Back on the farm after three years away.

0:00Miguel Hello and welcome to GlastoCast, the unofficial Glastonbury Festival podcast. In this episode, Jessi and I will talk about our experience at Glastonbury 2022, the upcoming ticket sale, and our hopes and expectations for next year. So hello, Jessi, welcome back. How are you?

0:33Jessi I'm good, thank you. I think I was just— I was expecting you to say something else there, Miguel, but yeah, I'm really, really good, thank you. It's coming into autumn. You know, I've finished all my festivals for the season now. And, uh, yeah, I mean, I'm not gonna lie, I am missing it a little bit, but I'm doing very well. And, um, yeah, excited to get back on the podcast.

1:10Miguel Uh, how was the end of your summer? Any other highlights, festival highlights you want to share? Or where did you take your tent this summer after Glastonbury?

1:20Jessi So I actually did a few before Glastonbury as well. Um, I did Shindig Festival, which was really, really good. That was in late May. Then I did Mighty Hoopla as well, which is a day festival in London that was very pop-tastic. Then obviously Glasto. And then, gosh, yeah, I did a few. I did Secret Garden Party, which made its return in 2022 after 5 years off. Not gonna lie, it wasn't that great. If you want to know more, have a look at my Where's My Tent blog. But Secret Garden Party used to be amazing, and I think that they just, they didn't think things through properly this year. So hopefully, I'm sure it will be back better than ever next year. But then I also did Boomtown Fair, which I always do as well. I saw Captain after our interview with him. So yeah, saw him do a DJ set in the Hidden Woods, which was wicked. Boomtown was absolutely melting though. I mean, of course we had a, we had a hot summer all round. Like, I know everybody will know that, but Boomtown was the hottest festival I've ever been to. Like, imagine, do you remember that day it got to like 32 or 33 degrees at Glastonbury?

2:30Yeah.

2:31Jessi Yeah, 2019. It was like that for 5 days solid. It was, it was a lot. Um, but it was really, really good, Boomtown. Um, and then yeah, I did, um, Stowaway Festival as well, which was— it's not new. Um, they rebranded this year. It used to be called the Festival of Beer, which, you know, obviously would probably put someone like me off being a non-beer drinker. Um, but they rebranded to Stowaway Festival. Um, And yeah, I went along for the first time and it was so, so good. So that's another little tidbit recommendation for me. It was like, it was just all the best vibes, but like super small. I think it's only about 5,000 capacity. Um, they still had like Orbital headline. They had some really big names and just everything. The organization was absolutely perfect. Like the site was spotless. The toilets were amazing. They had really good. Well, beers, obviously you can imagine, but also really, really good food, a number of different stages. You could go canoeing or paddleboarding on the lake. They had— anyway, I won't gush about it too much, but Stowaway was fantastic as well. So there you go. I did, I did a number this year around Glastonbury, had a good time. How about you?

3:44Miguel Well, in the words of our good friend Rob, wow, fantastic. Would you say you were back almost like full force? Because this is really the first year where maybe there wasn't really any restrictions in terms of Would you say you're sort of back to the numbers of festivals or the experience you have, or similar to— you're back on track, let's say?

4:06Jessi Yeah, I mean, don't get me wrong, I would have done more if I could. I have had years where I've done— I think my most was 9 camping festivals. Can you imagine?

4:20Yeah.

4:21Jessi So this year was kind of less than I've done before, but that was Nothing to do with pandemic. Basically, I've grown up and I've got more of a proper job now. You know, I'm a manager now and things. So just, I have to be a bit more careful with my annual leave. Like, in my old job, sort of 4 or 5 years ago, I could basically say, can I have every Friday and Monday off, every weekend in the summer?

4:46Oh, good.

4:46Jessi Yeah, I can't do that anymore. But yeah, definitely the industry felt like it was kind of back to full force. I think I mean, I don't, again, I don't want to derail this too much, but definitely something that's been discussed is like the actual number of events has, the number of festivals has grown massively and now, and people are more wary to buy tickets early, if you know what I mean. So, Okay. We did see, you know, there were a number of festivals that like cancelled last minute this year, um, and not due to COVID or anything, but due to that, you know, they were sort of waiting and waiting for their ticket sales to go up and Because people were kind of like, oh well, you know, we'll just buy tickets closer to the time. It sort of caused a lot of problems, I think. So, and, and just the sheer choice out there is massive, you know, basically every single weekend there's a choice of kind of 5 or 6, you know, pretty sizable festivals to choose from over the summer. So, but, um, it did all feel, you know, up and raring again. Obviously, you know, Glasto being the biggest of them all, it was mad to be back in those fields with that many people. I did, you know, shed a tear, stood in the crowd like, oh, we're all together again. But yeah, it all felt back to normal mostly for me.

5:58Miguel But yeah, it's interesting. I mean, it's not interesting, maybe it's sad, but I think we're yet to understand the actual impact on not just the industry, but on how people consume festivals or events. I don't know if we're still sort of kind of relearning how we used to do, or we have changed and we are adapting, but it's still happening. But yeah, it was good that you were able to go to so many camping festivals before, or as much as you like. That's excellent. On my end, Glastonbury was really my only camping festival, but that's usually my normal, to be honest. Other than Glastonbury, mostly I just do a few random gigs or some festivals in London Park, which is just easy to go, even though this year we did have some strikes around many of the big festivals in London as well, as well as Glastonbury, as we're going to be talking about that. But if I would pick a highlight other than Glastonbury itself, I did go to Scenic Cave at Points East.

6:54Mmm.

6:54Miguel And that was, that was massive, really. He is an artist I really, really like, and for some reason I never went to see him live, even though he's been in London not many years ago and he's quite connected to UK. So I finally was able to see him perform, and he just delivered. I would say probably was the musical highlight of my festival this year. That, that was so, so good. And another one was just after Glastonbury. We came back on Monday, and on that week LCD Soundsystem was doing like some sort of residency at the O2 Academy in Brixton, London. Oh, I've seen them. Yeah, I think it was 5 nights maybe, and they are a band I really, really like. So I actually had tickets for 2 nights. Yeah, one was on Wednesday, so not long after Glastonbury, and then I had one for Sunday. As a big fan, I say, I think I'm gonna go for 2 nights. They also really delivered. I've seen them many, many times and I It probably was on my top 3 performances I've seen of them, or maybe even would be up there at the top with the Other Stage performance.

7:56Jessi How were you like going to a gig the Wednesday after Glastonbury? So you've obviously got home like Monday afternoon, probably collapsed into your bed.

8:05Yes.

8:05Jessi Spent the day on the sofa on Tuesday and then went to a gig Wednesday night. Were you not still dead? I definitely was still dead on Wednesday.

8:13Miguel So here's the thing. I was going to get to that because Wednesday I had Most amazing time. And again, if I'm honest, these 2 performances, as I say, are the highlights of my summer, even more than anything I've seen at the farm this year. I'm afraid to say so, but why? That's fine. It's your favorite band. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I did mention in a lineup episode with Kaptein that something that I was missing this year at Glastonbury, that I didn't have the band. You know, there's always one act that is a band that I really like and I've seen many times, but I'm always ready to see them again. Or it's a band I always wanted to see but never had the chance and to see them at the farm would be fantastic. And this year I was kind of missing that, but then the summer still delivered these 2 performances and that was great. But to answer your question, so Wednesday was fantastic. I left the concert feeling larger than life and so excited to go on Sunday because I actually went by myself on Wednesday.

9:08Jessi Amazing.

9:09Miguel But for the Sunday gig, I actually convinced— didn't convince, but I invited many, many friends of mine who also like the band. So we were going as a big, big group, many Many of that group were at Glastonbury, if not all of them. So it was going to be another big meetup just after Glastonbury. But what happened is I tested positive for COVID on Saturday.

9:30Jessi Oh no.

9:31Miguel And I would never know if it's a delayed positive from Glastonbury or if it's from the gig on Wednesday or if it's from, I don't know, just going to the supermarket. Who knows? But so I did miss the second night I had planned. I mean, I missed going with all my friends as well.

9:49Jessi Yeah, at least you had both nights, but yeah, that's a shame you missed it with your friends. Oh, bless you.

9:54Miguel Yeah. So basically these are my highlights from the summer other than the festival. I did go to other festivals in London and some other gigs, but these are the ones really I wanted to share.

10:03Jessi Amazing. Yeah. You reminded me that I saw the Rolling Stones at British Summer Time.

10:07Miguel Oh yeah.

10:08Jessi Because they are like my top 3 favourite bands, definitely the Rolling Stones. And I saw them, obviously it was my number 1 highlight of Glastonbury ever was 2013, seeing them just because it was just such a perfect day and such a perfect gig. And then I saw them again in like some sort of stadium in London. I can't remember which one, uh, in sort of 2018, I think it was something like that. And I, you know, by that point I really did think it was kind of it. Like, I'm not— they really are getting on a bit, so I'm not going to see them again. But then, yeah, they, they played British Summer Time this year. And I mean, I'm not going to lie, tickets were very expensive and my boyfriend is not into them. He is not a rock guy at all, uh, bless him.

10:48Yeah.

10:48Jessi But I really, really wanted to go. Um, so we volunteered, we, I did my course, which I hadn't done in a few years. And, you know, we were helping on the recycling team, uh, which is really cool. You just got to sort of stand in one spot near, like we were lucky enough to get a spot near the stage and just watch the, um, support artists till I think it's like 6:30 PM or something or 7:00 PM. And then, yeah, you finish your shift, you go and drop off your tabard and then you can, you know, watch the band for free. So, I, it, it was really, really good. I obviously was really happy to see them again and they were so good, uh, even pushing God knows how old they are. 80? I don't know. But even pushing that age, they did so, so well. And it was nice to volunteer because I haven't done that in a long time.

11:31Miguel Yeah, amazing. I completely forgot about that. I mean, there was this situation this year that British Summer Time happened the same days as Glastonbury, part of it. So many good and massive concerts that happened in London at the same time as Glasto. So it's a shame. Yeah, I wish I could have seen the Rolling Stones again. So maybe let's, let's jump into the big topic for this episode, which is the commercial talks.

11:52Jessi Yeah, we spent quite a bit of time talking about not Glastonbury. Not Glastonbury, yeah. On our Glastonbury podcast. So maybe let's do that.

11:58Miguel So, so, Jessi, yeah, so it's the one we waited so many years for, and you especially had quite a different start to the festival this year. So tell us about that, Jessi.

12:09Jessi Yeah, um, I was about to say I'll try and keep it short, but that's not the point of the podcast, is it? Um, yeah, no, uh, God, as you say, I was— I think the build-up to Glastonbury this year, it was 3 years, wasn't it? Like, you were— we were waiting for 3 years, and so much changed for me in that time. Um, I mentioned this in our like pre, pre-festival episode, but you know, I, I've got a— I was about to say a new boyfriend. It's not a new boyfriend, but he is since the 2019 festival. And yeah, I was, I was going along this year. I was actually gonna get to go to the festival before the gates open. So I was so, you know, so, so excited about that. Uh, and I was, I'm camping in, uh, Greenpeace crew. And yeah, it was just, I mean, I can't even tell you the excitement. I was, I was dropped off by my friend, uh, on the Sunday before the Wednesday when gates open. So it was sort of 4 days beforehand. I was dropped off at Red Gate and I had a whole faff trying to get my wristband and this, that, and the other, but it took a bit of time, but I got there in the end. And then my boyfriend picked me up in a buggy, put all my stuff on the back of the buggy and like drove me into the site and we got to cry.

13:19Miguel Not bad, not bad.

13:20Jessi I know, we got to drive like behind the pyramid and I literally, I was in this buggy, like crying, looking around going, oh my God, it's real. I'm here and I'm on a buggy and I don't have to carry my stuff. And yeah, like even on the sort of Sunday afternoon, like the traders are only just starting to arrive. So loads of the big fields are super empty. Things like, um, you know, the market fields between the bandstand and Williams Green and stuff, they're, they're practically still green, if you see what I mean. So it was really, really cool to see that. And then, yeah. Uh, so I I was, I was on a, a punter wristband, so I still had a ticket, but I was able to get on site early because I was helping Greenpeace for the first couple of days. So I got a Greenpeace wristband as well, and that ensured I wasn't kicked off site early, which was good. Um, and yeah, so the Greenpeace field, for those who don't know, obviously everybody knows whether if you've been to Glastonbury, you know where the Greenpeace kind of main field is, but the crew field is kind of next to it at the back of Williams Green. So the crew campsite is in the gap between The Glade, um, the sort of Left Field Market Street and the, uh, and West Holts Field. So, you know, everybody knows at the back of West Holts Field, there's that one tree that's by the toilets. It's basically, that's, that's the corner of our field. So, and yeah, I had Betsy, my, uh, 1972 Volkswagen Camper Type 2, um, our camper van. was parked in there and her nose was basically pointed at West Holts, which was, which was like fantastic. I can't even begin. But what my boyfriend warned me about was that on the Friday, because obviously West Holts doesn't open till the Friday, um, he was like, just you wait until they sound check on, on West Holts because it literally shakes the van awake when they're doing the doom, doom, doom of the, of the bass drum. So that was fun.

15:21Miguel Um, because there's no, no crowd No, no, there's no, no, it's just full sound straight into your—

15:28Jessi it literally just comes like a big woof wave into the, into the van. So that was a fun wake-up on a few days, but no, I mean, it was amazing. But yeah, so, uh, what did I do? So, you know, in exchange for getting on site early, I, I basically wasn't allowed to just sit around, which is totally fair enough. Um, but they just found me a couple of shifts to do. I was actually in the Greenpeace accreditation office, so I was helping give Volunteers and artists their wristbands as they turned up, and then making sure that they go and see the campsite stewards to get, so that they help put their tents up. I won't go into this too much, but the Greenpeace field is quite small and there's a lot of people that need to get in there. And Ben had warned me about this, but it, what it basically means is all the tents and all the campervans basically have to be parked about a foot and a half for the campervans away from each other, literally like in rows, like ding, ding, ding, ding, right next to each other. And then tents, they, they basically put your tent up for you and they put it, push it right up to the person next to you. You're not really allowed too many guy ropes and stuff. It's, it's all about Tetris-ing people in. But it was, yeah, so cool to see them all setting up and meet all the volunteers and stuff. I obviously got quite a bit of downtime. I only had to do like 2 8-hour shifts. And then, yeah, I got to wander and see the site. which has always been my dream before everybody turns up. I went up to the sign on the Tuesday. I finally made it up to the sign. Um, I actually posted about that on the GlastoCast Instagram and somebody replied going, it doesn't count if you went up on the Tuesday because nobody's there yet. I was like, excuse me?

17:12Miguel Maybe, maybe it is a bit of cheating.

17:15Jessi Like, for me, it's just the effort of actually walk— like, You get to the bottom of the hill and you see where the sign is and you're like, God, that is actually really quite steep and really quite far. So on the Tuesday, I was, I didn't have anywhere to be, you know, I was like, this is lovely. And everyone did the same thing. We all went up there and watched the sunset. It was absolutely beautiful. And what else? I guess I went and explored all the, um, crew bars, which was super cool. Um, always wanted to see those.

17:40All right.

17:41Miguel It was, it was crew parties happening before the gates opened? What's, what's the—

17:46Jessi Um, I mean, I wouldn't say there's not like Well, at least if there were, I didn't find them. But like all the crew bars are open and like, it's usual that, you know, so there's the Tow and Hitch, which is the Arcadia crew bar and everybody who works in that general area, like people who work in the park or people who work in, uh, obviously Arcadia itself and maybe people from the Other Stage, they all go to the Tow and Hitch after their shifts, if you see what I mean. It's like, it's almost like a little, you know, it's all location-based really. And then Maceo's is the one for kind of the Shangri-La area. There is a Shangri-La Crew Bar as well. It's a bit smaller and it's not as well known. But yeah, you've got Maceo's for like Block9, The Common and stuff. And then the Shangri-La one, which I can't remember the name off the top of my head, something to do with London Underground. They've got like an old tube train in there. It's quite cool. Oh yeah, yeah. And then yeah, there's a Theatre and Circus one as well. I didn't get to that one. It's quite difficult to get in that one, I've been told. That was the one I didn't get to. But yeah, I wouldn't say there's like specific parties on, but there is definitely always DJs playing and, you know, really good vibes in there as people finish their shifts and are getting excited for the festival.

18:51Miguel Amazing. It's just, it's really good, isn't it? I did volunteer back in 2014 and I was, I was going to work at the bars. Uh, back then I had no idea we would be able to get into the festival before it opened, so I was there just the night before on Tuesday. But of course that was already a great experience. And I don't think you had to work throughout the festival. I did back then, but I must say, still, as I always say, 2014 is one of my favorite years and it feels kind of nice to part of the festival somehow, even if you're just a small cog in the whole machine. So did you kind of felt it was great to be sort of maybe part of getting the festival ready or even assisting people who are maybe doing bigger things or more important things? I mean, everyone's important, but how do you feel about that?

19:35Jessi I, if I'm honest, I probably felt guilty that I wasn't doing nearly as much as everybody else. Like, you know, my boyfriend was helping to put the lights up in Greenpeace and he was working solid for like 7 or 8 days. Before the gates open. But I mean, he's lucky enough that when the gates open, he— that's his job done. But there were, you know, especially in literally the sort of Monday and the Tuesday before the festival, some areas of the site are just frantic, like, because they've got so much to build and something's been delayed and yada, yada, yada. So in a way, when I was walking around kind of on a— on the Tuesday when I finished my shift, like, Some parts of the festival, obviously, like in the crew bars, everyone's relaxing, having a good time. But as you're walking around, you see people, you know, honestly, I don't want to say panicking, but everybody is like, oh my God, we have to get this work done now. Like, we have run out of time. This is it. Like, yeah, I enjoyed being a part of it, but my— I did constantly feel slightly guilty that my role was— I only had to do 2 really not very important shifts, you know, just chilling in the accreditation office for a few hours, really, you know, compared— but I didn't, you know, I don't have the skills. I can't help. Otherwise I would have been the sort of person to be like, I'll help you paint that, mate. But, you know.

20:52Miguel Well, so it was quite a different year for you. So a crew campsite, getting there earlier, campervan. And you already mentioned feeling the soundcheck in the morning. So you were camping right in the middle of the action compared to where you usually camp. So is that any pros and cons?

21:10Jessi God, I mean, that is a question because I don't—

21:13Miguel Anything you miss by being maybe, uh, with, with your group of friends, things like that?

21:18Jessi Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's what I was gonna get. Like, I didn't want to sound like too braggy. So yeah, I mean, obviously you, you— there is not really a more central campsite unless you're a trader. Like, that is the most central crew campsite of them all. So it was incredible to be there. The campervan, I, I mean, just Just having a good night's sleep. Oh my God, it just— I mean, I'm getting old, but to sleep on a memory foam mattress in a warm campervan, uh, and then, you know, it's cool in the morning, and then to have a shower every morning. Like, I can just imagine people listening to this podcast who've been to the festival being like, like gritting their teeth at this point. But I did. I was able to have a shower every morning. And yeah, I mean, it was amazing. But, uh, it was just me and Ben, and therefore, you know, all of our friends were still camped in Big Ground, like we went and helped them on the Wednesday morning. Like we helped them get set up. We met them at the gate.

22:14Miguel All right, nice.

22:14Jessi 8 in the morning and then helped them carry their stuff up and help them get set up. But yeah, there is, there is something about, you know, I've talked in previous podcasts about, you know, when you wake up and crawl out of your tent and everybody sort of sits around in the middle and, you know, somebody passes you like an orange juice carton and something and, you know, you talk about the night before and I don't know, there is something about that sort of camaraderie of like the morning at Glastonbury, you know, which we we didn't get, uh, 'cause it's just, you know, it's just me and Ben in the campervan. We, we got ready, you know, slowly had some breakfast and then got up and got out and waited for our friends to come and join us. So, I did miss that a bit, but would I, would I change it? Probably not. You know, I obviously, I love my friends, but now the signal is so much better. Like if it was old Glastonbury's, I think I would consider camping back with them because it used to be so difficult to find people if you didn't wake up next to them and say, right, Let's leave the campsite together. It was almost impossible to find people. Whereas now the signal's so good. We always managed to find them. Yeah. So, so yeah, it was, it was fantastic. And I'm hoping we can do the same next year. That is the plan.

23:26Miguel So basically it was kind of being at Worthyville, but being in the middle of the festival instead of a little bit further away.

23:32Yeah.

23:33Jessi And this is the thing, like I've got, I've got a smile on my face, but I'm almost like grimacing because I know that people are going to be like, you jammy git. Because, you know, the thing is if you, if you want the luxury of the campervan, the downside is you have to be in the campervan fields, which is far away, right? Which is why I've never done it before. I've always done a tent because I want to be in the middle of the action. And that's the sacrifice I make. So the fact that I've managed to have best of both worlds this year and have the addition of showers without a queue in the morning, do you know what I mean? Like I, I understand my lucky— no, is it luck? I don't know. I understand my privilege, basically. I know it was amazing. So I realize I've just been talking for ages, and again, my experience is not the normal experience of Glastonbury. I realized that this year that I had to—

24:25Miguel But that's, that's, that's why we wanted to hear. We wanted to hear.

24:28Jessi Okay, okay. But let's hear about you. How was your Glastonbury? How did— as in, like, you know, your arrival and stuff? So what happened? How was the coach and stuff?

24:36Miguel Yeah, so here's the thing. I think it's the, it's the earliest I left London, uh, for Glastonbury, because usually I always end up going a little bit later because someone wants to go and I'd rather stay together. But this year everyone was on it and convinced that let's go, let's go and let's get there as early as we can. So, and we left London at 2 AM. So basically, usually it takes 4 hours and a half. Some years it took 5 maybe, but I think it was guaranteed that we will get there before even the gates open. So that would be a first for me. But then, as I mentioned before, of course, this year we start having some concerns because of the train strikes. And no one knew what was going to happen, right? Because some people who were planning to go by train, trains started to get cancelled. So what does it mean? It means that we're going to have more traffic and maybe it's going to take ages or people are going to get later to the farm or people are going earlier. There was this added doubt. I start getting concerned. And of course, as we do with our group, we start telling them, you guys have to be on it. Make sure you get there in time. We're not going to wait for anyone. So I kind of— everyone got a little panicked, let's say. But then to my surprise, it was all for nothing because there was literally zero traffic. So I was mostly awake the whole journey and I was like, the bus is just going, we didn't stop, didn't stop at all. And I think from the time we left London Victoria to leaving the bus there, It was 3 hours and 40 minutes, something I'd never seen, which is basically just the time for a regular journey in any given day when you don't have thousands of people that are supposed to be going to the farm. So that was a surprise. And we joined the queue from the coach on Gate A. And again, I thought we would see a long queue in front of us, but we were really close to the gate, really, really close to the gate. There wasn't that many people in front of us.

26:35Jessi What time did you get to the gate, Miguel?

26:38Miguel So yeah, so we left at 2, maybe we left a little bit later, but let's say we left half 2, 3 hours and a half, so we left around 6, maybe 6 in the morning.

26:47Jessi 6, nice, nice.

26:48Miguel But still, I thought we're gonna join the queue a little bit further away from the gate, but no, we were just right there. That's the moment I sort of start checking Twitter, people, what they are saying about their journey. And that's when I started seeing a lot of people talking about massive, massive queues on Gate D. They're saying they're closing and moving people to another gate. And then I'm down Like I couldn't because there was a little curve on the gate. I couldn't see anything, so I couldn't see how long the queue got behind me. But I was just following people's updates and it was so different from my experience. So maybe we just left at the right time and I don't know, because people had to change plans last minute, people arriving later. I don't know. But our experience was really, really easy. So we were just waiting for the gates to open. Usually Michael is at Gate A and he was there when we opened, but we didn't really see. I think he talks usually with the television, you know, maybe he gives some words. By the time we actually start walking and go through the gates, we just saw him leaving.

27:46Jessi We just waved, Michael! Yeah, yeah.

27:51Miguel Rob was already in the queue because he does the overnight queueing, and I asked him to send me a ping. He always camps at Park Home Ground, and I always try to get to Park Home Ground, but I end up usually at Dairy Ground or Baines Ground because previous year I would arrive a little bit later. But this year we had the choice, you know, so Rob sent me a ping, a location ping, And I was trying to get to him. And at one point I was so— you know when you're so close but you still walk around and you cannot find the person? And then of course there's already a lot of people opening tents and stuff. Ah, let's just stay here, which was already a great, great location. So, you know, close to the Co-op, close to the railway track, and then close to Rob because I went to find him after, which was really nice to see him and know that I'm this close to him. But Rob's location was mental because it was literally by the fence where it starts the Arcadia field.

28:42Jessi Wow.

28:43Miguel So in a way I was almost happy I couldn't find him. That you couldn't find him. Because we were a little, you know, I want to be close to the action, but not that close. So I think when you're close to the railway track, it just takes you quickly to many of my favorite areas. So yeah, in a way it was also slightly different from other years because I finally got to the point where I wanted to be, even though— and other than that, speaking how it felt everything was going too easy, this was also going to be my biggest group ever at Glastonbury, but everyone was arriving different times. A big chunk arrived together with me, but there was many other groups arriving later. And then suddenly everyone was arriving, actually finding us and joining our campsite. So like, what's happening? I would go for a walk on Wednesday or to do something. I would come back, the other group arrived and there was a spot next to us and we are all together. So Wednesday went really smoothly.

29:37Jessi Everything fell into place. I love it.

29:38Miguel Yeah. In a time where, as you say, I was so excited because we waited so long, but then I start sort of getting a little bit panicky because the racetracks and everything like that. And then suddenly everything was just going in a breeze. It was fantastic.

29:51Jessi Brilliant. Smooth as butter. Love it. How was the rest of your Wednesday then?

29:55Miguel I was going to throw you the same question. Did the usual. I mean, I tried to take a nap, but Wednesday and Thursday was quite hot, right? If I remember correctly. And yeah, we did what we usually do, which is the opening ceremony. I tried to get there later than usual because it's quite a slow ceremony. They take their time with the whole ritual, but I find it always amazing and it It is a buildup. I always say it sets you off and puts you in the mood of the festival. You know, there is already— there's parts of the ceremony where they have like a shared moment, you know, where everyone does the Om. You know, they say everyone turns around, let's send good vibrations. That is, it kind of brings you into that mood of the festival and what's to come. But yeah, it can be a little bit slow. And I must say, I think I've never been this sober as I was this year at the opening ceremony. And I must ask if the fireworks are always that intense because I was quite close to where it happened. And when they finally released the fireworks, it went for a long time.

30:55Jessi Yeah, I was gonna say, like, if you were close enough to hear them do the, you know, the om kind of thing, we were quite a bit further back where there was quite a lot of space. And I think it's because there was quite a big group of us. We were, you know, not like super smashed, but we definitely were enjoying drinking. So yeah, we had that moment of like, has it started yet? Is anything happening? What's going on? You know, when you're sort of far back kind of thing. But I agree, the fireworks this year, like, I swear they went on for like 20, 25 minutes. It was just like peel, peel, peel, peel constantly. And they all felt really close as well. And we were quite a bit further back than you.

31:33Miguel I mentioned that because also here's the thing. I think we touched on this on the episode with— was it with Kaptein or Beans on Toast? I don't know. Because something happened before the festival that they have the official lineup page and there's a few things that happened on Wednesday and then some everything was removed. But all the word going around the community is that everything will still happen, but they couldn't announce for whatever reason. No one knew if it was licensed or whatever. I did went around the festival in the afternoon, including to see Beans on Toast, because his first performance was going to be at the—

32:06Bandstand.

32:07Miguel Bandstand, yeah, the bandstand. And I think it was going to be the first thing I was going to see in terms of performance. And when he got Up on the bandstand, he started talking, sort of touching on that. He said, oh, apologies, because this is actually the only thing I'm allowed to have. And he only had like this really small speaker.

32:23Oh.

32:24Miguel And then like made me think, okay, so something actually is going on. Not only they removed the lineup, but it feels like— I don't know if there's a limit on sound and things like that. So I must say that kind of affected that moment at the bandstand, which was a shame. But then when it got to the opening ceremony and we had that fireworks, it was so intense. I thought, okay, maybe, maybe it's normal now. Maybe it was only the afternoon was the issue. However, walking around on site after the ceremony, and as I say, I really like it because it sets you off like, oh, there you go, enjoy the festival, then you go explore. But walking around, I feel like it was still sort of happening. I feel like the few performances that we had later on Wednesday, the volume still felt like it was a bit lower than usual. And I don't know if you noticed anything.

33:07Jessi Well, I mean, our Wednesday was a bit different. Like we We like helped our friends arrive, as I said, and then, you know, got their tents, you know, like quick grab the spot, help get the tents up as quickly as possible. Then they had to do a couple of runs to the car. So because of the heat, we just went and sort of chilled back down by, uh, you know, in the Greenpeace crew field. But then in the afternoon, once, you know, all of our mates had all sort of settled in and were ready to go, we did our usual tradition of basically sitting, uh, in the West Holts field This time actually we sat at the West Holts bar rather than the Brothers Bar, um, because of the frozen margaritas, because of the heat. Um, and we basically sat there for probably 3, 4 hours and just kept going to the bar and drinking them dry of frozen margaritas. We managed to get like a little patch of shade and we all sat down and just catching up and, you know, doing all that loveliness. So that was all kind of like normal. And then, yeah, we all got ready for the opening ceremony. Went up together. So I, I was supposed to go and see Beans on Toast, and then I was just having such a nice time that I thought, well, I'll see him another time, uh, as in another day of the festival. And then after the opening ceremony, a bunch of us, as you say, I think because of the rail strikes and everything, so many more people arrived on the Wednesday than usually do. Like, I think a lot of people usually just rock up on the Thursday or the Friday, but I think because the Thursday was going to be a rail strike day, everyone was like, right, well, we either go Wednesday or Friday. So everybody went Wednesday. And then And then, yeah, when we went to Southeast Corner, it was super busy. I mean, which we were expecting, but we managed to get into NYC Down Low. I mean, I'll tell the story, but basically 3 of our friends like missioned it down there, or 4 of them, and me and a few others were like, yeah, yeah, yeah, we're coming, but you know, we'll see you down there, we'll be there in a bit. Like, we stopped to get a drink and stuff. And then when we arrived and saw the queue, we were like, oh my God, we've made a mistake here. Like, we should have gone with— we should have gone with the others and got there quickly. The others, it turned out, so what had happened to them is they'd got in the queue. There was a massive queue when they got there as well. And they got in the queue and they'd sort of, you know, been in the queue for about 10, 15 minutes. And then one of my friends, Louisa, I love her. She, she just is very, well, she's the person you need in a situation like this, basically. One of the dancers who was out the front, you know, they sort of dance on the, on the, um, stage at the front, didn't they?

35:29Yeah.

35:30Jessi sort of, you know, locked eyes with him and like just, you know, he was like, how you doing? And she just got chatting. He was like, don't worry, it won't be long. And then Louisa, being the ballsy girl that she is, she went, she said to the dancer, she was like, you know what, I think it's totally unfair because me and my friends here, like, we're queer and this is the only queer venue on site and we have to queue and there are all these like non-queer people in the queue. Like, surely if you're, if you're queer or LGBTQ, like, We should, we should be prioritized. And she was obviously just being ballsy and somewhat joking, but the dancer was like, oh my God, I totally agree. And like basically dragged her up on the stage with our 3 friends and took them to the front of the queue and said, these are my friends, and let them in. So they managed to skip the queue. And then, yeah, in NYC Down Low, it was actually like pretty loud in there, but maybe it's because it's got, you know, 4 walls and it's more of a structure, but it was very sweaty in there as always. Um, but it was really, really good. We had a really, really good time. Stayed in there till only probably about 2 AM. I say only, but like, you know, we, we'd, we'd had a long day and we thought, you know, let's, let's save ourselves for the next day. So, but yeah, it was good.

36:45Miguel Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself here, but, uh, I did mention as well that I wanted to try to do some things at Glastonbury, which I never did, which mostly things that involve queuing, such as NYC Down Low. So, uh, at one point during the weekend, I did make the effort to queue and wait. And my first feeling as soon as I got inside, it was like, oh, I think I've been here before, but I'm not entirely sure. This looks familiar.

37:09Jessi Hold on a minute, I've been here before.

37:11Miguel Yeah, I've probably been when I was in a different state of mind. So there's a memory there somewhere. But, but it still was good to do it again and know for sure.

37:21Jessi Yeah, because at least you definitely know this time.

37:23Miguel Jessi, you did mention maybe it was one thing that we should talk about a little bit. You mentioned how maybe due to the strikes, Maybe way more people arrived Wednesday and Thursday. Then later throughout the festival, I mean, that's the question, if the festival was overcrowded this year. I know it's something that I really— I only started thinking about it when Friday arrived. And like many, many people in the festival, I thought I could just go and see Wet Leg at the park. But of course, that didn't work. That didn't go very well. It was super crowded and not in a way I've been to to sort of TBA performances at the park, that, you know, those ones that are secret, but at one point everyone knows it's going to happen. And usually you get there and even if it's crowded, you can make your way and maybe sit down on the hill to watch it, or you can go across the crowd from the top and come down from the other side of the stage and find a good spot. That really wasn't working for Wet Leg. And even if you get— when I tried to make my way through the crowd, which was terrible already, I was thinking of giving up many, many times, but knowing from past experience at one point it's going to open up and it's still going to be enjoyable, I kind of made my way to try to get to the top. But it's just, I would never find an opening or somewhere that it would work. And even when it did, it was just too far away. And The Park, maybe there's some setups they need to change that the sound really does— if you're just watching from far away, it's not really enjoyable, right?

38:50Mm-hmm.

38:51Miguel I mean, if you're that far. And that's when I sort of started thinking like, is this, is this, is this festival Was the festival busier than usual? And maybe in hindsight, that is something that was in my mind on Wednesday and Thursday in my subconscious, because I also remember on Friday thinking, usually my feeling is I have done so much in the 2 days and that the festival is only fully starting now. This year I realized, I was like, oh, it's going too fast. There's stuff I haven't done yet. And maybe it's because of the crowding. So what were your feelings on that? What were your thoughts on that?

39:22Jessi Yeah, um, I've got to say I was definitely one of those people who got home and like, I, I actually wrote a blog about this and then was like, no, I'm not going to post it, I don't want to be too negative. But I ended up putting it as an eFest thread because I was like, I've written it out now, I need to post it somewhere. But, um, you know, there's a few things. Like, firstly, obviously, uh, Ben, my boyfriend, did say to me, he was like, when you're on site before people arrive and then suddenly there's so many, like, you know, tens, hundreds of thousands of people. The difference, like, your brain can't really comprehend. Like, I was just walking down this place yesterday and now it's super busy. So the difference really makes the impact of people feel worse rather than when you arrive at the same time as everyone else. So, so I've got to bear that in mind. But I definitely agree with you in that, um, I— there were so many decisions I made this year because it even like walking down normal pathways at like 11 AM or like 1:30 PM when normally things are pretty chill in the festival, even just walking down like the market streets or like, uh, you know, a path round by BBC Introducing or whatever, it was literally like shoulder to shoulder, side to side on the path. And it took forever to walk anywhere. You couldn't just walk at a normal pace because there was just too many people everywhere. And like, you know, I've— everybody say like, oh, it used to be like that, blah, blah, blah. I've, I've been a busy, you know, if, if you're watching an Other Stage headliner and then afterwards it finishes and you're going to go up to Arcadia and you're within that crowd and you're walking like a penguin, like, I've been there before. Like, I know what that feels like.

41:01Yeah.

41:01Jessi But it really did feel like absolutely everywhere was heaving all the time. And wet leg, I was the same. I was really hungover on the Friday and I forced myself to get up. I was like, I have to see Wet Leg. And we left at 12:30 from Greenpeace, and they weren't on till 2. And I think we got to the bottom of the park field at, um, at 1, so like an hour before they started. And I first noticed, like, you know that row of, um, food places along the top of— I think it's Park Homeground, but you know, at the bottom of the park and the corner of Arcadia, there's like a row of food places.

41:34Miguel Yeah, yeah.

41:35Jessi Every single one of those food places had a queue that must have been minimum 40 people long. Um, I know it was lunchtime. Yeah, it was. Each— every single one had this long snaking queue to the point where people had to ask, like, which queue are you in? Because the queue was like, you know, 30 meters from the actual— um, the end of the queue was like 30 meters from the actual food place you wanted to get to. And then, yeah, we walked up through the park and it was just so difficult. Even an hour before they started, we managed to get a spot sort of back left of the sound desk, but we couldn't really see the stage because the sound desk was sort of in the way. Like, if we stood on tippy-tippy toes and looked around, we could just about see the actual stage. But we waited and waited, and I was so hungover, and people were just literally— so like, I— it was almost like the only space I had was the size of my feet. Like, my shoulders and stuff were too busy, too big. And then we ended up— they started and we watched like 15 minutes, and I was like, I can't even hear them even from here. I know the Park Stage, when the wind's blowing the wrong way, it's awful. But I was just like, I'm gonna have to give up. Um, and then that, you know, I'd felt it the night before on the Thursday actually. And I know that Thursday there's less venues open. And as we said, like more people had turned up early, but it was really, there was a moment where I had to like go back to the Greenpeace crew bar because I was like, I just need to get out of this crowd. We went from The Glade and we tried to go up and along the railway to get to Greenpeace. And you know that crossing Sitting at the Glade that goes down towards the corner of the camping field, you know, that sort of bit, like up and over the railway at the Glade. It was just, I wish I'd taken a video. Like it was people like trying to go in all different directions and just squished. So I've already—

43:24Miguel It was those junctions, right? Yeah. I was going to, because I was going to say other than wet leg, the second moment when I really, I started thinking because, okay, wet leg got really big before the festival or that year and maybe they should have put them in another different spot. So maybe it was the best decision, but they didn't change. Or anyway, you can talk about that. But then I think by the second, when I start really thinking, okay, what's going on? It was exactly something similar to what you just said. I was coming on the railway track and I was gonna go on the junction that goes down on West Holts. And that was the moment that a lot of everyone is talking about as well, which is when TLC was there.

44:00Jessi Yeah, TLC.

44:00Miguel And I was walking nicely on the railway And then I was gonna turn to go down, and then like, I actually, I think I gasped out loud because like, what the hell is this?

44:12Yeah.

44:13Miguel So something was really different. But when we came back and we saw that discussion started about that online, then like, okay, so it's not just us individually. There was a bigger group of people who are sharing the same feelings.

44:26Jessi Yeah. And like, you know, I'm gonna preface this Everything I'm about to say is, well, okay, I'll say one absolute fact to start with. And the fact is the festival did increase the number of tickets by 3%. So I think it was, there was a total of 210,000 people on site when the license previously had been 203,000 or something like that. It was about 7,000 more people-ish, right? So that they, we knew that beforehand. But for me, the crowding was so much more than that. It wasn't just a few extras. And there's a few things here. So firstly, I think it was good weather, so people— and, and people were so excited to be there that they left their tents, um, you know, earlier than normal. There wasn't like people hanging out at the tent so much. So, so that's another probable fact. Here on in is just proper hearsay, and I'm not going to dwell on it for too long because this is just little tidbits that I heard and, you know, musings that I've had since. But I know that the staff turnover on site because of COVID because COVID was still a thing, people were out on site saying like, you know, if you got COVID while during the build, you had to leave. It was like a, if you tested positive, it was right, you've got to go. And then they had to get people in really last minute, like pulled them in, you know, that, so that meant the sort of staff turnover was quite big, like even in the days running up to the festival and even when the festival was, was working. So, I mean, we spoke to a security I think on like the Saturday, and we were like, you having a good time, mate? And he was like, yeah, it's my first time here. And I was like, oh yeah, how are you feeling about it? He was like, oh, well, you know, I only just got here. And I was like, what? And he said he'd, he'd had a phone call in the morning. He'd never worked at Glastonbury before and was asked to come down from London like that morning on the Saturday morning, because he had to replace someone. So the reason I bring that up is that it wasn't— Glastonbury usually has the same load of staff and the same load of volunteers who love it so much. They do it every year.

46:24Yeah.

46:25Jessi Obviously, there's contractors and stuff that always come in and yada yada, but but in general, it's the it's returning staff, right? But they had to replace them with new staff that had never done it before, etc., etc. And there were loads of rumors going round through crew as well. You know, I'm not going to name names, but I was talking to lots of people in different areas of the festival as well, not just not just mine. And they all said, yeah, there are there's definitely like thousands more people on. site. And they think it was because of, you know, people— it was the hottest ticket in the world, right? Everybody wanted to be at Glastonbury. You know, all of this is me totally fantasizing. So, you know, like, none of this is based on anything. But for me, it felt like— and the rumors going around crew were that it were true— that there were tens of thousands of extra people there is all I'm gonna say. How they got there, I don't know.

47:18Miguel But, but even as you say, even going by official numbers, it was supposed to be the crowd at Glastonbury ever. But maybe a perfect— not perfect storm, maybe in that case is a terrible storm.

47:31Jessi Yeah, yeah, weather-wise.

47:31Miguel A terrible storm happened that was post-COVID. And as you say, affected the experienced staff that couldn't maybe come or people who moved on during the pandemic, really. No one was used to crowds. So maybe we were just feeling different. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Also maybe makes sense. So I think it's a combination of all these many elements that give this situation where some people really didn't see it and they enjoyed. But as you say, it's a I saw a lot of people talking on comments on forums that, oh, you should know that there's ways around it if you eat at different times or if you walk a little bit further instead of joining the queue to the toilet, there's a queue just there. But we kind of, I feel like we know how to navigate this.

48:13Jessi I know all that by heart.

48:14Miguel And even that for me wasn't working. So, and it really hindered my experience where I was having to change my plans and I don't really make that many plans, but in the sense that like if I I'm watching something at the Other Stage. And initially, when I was doing my Clash Finder before leaving for the festival, I had something I wanted to go see at John Peel. I thought, you know what, this band is playing next. We are here on the Other Stage. Let's just stay where we are. So I felt like I was kind of doing some compromises. And maybe it's my own mistake. Maybe I should have just pushed it through and it would have worked. And you mentioned that was like food for the amount of queuing for food. So even that, And after I came back from the festival and then I started seeing other people talk about it, I did realize that I think I had more, let's say, fast food than usual this year. It was because I was just going to places where maybe I had less queue or the queue was moving faster. Because again, I don't like to queue at Glastonbury and it felt it was the first time I was queuing for things like food and toilets more than ever and having to do compromises. And at one point it worked out quite well because maybe I would end up seeing an artist that I wasn't planning. And you always have the surprises, right? to change at Glastonbury, but it did feel this time that I wasn't feeling that great at the festival. I realized later thinking about the whole experience because I feel like I was having to do compromises more than ever.

49:40Jessi Yeah. And, you know, I think, you know, we need to go back to talking about what we did, what we got up to. But one thing I completely agree with is that, and sort of leads on to that, is that, you know, I always talk about how I normally spend quite a lot of time at the Pyramid Stage, right? Like, I know it's because I camped in Big Ground, but I only saw Diana Ross at the Pyramid Stage this year. And even then, we couldn't really get a good spot or view. Like, we turned up sort of 20 minutes before her, which I know is not long enough, but we still managed to enjoy it and get somewhat of a good view. But there were a number of times that I was supposed to go to the Pyramid Stage and meet up with friends, but because of my experience of the crowds and, you know, I was only at West Holts, which isn't exactly that far. Um, I saw loads of stuff on West Holts because it was so close to my camper fan, but I wasn't planning on going to those things. But it was kind of those decisions, you know, and, and as you say, we weren't making the decisions like 10 minutes before a set was supposed to start. Like, you know, I'm sure it— well, I know that in Glastonbury 2017 and 2019, there were a number of times where I just went, you know what, I'm just gonna nip over to this stage for— and I would like—

50:53Miguel Yeah, yeah, yeah.

50:53Jessi Yeah, okay, I'd have to go through a crowd, but it wasn't impossible. You just walk through a crowd and you just had to wiggle around a bit and then you could get the other whatever stage you were going to slightly longer than, than normal. But, but this time it was like, if you are going, you need to go at least an hour before, uh, to even get a chance at having a semi-good spot. And I'm not talking like front row, I'm talking like being able to see the stage and like having a speaker that's sort of semi-facing you. So, you know, I was gonna go and see Paul McCartney, but we didn't. We ended up going into— we made our choices based on the fact fact that we didn't want to, you know, get stuck or queue. So, on the Paul McCartney night, we went into the southeast corner at like 9 PM and it was dead. There was like not a single soul about, but we had a really nice drink at a bar and then we went into the temple as soon as it opened. And then we did like 6 hours of drum and bass in the temple because we got in and we just stayed in one place because we thought it's much easier than moving around.

51:54Yeah.

51:56Jessi I was supposed to see, um, uh, Kendrick on Sunday as well, and lots of my friends were going, but when we text them, they said they were quite far forward. And again, it was only an hour before they were going to start. And in the end, like a group, a sort of separate group of us, not just me and Ben, there was a few of us, but we went, you know what, actually let's see Bicep because then we're close to the southeast corner afterwards anyway. So we ended up staying at West Holts for Bicep. So yeah, it was like, I had such a good Glastonbury and I think I want to finish this talk about crowding with that because because I honestly had an amazing time. And I, I think it was probably my second best Glastonbury. Still, nothing's touching 2013 quite, even with the showers and stuff. I think 2013 still, still beats it. But I still had such an amazing time. But we would, you know, we always talk about don't plan too much at Glastonbury and, you know, just pick this, that, and the other. But this year it was like decisions were made for me based on where I was, you know, what the crowd was like where I was, what I was planning to do, you know, what I was planning to do like 4 or 5 hours later. Not, not, you know, what am I doing an hour from now? It was like, okay, well, in 4 hours' time I need to be in the southeast corner, so I can't go to Dance Village— uh, sorry, Silver Hayes— because that's it, you know. I need to be in the vicinity of southeast corner because otherwise I won't, you So that was the only thing, like, there were, you know, Wet Leg, I really want to see, I missed them. Um, I didn't see a Pyramid Stage headliner, which is the first time that's ever happened. I guess if you count Diana Ross as a— she's a, you know, legend slot. It's not really— it's the sort of 4th headliner, isn't it? But I didn't see one of the main, you know—

53:37Miguel Usually it's been actually biggest crowd has been the legend slots.

53:40Jessi Yeah, yeah, very, very true. I made a mistake there.

53:43Miguel But, but that, that thing I just said that you were sort of standing always in the same vicinity. That's what, when I was looking back, that's when I realized I ended up doing it maybe subconsciously, or as you say, decisions were being made for me. So I realized I barely was at the Williams Green. I honestly love the Crow's Nest, and I barely was there as well this year. And John Peel, I don't think I've seen a gig there this year, which is also never heard of. And I do put a lot of weight on that on myself looking back. I mean, I think that's all these issues that we are discussing, but So again, I went to this year with a conscious decision of trying to take it slow. And what happened is I didn't realize that that meant I was going to do less things. I think I could take it slow and still do everything I used to do, but that's not how it works.

54:32Jessi That's not the same.

54:33Yeah.

54:33Miguel So part of me, like, maybe I should have tried more and pushed it through, but I was kind of also— so there's also all these external factors of what was happening there in terms of crowd, but also maybe it's part of me. I decided to, you know, I'm fine staying here.

54:47Jessi Oh yeah, I could have made it work if I really pushed.

54:51Miguel But coming back, maybe I regret a bit of that. Maybe that was a way I could have just pushed it. But also, we do need to touch on this, like something was different this year.

54:59Jessi Yeah.

55:00Miguel So even though a lot of people say, oh, people were saying the same in the '90s or in the '80s, but for a fact, the festival has been growing every year. And so at one point, it starts to maybe, you know, becomes true and maybe something that you need to think about. And the other thing I definitely noticed this year, because we were talking about it, I was talking about, if you want to go to Shangri-La, the temple, you have to plan hours ahead. The after-hours definitely has slowly become a festival in itself. Like, it's not like a secret or something that a few of us do. More and more you have people staying awake until the early hours. And if you don't have the Pyramid Stage to take a massive part of the crowd— Every year more and more people decide to stay awake at Glastonbury and go around looking for experiences and wanting to, you know, do things, definitely is going to start to get complicated. And I feel like something I noticed this year, which I don't know if it's part of the fact the festival went through 2 forced cancellations, so maybe there's some budget constraints, or as you say, because of new staff or performers that move on. I feel like the after-hours, the setup of the stages and the areas were made in a way that was to accommodate more people. So everything's sort of becoming—

56:17Jessi Yeah, it's big stages, isn't it?

56:18Miguel Yeah, bigger stages, bigger areas.

56:21Yeah.

56:21Miguel So I feel like Shangri-La and even Arcadia, if you look at videos back from the Arcadia Spider, they used to have— I mean, they didn't have the Metamorphosis, but maybe as well a different thing that happened because of cancellations. Arcadia maybe have to come and do the Spider last minute. We don't know exactly, but Shangri-La used to have maybe more smaller venues, little doors that you go through, and even sort of walkabout performers, or there was a narrative, there was something more immersive. And on the Gas Tower stage, it started like a whole 360 immersive experience. And now it kind of feels like it still has a little bit of that, how it started, but they had to make more space for people, which I don't know if it has to do with the cancellations and budgets, or if it's a conscious decision that they know they need to have more space in the after-hours. And this is where the festival is moving forward.

57:10Jessi Yeah.

57:10Miguel So I did come back with a few doubts on on that as well.

57:13Jessi I think definitely this year, like, I think they were probably worried about small venues and COVID, like people being worried about being in small venues. So maybe, I'm crossing my fingers, it will turn around. And that was what I was going to say next, is that I really think like this year, I'm hoping this year was an anomaly with all these extra people. I think, you know, there was, you know, all these things that account for it. But I think as we settle back into a rhythm, I'm hoping it will be better again.

57:41Miguel But this is a year after a long And as we talked about at the start of the episode, we're still not entirely sure the extent of how it affected how people go to festivals or how it affected the festival itself. So maybe this is like a transition year where finding the bearings again. So it was all around. I mean, I was reading stories of this festival had these issues, the other festival had the issues, etc. And it's, I mean, it's understandable. But yeah, let's see.

58:09Jessi I was gonna say, I think that there's more events, there's more festivals, as I said, Yes. Loads more. And there just aren't enough contractors, you know, you need different, you need security companies, you need, um, somebody to put in the electricity, somebody to put up the fence, somebody to manage, um, where all the electricity points are, the lighting, like the actual infrastructure of a festival is huge. And there's so many festivals now. And lots of companies did have to fold during COVID and new ones are just starting up to try and take their place. they're not as experienced. And so I think, as you say, I think you said it was a perfect storm, but let's say it was a storm in a teacup. I think everything kind of sort of came together and everybody wanted to go back at 100% this year, you know, nothing, you know, COVID, what's that? Like nothing ever happened.

58:58True.

58:59Jessi 100%. And it just was, nobody was quite ready yet. Yeah. So I'm hoping that next year it won't be the same and it will, you know, it'll go back to, you know, I'm not, I'm not saying let's go back to Glastonbury 10 years ago or anything, but like, I'm still fine with the higher numbers, but something was wrong this year. Something didn't happen. But, you know.

59:20Yeah.

59:20Miguel But I mean, as you say, you still— it's one of your favorite Glastonbury ever. And many, many people have best experience ever. But all right, enough about that. Let's talk about the rest of the weekend in terms of music. There's no point to go day by day now, but if you have any favorite sets you want to highlight from the weekend.

59:37Jessi Okay. favorite sets? Uh, well, yeah, that Bicep set that we ended up going to on the Sunday night. I realized these are not going to be in order, as you say, maybe not in date. Um, Bicep were incredible. The light show was, oh, mesmerizing. You know, they had the kind of smoke over the crowd and then like the rainbow lasers sort of weaving through it. And oh, it was, it was like genuinely beautiful. Um, I took a few photos, but obviously nothing does it justice, but it was amazing. And it obviously just You know, they are masters of matching the light show to the music. And it was just, yeah, I, I, it was a choice that I had to make, but I was very glad I made. Like, actually watching Kendrick's set back, I mean, it was cool and I would have enjoyed it, but I'm, I'm glad I went to Bicep. They were fantastic. So, um, let me think.

1:00:27Miguel I did find you at some sets, so I can help you there. I, I found you at— yeah, John Hopkins at Arcadia.

1:00:33Jessi Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that was another one I was going to mention, Yeah. Sort of crowds is that we, we went to, we've got a couple of friends who are like mega John Hopkins fans. I, I—

1:00:41Miguel Oh yes, same in my group.

1:00:42Jessi Yeah. But yeah, so that was like an absolute must-see for quite a large portion of our group. So again, we didn't see Billie Eilish or whoever was on the other stage. I can't remember. We just went straight to Arcadia at about 9:30. And yeah, we got a spot right under the leg of the spider because it wasn't, you know, there was no music when we got there. We just came in and got our space and went, right, we're here. And then, yeah, we stayed for like 4, well, I managed about 4 4 hours. And yeah, John Hopkins was fantastic. And then afterwards, obviously it was supposed to be the Chemical Brothers, and we'd all heard that they'd had to cancel. So it was Bonobo and Groove Armada.

1:01:19Miguel I was at Bonobo's set at West Holts earlier that day. So I must say that I feel like Bonobo was almost Chris Martin this year because he was just popping up everywhere on other people's sets, or maybe covering up holes for who couldn't show up. Like, oh, is that Bonobo again?

1:01:37Jessi Yeah, I was at Bonobo in the day, so I'd seen Bonobo twice in a day as well.

1:01:42Miguel All right, yeah.

1:01:42Jessi But yeah, that, that back-to-back was actually really super cool. I really enjoyed that. And John Hopkins was amazing. So that Arcadia night was really, really good. But, um, at about— I think it was about 2 in the morning, I was like— I said to my boyfriend, I was like, I cannot hold a wee in any longer. And I was in a catsuit, so if I wasn't in a catsuit, if I was in like a, you know, top and skirt, I probably would have found a way to wee with a she-wee where I was. But sorry, maybe too much information. But I, you know, we were by the Spider Leg. We'd been there for 4 hours. We were having a great time, and then I just said, I absolutely have to wee now. Um, boyfriend came with me, and yeah, we just— we left the crowd. It took forever to leave, and then there was no way we could get back in, but that was fine. We still had a really good time, and, and all was good. Um, what other sets were great? Oh, I saw— so I had a really great time at Greenpeace again, classic, on the Thursday. It wasn't quite the same, like, run of 8 artists in a row that I loved, but I got to go in the Greenpeace tree when Oh My God! It's The Church were detaching. Oh, that's right. Because I'm sort of friends with those guys now. Um, and also because Ben basically helped to build the tree and put the lights on the tree.

1:02:50Yeah.

1:02:51Jessi So, you know, everybody knew him. So it was kind of like, you know, we saw they were up there DJing and we were having a great time. And then we were both just like, should we, should we go in the tree? And he was like, yeah. So it was super cool to like go in the tree up to the DJ booth and like look out at the crowd. We were just having a great dance up there with them. So that was a super special sort of moment for me, was just to be— yeah, obviously it's, you know, it's like you're DJing. I got to stand in front of the decks and be like, woo! So that was cool. Um, yeah, and then like Diana Ross was fab. I saw Brass Against at West Holts, which are like a brass band that cover people like, um, Rage Against the Machine and stuff like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, it was so good. Like, really, that was like first thing on. It was like, I don't know, 11 AM, uh, on the West stage, and it was wicked. I really, really enjoyed that. And then, yeah, I just saw some great DJs in Maceo's, which is the one of the crew— it's the Block9 crew bar, including Artwork, who's like a mega fave of— well, Ben introduced me to him, but I love him now. He's a great like disco DJ. And then, yeah, I guess the other one to mention is Beans on Toast at the Truth Stage, where I bumped into you again.

1:04:01Miguel Oh yeah, I wanted to get to that one because I did mention that, uh, Wednesday, uh, it wasn't the best experience, but not his fault, but whatever happened with he could only have a speaker. But then the following day, that contrasting experience, I think if anything, it was one of my highlights because that was so good.

1:04:19Jessi Such a good set, wasn't it?

1:04:21Miguel Yeah, especially because it was followed by Kate Tempest, so it's the perfect combo and it's the perfect time. It was the last time I would see Beans on Toast throughout the weekend, even though he said, right, that it was a prize up for grabs for everyone, for those who will be at every one of single of his performance to get some sort of stamp or loyalty card. He mentioned on a podcast, and I don't know how you felt when he mentioned on the podcast, it felt like he was coming up with the idea at the podcast.

1:04:49Jessi Yeah, I think he did. I think— I don't know if he was prepared for that.

1:04:52Miguel But he was telling that at every single gig, so he really went for that. Or maybe he planned it all along, I don't know. But it was the joke of the weekend for him.

1:05:00Jessi But, uh, I actually was camped in the same field as Beans on Toast, so yeah, I bumped into him basically every day, and it was quite It's quite funny because I swear I always see him in person when I'm looking really worse for wear. Like, either it's 3 in the morning and my makeup and glitter is like smeared down my face and I'm like, hi, Jay! Or it's like the morning and I'm shuffling to the shower in my pajamas, like clutching a towel, or going to, you know, going to the loo in the morning and I'm like, oh, morning! And he's like, you're right, love. Bless him.

1:05:36Miguel Speaking of previous guests, We did meet the Tingy in person.

1:05:40Jessi Oh, we did. Yes, we did.

1:05:42Miguel Yeah.

1:05:42Yeah.

1:05:42Jessi In person. We know what he looks like. We know who he is.

1:05:45Miguel Yeah. But the secret is safe with us.

1:05:47Jessi Yeah. Yeah. So that was really fun. That was, yeah, I did go to the Twisto meet, but not for very long. Um, and then, yeah, we bumped it. Yeah. It was, it was good to meet him in person.

1:05:56Miguel Yeah. And you also mentioned Oh My God! It's The Church. And we also, we were both at the 5 AM concert or 6 AM.

1:06:03Jessi What time was that? That's another, like, I would say, worse-for-wear moment. That was after I'd done 6 hours of drum and bass at the Temple.

1:06:10Miguel Yeah, it was my first time going to that gig, but I think you've been before.

1:06:14Jessi Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh no, I've done it a few times, even that 5 AM one. But me and my friend looked at each other and we're like, are we going to do it? Okay, let's do it. Let's go to church. And we like, obviously it's light by 5 AM at this point in June. So like we came out the Temple and we just like shuffled around to the Truth Stage and we're like, right, come on, let's just do it. And I think we managed about half of the set, but it started raining and we were both just like, should we just go?

1:06:38Miguel Yeah, yeah, it was. Yeah, there was a bit of rain. Well, you mentioned headliners. I wasn't too fussed about any of the headliners this year as well. But I do, and I think usually you always, you also always try to catch at least one. So this year I chose Paul McCartney because it was the safest, even though I appreciate Billie Eilish and Kendrick Lamar and understand they're very, very important artists on their own merit. If I'm going to see one, I just chose Paul McCartney because I think I would be not interested in the other ones. Because I tried to do that with Kanye West. Like, it's not my thing, but everyone's so crazy about it and it's very different. I want to see what's going to happen. And I was there and I regret going. So let's go Paul. Let's go see Paul because I know what to expect. So I went to see Paul McCartney as my headliner of choice. The second half of the gig was fantastic. So no regrets there.

1:07:27Jessi Yeah, you got to see Dave Grohl, didn't you?

1:07:29Yeah, yeah.

1:07:31Miguel Of course, Dave Grohl and also Bruce Springsteen. So, and I mean, you have to give it to Paul McCartney, right? At his age, he, he, he was, he was a fantastic gig. So yeah, I'm glad I did that. But yeah, I think, I think, but honestly, I'm putting Beans on Toast next to Paul McCartney as my highlights. Amazing.

1:07:51Jessi I think he'll appreciate that.

1:07:52Miguel Yeah. And suddenly the, this run, this run from John Hopkins Bonobo, John Hopkins, and then after Fortet at The Park. That was a strong, strong run.

1:08:03Jessi I saw Fortet at Boomtown. I missed him at Glastonbury, but he was so good at Boomtown.

1:08:10Miguel Talking about how we had to do some compromise and maybe got some surprises, I think, because I wanted to see Bonobo. And I think that was on the day of the TLC event. I think I was passing by and then I saw what was happening. happening. So I decided to stay around and I saw the act that was playing before Bonobo, which was Sean Coote, and that was a proper party. So that was one of the things I didn't plan, but I'm glad it happened because it was really good. But then I think my biggest misses really, which is in that conversation where like, if I go all the way through to get to John Peel, it's not going to happen. So my biggest misses were really Self Esteem and Phoebe Bridgers, which I was really looking forward to see. And I just couldn't. But I went to check their set live after— set live— their set at BBC Live. BBC iPlayer. Oh my God. You know what I'm talking about. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

1:09:01Jessi You watched it back.

1:09:02Miguel You watched it back. Yeah, I watched it back and I wish I have gone there. But well, do you have anything that it wasn't maybe a must-see that you couldn't go? Or maybe something new from Captain recommendations, maybe?

1:09:17Jessi I mean, yeah, I— there was definitely— I really wanted to see Black Midi and Amo and the Sniffers, um, based on Captain's recommendations and some listening I then did after he mentioned them. But both of them I missed. Um, you know, I never get to John Peel, to be honest. So when I saw that Amo and the Sniffers was on John Peel, I was like, I'm gonna miss that. I know what I'm like. Um, and Black Midi, I think, was just bad timing. Um, but yeah, I, I think there was a couple I think I did do a lot of wandering around this year.

1:09:48Yeah.

1:09:48Jessi And I saw some great little DJs on sort of little small things, which really enjoyed.

1:09:53Miguel Yeah. A place I found myself a lot this year, it was at the Icon Stage. Oh yeah. It kind of became a meeting point for the whole group to get together and try to enjoy a bit of the after hours, which then, of course, don't want to go back to the subject, but looking back, I think maybe it's because it was this open wide field where we could meet and have some time together. Maybe it's part of that, but I found myself going to the Icon a lot. But I did enjoy the first time that we had the Icon in 2018. I thought it was a stage I would be going more and more, and this year it proved that. And also just going to the Greenpeace Rave Tree, that kind of happened a few times as well.

1:10:34Jessi Mm-hmm.

1:10:34Miguel But definitely this year I was sleeping earlier than usual, except from Saturday when we met. Yeah. Oh my God, this church. I didn't do that, the crazy after hours as we always talk about. I think we are becoming— it's the natural progression maybe, Jess.

1:10:50Jessi Yeah, I'm the same. I think I went to bed at 3 most nights. Um, yeah, I think one night I went to bed a bit earlier than that, but yeah, it was either like 3 or that Saturday was sort of 6. And then the other time, yeah, my boyfriend tends to go to bed at sort of 1 to Okay. Yeah, he's, he's one of those, and he doesn't mind me staying up for an hour or so, so that's cool. And then the Saturday I convinced him to stay out till 4:30, but he could not stay up for church, so he went, he went back to bed and I tried to stay up for a bit longer. But yeah, I think, I think you're right. But I, I definitely did a bit more daytime, like, as in I was up and ready to go. I like, I was up and out of the field and away from my campervan or tent or whatever by midday, which there's definitely been some previous Glastonburys where I haven't left the tent till like 4 PM. So I think I, you know, I was definitely better in that respect for sure.

1:11:43Miguel As always, we asked our listeners to contribute to our episode. So let's listen to a few stories from 2022 and hopes and expectations for next year's festival. Hi, my name is Paddy, and Glastonbury 2022 was my 5th Glastonbury. So my group, we try and go to the sign on the Wednesday evening usually because it's a nice view and there's usually a nice atmosphere up there. But this year is the first time we happened to be there when the sun was going down, which was a beautiful sight, just seeing the sun going down over the hill. And there's a really nice view up there, but everyone started cheering the sun going down It was absolutely incredible and gonna make sure we're back up there next year at the same time because that was genuinely a standout moment of the entire festival. Thank you.

1:12:42Hello, GlastoCast. My name is Richard. I've been to Glastonbury, uh, 6 times. I love it, as we all do, I'm sure. Uh, my highlights for 2022, I would say Friday would have probably been First Aid Kit on the Other Stage. They were, uh, they were really good, really uplifting, great great set. Saturday I go with Hackbaker again, the Other Stage, first thing in the morning. Amazing set, really, really good. And on a Sunday, me and 2 good friends of mine, JoJo and Dan, we grabbed something to eat in Williams Green, sat down by the bandstand and caught Mick Artistic there with his show. Hysterically funny, really, really good. Definite highlight for us for this year. Really, really good. Going Going forward next year, uh, headline, I'd like to see maybe My Chemical Romance perhaps. Legend slot, probably Elton John, I think. And, uh, acts that have not played, um, maybe Harry Styles. I think it could be a big bit of fun, so I'll go with that. And thank you very much.

1:13:44Hi, I'm Laura. I've been to Glastonbury 5 times so far. Hopefully we'll make it a 6th. Um, my My favourite moment, performance, memory sort of thing of Glastonbury 2022 is Self Esteem's Secret set at Greenpeace on the Saturday. I'd already seen her be interviewed at Williams Green and play on the John Peel that day, so it was just a triple whammy of excellence really, and it was such a great atmosphere, so relaxed, and it was amazing to see her bring such an amazing show to such a small stage. For next year, I'd be very surprised if Harry Styles wasn't headlining the Pyramid Stage. My heart definitely says Taylor Swift, but my head says Harry Styles. For the Legends slot, I think it's about time that Blondie did it. I don't think they've been at the festival since 2014 when they played on the Other Stage, and they've got an album out next year, and they are legends, so fingers crossed they'll get a chance to do it. For somebody that hasn't played before, who's fairly new on the scene, I'm gonna go with Baby Queen. She puts on a great show, and she was really great at Neighbourhood Weekender in May, and she's just played with Olivia Rodrigo. I think she supported her on a UK tour, so I can imagine her putting a great show on. Fingers crossed.

1:15:02Hi, my name's Rob, or Matirkin if you see me on, uh, social media or, uh, Discord or whatever. Um, uh, yeah, My Glastonbury moment of 2022. The thing that strikes me is always seems to be on the hill in the park. They always seem to have a special moment there. And this year at the end of the festival, I went up with my partner to watch the Lotus Burn thing, which was pretty cool, pretty fiery. And I think the whole point of the Lotus Burn was, you know, to kind of cathartically say goodbye to the last 2, 3 years or whatever you've been going through, essentially. I didn't have much to say goodbye to, but I just kind of wanted to kind of see the spectacle. But I remember watching it kind of halfway through the burn and turning around and there was this, I don't know, girl in her early 20s, late teens, and she was obviously Obviously going through something. She was obviously very upset and it just kind of struck me this moment that, you know, I was kind of blasé about it, but, you know, there were people that were there to, you know, say goodbye to a loved one or, you know, forget what they'd been through over the last few years. And yeah, it just really struck me. Human emotion. Hey, it's an amazing thing.

1:16:34Sometimes.

1:16:34So yeah, going up there and being communally emotional was a great experience.

1:16:38Miguel Thank you so much for everyone who contributed. We love hearing your stories at Glastonbury Festival. And if you want to be featured in the next episode, keep an eye on our socials to know what we're looking for or even to send your own suggestions for future episodes. Thank you.

1:17:01Jessi And actually, just, just before we, you know, close the door on talking about 2022, I did have a couple of other nice little things that happened over the weekend that, you know, little Glasto special moments. The first one was Ben's long-term friend who has worked at Greenpeace with him for many, many years, and they've known each other for a few years before that as well. He and his girlfriend decided to do— well, decided to get married. So they got engaged, which was super cute, and then they had a hand fasting ceremony on the Thursday at Glastonbury, so up in the Greenpeace field. So that was like, I don't know, it was just really like heartwarming, you know, it was really cute to see. They're very like perfect for each other, you know. So there were loads of the sort of Greenpeace crew, like all got together to watch them have their handfasting ceremony. And it was just very sweet. So that was like a real sort of lovely moment. And then the other one was, I mentioned that we saw artwork and I mentioned that Ben really, really likes artwork. We actually tried to see him. twice, but I can't remember exactly. I think the first time— oh yeah, the first time was NYC Download on the Friday night, and he was the first on at 8 PM. And we naively thought, oh, he's on first, like there won't be a queue at 8 PM. And we went to get in the queue at 20 past 7, and it was mega already, like people waiting for NYC Download to open. But anyway, so we missed him then, and then we tried to go and see him at Maceo's.

1:18:26Maceo's.

1:18:26Jessi Maceo's on Saturday morning at 11 AM, of all times. What a random time to play. But we got there and he wasn't playing. And, um, we looked at— so in Maceo's, they— their lineup, they— it's literally a poster that they put up in Maceo's, and then you can take a picture of it and say, right, okay, I know what's going on. And when we looked at the lineup poster for Maceo's, they'd actually just reprinted another one and stuck it over the top, and Artwork's set time had completely changed. So we'd gone there to see him based on the information we from Wednesday, but that information then turned out to be wrong. So we ended up seeing Artwork, actually managing to catch him was Sunday, right after Diana Ross. We like legged it over after Diana Ross to Maceo's because Ben was like, I have to, it's the last day, I have to see Artwork. And we got into Maceo's and there was nobody there. Like, I, I hadn't seen it. I'd only been there like once or twice before that, that week. But it was literally, there was maybe like 3 other people in, in the bar. Obviously it was like prime time. The, the Sunday Legend just happened, you know. Maceo's, if you've not been in there, the dance floor is the back of an articulated lorry— sorry, just a lorry. So it's like a long thin dance floor, uh, and the lorry's got its side open, and then there's a DJ at one end. So we went in and we, and we saw it was Artwork, and I said to Ben, I was like, there's nobody on the dance floor. He was like, I don't care, we're dancing. I was like, all right, fine, let's look, I'm in the mood, let's go. And yeah, we had some drinks and we were dancing in there, and then Artwork like came and said hello and was like, thank you for coming. And he like took a, took a video on my phone of us and stuff. And then after his set, he like came up to us and was like, you know what, all of my friends were supposed to come to this set and literally none of them have come, so I'm gonna have a beer with you guys if you don't mind. And we were like— my boyfriend was like starstruck. He was like, oh my God, yeah, fine. So then, yeah, we sat in Maceo's after his set and had a beer with Artwork for like an hour, and he was just chatting away about his life And like, yeah, it sort of came up in the conversation that my boyfriend was a mega fan and had like, you know, they were talking, you know, Artwork was saying things like, oh, I, you know, did some Zooms over lockdown. And Ben was like, oh yeah, yeah, I watched them. And, you know, they were talking about these things and like, I don't know, Artwork was just so lovely. And at one point when he realised my boyfriend was from Somerset, he was like, oh, I've got a present for you. I've got a present for you. I'll be back in a second. I'll be back in a second. And like, Off he ran, uh, away from our table and we were like, what on earth is he going to get? And we, we thought maybe he was going to get us some sort of mega wristband or something. That was kind of the— we were like, oh my God, is he going to get us like a backstage pass for NYC Download or something like that? That was what we thought. But he came running back out with this mischievous look on his face and put 2 cans on the table and they were cans of cider and they were like, they had like proper labels on them that said like Artwork Cider. And he'd, he'd had these like 1,000 cans of cider. Wow. made and like it was his own brand of cider or whatever. And he said there weren't very many of them, but when he found out my boyfriend was from Somerset and loved cider, he went and got him some. So it was like just really nice, just a really nice dude, you know.

1:21:40Miguel We did talk about if performers maybe moved on to other things. So it looks like he's branching out as well.

1:21:46Jessi Well, yeah, he's obviously going into cider production. There you go.

1:21:49Yeah.

1:21:50Miguel Well, that's a great story. Thanks for sharing. Okay, Jessi. So the ticket sale is almost here, but before we get to that, do you have any expectations for next year in terms of headliners maybe, or legend slots, or any new act you're looking to see play at the Farm? Looking at the rumor mill, it feels like Taylor Swift is back because she was supposed to play in 2020. I feel like Arctic Monkeys is sort of like at the top of what people are hoping to see.

1:22:14Jessi Harry Styles as well.

1:22:15Miguel Harry Styles. Names that were already sort of— we've been listening for during the break we have at the festival. Elton John is a name that I think has always come back as well. But what do you have in terms— do you have Do you have anyone you expect to see at the farm or you want to see at the farm?

1:22:30Jessi Well, I saw Lady Gaga this summer do her Chromatica Ball tour, and it was like, you know, I'm not going to claim to be a pop princess or anything because I'm not really, but she was phenomenal. Like, I was in that crowd watching her perform in that stadium, and I got like the whole like full body tingles because her voice is incredible. And obviously, you know, she does all the dancing and all the And it's such a performance. But I had this feeling when I was watching her, like, you know when you watch those old videos of like Freddie Mercury at Wembley or whatever, and you, and like you get those tingles and you go, oh my God, this person is just, you know, I'm alive and I got to see this person at the same time. That's, you know, maybe I sound like a mad gushy fan, but she was so, so good. And all I was thinking while I was watching her was she would, like Beyoncé's 2011 set, I think she would be absolutely iconic. iconic on the Pyramid Stage. And she only ever played, I think it was at 2011 or 2013 or something, on the Other Stage in the daytime. Like, she hasn't, she hasn't played since. Um, and I know she's not high up on the rumor mill, but God, I would absolutely love to see that. I think, you know, a solo female performer, she would be fantastic.

1:23:47Miguel Exactly. Uh, it's great that you mentioned that because I did put on my notes, uh, because I was going to ask you, because I know that you were there at her tour this year. So I was going to say, you know what, I wouldn't mind that because I've never seen— and I I think it's this type of act and performance that definitely even is not something I put on my playlist. I would love to go and see it in the festival at the farm. So yeah, definitely, definitely a good contender.

1:24:12Jessi She would be amazing. So I'm really, really hoping for her. And God, I'm really going to sound like a pop princess now, but honestly, please don't take this too much of me. Obviously, we all know my dream headliners would be AC/DC, The Prodigy, Fleetwood Mac. If we're talking like, you know, never going to happen, those would be great. also love to see the Spice Girls do the Legends slot.

1:24:34Miguel I mean, yeah, yeah, because I mean, I think it'd be so good.

1:24:38Jessi Um, and there's also rumors of Rihanna, who— so, so basically, in order, if we're talking about female solo artists, then Lady Gaga would be my number 1, but I haven't heard much rumor about her. Rihanna would be number 2, and there's a few whispers about her. And then Taylor Swift, I'm not so bothered about. I think maybe I'm just— she's slightly past— I don't want to call it my generation, but like maybe I was like 5 years too late for— 5 years too old for Taylor Swift to really be a massive part of my life. You know, there are— I would prefer Gaga or Rihanna.

1:25:09Miguel In terms of also solo performance, just going back, the exercise I did is I went back to the 2020 posters to see acts that were supposed to play and didn't, came back for 2022. And on the pop side, we did have Dua Lipa and Lana Del Rey. Yeah, they also probably would go if they play, even though it's not my thing. But you need to have to— need to go and see some pop, you know.

1:25:31Jessi Gotcha. And you've just made me remember, oh my God, like Lizzo. I would— I really, really— ah, yeah, yeah, to play as well. So she played in 2019 and I missed her on West Holts and I'm still kicking myself about it.

1:25:44Miguel Same here.

1:25:45Jessi I have seen her twice since, so I've seen her at, um, Brixton Academy and I've now—

1:25:49oh nice.

1:25:50Jessi So I saw her there twice at Brixton Academy and then I, um, have got tickets to see her in March next year. So I mean, I'm still gonna see her, but again, she deserves a Pyramid Stage slot. She would be phenomenal. And I had somebody else on the tip of my tongue, but— oh yeah, and, and there's been a resurgence of all the, like, you know, what's just happened, that When We Were Young Festival, you know, all the kind of— I think you would call it emo punk and stuff, like Blink-182 have come back.

1:26:18Yeah, yeah.

1:26:18Jessi And there were all the rumors that Green Day were supposed to play this year.

1:26:21Oh, true, true.

1:26:22Jessi So anything like that, I would be so on board with. Give me some Sum 41 or some Blink-182 or, yeah, definitely Green Day. I'm really hoping for something like that on the lineup for me. And like, these are definitely not rumors. These are just my wishes.

1:26:38Miguel Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, in the nostalgia train then, Alanis Morissette was doing the Jagged Little Pill tour. So yeah, maybe she could go. I think the tour may— I don't know if it's still happening, but come do a one-off.

1:26:51Jessi Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what she was rumored for this year, wasn't she? Because she was doing a tour around the UK.

1:26:55Miguel The names were sort of around. Yeah. I don't know if there was a gap or anything.

1:26:59Jessi I would love to see Alanis.

1:27:01Miguel Oh yeah. From that, my exercise of going back to the 2020 posters, some names I would love to see come back that were there was Robin. We have Manic Street Preachers. Thom Yorke was there as well. And I think I mentioned this, there's a Brazilian artist which is one of the most important in Brazilian music called Gilberto Gil. He was friends with Arabella Churchill. So he was at Worthy Farm before the festival even was a thing. You can find articles in The Guardian how, how he was bringing a lot of ideas from Brazilian Carnival for the festival. And I think that's the reason maybe he was supposed to play in the 50-year anniversary. He was there on the poster. Maybe definitely there was some consideration about that. Sadly, he didn't come back in 2022, but he did play at the Barbican. So I saw that and that was fantastic. love to see this at the farm and see maybe he will talk about it.

1:27:51Jessi I don't know.

1:27:52Miguel Maybe, maybe it would be great if that would happen again.

1:27:54Jessi Yeah. You've mentioned him a few times and I, like, I know you were so excited for him in 2020. So if, if he plays next year, then I will be there with you. I'll meet you beforehand and we'll go together. I would love to see you literally living your best life to Gilbert and Gilles.

1:28:08Miguel And I'm totally, I fully support you on Spice Girls for Legends Live.

1:28:13Jessi Yes.

1:28:15Miguel All right, Jessi. So we were all preparing for the ticket sales a few weeks ago, but then we got the surprise that this year was going to happen a little bit later in the year. So it's coming this November. When they announced, finally announced the date, there was no mention of the price, which just recently has been confirmed. Do you have any thoughts you want to talk about that? Well, the upcoming ticket sale, because it's funny, right? Because we waited so long for Glastonbury to 2022, but we had our tickets in hands for so long as well. But it's the first time we're facing the dreaded ticket sale again.

1:28:45Jessi Yeah, and obviously like November ticket sale is the first time it's ever happened, isn't it? So that's interesting. Um, yeah, the price— do you know what, there's obviously been so many people talking about this, and I— the problem is it's coming at a time where all of us are really struggling. Maybe not super struggling, but you know, we're looking at things that we bought 4 months ago and seeing how much more expensive they are now. I'm talking like petrol or even like your favourite brand of cereal that you buy from the same shop every week. It, it was £2 and now it's £2.60. Do you know what I mean? And we're all just seeing such huge price hikes and, you know, we can blame that on whatever it would be. I'm just going to say, well, I'm just going to say it's our government. I won't say it anymore. But, you know, there's things like Brexit, etc., etc., they've all contributed, and the war that's happened. We all know it's happening. Um, and then energy, obviously energy prices are the most ridiculous thing. And therefore, to see a number like £335 when, you know, you, you last time you paid £280, you, you kind of look at it and go, whoa, and it feels like so much.

1:29:56Yeah.

1:29:56Jessi But having been to a number of festivals and also like like, I'm, I'm involved behind the scenes with a couple of festivals, particularly Boomtown Fair, and like, I've heard, you know, from the horse's mouth from a lot of people just how difficult it was to put on events this year.

1:30:12Yeah.

1:30:12Jessi Um, you know, when they had ticket prices— firstly, they've had to pay staff for the 3 years that has been ticking over, and then they've, you know, you've taken into account inflation, contractors are costing like 30 to 40% more, you know, and they've had to survive on the ticket prices that were, most of them were bought in 2019 and rolled over. So, they, a lot of events have struggled or have had to cancel this year and stuff. So, so I kind of see both sides of the coin, but I feel like the, the, I, I had a feeling the price hike was coming. And if we actually, I saw a breakdown from the Glasto thingy actually of kind of previous years and what they cost. And there was a big jump. I think it was like maybe 2015 to 2017. I can't remember, but there was a big jump from like £230 to £280 or something, and that was like the last big jump. And I don't remember people really talking about it much then. If we actually just look at the increase from when we bought tickets in 2019 to now, that's 3 years since we last bought the tickets, and the increase per year is actually £17 a year, which, when you look at it that way and then compare it to the previous jumps, it's actually really quite fair, I think, going up £17 a year when you, you know, take into account everything I've just said, like inflation, Brexit, whatever, whatever.

1:31:33Yeah.

1:31:33Jessi I know that the number looking down looks like a lot, but, you know, I'm still obviously going to pay it. I think a lot of people will pay it, but I think a lot of people will have to then, you know, particularly if you think like, you know, I've got to buy a family of 4 tickets, like that, that is quite a lot more that you've got to add on. So I think people will just maybe be a bit, um, a bit more, uh, safe with things like they'll bring more food to the festival, stuff like that. They'll, you know, but I, I guess to summarize, like everybody's feeling the pinch, and to see it written down like that is, is quite shocking. But I think Glastonbury do the best they can. Like, we've only got to put £15— sorry, £50 down in November.

1:32:12Miguel Absolutely.

1:32:13Jessi And then we've got, you know, 4 months to— if we save up like £60 a month the next 4 months, then we can— I don't know, that was very quick maths. I might be a bit short, but, you know, it's possible to save up a little bit a month between now in April, um, and then you can pay it off. But anyway, what are your thoughts, Miguel? Sorry.

1:32:32Miguel No, I think it's definitely the same feelings as you have. Uh, I think that it is justified. I think no one is questioning the, the raise and no one thinking Glastonbury is charging more than they should. And for many, many years, people say that Glastonbury is so good, is a lot of good value. I would pay this amount, I would pay £400 or £500. But as you said, we used to say that in a context where Yeah, people weren't having to choose between heating the house and buying food. So the macro context is the issue here, which is this podcast is not about that. So I think the price is still, in a way, a lot of value, but it's just sad that more people are being priced out or they have to make choices. And as you say, suddenly, I know I have been bringing less things and hoping to enjoy all the amazing food that we have at the festival and buy and buy drinks. But of course, all the food traders, they are having to raise their prices, and again, justifiable. So then it's weird when thinking about next year's Glastonbury. I'm already thinking, okay, I think I need to take more food again and more drinks.

1:33:36Jessi Yeah, yeah, I need to prepare for it. Exactly.

1:33:39Miguel So I think there's no doubt that Glastonbury is still amazing with value. And people are really quick to say as well that you mentioned Blink-182 coming back here. Maybe not as much as it happened in America, but the ticket prices in America were insane. So my other thought on that is that even though you can say, oh, you can easily pay £100 to see someone at the O2 Arena or whatever that is, so it makes sense. However, the fact that those gigs are also costing that much is also sad and a problem.

1:34:09Yeah.

1:34:09Miguel But if you do that comparison to justify the cost as well, or the price, what does it mean to the smaller areas of the festival? And I think this is something, the Glastonbury thing you mentioned, someone who actually been going to Glastonbury for so many years and maybe prefer to be like just the camping aspect or like to be at Avalon or like to be at the Circus Field, they maybe have to start thinking even more than the other ones who like are justifying the cost because you pay £100 to see Coldplay headline their own gig. So £300 in the festival is very cheap. But someone who actually enjoys—

1:34:44Jessi Small bits, yeah.

1:34:45Miguel Things outside the main stages, it kind of maybe that they're going to be thinking even more, more about the value they're getting from. But again, I'm not putting the fault at the festival. It's just sad at the state we're in and that people just have less disposable income, I guess, and they're having to make difficult choices. And maybe the festival is not a priority and it shouldn't be really. But if we talk more about that, the podcast becomes something different. But well, I think what we want to say is that we support, still support the festival. We still say an amazing experience and you can go back to listen to our podcast and know how much we love it. But it's difficult not to have also thoughts on if many people have been priced out, how does this change the public attending as well? So what does it mean for the future of the festival? But this is a conversation as a whole, not just Glastonbury itself.

1:35:36Jessi And I think I just want to say, like, everybody knows my political leanings, right? And I'm not going to go like to go down that route here. It's quite obvious what side of the line I fall. I'm just hoping that something has got to give at some point because, yeah, the main thing is our wages are not growing at the same rate, nowhere near as what the cost of not just living but actually enjoyment is going up so much.

1:36:05Exactly.

1:36:05Jessi But obviously, we need the basics first, so everybody's got to prioritize, you know, feeding their family, heating the home, you know, looking after the basics, and then how much is left over to have some enjoyment? And that number is just getting less and less. So I think you're right, people are going to have to choose. And what does that say, as you say, like, who can afford to go? Is it just people who can afford, you know, with lots of disposable cash?

1:36:33Yeah.

1:36:35Jessi Anyway, but yeah, I completely agree. Like, as you say, The number, at first I was like, ooh, and then when I looked at it, I was like, it makes total sense. And I know how much everything costs, you know, infrastructure and everything else-wise at the festival. So it's totally justifiable. And I, you know, I love that Emily Eavis put out that statement about it, sort of explaining a bit. But I do agree with you, Miguel, that I just sort of, well, I worry for gigs and live events in general, to be honest.

1:37:05Miguel Yeah. Especially, especially because of— again, this is another topic, but the reason that Blink-182 was so expensive in America is because a certain company is bringing new practices on how they sell tickets. And maybe soon it might start seeing this here. So it's even going to be even more complicated. You know, I feel like music scene in UK has been importing some bad habits from America, like in VIPs. stages or Golden Circles, things like that, tier tickets. And now they have this dynamic pricing, which is what happened with Blink-182, where they're putting down to a logarithm the same way where when you're trying to get an Uber, when it's a lot of people trying, they just charge more. So they are bringing that into ticket sale. And then that's not a future I'm looking forward to. But anyway, we need, we need to turn this into more optimistic as we go Towards the end, which is, I mean, we covered strategies. Maybe a lot of our listeners are always asking, how do we get a ticket to Glastonbury? We covered that before. You can go back in your catalog. The first series is everything about Glastonbury and how to make the most of your first time there. But I think my question, just so we can help really our listeners who are new into this, or maybe even those who are trying to improve their chances, basically the strategy is quite simple because if someone gets through the queue to buy tickets, to the online queue, they can get 6 tickets. So the idea is just to split in groups of 6 and then just help each other. As soon as your group gets in, you have 6 people who are now free to help the next group. And then you organize everything on a spreadsheet, registration details. There's a lot of details on the strategy that we're not getting to that on this episode. But I think my question is, Jessi, if you had like to pick a top tip to share on how someone can improve their chances to get a ticket, what would you say?

1:38:56Jessi I think just like check 3 times, 4 times, 5 times that those registration details are correct, um, and that you haven't got any like extra spaces in, or somebody hasn't accidentally, you know, because we have a spreadsheet that is accessible to everybody who's viewing it. I actually obviously lock it so that nobody can fiddle with it, but just in case like a digit has been deleted or something, because for me, the— in, in past experience over many, many many years, the most frustrating thing for our groups is when you, you get through and you're, you're copying and pasting in those registration details, the numbers and the postcodes, and then you press go, and then you get that red text that says something is wrong. And then, you know, that's when you panic and you go, oh my God, like, one of these registrations is incorrect, or, you know, so I, as Miguel said, we actually talk about in one of the podcasts, we, we actually talk, uh, sorry, one of the episodes, we talk a lot about this and we go into loads more detail. So if you're looking for that, like, have a look on our website, find the episode and, and listen to that. But if it was just one top tip to make things less stressful, just honestly check those details 8 or 9 times. Like, that you can never check it too many times. It's like when you go on holiday and you have to keep going, have I got my passport? Yeah, yeah, just, just do that because that has been the biggest bugbear for us is when somebody has typed it in incorrectly or they haven't updated their registration. So they've, they've said, oh yeah, no, that's definitely my postcode, but actually the postcode that Seatickets has is an older version and they haven't updated it.

1:40:37Miguel Yeah, yeah.

1:40:37Jessi And things like that. So just, just triple check. You've got time now. We've still got a week and a half. Well, I don't know when this podcast will get released, but we've still got a bit of time. Get on Seatickets, um, check your registration and just copy and paste directly from that email so you know exactly what your details are and don't get it wrong. Don't be the one person who mucks it up for the rest of the team.

1:40:59Miguel Or even worse, in a similar vein, is when someone joins more than one group and then when you put in the details, you say, oh, this person already has a ticket and delays everyone. So do not join more than one group.

1:41:12Jessi I have scratched people out of my life for doing that. That is like number one, uh, like if, if you want a way to piss Jessi off, like, or if you want me to never speak to you again, basically, that is the number one way to do that. Um, yeah, because if— that's it. If you, if, you know, if, if I said to you, Miguel, oh, can I be in your team? And then somebody at work said they're buying tickets as well, and I'm like, oh, can you put my registration details in with you? And then my housemate's doing it as well. Like, whoever does that, it means that one of those groups you're gonna really mess up for because you, you will get a ticket and then the other teams will get bounced back when, when you already have your ticket. So yes, don't do that. Not very nice thing to do.

1:41:54Miguel Uh, and I think for me, I think, uh, what I would choose as a tip for today is just, uh, uh, not, not so much now, but when they start selling tickets online and getting Glastonbury tickets became a whole thing, you used to see people getting to be— this is before 4G maybe, or 5G— people would get together on someone's house to use the better internet, someone who has a better broadband. Don't do that. Don't get together because if you get into the— under the same connection, maybe it's a bit technical and there's a lot of assumptions on how the queue works, but one can presume that if you're under the same connection, you're going to have the same IP address. You might be competing against each other. So it's best that you stay at your home and use a different connection from your—

1:42:36Jessi Spread out.

1:42:37Miguel Yeah, spread out. If you have another device, have one on Wi-Fi, another one use the 4G or mobile connection. So that should also help maximize your chances.

1:42:47Jessi Yeah, perfect.

1:42:53Miguel And I think that's where we are leaving you today with our top tips on how to get the tickets, and best of luck to everyone in the sale. See you next time!

1:43:03Jessi See you next time!