, well, I wanna leave on Tuesday the following week, but—

1:02:44Miguel Oh, amazing.

1:02:45Adam Gainsborough I haven't discussed that quite, so it'll only be Monday to Monday. But now Glasto is a, it's a very different experience for me because I am at the Greenpeace field. I've booked a stage with my partner James, and as much as you need time downtime, sleep, and rest, it's hard to leave the stage because you've booked it and you want to see whether, okay, did this act into this act work? Because we're never off on Greenpeace. Like, we've got 2 stages, the stage and the rave tree.

1:03:21The Glasto Thingy Yeah.

1:03:22Adam Gainsborough And we flip-flop in between them. So there's always music going on, but it's work, you know. In 2019, when I booked the whole weekend with James, I was there the whole time and it was like, other than a Wednesday, because I was absolutely bricking it, I could see like all the Greenpeace crew and some like, you know, top dogs at Greenpeace. And I was like, he's like, yeah, you know, come over and have a drink. And I was like, oh my God, I can't. Like, I've just helped book this stage and led on a lot of it. I was like, I don't know what the fuck's going to happen. Is this going to be good? I was so nervous. So Wednesday I'm not really involved in, I wasn't back then anyway. So I took myself off around the festival and because, you know, it's my most favorite place on earth, I wanted to see it. I didn't then know I was going to work for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, not like pretty much nonstop. And then again, in '22 after the break, I worked the whole time. It was, you know, 16-hour days, but it's It's not kind of work. Um, I, I get to book, you know, some of my own bands and some friends who are bands and some friends' bands. So there's, you know, there's always someone there that you haven't seen in ages. And so it's fun, it's fun work, but, you know, we are running a stage and over the last 2 festivals, it's gone from, you know, something you might go to if you want a hot shower or you want to do the death slide or the climbing frame, or maybe, you know, and then you, oh wow, look, oh look, this band's playing. Like we've got a full like action-packed lineup from start to finish. And, you know, we run from 10 AM till 3 AM. So we've become a bit of a destination spot over the last couple of years. So, but yeah, it's very different for me now. Um, and at other festivals, if I've got bands that and go and see the band or go and hang out. I don't really need to do much work.

1:05:24Jessi Yeah.

1:05:25Adam Gainsborough But it's even, it's even more different now because I have an 18-month baby. Um, so, you know, there are no 6 AM finishes. Um, 12 midnight's a late one. Um, but yeah, Glasto's work. So I kind of, it's a weird one. I've spoken to my good friend about this and And, you know, 'cause I wanna be going around the festival and rolling around and having the best time of my life, you know? Um, but he's like, well, maybe this is just your Glastonbury chapter at the moment.

1:05:58Jessi Mm-hmm.

1:05:58Adam Gainsborough You know, mm-hmm. You know, who's to say how long this will last? Enjoy it. And then maybe you get to roll around a bit in the future.

1:06:07Jessi Yeah.

1:06:08Miguel Good, good way of, of seeing it.

1:06:10Adam Gainsborough Yeah.

1:06:11Jessi I love that.

1:06:11Adam Gainsborough It is. It really is. And it's not as if I don't enjoy it, 'cause I am having the best time of my life. Yeah. You know, Greenpeace, and I guess any stage within a festival, it's like a festival within a festival, Greenpeace, you know. So I'm not really missing out.

1:06:26Jessi I was gonna say, I did see you obviously go and see Oh My God! It's The Church. I saw you sort of stomping over there in your hat, and then, uh, yeah, I was like, oh, he's out, he's out of the field, he's made it out.

1:06:36Adam Gainsborough Yeah, yeah. Last year I saw, uh, I saw Beans on Truth Stage, um, I saw The Church. I went to see Lil Simz at West Holts, but that's because it's across the road from Um, and I think that was it.

1:06:51Miguel But you're absolutely right that how Greenpeace became really a destination in recent years. And it's really an amazing party, a really amazing location at the festival.

1:06:59Adam Gainsborough Yeah, we're lucky. It's kind of like slap bang in the middle of the site as well. So it's, um—

1:07:05Jessi I very much enjoyed that last year. I have to say, I've talked a lot about this, but like, obviously staying there last year, I thought where I was before as a punter in Big Ground was pretty central. And now I'm like, no, no, no, I'm in the middle now.

1:07:17Adam Gainsborough Yeah. Yeah. And anywhere with a, with a walk-on is 15 minutes, you know, it's like, okay. And that, you know, some— you're in some places, Glastonbury, it's like, oh shit, man, it's like it's going to take an hour to get there. It's like, oh, and there's no Ubers.

1:07:32Jessi Yep, no, no, no public transport. What's it they say on the, on the forums? No monorail.

1:07:40Adam Gainsborough That's it.

1:07:42Jessi Awesome. What would you, what would you say, Um, again, this is another question we ask everybody, and I just love hearing everybody's opinions on it. But what, if you can summarize it into words, do you think sets Glastonbury apart from other festivals?

1:07:56Adam Gainsborough I think it's the people that go, you know, whether they are, let's say, 16-year-olds or 80-year-olds. You can say generally whatever the fuck you want to say to people And they come back with something better. You know, it's like, there's just, I think there's a lot of people in the same mindset. There's a lot of banter. I don't really use that word, but it's just fun. You know, it draws a certain mentality of people. And I think once you get your head around the sheer, like the volume of people, it is just the sheer scale of it.

1:08:36Miguel Yeah.

1:08:36Adam Gainsborough It kind of just blows you away. that it's kind of, it's never ending, you know, it, it, you know, it's 24 hours and I know a lot of festivals are, but I think, you know, the fact that it's been going for 50 years, um, and the caliber of music that you get to see there, you know.

1:08:55Jessi Yeah. Good summary. I, I think the festival within a festival is a really interesting part of it as well, because as you say, each, it, it really sort of hammered home to me last year when they were were releasing the individual lineups for the areas, because each lineup was comparable to other maybe day festivals or, you know, 2-day festivals or something, but that were happening all around the country. And that was just one, you know, there's, there's 20-odd of those, aren't there? So yeah, amazing.

1:09:22Adam Gainsborough Yeah, it's, you know, it is the who's who, you know. I think I know more acts at Glastonbury than I would on a Coachella You know, I think there's more household names at Glasto. I guess, I don't know whether that's because, you know, a lot of it's filmed on the BBC, but a hell of a lot of it isn't. Um, but yeah.

1:09:43Jessi The best part of it isn't.

1:09:45The Glasto Thingy Yeah.

1:09:46Jessi Yeah.

1:09:47Adam Gainsborough The naughty corner. And do I ever get, do I ever get to the naughty corner? I, we, I, I try to definitely, you know, I try to, but, um, working so much, it It's hard, you know, even though it's— it is literally 10 minutes from us. But yeah, Wednesday night is just as fun as any night down there, to be fair.

1:10:05Miguel I think we've kind of been discussing, uh, about this in our chat, but can you just tell us more of how you got involved, uh, for Greenpeace stage, how that became your main stage of the festival?

1:10:15Adam Gainsborough Yeah, so, um, James Barnett, who I booked the stage with, um, I think he'd been booking Beans on Toast for longer than I'd been working with Beans on Toast. And Beans has got an affiliation with the stage. So we started working with Beans and I think it must have, it must have been, I booked him in one year and then the next year I booked Beans in and Too Many Teas. And I said to James, can you program them together? And then we'll all invite our mates down and we'll have a party for like 2 hours, because that's what happens at Glasto. You roll around and go to the next act that you want to see, and you're never in one place too long. So we did that, and we hung out, and we had a party. And then the next year, I got a full 6 hours. He said, do you fancy programming an afternoon? I was like, yeah, that would be amazing. It was an absolutely amazing day. We had Beans on Toast, obviously, Frankie Foreman, who is no longer in the agency, great vocalist from Camden. Oh My God! It's The Church, Too Many T's, and Will Varley. And then Sid Arthur, who were my most favorite band ever, this band from Kent. And then Hobbit, who was a beatboxer. So we did like 12 till 6 on a Friday. It was 2016. And then I think 2017, James said, I'm coming to Bristol. I just moved down to Bristol from London. He's like, let's meet up and talk about about Glastonbury. I was like, great. And he said after a little while, um, I'm leaving. How would you feel about booking the stage? I was like, uh, what? Um, I said, uh, yeah, you know, 100%, but you're not going anywhere. We're gonna do it together.

1:12:07The Glasto Thingy Oh.

1:12:08Adam Gainsborough It was like, Okay, mate.

1:12:11Jessi Love that.

1:12:11Adam Gainsborough And so he stayed, and 2018 we had off as a fella. I say we, I wasn't even involved then, but as, um, as the festival had a fella year 2018, I'm pretty sure. And then 2019 was my first year, and, and we did it together. And I, you know, did an agency takeover on the Thursday, as you mentioned. And too many tees were playing, and Leon, as he always does, if I'm in the crowd, I will get a shout out at a tease gig. And he was like, I just want to, you know, give up to, uh, our booking agent Adam, who's booked the whole day today. And Ross in the tease was like, mate, it's for the whole weekend. And he was like, what the fuck? Oh my God. Is it like— I'm sure I told him about 20 times while I was So yeah, it was, you know, through, through my friend James, I guess, who's been doing it, as I mentioned at the top of the podcast, like, been doing it a long time. Like, it started off with a tiny stage in front of the Wigwam, like, like a bell tent, but a slightly bigger version. But Mumford and Sons played that stage, you know, Laura Marling's played, Florence and the Machine, Comet Is Coming. The Rum Shack. Loyal Khana, um, Bonobo, you know, loads of people. He's booked loads and loads and loads of people kind of on the up as well. And there's, you know, been some huge bookings since. Um, but it was, you know, you don't go up against— from 6 o'clock till 11, you're just making way for the other stages. You put on some cabaret and a couple of singer-songwriters or whatever, or don't have anything on. But I'm like, right, yeah, we're going, we're going in from 10 AM till 3 AM and we're never stopping.

1:14:01Jessi Yeah, I spent, uh, well, obviously I always camp there, so it makes it a lot easier. But, um, I, I just think it was just really great, uh, being able to come home to bed and be like, oh, should we just have a last little 45-minute dance at the tree before going to bed? I love that. Always really, really good. Um, and it is amazing. I just really love the, um, sort of variety of people you get on there, which is, which is super cool. So thank you, and I'm excited for this year.

1:14:25Miguel Didn't you go up the tree this last time?

1:14:27Jessi Yes, I did go up the tree. Um, my partner Ben, um, as I've mentioned, like, helps build it, and one— the tree is kind of the main thing that he's there to help build and put the lights on. That's like his big job on Monday, Tuesday, is putting all the lights on the tree. So yeah, um, when we knew it was our friends kind of DJing up there, he was like, yeah, come on, I'll, I'll speak to the guys, I'm sure they'll let you go up. So yeah, we went up for when Oh My God! It's The Church doing a DJ set. So it was the Reverend and Sister Mary Lou, um, absolutely spinning the most amazing disco tunes. And I didn't put the video of my face because when I looked after I got home from the festival, I was like bright red in the face. I was just so like excited and weirdly embarrassed. But so there's no pictures of me up the tree because I just look absolutely— I think I was so elated that I looked absolutely batshit insane. But it was, yeah, the, the view of everyone from up there, honestly, I was just looking out going, everyone looks so beautiful. It was just so nice. It was a wonderful moment. I loved it.

1:15:32Adam Gainsborough Yeah, they've, but they've pulled some great crowds to that stage, um, you know, for that DJ set as well. It's like, it's been banging the last couple of times.

1:15:41Jessi Yeah, I love it that they, um, they normally do like a holy hotline and they get people to text in embarrassing stories and then the Reverend reads them out, which obviously goes down very, very well. Always good fun. Right, and I, I know you're not allowed to tell us much, um, obviously because the, uh, Greenpeace particular stage lineup has not been released yet, but is there anything you can tell us that you're excited about for this year? Or even if it's not at Glastonbury, are there any like amazing projects you've got coming up for This Is Now that you're excited for? Any album releases?

1:16:13Adam Gainsborough Um, so yeah, I can't say anything about lineup. Um, but I can say that we have probably the biggest act we've ever had play as a secret guest on Sunday afternoon.

1:16:29Jessi Interesting.

1:16:31Adam Gainsborough And there is a structure out the back of our stage called Beam, um, which was in 2019, the field was all about bees. And if you went into Beam, you could, what you could hear was a beehive and that sound was actually being channeled from Michael Eavis's beehives from across the other side of the site. And then this year, like Guy Garvey did a bedtime story for the BBC out there and Billie Eilish's mum presented a documentary from there and it's been transformed again into something really exciting. And if you don't know much about the Greenpeace Field, there's like a huge kids area. We've got hot showers on site. We have a vegan cafe, a drop slide, a climbing wall, and 2 stages. So, so I'm excited for that. I'm excited to get on site. I'm excited to finish the lineup. It's kind of mayhem at the moment. Everyone's, everyone on site, if they haven't already completed, is working towards a deadline, which is fast approaching. Um, so it's booking mayhem at the moment. But yeah, I'm excited to release the lineup because it's spectacular. Um, Thursday is bonkers, Sunday is ridiculous, um, and we have this huge takeover on Friday night, which, Jessi, you will be so excited about.

1:18:00Jessi Am I just not going to be able to leave Greenpeace this year? I think that's how it's going to go, isn't it?

1:18:04Adam Gainsborough Yeah, so I'm definitely excited about that. But we've also got, um, to keep talking about him, my main man Beans on Toast. We've got his 3rd Foolhardy Folk Festival, um, which is on bank holiday Sunday in August. Um, it's at Nottingham's Arboretum, 50% sold out already, which is great. And there's a special guest to announce on that as well. But we've got this guy called Jeffrey Lewis. Eavis and the Voltage coming over from America. He's a bit of a folk icon. Um, that's exciting. I'm super excited about VC Pines as well. Um, got a new single and a big announcement coming at the start of May, and his album out on the 8th of September. Dirty Moonshine, big band who I've not mentioned once actually. We've just released a new tour for them in October, November. They've got a new album out in September. And another new signing, Funky and the Two-Tone Baby. Yeah, started working with him maybe in October, I think. And he just played the Agency 10th anniversary shows the weekend. And you can literally plonk him in any party. I say plonk because he's one man and his setup is looping station, guitar, harmonica, and vocals. But you could literally, I strongly believe, put him at any party and he will tear the roof off. It's ridiculous. Stood next to, you had Will Varley, you know, singer-songwriter, storyteller extraordinaire, turned around to me on Saturday after watching Funky and was like, oh my God, he's good, isn't he? He's fucking good, isn't he? And he is good. It's been exciting. Like, he's come aboard recently and we've got him at, you know, 10+ major festivals. So exciting for him.

1:19:55Jessi God, it sounds amazing. Um, yeah, the Dirty Moonshine thing, I mentioned it briefly when I said that was one of the artists on Mega Thursday that I have referenced many times in this podcast. But I love that, uh, so firstly I put in for their crowdfunder for their album, so I'm excited about that. I've bought myself a vinyl for when it's ready. And I, I just— so what I love about them is that they're just trying to do things, obviously with your support, Um, in just a little bit of a different way. Like, they're almost trying to game the system using social media and like not having to, you know, spend loads of money on, uh, this, that, and the other, because they're a big band and going around the country is going to cost them a lot of money and stuff. And, um, yeah, I, I, I've bought tickets for their London gig and, um, I thought it was great. What they're doing is they're— they released the tickets and when they released them they were £6. And then, yeah, this is just for the London show. I don't think it's for all their other shows. I think, yeah, they're just trying it out. But so the tickets were £6 to start with, and then every 2 days, every 48 hours, they increase the price by a pound. So when I caught on to this, I was like, oh well, uh, I might as well just— I'll just buy them now then. So I got 2 tickets for 7 quid each, obviously plus booking fees and stuff.

1:21:09Adam Gainsborough But yeah.

1:21:10Jessi Now I think it's all about £12.

1:21:11The Glasto Thingy Yeah.

1:21:11Jessi But I thought that was so clever. They're like, right, okay, trying to get people to, you know, get the tickets.

1:21:16Adam Gainsborough Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the stock market method, apparently. Yeah.

1:21:21Jessi Yeah.

1:21:21Adam Gainsborough And I mean, you know, the show's 50% sold out. So, you know, it's, um, it's worked.

1:21:29The Glasto Thingy Yeah.

1:21:29Jessi Which considering it's in November, they've, they've done well there, haven't they?

1:21:32Adam Gainsborough Yeah. And considering it's 1,600 capacity, it's done really well. So. Yeah, you know, the next tour hasn't got a promoter involved, um, which did, you know, raise a few questions from promoters that we've worked with the band before. But, you know, when my answer is like, no promoters involved, you know, it's not just you, it's like no one. It's, yeah, it's a bit of a litmus test really. Um, so, but, you know, Mike is a driving force behind that band. I mean, he is Dirty Moonshine.

1:22:03Miguel Mm-hmm.

1:22:04Adam Gainsborough And, um, yeah, I mean, hats off to him for carving new ways, you know.

1:22:10Jessi Yeah, I was gonna say, in a different way, those guys, uh, they're not like one man and his instruments. There's a lot of them. But talking about blowing the roof off something, like, I, I took Ben to go and see them at Boomtown last year, and I was like, I, I tried to describe it. I was like, look, just come along, it'll be madness, you'll love it. And, and literally his face was so— and and he's, he's not— he's, he's a DJ guy, right? He loves his disco. He's more into DJs. Um, he likes, you know, he likes going and seeing a live artist, but he would always prefer like an amazing DJ. But yeah, to see his face at Boomtown, he was literally almost like, uh, you know, eyes wide like, you know, deer in headlights, but then massive grin on his face, stomping around. He was loving it. They're great.

1:22:53Adam Gainsborough Well, it's, it's just, it's kind It's that unique entertainment. It comes back to that. It's, you've not seen anything like it ever before. If you're seeing it for the first time, it's like, fuck, this is insane. You know, when you've got up to 8 brass players and they're the bassline, you know, and it's not vintage sounds as it used to be, but it's grime, it's hip hop, it's drum and bass, you know, but it's live and it's, you know, it's all original. It's, yeah, it's really good. I mean, You know, there's a, when they played in 2019, they did Greenpeace on the Thursday. They then did the Rum Shack at the Common and they did the Truth Stage and they had a real technical nightmare on Rum Shack where the show stalled twice at the beginning. And Mike was like, listen, if it does it again, we're not playing basically. And tech team, which is fair enough, you know. Um, it got sorted. Something had been patched in wrong. It got, it got sorted. They played, and off the back of that show, they got signed. They had a publishing deal with Universal, you know. And, and if they— if it had stalled for a third time, they wouldn't have had that publishing deal, you know. It's like, yeah, so yeah, they're a fantastic band.

1:24:15Miguel I was hearing you talk about everything that's planned for the lineup, uh, Greenpeace stage this year, how it's going to be fantastic. And we discussed as well how Greenpeace is definitely a strong destination. Each year grows stronger and bigger. And then I was thinking how last edition we had some issues with acts that became bigger after the booking, and we have moments of maybe it was overcrowded in some smaller stage and acts shouldn't be into bigger stages. And I was wondering if that— well, Glastonbury, probably there's a lot of moving pieces behind the scenes. So I'm wondering if there is a moment that maybe you or your partner who also booked the stage stage actually end up in a meeting, let's say, with the higher-ups where they have to go and, and approve some certain things, or they have to discuss, uh, can we do this this way, can you do this differently, how, how independent are you? And there is a moment that you have to actually get some approval or discuss ways of doing it, what you want.

1:25:08Adam Gainsborough So we can, as with any crew of any stage, we can book who we want. Uh, we are restricted by budget and how many tickets we have as to how many kind of exclusive acts that we can get in solely to play Greenpeace, or we have to book other acts on site. But, you know, you have free rein. Um, you know, the special guest we have on Sunday afternoon, it's already flagged up as a rent situation to crowd control.

1:25:40Miguel I see.

1:25:41Adam Gainsborough Uh, you know, and, and any stage You know, like Avalon Stage had the Sugar Babes in 2022. That would've been flagged up as like a red signal. Um, so yeah, you know, there, there's pinch points. Um, there's one on the field and, you know, we are on a main kind of fairway to, to West Holts and stuff. So, so yeah, you have, you have to alert people that this could be busy. Like, um, there was a point at, um, Roger Sanchez last year where we were watching it from the stage because it was coming from the tree, and it was just like, you know, we are at capacity now. So, you know, we had to talk to crowd control and just say, you know, you need to stop people coming here for a moment. And it, you know, the, the, the safety and the behind the scenes of a festival of that size I don't know how many people are involved, but it's vast. So if there's a problem, I mean, not that there was a problem, but if there were to be a problem, there'd be a team with you within seconds really. But yeah, you just open and honest because you want to create moments as well.

1:26:57Miguel Of course.

1:26:58Adam Gainsborough So I have always aimed high. um, in life and work and Greenpeace. Um, and yeah, this year the booking that I've been trying for, you know, since I started came off. Uh, so yeah, the festival know about it.

1:27:15Jessi Yeah, that was gonna be, I guess, my question is that, so you say it's secret on Sunday, is it going to be secret when the lineup's released? Like, is it going to be so secret that it's a— or is it going to be when your individual lineup area drops, everyone's gonna go, oh my God, look at Or is it going to be like, is it going to be like a proper secret set? Like a TBA, I guess, is what I'm talking about.

1:27:38Adam Gainsborough Yeah, well, like last year we had Self Esteem play Secret Guest, um, and she, she announced it after her stay, after a show on John Peel. She announced it on stage. So I don't think this act will announce it on stage, but after they play somewhere else, we will announce it Sunday morning. And, you know, you only— we did it, we had Frank Turner, he was a special guest one year. And in that morning on our team meeting, we sat on the benches of the cafe, which is out in the field, and we would just say, what do you mean Frank Turner's the special guest today? You just have to say it loud and other people tell other people and it soon went.

1:28:22Jessi Yeah.

1:28:23Adam Gainsborough It also helps if the eyes then twist. tweets about it. Amazing. Um, but yeah, it does— it doesn't take long for a secret to get out.

1:28:33Jessi No, no, no, no, things get out. Okay, cool. So it will be a TBA as far as the lineup's concerned, and then— yeah, well, okay, cool. Amazing. I'm excited for that one. Great, thanks, Adam. Honestly, that's been so interesting hearing about, um, I guess your experiences over the years and, you know, now what you're— what you're up to now. I really like the bit where you said somebody said to you that maybe this is your chapter of Glastonbury now where you're sort of working so much And, but it must be amazing to be that involved and sort of seeing something that you work on for the whole year and then seeing it come to fruition and the crowd going wild and having a packed sort of Greenpeace area. It must be so, so cool. But yeah, I love that. I think that's really nice that you had your punter era and then like your booker era, I guess, like with a couple of bands. And now it's, you know, now I am Mr. Greenpeace Booker for a few years and we'll see how that goes. I loved it. Awesome. So we started off this podcast with me and Miguel doing our usual, the lineup posters dropped, we should probably have a chat about it. Um, you know, but our opinions are our opinions and, um, we love who we love. But, um, that— I guess that's sort of what I wanted to round this podcast off with, Adam. Um, is just getting your experience, particularly as you work in the industry, just what you thought of the lineup drop. We're talking about the main poster here. I know, hopefully we'll have had a few more by the time this podcast goes out. But from the main poster, is there anyone there that particularly jumps out at you that you're super excited about?

1:29:57Adam Gainsborough So the poster as of the 20th of April, what it is now is that it's that first announcement plus West Holts. They've added that on because they had a bit of a rejig of the top line and brought some other headliners out of the A to Z, which I think was a smart move to do. If you don't know that, you can read about that on the internet. But yeah, I think with Glasto and with this year, for me personally, I'm not excited. And it's, I've never been driven to go to pretty much any festival by the headliner acts other, other than LCD Sound System at Wireless Festival one year. So it's diverse. You know, maybe not as diverse as it should have been as originally, but you know, that's old news. But I think, you know, there's some great acts. It is a diverse lineup, you know, whether the headliners aren't in terms of their, you know, their gender or skin color. There is a real diverse lineup throughout. So who am I excited? I mean, you know, since then we've We've had West Holts and Avalon Stage be announced. I'm happy to see Shy Girl on the first 50 as well, on the first lineup. A really exciting, cutting-edge act who's got a real big show this year. She's worked with Björk recently, which not many people can say that. Nova Twins as well. We had them on Greenpeace last year. They are, I mean, hard electronic punk rock and fucking kicking ass right now, selling out shows right around the world. They are really exciting. If you don't know Nova Twins, go and check them out. Other, I mean, Gabriels as well, a band that's kind of come through the last 2 years. Really exciting. They played last year, but they've been booked again for for a big show. Speaker's Corner Quartet, which is an act that maybe a lot of people don't know. I don't know a great deal about them, but there's a Speaker's Corner at Glastonbury, which is exactly that. Anyone can get up on the stage and talk about whatever they want to talk about. Um, so it stemmed from that, but it features K Tempest, and that's on the West Holts stage. Subtract is there this year, DJ. I dunno whether he or they are playing live anywhere else, but he's DJing in the Lonely Hearts Club, which is at Silver Hayes, as is Frank Moody. He's playing live, I believe, at Silver Hayes. Elvama as well. Like, I booked their first shows in 2019. I nearly ended up signing them. um, to the agency, but didn't, didn't quite happen for a number of reasons. But I, I ended up helping them book some shows on site at Glasto, and, uh, one of which was at the Williams Green stage, and it was like 50 deep outside the tent.

1:33:16Jessi Yeah, I was, uh, I was like barrier for that show with my, with my friend, and I was so happy about it because some of— we were supposed to get loads of our mates there. Loads of them turned up late, but a group of 4 of us were like, fuck this, we're getting in. And we were literally at the barrier and it was absolutely— I love Elvana. It was mental. So good.

1:33:35Adam Gainsborough Yeah, they're incredible, you know. Um, and a standout as a band, you know, it's— if you don't know Elvana, it's an Elvis-fronted Nirvana covers band, which is nuts. And you speak to the main guy and, well, what does he say? like he's, he's playing Elvis who's playing Kurt Cobain. So it, it is, it's, you know, it's weird. Um, and, you know, Sister Mary Lou and Sister Mary Jane, um, backing vocals at some shows at Elvano at the moment as well. Uh, those guys from Oh My God, It's The Church. So I'm excited that they keep stepping up as well on site as well, that they'll smash Avalon stage. But what I mean, Fred again as well. I know the set and show he's booked for. It's mega. And to see an artist come through so quickly due to the skills they have and not that someone's bought the gig or bought the contract or mommy and daddy have bought you a record deal. You know, it is pure talent and the show he's got, that is huge. So that's really exciting.

1:34:54Jessi Yeah, my friends, we're so excited for him. That's going to be the one that everyone's like, I think wherever he's playing, we're going to have to get there 2 hours before. I think it's going to be one of those.

1:35:05Adam Gainsborough Yeah, I mean, it's big. So maybe an hour before, you'll be okay. But it is big.

1:35:11Jessi Okay, okay. I'm hoping for the Fortex grill action. Fred Again triplet, basically.

1:35:16Adam Gainsborough Yeah, yeah. Well, um, I— maybe Skrillex is on site, I don't know. Uh, I, I definitely don't know for sure. It was an inquiry we made, um, but it was definitely a maybe. As are every act.

1:35:36Jessi Yeah, everyone's a definite maybe, aren't they?

1:35:45Miguel Well, Adam, thank you so much for joining us on this conversation. As we know, we could continue for hours, but it's just been great to hear your stories and how you got involved with Glastonbury and all the amazing work you put on, on Greenpeace Stage, which is becoming one of my favorite areas every year. So thank you so much for your time.

1:36:05Jessi Adam, thank you so much. Honestly, that was amazing. Um, I could chat to you for hours. It's It's been so awesome to have you. Thank you for giving us your time, and I'll see you in the Greenpeace Fields. I'm so excited to see what you've got in store.

1:36:19Adam Gainsborough Uh, it's, it's been a pleasure. And, um, yeah, I wish that, um, I didn't have to get up in about 7 hours. Otherwise I could talk about this for days, literally. So yeah, thanks for having me. It's been a, it's been an honor.