Bilal joins us to look back and look forward.

0:00Miguel Oh, hello. I'm Miguel.

0:01Jessi And I'm Jessi.

0:02Miguel Hi. And you're listening to GlastoCast, the unofficial Glastonbury Festival podcast. Hey, Jessi, what is this, a crossover episode?

0:13Jessi Yeah, we've got a special guest today. Um, me having joined their podcast and now they are returning the favor. Hi, Bilal. How you doing?

0:21Bilal Hi, everyone. I'm Bilal from Festival Sounds podcast.

0:24Miguel Yes, you've been joining them on some really good collaborations. So now it's time for Bilal to come on this end. I think we're starting our own, uh, Glastoverse of podcasts, multiverse or something like that.

0:36Jessi A monopoly.

0:37Miguel Yeah, we need to come up with a better name, but we always love to collaborate with everyone else who loves Glastonbury and creating content and people on social media, uh, new podcasts. So it's really, really good to have you here today.

0:49Bilal Thank you. It's great to be here. This is like sharing a conversation with 2 celebrities for me.

0:59Miguel Uh, it's mostly Jessi is the one who gets recognized when she's out and about.

1:04Jessi Yeah, but that's because I put loads of pictures of my face online. You put less pictures of yourself. And I think we both have really recognizable voices though, Miguel. Like, you know, it's not just me. We both do have the voice that people go, oh, I know you.

1:17Miguel All right. Probably for me it's more of the accent. Bilal, so I'm sure we, our podcasts share many listeners, but some of our audience might not know you or Festival Sounds. I'm going to throw you a, I do quickfire rounds now is my new thing, I just realized. So I wrote down a few questions just to get to the basics. First of all, when was your first Glastonbury?

1:37Bilal 2017 with a ticket.

1:39Miguel With a— oh, that's a little snippet of details there. Now, have you been attending since?

1:43Bilal Yes, I've been to every single one.

1:45Miguel When you said with a ticket, so what other ways have you attended, if you'd like to share?

1:50Bilal So 2019, when, when I first started listening to GlastoCast, was when I didn't have a ticket. And it was a week before the festival started when I got my place with Oxfam. Someone had cancelled last minute. I managed to snap up that place. So whilst the feeling of going to the festival was— that anticipation was building anyway, but the buzz of getting there, 2019, when I thought a week before the festival all hope was lost, that's when it really got me. That's when I thought, yeah, this is where I belong every summer.

2:26Miguel Nice. Yeah. The second one, I guess, is when you, you really find out that you really understand the feelings and you say, yes, I want to be coming back every single year. So, but then ever since you've been going through Oxfam?

2:39Bilal Yeah. So, so having had that drama, not getting a place for 2019, I got a taste of life at the festival with a ticket. Actually, the compromise wasn't too bad with Oxfam. So 2019, had an absolute blast, did a second festival with Oxfam, and that guaranteed me a place in following years because if you do 2 with Oxfam, then you guaranteed your Glastonbury place. And so I kept doing it with, uh, with Oxfam, loved it until 2024, until last year. Went with a ticket, was lucky enough to get a ticket in the resale. And got a taste of having no pressure and just living whatever life you want. And so now I've gone back into that camp of going with a ticket. I'm sure I'll go back to Oxfam eventually, but the freedom was something else.

3:30Miguel But every year, so the other years you were still trying for a ticket, but you were just applying for—

3:36Bilal Yeah, I think everyone's preference is always ticket. I did enjoy the Monday, Tuesday with Oxfam because you get onto site 24 hours before everyone else.

3:45Miguel Oh yeah.

3:45Bilal And I didn't realize this until 2019 when there's already 50,000 people on site, 15 clubs going. It's incredible.

3:54Miguel Your experience is interesting for me because 2014, when I couldn't get a ticket and I was feeling sad and depressed, I couldn't go. And then sort of it wasn't as last minute, but then I finally got through. I got an opportunity to go as a volunteer and then experienced that the first time. And I said many times in the podcast, it is my My favorite, favorite year at the festival. And where I am now, having skipped the last 2, one by choice, the other one not so much by choice, I kind of want to go back to the festival as a volunteer or working somewhere of sorts. So maybe every now and then to change after you've been to so many festivals and you maybe have the contacts and you experience in many ways, it's good to do a little bit of a change. So I'm kind of in the opposite direction there you are right now. So it's good to, it's interesting to hear your side.

4:42Bilal I've made a lot of friends through volunteering as well. Well, is a great camaraderie. You're at the campsite, whether you're on shift for 8 hours, on an overnight shift, and you're just trying your best to entertain each other. And actually, my co-host Tilly, she camped next to us in 2019. That's how I got to know her. And fast forward, you know, 3, 4 years later, we're then doing a podcast together. But those bonds were forged volunteering together at a festival.

5:09Miguel Nice. Yes. Well, As part of the quickfire round of questions, I did have, where do you camp? So I assume, of course, you're doing the volunteer campsite, but where were you last time?

5:20Bilal So I've camped at Michael's Mead, which I really like, looking down at the Pyramid Stage. A bit of a hill, so you have to keep shuffling up your sleeping bag through the middle of the night, but it's a price worth paying. I have camped at Darble, which I also like just because of the peace and quiet. You're quite close to Gate A. You just roll in, ditch your stuff, pitch your tent, and then you're just ready for the party. That's not a bad place until it's 4 AM on a Saturday night, Saturday morning, and you think, that's a long way to get back to that festival from the south. It's a long way to get back to that campsite from the southeast corner.

5:58Miguel Excellent. And from going to arriving a day before, as you say, living the experience, what time did you arrive in 2024?

6:07Bilal I got the coach 2024, and so I didn't arrive at the festival until around 6, 7 PM. It's quite a late arrival for me. That hurt a little bit.

6:17Miguel Yeah, but that was on Wednesday.

6:20Bilal Correct.

6:21Miguel Yeah. Okay, great.

6:22Bilal Yeah.

6:23Miguel Excellent. Well, final question then. I feel like we warmed up enough. What's your most valuable packing list item? What's the most valuable item in your packing list?

6:31Bilal Oh, that is a good question. Oh, you've got me there. I might sound really basic here, but it's a couple of tubes of Pringles. I know that might sound mad, but you know when you get back to your tent in the middle of the night and you just need something to snack on before you go to bed? And I have these 2 packs of Pringles. And it's also the most— when security are going through your bag, which they have done a couple of times with me, they unzip your bag, they see the crisps at the top of the bag and they go, just go in. We know what you're all about. Good way to deflect attention.

7:04Miguel Wow, you accidentally gave a top tip there.

7:07Bilal It's like, this man's priority is food. He's fine. Get him in there.

7:12Jessi I mean, Pringles are like, I know what you mean. When you get back to the tent, you're like, I need something that's going to soak up alcohol and still allow the water to get through. Do you know what I mean? So it's a perfect thing to just line the stomach off. No, not line, like, you know, top it off, let's say, before you lie down and try and, you know, Get some good sleep before the morning. Love it.

7:31Bilal Yeah. And I don't want to fanboy too much, but I remember in the early GlastoCast episodes, Miguel saying there's a fun-to-weight ratio for alcohol. And that's why he took spirits. And I do the same. And it really resonated with me because I take rum. So, crisps and rum, the most unhealthy combination.

7:51Jessi Yeah, love it.

7:53Miguel Sorry I put you down that path then.

7:55Bilal It's 100% true. All right, good. Nice to hear that.

8:00Miguel Amazing. Okay, great. I feel like for this episode, well, as I mentioned, and people, our listeners know this, I wasn't there last year. That's one reason as well we enlisted Bilal to join Jessi today to go down the memory lane. And it's been months, but I would like to hear your feelings on Glastonbury 2024. Then we can quickly talk about a little bit about the ticket sale, how it went down. And then our expectations for the upcoming festival. Does that sound good?

8:28Bilal Yeah, sounds good.

8:30Miguel Glastonbury 2024, let's talk about it. I need you both to go back in time, go back into the feelings you were having while you were there or when you got back and give me the FOMO. If you're there now in this mindset, what comes to your mind first, Jessi? Anything that sticks out months later?

8:51Jessi Well, I had to— honestly, I have one of those memories where I take a lot of photos, as everybody knows, and I'm quite good at organizing them on my phone. But my memory is now— because I've got photos going back, what, 15, 18 years, something like that— my memory is so tied to those photos. Like, if I didn't take a photo of it, I am going to forget it. So I had to just go on my phone before this recording and be like, right, let's just quickly refresh my memory. I think the main thing for me was that the weather last year was the best weather I've ever had at Glastonbury in that it wasn't too hot. It was definitely warm. It was more of a sunny festival than anything else, but it was dry the entire time. It was dry leading up to the festival. So, I mean, there was quite a bit of dust, I will say, but there was no mud anywhere. Not, not one bit to be seen apart from the obvious, you know, near the taps and things like that. But in general, Uh, as always, I spent the whole week, whole weekend in Crocs. In fact, I was there for 10 days, the whole 10 days I wore Crocs, totally fine. And yeah, it wasn't so hot that you felt like you were so exhausted, you wasted the day. There was definitely one day, I think it was a Saturday, that was particularly warm, but just in general it was around like a sort of 23 degrees, you know, sun cream needed, bit of cloud, not too much wind. It was just, yeah, glorious all of the time, the whole time I was there. And then, yeah, I guess the things that I was remembering, the new things And, um, we can do, we'll do a flip back to me and Bilal. We can, we can double team this. But for me, um, the drone show was a really, really nice addition. So the drone show happened over the Pyramid Field. Uh, so what was nice is it sort of split the crowd a bit because we, we all know that the past couple of years everybody goes to see the fireworks and the burning of the phoenix and the, you know, the opening ceremony. And it was getting quite hectic there. It was quite, you had to get there hours before.

10:40Bilal Yeah.

10:40Jessi You know, it was, it was just getting a bit much. So it really quite nicely split the crowd. I didn't actually watch it from the field. I ended up watching it from near Williams Green, which turned out to be a perfect vantage point, actually. I will say, hot tip for next year, because you're kind of looking at the Pyramid Stage in the same direction. Like when the drones were spelling out things or making shapes, they were almost facing you at Williams Green. So you've got a perfect view of it. You weren't looking at it from behind or something like that. And my friends told me afterwards who did go to the Pyramid Field that it wasn't set to music, which is what I thought I was missing out on by being at Williams Green. And they were like, well, actually no, there was no music. It was just the drones. And I was like, ah, well, in which case then I had a really good view. There was, we, we were, um, stood on, you know, in Williams Green they have those, uh, sort of benches that are round in a circle, like a flower or like a sun ray, you know, and they're like concrete blocks. So we were stood on those. Great view, easy access to a bar or toilet, didn't have to wait there for ages. And then we also, we were walking towards kind of Southeast Corner afterwards, and then the fireworks all went off. So we could see the fireworks from, you know, around kind of the Greenpeace, West Holts area. So it was really, really good. And I, I just thought it was really pretty, like a really nice thing to do. It went on for long enough that it felt worth it to go and see it. Um, but also it didn't Drone on. See what I did there? Sorry, that was terrible. So yeah, I thought that was really, really good. Did you go and see that, Billal, the drone show?

12:09Bilal I saw some of it from the bottom of the Stone Circle field. So we'd arrived quite late for the fireworks because our coach was late in getting all set up. So by the time we got there, there was no way of getting a decent spot. And we were kind of the top end of the Green Fields. But again, you got a really good view of the drone show, and I thought it was beautiful. Again, I expected it to be set to music.

12:36Miguel Yeah.

12:37Bilal I think it's probably a license thing with amplified music. They can't have that on the Wednesday, Thursday, but it looked good. I thought it was a nice addition to something. If you're at that end of the festival anyway, you don't fancy getting all the way up the hill. Yeah, it's perfect. And some people like to criticise it. And at the Festival Sounds podcast, we just roast everyone. This is what we do. And we did have a little pop at some of the advertising around the drone show, but that's not to take away that it was a nice thing. The festival took a chance, put something on, and a lot of people enjoyed it. I thought it was good.

13:15Jessi Yeah, don't get me wrong. You've seen the— everyone's seen those videos on YouTube of like the Chinese New Year drone show and you're like, whoa. So I think some of us maybe thought it might have have been slightly more, but it's something to build on. I think, you know, they still managed to spell out that, you know, do the whole Glastonbury logo in all its different colors, and you could tell it was the font and everything like that. So there was still a lot of drones. It wasn't just like a basic little sunflower or something. It did look quite cool. But yeah, maybe there's some— yeah, I know what you mean. It could be built on for next year, let's say. And the other thing I was going to mention that was a new thing, and again, I know you've got some things to say on this as well, but Arcadia last year was just so good. The Dragonfly was incredible. It looked as, as, you know, we saw a couple of, um, well, nobody really saw any photos, but like when I looked back at the photos afterwards, I was like, God, it really did look really, really cool. And I think I have, you know, particularly good memories of it cuz me and my friends managed to get right in. We were like by a leg for one of the nights for a long period of time. So we felt really in there and it felt just as immersive cuz you're kind of underneath You know, you can get under the body. It sort of had that spider-esque, you know, immersiveness to it. I will say the sound was incredible. It was very cool being able to see the DJs in this kind of see-through but LED head of the Dragonfly. And yeah, I think after the, the, um, the Crane, which was— I still had a good time there, don't get me wrong, but everyone says it was a disappointment. And now that I've been to the Dragonfly, I would agree. It was just such an improvement. And yeah, that was really, really cool.

14:51Bilal I thought that dragonfly was incredible. I showed up one evening slightly worse for wear, and I was having a good time.

15:00Jessi Are we all? Yeah.

15:01Bilal And it was the first time I saw it full pelt, lasers, wings going, flames. I did not realize that the head moved until it turned and looked at me.

15:11Miguel Or I felt like it was—

15:12Jessi Oh my God, that spun me out so much when it did that. I was like, did Did it just move?

15:16Bilal It's like, does it know I'm here? It was incredible. I love the Spider. So my first memories of the Spider were mind-blowing. I couldn't believe a thing like that existed at a festival. With all of that baggage, I still thought that the Dragonfly was better.

15:37Jessi Yeah, agreed.

15:39Miguel Wow, wow. Big words there.

15:40Jessi You've seen some videos of it, Miguel.

15:42Miguel Yeah, yeah. Definitely jealous. I don't like that I missed the first time of New Arcadia. And I was gonna ask you about new areas, things that I couldn't go and check myself. But while I was listening to this whole conversation, there's one question, important question I forgot to ask you, Bilal, which is how do you Glastonbury? In the sense, do you do after hours? Do you watch headliners? Do you wake up early? Give me a little briefing on how do you Glastonbury?

16:09Bilal Oh, that's a good one. I don't mind an early set. This year I headed off to Sophia Kortesis at West Holts. I think she started her set at around 11, 11:30 in the morning. I will run on minimal sleep whilst I'm at the festival. I don't know how my body lets me do it because in regular life my body would not put up with that. It would send me to bed. But there's something about all the stimulus, the smells, the sound that keeps me going. So you'll find me running on probably 4 or 5 hours sleep max. I tend to go full pelt and by the Sunday it means I'm ready to go home. So I will roll back down the railway line at 3, 4 AM fairly typically. That's me.

16:59Jessi Nice.

17:00Bilal I'm not one for Pyramid headliners, although that said, one of my highlights this year was Dua Lipa. It was the only Pyramid headliner I saw, and I thought she was incredible. I thought she put on such a good show. There was a lot of pressure on her because there was always those questions that you get, is this artist ready? But when she— she owned it. She had presence on stage more than I thought she would have. And the crowd was in the palm of her hand. The choreography, the production of it was all incredible. So that's the exception for me, but I had a great time. You're more likely to find me in the Green Fields, the, a little bit around. I like to do Southeast Corner for one night and then the rest of my late nights tend to be the little venues scattered around.

17:50Miguel Awesome.

17:51Jessi So Dua Lipa was the one that I am annoyed that I missed. I remember on the Friday, like most, well, I'd probably say 2/3 of my group were gonna go and see Dua Lipa, including some people that I remember saying to them, like, they're quite like drum and bass boys, let's just put it that way. And they were like, yeah, we're going to Dua Lipa. And I was like, what are you on about? You're all going to Dua Lipa and you're not coming to Jungle? What is wrong with you? And I remember on the day being like, this is totally like not what I expected at all. I went to Jungle, really enjoyed it. I've got nothing, you know, Jungle are incredible. And I had a really, really great time. But then I got back from Glastonbury and watched Dua Lipa back on BBC footage and was like, What? I made a mistake here because I just totally didn't realize how many bangers she has. Like, every single song I was like, oh my God, I know all the words to this. Why, why did I miss this? And you're right, the choreography, the staging, like her voice as well. Like, especially because I was watching it back on the BBC, you know, everybody always says, oh, in the field it sounded amazing but not so much on the BBC. You could tell she was definitely singing. There was no you know, whispers of, you know, potentially she's miming. She was definitely singing. She sounded incredible. And, and, you know, I'd seen Jungle do a headline set on the West Holts stage literally 2 or 3 years before. So I was like, I've seen this, not exactly, they've had some new songs out, but I did think afterwards, I was like, why did I go and see something that I've seen on the same stage even, um, at the same time and not go to Dua Lipa? So that was my, probably my biggest regret actually, not going to see Dua Lipa.

19:23Bilal So I was really fortunate this year. I went with a friend who had never been to the festival before, and I'm a massive Jungle fan as well. And, and I think I was at that same set in 2019. But when it was my friend, because she had no context for the place, I let her call the shots.

19:42Miguel Oh wow.

19:43Bilal If she wanted to go here, I was like, let's go there. And she said, what's down this path? I said, well, let's figure it out. Let's go. Because I didn't want to be that friend. You know, when you go on holiday somewhere and a friend's already been and they just explain the whole holiday to you before you've had it. I didn't want to be that guy.

19:58Miguel I just feel personally attacked right now.

20:01Bilal So—

20:01Jessi I was about to say, that's literally what me and Miguel love. We love taking new people and being like, follow me, Pied Piper, follow me. I'm going to take you and show you the sights.

20:10Bilal Well, you asked how I do Glastonbury. It turns out it's a little different.

20:15Jessi No, I'm— the way you described it, actually, like to see it through somebody's eyes and get them to make decisions is actually really clever.

20:22Miguel Yeah, I agree.

20:23Bilal Yeah. And she was the one who said, let's go to Dua Lipa and I want to get close to the front. So we were in that semicircle, the inner semicircle. We were in there.

20:32Jessi Wow.

20:33Bilal And that wouldn't be the normal place I would've found myself. And I found I had an amazing experience, amazing Glastonbury, because you're almost living vicariously through someone who's doing it for the first time. And that's what landed me in Dua Lipa. And I was glad I was glad that happened. Yeah.

20:51Miguel Great. Well, other than this difference, and again, I feel like your approach was best. It was perfect regarding how you do Glastonbury. I feel like we can say just hashtag one of us, right?

21:01Jessi Oh yeah, definitely. I think me and Miguel do tend to favor the late nights, but we always do try and push ourselves to get out early as well. But yeah.

21:08Miguel Nice. Great. Thanks so much for sharing. I mean, we, we did a diversion there, but it was really good conversation. But going back, I guess, uh, we were talking about this Dragonfly and new New areas, new stages. Uh, is there anything else? Uh, I've made a list. We have the 3 stages at Woodseas. There was Terminal 1, uh, Arrivals at Shangri-La, Caesars at The Park, or maybe, uh, Silver Hayes has been on a quite interesting path recently. Any other highlights in terms of anything new that you attended or any new stage, new area, new experience?

21:39Bilal So I know the, the Williams Green area, people mourn the loss of Williams Green. Because the first time it was just replaced by Carhenge. This time, Terminal 1, I thought, was so thought-provoking, so interesting, interactive. I'm trying not to go into too much detail because if they're back next year, I don't want to ruin that immersive experience. It's well worth doing. There's a viewing platform at the top. You get a great view of the festival. So that's no surprise. A great little DJ booth inside the ground floor of that airport style. There's a luggage carousel and it's set up with a departures board. It's Glastonbury, so it's done well. And then there was a poster shop called La Linterna next door. And it turns out that that's a very famous poster shop in Cali, in Colombia. And they had brought the guys over from this back street Poster shop that's got, like, nationally famous out there. And they planted that in the Williams Green field just behind Carhenge. Now, I don't know if this is true, but someone's told me that half of the posters there are actually Banksy-designed posters. And again, that just goes to the heart of the festival. If it does something, it does it so well and it's so smart over it. It blew me away.

23:03Jessi Nice. See, I know what goes on in Terminal 1 because I had a friend tell me in detail, but again, I won't spoil it. But I didn't go, but I am gonna go next time. And quite a few of my friends bought posters and they raved about it as well. So that was one thing that I missed out on. Also, I was gonna say Woodsies, once again, in typical Jessi fashion, I didn't see anyone at Woodsies. Um, I did go up there on, I think it was a Monday or the Tuesday, you know, one of the days before the festival just to look at it. And I, I'll actually admit, I think it was the first time I've been up there since it's been called Woodsies because It had moved slightly from where I thought it was, and then it had this whole— I can't remember if it was this year, this 2024 or 2023 that they put this in, but they had, they had this whole, you know, the woods area. It was 2023, wasn't it? The woods area and stuff. It was the first time I'd seen it, but I only saw it when the festival wasn't on. It's just, it's just the wrong corner for me. I tend to live my Glastonbury in kind of an L-shape that goes up to the Pyramid, mainly includes kind of southeast corner, Greenpeace, West Holts. Green Fields, etc., and then goes along to, uh, Arcadia and a tiny bit of The Park as well. Even Silver Hayes was somewhere I— we did have a good day, we had a good afternoon at Silver Hayes. I think it was Thursday or Friday this year, but I haven't been there for a headliner. I haven't been there for anyone big. I need to get out of my habits, Miguel. It's good. And I say that on the podcast all the time. But anyway, I did, I did try and push a little bit. Like I said, I did do Silver Hayes for Well, I tried to go there for Scream and Banger on the Thursday, and that was a mistake because, oh my God, that was the worst sort of crowd situation that I'd been in in a long time, um, to the point where I just didn't feel like my feet were touching the floor at some point. So we were there for about 15 minutes before they started, and then we just bailed because it wasn't great. But that's Thursday for you, that happens most years. But yeah, so I, I'll be honest, I haven't really checked out many of the new things. I definitely had a look around in, uh, Shangri-La, the kind of— what was it called that began with et?

24:56Bilal Croissant Neuf.

24:56Jessi Began with N. No, no, no, no. Anyway, there was a sort of an area there that if it wasn't new last year, it was new the year before. And that was really cool. There was lots of little interactive small bits, which felt really fun. And it didn't feel like you ever had to queue for much apart from like one or two really obvious things. But most of it was you could just walk up and interact with it and, you know, and learn things, obviously Shangri-La. But yeah, it was very cool.

25:19Bilal Yeah, the artwork that they had going on in Shangri-La, I thought was a step up Uh, I also joined the, um, it's a congregation, the Congregation of Agitation, I think. And they had, um, this is what persuaded me to sign up. If you, if you did sign up, you got a sticker that said, definitely not a cult. So I thought, well, that's it, that's fine.

25:42Jessi Yeah.

25:44Bilal So it must be safe. It's, it's okay. Uh, just going back to Silver Hayes, I thought The levels were fantastic. And Lonely Hearts, that stage is one of the most beautiful stages I've seen. The only band or the only artist I saw was Cassie's Dead, the rapper, who I've seen subsequently at End of the Road as well. It was the middle of the day, but it was packed. And they are getting some artists there. I think they really have— they've got to grips with what that corner is.

26:16Miguel Yeah.

26:16Bilal And who wants to be there. And it is getting busier and busier, not in a bad way, but they're, they're just hitting the nail on the head every year.

26:24Jessi Yeah. Levels did look really cool. I've seen some of my friends' videos from the nighttime and we were dancing there in the daytime when I said we had like, we had about 3 or 4 hours in one of the small stages there, like one of the outdoor kind of smaller stages and also at Levels. But I've seen some of the videos from at nighttime and yeah, so that's definitely on my list this year.

26:44Bilal The only thing that I feel like I missed was the Fred Again secret set up at Strummerville, announced last minute. Well, not even announced, I don't think. I think you were just lucky to be there if you were on the TBC on the lineup. And yeah, that kind of intimate set for the must-see act of the summer, I thought was such a coup for Strummerville.

27:05Miguel I'm—

27:06Bilal I know why they didn't say it was happening. I know why Secret Glasto didn't say it was happening. Because you can't have 10,000 people show up at Strummerville. But I still felt a bit sad that I missed that.

27:17Jessi Yeah, Strummerville's just one of those places that you're like, when you see a TBC, you're like, shall I trek up the hill? And I really wanted to for Frank Turner, but I just, yeah, again, I just didn't get around to it. So I'll do, but I guess while we're just mentioning sort of artists rather than places, just a couple from me. The funny story is that I, I chose Orbital as, I think, was it Sunday night? It must have been Sunday night. Um, as my headliner for Sunday night. And it was great. And it's the first time I've enjoyed the park, mainly because I guess it was probably a smaller crowd, like it wasn't quite as packed. So I got a really good spot, we, we got a really good spot. It was amazing. I've seen Orbital before, but it was just like the sun going down behind the park is a really nice— a bit like the Pyramid Stage. It looks, it looks really nice. But the funny story is, is that about halfway through, you know, I've got my crew wristband and I started to need a wee, and I was like, right, I'm gonna go now because I don't wanna miss the end. And I was like, I can use my crew wristband and I can just run somewhere really quick kind of thing. So I said to my, uh, to Ben at the time, and then a couple of other friends we were there, I was like, I'll be back in a minute. And I ran off, went to the loo, ran back again, and what felt like only, you know, maybe 6 or 7 minutes, something like that, I got back and then Ben was like, you just missed the Spice Girls. And I was like, excuse me?

28:29Bilal What?

28:31Jessi He went, the Spice— like, Mel— one of the Spice Girls was on stage. And I was like, no, you're having me on. And I— because I talked about earlier that day, I was like, imagine if all the Spice Girls rumors was someone was gonna guest somewhere. And then, no, I literally— the— I didn't believe him at all. And it was only when other people in the crowd went, no, no, Mel C just came and did a song on stage. And he was like, she literally came on stage the second you were about 20 meters away from us. And I must have been so focused on go for a wee that I didn't notice, you know, people like what they were saying or anything. So I was really annoyed about that. But anyway, it was a fantastic set, so it wasn't too much of a problem. And then the only other ones were Sugar Babes in the sunshine. We got there super early at West Holts because we knew it was going to be Rambo, and then it was just such good vibes. Like, it was— the crowd was so nice. It was packed. Um, we were about level with the Brothers Bar, so we weren't like super far forward or super far back, but we were you know, it was packed in kind of thing, but that everyone was dancing, everyone was singing and hugging their friends and the sunshine. It was just, I don't know, really nostalgic gloriousness. And then the final 2, um, nostalgia vibes, I was able to do the classic, well, the, the, the sought-after, sorry, Shania Twain on the Pyramid into Avril Lavigne on the Other Stage.

29:46Bilal That's impressive.

29:47Jessi Yeah, it was. I, again, I have to say I was only lucky because I left halfway through the last song of Shania. Like, I was singing on the way out, and then again I used my wristband to like cut through so I didn't have to go, cuz they'd set up this whole one-way system where you had to go a really long way away, uh, around, sorry. Um, you couldn't just go through where the cider bus is and kind of go through past, um, Left Field and things. You had to go all the way around to West Holts to get around that way. So I was lucky enough to be able to cut through. And both of them again, Everyone was dressed up, so many cowboy hats. And you got to Avril and just seeing, you know, when they had the, uh, the camera panning around the crowd and you just saw these people who were clearly in their 30s at least, and they were all wearing like emo clothes from the, you know, 2000s. And it was just so brilliant. Again, everyone singing along, screaming along to every word. I just had a really— you went to Avril, didn't you, Miguel?

30:42Bilal I did. It was the nostalgia-driven act. And I loved it. I loved every minute of it. And credit to her, she gave the crowd what they wanted.

30:52Jessi Oh yeah. And her voice again was great. Like, I was worried it was going to sound a bit crap, but it was— her voice was really good. My only problem with her set was that she was supposed to be on for an hour and she did like 52 minutes. And her intro, apart from that, she was amazing.

31:07Bilal No good set is long enough.

31:09Jessi That's true. No, no, very true.

31:10Miguel Yeah, from, from the— I did a bit of Glasto at home and probably Avril Lavigne was one set that hits the nostalgia spot for me as well. And I'd like— yeah, I wish I was there.

31:19Jessi Yeah, everyone said it was bad though. Like, if you, if you did try to do all of Shania and then come around, like, some, some of my friends who waited till the end of the set and then obviously couldn't cut through, they only, you know, um, around the Other Stage there's the trackway that goes all the way around to the food bit, food stalls, and then back around again. You couldn't even get in the trackway. People were stood in the tents. People were stood with their, like, backs pressed against the food vans and still having people like trying to push through. So lots of people said it was, yeah, they should have had both of them on the Pyramid Stage, to be honest.

31:52Miguel I did make a note and I was actually bringing this topic later, but now we're here. Let's go. Bilal on Festival Sounds, I think. What is it? Tilly?

32:00Jessi Yeah.

32:01Miguel So on Festival Sounds, Tilly, I saw you guys talking about the Legends slot and I think her definition for the Legends slot is someone who's about to die soon.

32:11Bilal Is that right?

32:12Miguel Yes, she does.

32:13Bilal She genuinely has this conversation with me and she says, oh, I've got to see this act before they die. And I said, well, it's not imminent. What do you know that we don't? You're fixated on it.

32:25Miguel But the reason I'm bringing this, because now we've seen Avril Lavigne, maybe we need a new slot, which is the nostalgia slot, isn't it?

32:34Jessi Oh, I love that.

32:35Miguel And for next year, maybe that's, that's Alanis Morissette, for instance. That's what I was going to bring about. That's the topic I was going to bring later. Maybe we need a nostalgia slot and who could do, who could be the names for 2025. So that's what I was listening to you guys talking about. I feel like, I feel this is a good idea.

32:54Jessi Like, I fully agree with that. Like, firstly, Alanis Morissette. I will, you know me, I lose my voice every single Glastonbury. Whenever she is on, if I haven't lost my voice by that point, Every last bit of my voice will go to screaming along to Alanis Morissette. I can tell you that right now. But it's— for me, nostalgia is that kind of Avril Lavigne kind of emo era. Maybe that's just— I'm showing my age.

33:16Miguel Yeah, yeah, yeah.

33:17Jessi I'm not— you know, nostalgia isn't Lionel Richie. Nostalgia is Green Day, it's Blink-182. But all of those bands would probably be too big. You know, they're still headlining, so I would say they're probably more of a headliner. So I don't know, Bilal, have you got any thoughts on who could be? Should we pitch this to them? Other Stage nostalgia afternoon?

33:36Bilal Oh yeah, absolutely. So I'm a huge fan of that, having that sing-along, that band that you know all the songs to. Now, okay, call me crazy, but I've championed this man for the legend slot on our podcast, and it's— nobody cares, but I'm going to say it again. Seal. I think we should have Seal. Seal needs to come back. I think even it's the Adamski stuff that Seal did, that's what I want. And it's because it's so random and it's so unexpected, that's why. Although I'll be honest, I'd probably enjoy Alanis Morissette more, but still.

34:09Jessi It would be so worth it to have the whole field in the sun singing Kiss from a Rose. Like, can you imagine the vibes?

34:17Bilal And he's got that— oh, it's not a fair comparison, but when Tom Odell Uh, he was one of the early acts on the Pyramid Stage, and he's there on the piano, and he's got those, you know, those kind of Seal-like songs that you can sing along to. People went wild for it. So something like— it doesn't need to be too high energy, just needs to be something catchy, anything like that.

34:38Jessi Oh, oh, hear me out. Busted.

34:41Bilal Oh, absolutely.

34:42Jessi Big stage, like, because I know they did, um, uh, Avalon, didn't they? But can you imagine Busted on like even West Holts? That would go off.

34:49Bilal Yeah, Busted versus McFly.

34:52Miguel Yeah.

34:53Bilal Going round for round, song by song. That's— give the people what they want.

34:58Jessi Yeah, they're doing a Busted versus McFly tour. Let's just bring that to Glastonbury. Let's bring it on.

35:02Bilal Absolutely. And then there's the Sugababes, who— what have they got to do? How big a crowd do they have to pull before they get put on one of the big 2 stages? They've done everything that's been asked of them.

35:15Jessi Yeah, they've caused mega crowd control. You know, people in festival comms are like frantically radioing, trying to sort things out. The A-team are out trying to stem the flow of people both times. Yeah, you're right. They need to be on a big stage, 100%.

35:29Bilal And it's got its place. I love chasing new music. That's what I tend to do. But, and I tend to chase bands that I haven't seen before, but there is always a time where you just want to belt out a classic.

35:41Jessi I think it's that when you're with your mates and you're having a great time anyway, if all of you know the songs and you can just belt it out literally face to face, like almost screaming it at each other.

35:53Bilal Yes, exactly.

35:54Jessi There's something about that feeling that brings a crowd together more than watching a band. And, you know, you might know a song, but there's— it's almost like, um, what was the guy who did this year? I can't remember his name, but the guy who's who was on TikTok and Instagram who started doing, what does he call it, primary school bangers. And he does like the hymns you used to sing at primary school on a piano and then everybody sings along. There's something about like group singing and that they do like Maceokey, don't they? That's a thing that they have in like London sometimes. I think they've had it in festivals. So it's just a band playing and the idea is that everyone sings along because it's the songs that everyone knows. Everyone's sick of Come On Eileen and all the bloody wedding songs, right? But like, there's something about knowing the words to every song, especially that reminds you of your youth, and then just putting your arm around your mate and swaying and singing along to it. It just, you can't really beat it.

36:48Bilal Yeah. 5 o'clock, Other Stage, Sunday. You know, that kind of time where you, you're just kicking your night off. That's where it starts.

36:56Miguel Nice. Yeah. Perfect. Good, good, good timing. Yes. And, and call me selfish, but I think when I bring this idea of the nostalgia act as well. What I would like to see more is like one-offs, like a band that just got together to play that time at Glastonbury, not because they're doing a reunion tour, not because there's a whole tour set out for the year. Because I think now post-COVID, post-Brexit, sadly the lineup is about who's touring right now, right? Who's, who's already coming to UK. So I think it would be nice to have this special set where, where it's just about playing at Glastonbury at that moment. Maybe I'm selfish because I don't want anyone else to enjoy that in We all want special moments at Glastonbury, don't we?

37:37Jessi The things that you go, that happened at Glastonbury and it wouldn't happen anywhere else.

37:41Miguel So maybe that's some of my thoughts as well. So maybe bring the nostalgia slot at 5 o'clock on Other Stage.

37:48Bilal Can I share one example of that? Yeah, of course. This only happens at Glastonbury and it's so perfect. Hiding from the sun one of those days, I think, Jessi, it's probably the day you were saying it was just sweltering.

38:01Jessi Yeah.

38:01Bilal We went to the Crow's Nest in the park.

38:05Miguel Yes.

38:05Bilal Just to escape from the sun. That's all we cared about. And I heard a familiar voice on stage. There was only 30 people in the crowd, and it was the lead singer from Hot Chip, and he was doing a solo set. I think he— no, sorry, I tell a lie. He had a lady on a harp next to him, and I am a huge Hot Chip fan, absolutely massive. I think it's a band I've seen more than any other. And just to have that moment unfold in front of me when, you know, it was so unexpected— I hadn't seen who was on the stage, I hadn't looked at the lineup— that's what the festival does, and it's so good at it. And I'll carry that forever, that I couldn't believe it was almost— you know when it feels this is meant to be? Yeah.

38:50Jessi And it—

38:51Bilal but it just keeps delivering these moments. And that's why I'll do anything to get into that festival every year.

38:58Jessi You can't whinge about Fred again then. If you stumbled across that, come on, that was your special moment.

39:03Bilal Yeah, I'm winning. I'm winning. I know this. I want more though. I always want more.

39:08Miguel Crow's Nest was a good shout though. Definitely have quite a few highlights there in the past. And coincidentally, one or two involve at least one member of Hot Chip.

39:17Bilal Oh, really?

39:18Jessi Yeah.

39:20Miguel Which is also probably the band I saw live Most. But yeah, so that was a good shout. Excellent. Amazing, guys. Well, thanks so much for sharing your stories, your memories. Well, you said you use photos to get your memories back, Jessi. I think you did quite well because you had like every— you felt like you remember everything. But let's move on to— well, let's talk a bit of the ticket sale, I guess. We need to talk about a different one. I guess spoiler alert, neither Jessi and I were successful. And I think this was a first for you, right, Jessi?

39:51Jessi Yeah, it was the first time we got absolutely zero tickets, you know, with, with the kind of 35 of us that we were trying to get. And we had about 50 to 60 people trying for us. Last year I didn't get a ticket, like my group didn't get a ticket, but, um, we managed to get most of them in the resale. And last year, um, I was still with Ben, so I was lucky enough to be his plus one. So I was, as much as I was still trying for tickets as, as just in case, I still managed to go. Unfortunately, I do not have the luxury of that anymore. Just a small segue. Um, yes, Ben and I broke up. Um, so I've been trying hard like a, you know, usual, uh, attendee this year. Um, but no, yeah, the, the new system, you know, it— I can whinge about it all I want. The thing is, is it's bad luck. With the new system, when the, you are in the waiting room, um, when that thing goes live, when the clock ticks over 1 second past 9:00 AM or 6:00 PM, whichever one you're on, you are allocated a place in that queue. There's nothing you can do about it. If you are, you know, past say like 500,000 in the queue, you may as well give up. Obviously you don't give in a, you don't get given a number, but that's just what I found frustrating is that, you know, you, you've got one chance you're in and if you, and if you don't get it, You're not in. I do think it's quite crazy that over 2 sales we didn't get 1 ticket, um, you know, or 1 set of 6 tickets, which is quite crazy considering, you know, we've done it before. We know what, we know what goes down. We did have a couple of people that got in both sales like towards the end, so they knew, you know, we were already like, gosh, we're at least 15 minutes in, this is not looking good. And then when they got in, One of them got identified, well, got told he was a bot and he'd only had one tab open and everything. So he was very frustrated. And then the other ones were both on the coach sale, sorry. And they both just got stuck trying to get any location for the coach to go through to the next page. So it wasn't like, you know, we didn't all of us only have 2 bars, but there were so few of us that got through and very late on that it meant we didn't get any over 2 sales, which is just It just blows my mind a little bit, but I'm hoping it means that we're going to be ultra successful in the resale. It's like karma's got to come back our way is what I'm saying.

42:11Miguel How was it for you, Bill? Did you get coach or general ticket?

42:14Bilal So I did get in right at the end, but by that time it was just waiting to be kicked out because all the tickets had been allocated. So at that point I was trying for a group of friends. I was lucky enough someone else in my group of 6 managed to to get the tickets probably around 20 minutes into the sale, so it wasn't too stressful. But generally, I think the experience was the same as everybody else's, which the tried and trusted methods didn't work. What you— no one's guaranteed a place, but you kind of feel like with the refresh button, more people were successful who were persisting with that refresh.

42:56Jessi Mm-hmm.

42:56Bilal With this, I think some of those same people who, who had some limited success in previous years saw Two Bars and stuck with it. And again, they'd done everything right. You know, one tab, you know, maybe 2 or 3 devices, all with separate connections, but, but one tab on each. It did feel harder this year, but I don't know how much of that is because the festival is getting more and more popular every year. Every year, I think, I wonder if the makeup of the audience will be different. And it's not really noticeable from one year to the next. No.

43:28Miguel Well, I did fail as well. There was a couple or maybe 3 successful groups in my whole larger group of people, but I didn't get a sniff as well. I wasn't in the 2-bar gang. But regarding the new system, I guess my thoughts, I think the big thing is I went very conservative because then you read about all the changes and I did try for Oasis reunion. Why not? But I thought I had experience how Ticketmaster does for larger events. And then I thought like, oh, this, this, there's no chance I'm going to get a ticket for Glastonbury now. So I play very conservative. But what we find out at the end that you could have opened hundreds of sessions, different sessions on your browser to attempt to get a, in 2 or 3 of them would be the lucky ones who get a better position. So sadly, the festival didn't do exactly what they say they would do because people were talking, are they going to block your IP? Should you just stick to one browser like they're saying, or could you Can you try your luck and open different sessions? So in the end, not together on the technical side, but they didn't— they weren't doing many blocks. Like, people were talking about figure of 13, they're gonna find out who, if it's you as well. But in the end, it felt like it was way more loose than people expected, at least me. So I got a bit scared and I did some technical wizardry to have different sessions, but I only did like 5 or 6 because I took the extra work to use different IPs, et cetera. But reading back on people who were attempting different ways to approach this new system, you could have gone a little bit more, less conservative to— because I feel like the biggest difference is that before you would keep refreshing and let's say every time you refresh, you're knocking on the door and the door might open for you. The new system, you are located at the position And that's it. But if you find a way to be there waiting with hundreds of tabs, different sessions, you improve your luck. So it feels like the festival didn't do all the technical aspects that we were expecting to. So in the end, knowing this information now, I feel like the sale actually is easier than before if they don't start doing any of the fingerprinting and blocking IPs, et cetera. But you never know what they're going to do next. That's the thing.

45:48Jessi Okay.

45:48Miguel It was the first time attempting the new system. I would assume maybe they didn't want to go very hard on the technology that exists now because when I tried Oasis for Ticketmaster, they were literally blocking you, right? And on Ticketmaster, you have to log in first. So that kind of already adds a lot of barriers. So I feel like the festival maybe was attempting the new system first, so they didn't went too hard. But I was kind of angry after the sale because I did try to find all the technical ways I can improve my chances. And I'm like, oh wow, I could have gone harder here. I went very conservative. But yeah, that's in the end, I'm here without a ticket.

46:28Bilal I think it's high risk. I think if you're opening multiple sessions, there is always that chance that right at the end it says, okay, we've detected unusual activity.

46:39Jessi And especially as that happened to my friend and he only had like 2, do you know what I mean? So I've heard what you Um, I've heard all these rumors as well, Miguel, and I, I don't know what happened because some of the people who said they got in and had many, many tabs don't— didn't sound like they did what you did. They weren't technical people. They just literally just opened up Chrome and whacked up 100 tabs. And also I read online that lots of people like got in and then it was like the old days. Once you were in, you pressed back and could go and go again and go again. Sorry, Miguel, I interrupted you. Carry on.

47:09Bilal No, no, it's okay. I'm just a skeptic on these. So every year you get a video that says, look how easy it was to get Glastonbury tickets, but you never get to see the whole thing. And every year you get a story of a hack or some backdoor people use, but you never— well, there was one exception, but there was— very rarely are they backed up with anything. And I think the sensible thing is probably just to accept that it's largely luck, sometimes bad luck, When you're identified as a bot and you're not. But I think, I think my method is always going to be, let's say I've got an iPad, a desktop, and a phone. I'm going to have 3 tabs on those 3 devices and that's it. Because that gives me that sense of, if I do get close, then I'm less likely to be kicked out. And that would almost feel worse, you know, because you get close. And the other thing is, I think after 10 minutes, if those 2 bars haven't moved, you're done. It's— you may as well give up.

48:12Jessi I was going to say this. I think that was the main thing with this new system, was that it felt so much more soul-destroying because you were just sat there staring at this thing not moving. And especially once you'd done the coach one and then you were doing the one on Sunday, like, a lot of people figured out that basically If your 2 bars didn't grow within the first 2 minutes, like even if it just grew a half or grew a 1 or whatever, you literally may as well have just closed your laptop down and gone about your day because there was no way you were going to get any further. And that for all of us rang true on the Sunday. We were just like, all of us were kind of counting down and going, has anybody moved yet? Has anybody moved yet? Um, and none of us moved within— and I think what the first person who did move was about 4 or 5 minutes in, and then they were the one that got in and then got, um, kicked out as a bot. But, you know, the rest of us, most of us hadn't even got to like 5 bars by the time the sale finished. And it's just, there's, at least with refreshing, you're like, I'm actively knocking on the door. I really liked that, um, uh, example, Miguel. Like, I'm actively trying and knocking on the door, and if I don't get let in, I tried my very damnedest. Is Like, luck is a great thing, uh, in that I will say the one thing I really have noticed is that the number of people who at least seem to be posting about it online, right, which we obviously can take with a pinch of salt, but the number of people that were like posting saying, I've tried to get Glastonbury tickets for 3, 5, 10 years and this is the first time I've got them, like, it was quite heartwarming to see people just literally being like, this is the, you know, I've, I've wanted this for so long and I've never got it. So as much as I was frustrated by it, don't get me wrong, at least kind of the, the luck element of it does allow— that does seem to have meant— like, my cousin's going, uh, on a ticket with her boyfriend. Has she been before? No. Has she tried before? No. And yet she, she got tickets. So yeah, it's just one of those things. It's, it's this and that. It's just when it's down to luck and the fact that you are In that half a second it takes for them to allocate you a place in the queue, I think it would almost be better if you got given a number. Like Ticketmaster, I was trying for something the other day. Oh, we all tried to get those Black Sabbath tickets, but it was only 2 people who'd committed to spending the obscene amount of money that wanted. But all of us were like, yeah, we'll try. We're all used to this drill kind of thing. And on Ticketmaster, it gives you a number. So, All of us were like, I'm 20,000, I'm 60,000, I'm 72,000, I'm 130,000. And one of us got allocated as 3,000 and we were like, yeah, go on, you are the one, you are gonna get in. Um, and they managed to get in and get these 2 tickets with someone. But yeah, there's just something about staring at the 2 bars and not being actively able to do anything.

51:04Bilal So this year will be the 3rd time I'll go with a ticket and there was 3 years in the middle. where I work. And so I'm not always going with a ticket. I don't always have that success. So I know what it feels like to miss out. I don't mind if it's new people and they get to experience that, because if you're savvy enough, if you listen to this podcast, if you follow enough forums online, you'll know there's alternative ways to get in and volunteering being a big one. Now, that's not guaranteed, but if you really persist with the other avenues and you start now, there's a good chance you will find your way into the festival. And I think that's just the reality now for more and more people. I think the popularity is just increasing. I think you are going to find regulars missing out more often. That's just my gut feeling. But more people want to go, and it's our fault for telling people that it's so good.

52:02Jessi Can we just cut the recording now and leave it there?

52:06Bilal Bessel sounds a lot better if we're doing the same thing.

52:09Miguel Well, I guess this is a good segue for you to share some news then, Jessi, just from a few days ago.

52:14Jessi Yay! I was going to see if you were going to ask that. Yes, so I am very excited because I have a place with Oxfam. I managed to get in without priority access. You know, I haven't volunteered with Oxfam since way before COVID probably something like 2016, 2017. I used to do it a lot. And then, yeah, and obviously since then I've either been lucky enough to get tickets or, you know, through Where's My Tent, I've done a bit of, um, sort of press for some festival— not Glastonbury, obviously, but for some other festivals. So when it— when the ticket sale happened and I didn't get a ticket, I— if you'd have asked me 5 years ago if that had happened, I would have thought I would have spent days in despair, probably cried. But actually this year when it didn't happen And I, I don't— my friends are going to tell me off for saying this, but in a way, because none of us got tickets, it almost opened up loads of doors for me because I was like, well, whatever happens, there's only gonna— we're even in the resale, if we're lucky we'll get 2, maybe 3. It's not going to be my usual group of over 30 people that I'm going to feel like I'm missing out on. If I'm working. So actually, you know, when, when I was disappointed, don't get me wrong, but I went, right, well, you know what? I'm, I'm gonna be there. I am going to be at Glastonbury. I know that it's now whether I get a resale ticket, if I'm lucky, or whether I get in with volunteering. I did consider hospitality for a little while. I, I mean, applying for it. I mean, the likelihood of me getting it was gonna be minimal, but that was definitely a consideration. But yeah, so I was lucky enough a few days ago, again, I had a few of my friends help me, bless them. Um, so they were all logged in as me and refreshing because you have to, uh, Oxfam used to be a lot, even more chaotic in that they didn't really release what exact time it would go live. And also it was kind of a, the website was not used to that traffic and they, they didn't prepare for it at all. And it was, it used to be—

54:14Bilal It used to creak under the pressure, under the weight of everyone applying.

54:18Jessi Yeah, everyone used to tell me this about how difficult it was to get in. But this, this time, um, last year I'd done it for a couple of friends, like very close to the festival. But this year, um, it was exactly 10:00, you know, 10 AM, 00:01, whatever it was. I just pressed refresh. I had my world clock up and watched it get to, you know, exactly on the dot. Refreshed, chose it from the dropdown, got through to the next page. Um, the payment page did hang on me quite a bit. So I was struggling there and I was getting texts from my friends saying, I need a code, you know, like, uh, your bank sends you a verification code. She was like, I need a code, I need a code. I was like, I'm concentrating on my own payment going through. Um, anyway, so we didn't double up, but so yeah, I managed to get through. And the even more latest news is that today, uh, I got a campervan place in the Oxfam field, which—

55:10Bilal Oh, that's amazing.

55:11Jessi Yeah, I was told it's like never gonna happen, they only have a few. But bless my friend. So what Oxfam have done to relieve the pressure on the website is that when it's, um, application day, they strip the website back to absolute basics. It's what is your name, what is your email address, choose your festival, do you have the right to work in the UK, tick a box, and then it's payment page and that's it. So you don't have to fill in your address, you don't have to fill in all the back. It's basically get you registered, and then at some point they then change the website and then there's all these extra options become available. My friend had set up one of those website, um, alert tracker things, um, and got the notification today that the profiles had opened up. And bless her, she went in for me because I was on a work call. And yeah, there's again like dropdown list, how are you coming to the festival? And what she's told me, and I haven't actually confirmed this with somebody else, um, so this could be wrong, but she told me that if Campervan is Showing is available and then you press save, then you're fine because it will gray it out when they've maxed out all the spaces. So I'm 95% sure I have a space. So actually, when I got my Oxfam place, I was like, well, maybe I'll try in the resale and go from there. Now, because there's, you know, I wouldn't want to be campervan non-crew ticket, if that makes sense. I wouldn't want to be out in the normal campervan fields. But now I'm thinking, you know what, I'm actually going to Oxfam. Like, I, I was sort of 60% sure, but now I'm 100% sure if it means I can take my campervan. Obviously, I have been very lucky and been used to having a wristband that gets me into Maceo's, it gets me into the Tone Hitch, it gets me into the West Holts crew bar and stuff. And so I was already thinking like, oh God, you know, not with Ben anymore, not gonna have that luxury. And being able to turn up on the Monday still, I've obviously ticked the box for Oxfam for please, please, please give me early shifts. I mean, they're like, it, it's very difficult, like they're very hotly in demand, the early shifts obviously. But I've ticked the box and I'm gonna cross me fingers. But still, um, the fact that if I can take Betsy, And have my camper van on site and a crew wristband. I am really excited to finally actually work at Glastonbury because the last 2 years I've had a crew wristband and, and been someone's plus one and been very lucky to not actually have to do any work. We've talked about this a lot with like me and Miguel, and he's volunteered before and I haven't, at Glastonbury I mean.

57:43Bilal Yeah.

57:43Jessi And we've, we've said in some of the early podcasts about how much we've felt a bit guilty about it and we, we wanted to work and we wanted to sort of be a part of it and give back and stuff. So Yeah, I'm really on board. Very excited.

57:54Bilal Oh, it's going to be amazing. You'll love it.

57:57Miguel Amazing. So happy for you. And I'm sure it's going to be a great, great year at Glastonbury. On the other hand, that's me who still don't have a ticket or a way into Glastonbury 2025. My theory is that because I decided to skip, I don't know why, I'm not saying I regret, but in 2022 I decided to skip for the first time and I ended my run. I feel like the ticket gods are angry at me.

58:19Jessi You've got the bad juju, Miguel.

58:20Miguel I have the bad juju. So I failed at Oxfam as well, but it was just me trying and life got in the way. I wasn't able to be there at the very 10 minutes, at 10 o'clock. It was like 10:05, which I'm sure then it was all gone, but I still tried but didn't get a sniff. So yeah, I'm gonna be back here on the podcast if you need a volunteer or if you need someone to work in your area, stage, bar, or or cleaning toilets, please send us a message.

58:47Jessi You are my priority number one at this point because again, I sent Miguel a message before the Oxfam went live and I said to him, I was like, imagine if you and I both did Oxfam. Imagine the episodes we could do after that and we could team up together. We could be each other's, because you said you'd do it and just do it as just you. So we could be shift partners. Sorry.

59:10Miguel Of course.

59:11Jessi Yeah. Yeah.

59:11Bilal We would be nice.

59:12Jessi I'm going to be trying my hardest to get you in, if any more, which they do. We got 2 of our friends into Oxfam 4 days before Glastonbury last year. So we will get you in. And then there's also, there's, um, Avalon Bars, which is, they've taken over the bars from Shelter. Shelter don't do it anymore, unfortunately, but you've got those, you've got Peppermint Bars and all the other bar places. There's loads of different options.

59:34Miguel We'll get you there. There's a few, a few things that I did mention at the beginning of the episode that I do want to go next year or next year, this year as a volunteer, or I want to work again. I tried for tickets, but I had in my mind already, I want to go as a volunteer or someone at work, but I did fail a lot on that aspect. Bilal did mention, if you want to go to Glastonbury, you find ways. I kind of failed this last month. Not going to go into details of what happened in personal life, but I was away from UK, then I got back. So everything got in the way and I failed to follow all the deadlines and etc. So, so here we are in February. But yeah, if it's not too late. No, it's not.

1:00:13Bilal 2019, like I said earlier, I got in a week before the festival. Yeah, you know, it was the Monday, a week on Monday before the festival started. So that weekend before, I was traveling down to the festival, whereas at the start of the week I didn't have a place. It can change that quickly. So yeah, you've got to keep going. Life gets in the way for people. If you take Oxfam, there's around 2,500 volunteers, 2,500 people. Sadly, stuff comes up. I had a friend who had an Oxfam place. There was 3 footy lads and we managed to get in onto— get Oxfam places on almost like a quiet resale that they'd done. But we became aware of it. And one of the lads, last minute, his house sale went through the week of the festival. And so, or the week before the festival. So he had to give up his place. Real life gets in the way. And for those, I like to think that somebody ended up having an amazing festival because of that.

1:01:16Miguel Yeah.

1:01:17Jessi 100%. We'll get you in.

1:01:19Miguel Yeah. So before we start talking about next year, so my final pitch is I do have a lot of event experience. So yeah, send us a message.

1:01:26Jessi Yeah, Miguel has literally been like, um, artist liaison and everything. He's worked at BST in a very like good paid position as a backstage and stuff, so he can do all the things. So get him in.

1:01:38Miguel All right, good.

1:01:40Bilal Or worst case, I know a spot because I was walking around the perimeter as an Oxfam steward and I was like, that tree is really, really climbable and really Close to that fence.

1:01:51Jessi All right, well, let's not condone getting into the festival by over the fence.

1:01:55Miguel Well, let's do talk off the record then. Right, okay.

1:01:59Bilal I've got a map and a length of rope.

1:02:04Jessi I can get you a stepladder on the inside.

1:02:07Bilal It's gonna be like, um, oh, old, old reference, like Only Fools and Horses. Jessi and I holding a cloth Yeah, yeah. Just jump, we'll catch you.

1:02:18Jessi Yeah, literally.

1:02:19Miguel Okay, well, thanks guys. I am optimistic still. So let's talk about Glastonbury 2025, a very brief conversation. I don't think there's much that we know so far. We do know Neil Young, after calling out the festival for being a corporate sellout or something like that, he changed his mind. He said he was giving wrong information. So we have one of the most interesting Interesting headliners announcements of recent years, probably. Cass, the other rumors, strong rumors is Olivia Rodrigo. She's playing BST and BST Hyde Park, and Glastonbury and BST have been sharing headliners in recent years. So I think it's quite set Olivia Rodrigo's being there. Is there any other rumors in terms of headliner of new areas that you guys have been following or you know about?

1:03:08Jessi Well, Bilal's got some information on that, haven't you?

1:03:10Bilal So, I, I had to find my notes because I couldn't remember who they were. No, no.

1:03:17Jessi It was the Prodigy, Charli XCX. I can't remember who you said for the Friday. Uh, oh, um, Loyal Khanna.

1:03:24Bilal Yeah.

1:03:25Jessi And then Olivia Rodrigo, uh, obviously Neil Young and someone else.

1:03:30Bilal I hear the 1975.

1:03:32Miguel Ah, yes.

1:03:33Bilal Now I don't, people are talking about Sam Fender. And I don't know if they're saying that because they really want Sam Fender to be there or if they have some information. But yeah, what you said is what I was told. So I get these random text messages from people and mostly it's someone who's got hold of my number and they tell me what they think is a really good episode we should record, which is fine if they weren't suggesting episodes we'd already done. And that makes me sad because I'm like, mate, you've not listened to whoever you are. But this text message said, look, this is who I think it is. And then a week later, Neil Young is announced. I thought, oh, okay, maybe there's something in that. Now, a lot of my friends love the idea of the 1975, and they've been kind of championing themselves, haven't they, for ages? So I'm sure they'll put on a good show. It's not my kind of thing, but that's what I hear.

1:04:26Jessi Yeah, I listened to that Festival Sounds episode, Bilal, when you were talking about this, and I think I sent you a WhatsApp voice note after I listened to it. And the one thing I thought about afterwards, and I'm going to ask you now, is where is your number? What toilet, what the back of the toilet door at Glastonbury has your number been scrawled on is what I want to know. Is it in Maceo's like, send lineup rumors here, insider information, Festival Sounds podcast, text Bilal on?

1:04:52Bilal I'm in some WhatsApps. that have hundreds of people in there, like the Oxfam volunteering chat, and everybody knows that I do the podcast there. So there's a few different ones. So yeah, that's random. The only place that my number is written in a very random way was, do you know this? In the southeast corner, there's a bar that's got an underground train elevated up on a platform. I think it's called Platform something.

1:05:17Jessi Platform 23.

1:05:18Bilal Yeah. Yeah, that's the one. My number, one of my friends did write my number there. Just wrote, want fun? And wrote my number. So it could have been from there.

1:05:29Jessi I knew it was written somewhere, CB, in Glastonbury somewhere. Amazing. Yeah, 1975. Look, I'm not that fussed. They've, like, Tilly mentioned this, just the arrogance of Matty Healy kind of annoys me. It's, it's, it, I don't know. I've heard they're quite good live. I think I've seen them live like years ago when it Kind of Chocolate era, and I can't remember any else, any of their songs, right? But all of their latest stuff just sounds a bit samey samey to me. To me, it's kind of an Arctic Monkeys vibe of they had a, an era of when everyone thought, oh yeah, this is new, this is like, these are the sort of indie, indie-ish rockers that are like, you know, the new boys kind of thing. And then I don't know, it's like they're sort of riding that high, and I don't feel like what they're putting out now is, is what they put out before. But Anyway, that's my— I, same as you, I wouldn't go and see the 1975, but I would probably go and see Olivia Rodrigo. I feel like I've learned my lesson on the pop princess vibes.

1:06:26Miguel Uh, yeah, I, I had a pop girl summer, so, uh, give me Chaparrón. Uh, yes, uh, give me Charli.

1:06:32Jessi Yeah, 100%. Yeah, the Primavera lineup triple of Tina Carpenter, Charli XCX, and Charli XCX. Holy Trinity. Holy Trinity.

1:06:41Bilal Yeah, the Holy Trinity. That was incredible. What a coup for them.

1:06:44Jessi And it sold out really quickly.

1:06:46Bilal Of course. If you could do that on the Other Stage and have Friday, Saturday, Sunday with those 3, what a lineup that is. I don't think you'd get me moving from the Other Stage, but I think justifiably all 3 could be on the Pyramid and I'd be happy with that. And they're not necessarily my go-to. But they're all having such a moment. They would all put on such a show that how can you not get excited by it? And compared to the 1975, it's kind of— 1975 to me feels stale in comparison to those 3. That's my issue with it. It's not that the 1975 are bad. It's just there's, you know, other festivals are doing something really special. So wouldn't it be great if that happened?

1:07:34Jessi Mm-hmm.

1:07:35Bilal But truth is, every year the festival always surprises us. There's always something different.

1:07:39Jessi 100%. I like— I'm living for this pop girly era, basically. Um, so I'm all for it. You know, we had the— I loved that like, um, Brat came out, you know, what felt like moments before Glastonbury last year. And yet still all over Glastonbury last year, there was the font, there was the green background, all of the, uh, you know, fabulous gays and theys and girlies were all just dressed up in their Brat finest, and I absolutely loved it. Mine is— I know I've said this probably every year that we've done like a who do we want to see at Glastonbury for the past few, um, years— I'm really hoping this is the year that Lady Gaga headlines the bloody Pyramid. She's got a new album out. Well, it's about— she's released 2 songs, the album is coming. Like, everyone is going absolutely nuts for Abracadabra and Disease and She hasn't done it since 2011, and even then it was an afternoon slot on the Other Stage where she only had like Poker Face and like 2 other songs. It has to happen. She's done Coachella. It has to happen. And I am desperate for it to be this year.

1:08:47Miguel Yeah, I would like that. Is it— I haven't been following much, but is that— she has a tour announced? Is there a— should we— can someone text Glasto thingy to see if there's a Glastonbury-shaped hole for Lady Gaga, please?

1:08:57Jessi Yeah, I'm literally Googling it right now. I'm pretty sure I'm pretty sure there is a—

1:09:03Miguel Yeah, on Glastonbury's Shaped Hall, I think. And people have been talking about it or asking for so long. There was talks that last year they will be the turn-ups, but it wasn't. So, but Pope definitely announced a tour just recently. And will they come? But then again, which slot are they going to play? Are they going to be the turn-ups of this year then?

1:09:24Jessi Yeah, Gaga has no tour dates. This year, but she is obviously going to tour that album at some point.

1:09:31Bilal I think Pulp are going to be subbing one of the Pyramid headliners. I think that's probably perfect for them. The worry would always be if you put them onto Other against someone like Olivia Rodrigo, there's always going to be the festival's fear that something like the Sunday night, the SZA-type empty Pyramid field will happen. And then there's just too many people in the Other Stage. So I think the sensible thing with all the clamour for Pulp is to put them on the Pyramid, but they're not a headliner, not at the moment, I don't think.

1:10:06Jessi Maybe that kind of 8 PM or like 7:30 PM slot kind of situation before the 9 PM headliner. Who knows?

1:10:12Bilal Yeah, maybe it's Drake. Drake is wireless, isn't he, for 3 nights? Maybe Drake will show up.

1:10:19Jessi I couldn't believe that. It's Especially they announced that the week after, like literally the week of the Super Bowl Kendrick Lamar performance. And they go, yep, we're going to have Drake 3 times. Like, what?

1:10:35Miguel Oh dear. Now that you mentioned the Super Bowl headline, I had it on my notes, but I forgot to talk about it. But what was the LCD Soundsystem? Can they come back and do that again? Because I was very jealous at that moment. But anyway, just a note.

1:10:48Bilal Did I see them? Who were they subbing? Did I see them when they were subbing Dua Lipa?

1:10:53Jessi Yeah, they were just before Dua Lipa on the Friday.

1:10:55Bilal Yeah, it was brilliant. The whole Fields singing Where Are My Friends Tonight.

1:11:01Miguel Yeah.

1:11:01Bilal Oh, what a moment. Sunsetting.

1:11:03Jessi Yeah, the sunset. Just the sunset was a paid actor, basically. It was, it like, it was almost like they paid it to be there because it made it so much more than I think if they'd have been a bit earlier or even actually a bit later, I don't know, it was the perfect time slot for them. And yeah, it— I, I'll be honest, that Friday was so lovely. And like, we'd seen Sugababes and I was on quite a high from just like, you know, it was just such a good day. And LCD Soundsystem were amazing, but I spent most of that set like facing my friends and just hugging and like all this kind of— we weren't really— we were singing along as well, but they're less singy-alongy. We were just more like— just bopping our heads and just looking up at the Pyramid Stage like, this could not be more beautiful. So yeah.

1:11:48Bilal It was also perfect for the transition between the audience. Enough people left after LCD to make it easy to get closer to the stage for Dua Lipa. I think that's perfect. You want a little bit of that movement in the crowd.

1:12:00Miguel Nice. Yeah, makes sense. Yeah. So in terms of wishlists as well, I think, well, I brought up Alanis Morissette to the new nostalgia time slot. Anyone else in your wishlist? Pilton.

1:12:12Bilal It's not nostalgia. Bruno Mars. How is Bruno Mars never in the conversation? Or The Weeknd. These massive R&B acts that would light up that crowd. And after The Weeknd did the Super Bowl, I thought, this is perfect. Look at the show this guy can put on. So those are the two that are never discussed, but I wish they were.

1:12:38Jessi I like it.

1:12:38Bilal Yeah, awesome.

1:12:39Jessi A few good shouts, definitely. Um, yeah, Alanis Morissette obviously really would love that, and like, that's, that's been a strong rumor. I think when I was talking earlier, I was talking like she'd already been announced. No, that is just one of those strong rumors that I've heard over and over, so I'm really hoping that one's true. I don't know, beyond that, like, I, I hope there is— like, Green Day have been rumored for years. I would just love to see some of that noughties pop punky. Something like Wheatus would be great, do you know what I mean? Or something like that I think would be wonderful. Like, definitely, I mean, if Blink-182 headlined, I would like cry with happiness. Definitely, I think that would be so good. But I'd love like a band within that kind of genre scenario, let's say. And then, yeah, it's mainly Lady Gaga for me. Um, always hope the Spice Girls actually do it and stop just talking about it as if You know, they just tease it and then it never happens. So that would be nice. And then, yeah, the classic pop girlies, I say classic, sorry, the pop girlies that are having a moment at the moment. But yeah, that's it for me.

1:13:39Miguel Awesome. Excellent. Uh, here's a question that I wrote down while we were talking. Uh, when we, when I asked you about 2024, Jess, you mentioned the weather, which was saying it was probably the best weather you ever had at Glastonbury. And, and me, Throughout my initial years at Glastonbury, I prepared a whole packing list and I favored the practicality, like hiking and camping, camping clothing that dry quick. And whereas Jessi, you do take a lot of costumes, which is great. And I envy that. I wanted to do that, but now it's been dry for so many years. Is it time for me to drop my camping mud preparedness for the mud and just bring a lot of costumes, Jessi?

1:14:22Jessi No, I think it's the opposite, Miguel. I think unfortunately it's, I think we're due a wet year. Unfortunately, I hate to say, I'm touching my wooden table right now.

1:14:30Bilal What is happening here?

1:14:31Jessi Look, I've only, um, I'm just saying, I feel like we've had so many years of, of like either good weather or, or medium weather, let's say that, uh, well, what I would say is pack like me, but have a, but if you're coming by car, also pack like you and keep that bag in the car.

1:14:50Miguel Yeah. Well, so basically that's what I do. So basically you're telling me, cut the scene, I'm dressed for Pink Pony Club and there's mud all around me now.

1:14:59Jessi Yeah. Yeah. So basically have like a really cute little sequin top on, but have some like mud trousers on. That will do. I'll bring a bag for you, Miguel, if you want.

1:15:07Miguel Okay.

1:15:08Jessi You pack a bag and I'll keep it in the camper van. And then if you need it, we can, I can just bring it out to you.

1:15:12Miguel Or we just exchange outfits.

1:15:14Jessi Or that. Oh my God. Can I dress you up? Seriously, I'm not joking. I've got some great kimonos. Like, I'm not trying to put you in like a miniskirt, but I've got some great like kimonos you could wear and you look amazing.

1:15:25Miguel I'm all up for it. I'm all up for it.

1:15:27Jessi Amazing. And you, Bilal, I know you have a nice sequin jacket that I posted today on our Instagram, but I've got some more things I can lend you. I do not mind.

1:15:34Bilal Yeah, that's fine. In that picture, I'm wearing my festival sarong. I'm a big fan of a sarong on a summer day.

1:15:41Jessi Very light and breezy.

1:15:43Bilal Yeah, yeah. As long as it's not too breezy, I end up putting on quite a show for the other punters. I'm a big fan of glitter. So glittery jackets, glitter on my face, just throw anything at me. I have a— my festival look, I like to think, is eclectic. It mostly means I've just picked up whatever's easiest to reach in the bag and I throw it on and it just works. I love that.

1:16:08Jessi Well, when I first bumped into you for the first time, which was that picture I posted today on our Instagram and collabed with you, so both of our Instagrams, when I first bumped into you, we were both looking in the shops and we both said about how we like to do that and then just buy one thing to add to our outfit because there's so many amazing things there.

1:16:25Bilal Absolutely. What a big thing for me this year was not to pre-festival shop. It's so easy to go to H&M or just like a high street store. I love the markets at Glastonbury. I love the festival traders, the way you interact, and they're all so friendly, also lovely. I have friends who work on those shops as well, the clothing shops. What is the point of me giving my money to buy clothing from some international chain and it just leaves the country anyway? These people make the festival special. Those markets are so— If you walk around at night and you've got those festival lights and the sights and smells, those markets are such a part of it that this year it finally occurred to me that that's where I should spend my money. And you end up packing really light as a result. And I didn't regret it because you can get everything you need. And that sequin jacket, oh, I love it. I've worn it. I've worn it out and about. I absolutely adore it.

1:17:25Jessi Yeah, I could not agree more. And the thing is, if you do buy, I mean, you know, I'm not shaming anyone, but if you buy a set from ASOS or whatever, especially, you know what, uh, those websites are like, like ASOS and Boohoo and Topshop and all of them. 2 months before festival season, 1 month before festival season, they have a thing called the Festival Edit, and it's for people who just go, oh, I'm going to festival, I've never been before, I'll click on that thing. You buy something from there, you are going to bump into 20 other people wearing that outfit over the weekend. At least if you get something at a festival— I mean, obviously you've got things like Rosa Bloom, which is the sequins which I was wearing in that I've got a picture with you, Bilal, funnily enough.

1:18:01Bilal Fantastic outfit.

1:18:02Jessi Um, but Rosa Bloom is like a really well-established festival brand, and anyone who's been at least once to a festival will have seen someone wearing that. But it's still so special and so well made that people wear them 12, 13, you know, like you could wear it 3 times a year every year and it's not gonna disintegrate or anything, and it still looks amazing. So that you might bump into someone wearing the same thing, but it's a bit different, that's what I'm saying.

1:18:28Bilal Festival traders work hard. Oh yeah, they show up over the weekend, they put up their stall from scratch, they've driven from all over the country, they do— they're open for 12 hours, they pay a fortune for those pitches, and they make the festival special. So these are the people you want to support.

1:18:48Miguel It's—

1:18:48Bilal it, to me, it's a no-brainer, and I can't believe I'm kicking myself for not realizing that sooner.

1:18:53Miguel Well, uh, I guess we Kind of going towards wrapping up. And Jessi, we always talk about, and we end up talking about again in this episode about rituals, breaking the habits. And it seems like you're going to have a different year, Glastonbury, going as a volunteer. Is that any expectation? Any, any, are you thinking about any, if you're going to change your approach or anything you want to, how do you want to do Glastonbury 2025?

1:19:19Jessi Well, um, yeah, the fact that my big group of friends hasn't got tickets, and the fact that I'm a volunteer, I'm really using this as— I know I've said this for years, but genuinely, the fact that I am not going with a boyfriend who also, you know, this is no shade to Ben, but he was and is like super music-driven. Like, he's such an audiophile. Like, there, there are things that he absolutely loves, and there are things that he really doesn't want to waste time going to. And so I did find, you know, he— I did make him come to Sugar Babes, and I could tell he wasn't really enjoying himself, but bless him, he came. But I'll have gone to— if I wasn't, you know, with another— with a— with a— when it's your other half, you also feel more like obliged to go, you know, rather than just like friends, oh, I'll meet you later kind of thing. So that feels like a bit more freedom to me. Um, also, I mean, I'll say this, I shouldn't really say this, but when you're a volunteer, like You have to make sure you're gonna be okay for your shifts. Like you have to, you know, you can't for all 4 or 5 of the nights go, right, I'm gonna be out till 4, 3, 4 AM kind of thing. So in a way, uh, I'm gonna have to plan a bit better and think when I've got my shifts, you know, when I get given my shift sheet on the Monday or the Tuesday or whenever it is, I can then sit down and go, right, okay, so my big night out is Saturday or something like that. And then the rest of the time. I can still enjoy myself and do things, but I think having that mentality of, oh, you know, I've gotta, gotta do my shifts and I've, you know, and I enjoy doing it as a volunteer. You sort of feel proud to do your shifts and things. I'm not saying it's like, oh, I've gotta go to work tomorrow, but it, it just makes you plan things better and it forces you to definitely have fun a few times, totally sober, and definitely forces you to go to bed early. And get up early a couple of times. So I think with all of that tied together, I'm not, I'm not having to think, oh, I've got to go and find my big group of friends. I've done a lot of that. I've had, as I've explained in this podcast and many before, like, I've had so many of those incredible, almost life-changing moments where you're in a field with 30 friends and everyone's just having the best time, and the joy is like, you know, makes your hair stand on end on your, on your arms and things. Actually, this time I can be a bit more like, no, I'm gonna go and do things that I don't normally do because there's no, there's no other person's pressure. So I'm definitely gonna make the most of Silver Hayes and Levels a bit more. And yeah, I'm definitely gonna do some things like I'm gonna get up early, uh, you know, maybe before a shift that I might start kind of earlier in the day. I'll get up super early and go to sit in the tiny tea tent and people watch for a while, which I haven't done for a number of years, or I still haven't been to blooming— what's it called, um, Miguel? That, uh, the place off the track that you said does the really great vegetable performance.

1:22:05Miguel Permaculture.

1:22:06Jessi Permaculture, permaculture. I've only walked through it. I haven't actually kind of gone and got some food or sat down or anything like that. So I'm feeling like the pressure is off my shoulders. Um, you know, I do— my friends always tell me I don't have to feel like this, but I do.

1:22:21Miguel I've—

1:22:22Jessi yeah, there's something about who I am as a person that that kind of group enjoyment is so ingrained in my brain that I'd sort of put that before my own explicit, you know, number one wants and needs beforehand. So the pressure is off. I'm volunteering. It's going to mean that I have to plan, you know, 2 big nights rather than trying to go for all 5 big nights. Um, uh, and yeah, and it means I'm gonna have to— there's gonna— my time, you know, I'm gonna have to get up early for a shift one time, so it means I can go and explore some things then that I haven't done for a number of years, those kinds of things. So I'm excited and I've got my camper van, so can't complain.

1:22:59Miguel Well, it took a few years of us doing the podcast for you to take a photo at the Glastonbury sign. So, so far, 2025, you need to give us a picture at the Woodses.

1:23:11Jessi Okay. All right. A picture at Woodses and a picture at Levels, like at night.

1:23:15Miguel Okay, fine.

1:23:15Jessi Done. And maybe Strummerville as well. Let's add to my list. Strummerville, because I haven't been up there.

1:23:20Bilal All of these are a long walk from the Oxfam campsite.

1:23:24Jessi I know, yeah, I know. They're like the 4 corners.

1:23:27Bilal It's worth it, but it's a long way.

1:23:30Jessi Look, I'll say Strummerville will only be like if I'm put on the Worthy View gate for my shifts or something like that. And like Woodsey's will be if I'm on gate A or something like that. If I'm on gate D or gate B, I may have to like lower my list a bit.

1:23:42Bilal So, Worthy View's not too bad. So I was running the pedestrian gate there a couple of years ago, and they put me in a 4x4 because I was a supervisor. So they put— you start your shift an hour earlier than the main body of the stewards. So they put you in a 4x4 and drive you up there. So you show up at your shift really refreshed. That meant a lot when you're starting a shift at 5:45 in the morning.

1:24:10Jessi Oh, God, yeah.

1:24:10Bilal To get there. You just get a lift, 5:00 AM, and you just— it's kind of cool to go around the perimeter at that time in the morning as well, because you can see how sleepy the festival is and it's almost waiting to come back to life. It's a very eerie feeling when you come out of the festival and just get on the other side of the fence. I love it, but it's kind of just like at dusk, there's a mist rolling in and There's a, there's an energy there which is quite cool. You'll love it.

1:24:40Jessi One thing I will say that I wasn't going to tell this story, but actually, um, as you mentioned it there, I feel like it leads on from that. One thing I was really grateful for that happened last year that was very— I know that not many people get to do, and it, you know, very grateful for the opportunity, and I know won't happen again— was basically, um, on the Monday, um, the last couple of years, because I've had a crew wristband, me and Ben would walk up to the Glastonbury sign, uh, on the Monday at like any time between like 4 and 8 PM or something, and we'd just sit and like maybe have like one last tinny that we might have left in the van that we found. And just, you know, by this point the site is quiet, basically everyone's left. You start seeing the traders, you know, queuing in their vans to get out. And we always went home on the Tuesday morning because by that point it's clear roads. But this last year, uh, we went We managed to convince someone because we were a bit later going up to the sign. We wanted to get up there before sunset. We managed to convince someone that we knew that had access to a buggy, uh, to drive us up there. And he was like, actually, yeah, that actually sounds really good fun. I'm not doing anything. So we got in the buggy and he drove us all around the site. Like I'm talking, so we went up to the Glastonbury sign, down through the middle of the park, down through the middle of Arcadia. through the Other Stage, like round the back of the Pyramid. We went, uh, all the way over to the— sorry, Silver Hayes. Um, yeah, Silver Hayes. I said that's the wrong name. No, that's the dance village. Silver Hayes, round and back again. We went along the top road that goes to Big Round and the Pyramid Field. All the way through the Kidzfield, which obviously I've not seen when the festival's been on, through the middle of the Kidzfield, down, and then just all the way around, like Theatre and Circus fields, it was— even though obviously by that point you, you can't imagine how quick the cleanup and the takedown crews, like the break crew, is. Like, I couldn't believe how much of it had gone by this point. Like, um, you know, everything like this, the, the little thing on the front of the, uh, Other Stage has come down, like half the speakers are down, the backs of the stages have come down. But still, even though you can't believe how much has been packed down in what feels like 6 hours, Just being able to be driven around the site was just the loveliest luxury. And it was so nice to see all these bits that, you know, from the comfort, you know, my tired body after being there 10 days was wonderful.

1:27:02Miguel Awesome. Sounds awesome. Good, good, good to have that.

1:27:05Jessi That was a big bragging moment.

1:27:08Bilal No, it sounds amazing.

1:27:09Miguel We want to hear all this sort of stories, but—

1:27:13Jessi It'll never happen again. So I know that. So I just wanted to share the one time it happened. It was amazing and it won't happen again.

1:27:17Miguel And, and, and, Bilal, we already learned that you have a more relaxed approach to Glastonbury when you let your first timer lead the way. Uh, uh, but do you have any thoughts for the upcoming festival? Anything you want to do differently or any different approach?

1:27:32Bilal So, uh, I'm not going with a coach this year, just going to drive down. That, that late arrival on the Wednesday was too much. So probably the big thing is to arrive Maybe 9, 10 AM on the Wednesday, start getting into the queue around then. Uh, got a cute little Airbnb booked in Bristol for the night before, so breaking up the journey.

1:27:55Jessi Nice.

1:27:56Bilal Um, looking forward to that. For me, this time of year is, is Glastonbury Fitness. I know there's a lot of conversation, people use the, use the festival as a marker. I do every year because Those 5 days, they're hard, especially actually even more so when you're volunteering because you've got those patches where you're on your feet for 8 hours. So yeah, Glasto Fitness right now, get your steps in, break in those new walking boots, you know, that kind of thing. That's what's on my mind right now. But then we're busy with the podcast as well. So we're— for anyone who's not listened, we do not offer serious critique of music. And the music environment. You know, we have a segment called Am I a Festival Dickhead? That's the kind of level that we operate at.

1:28:44Jessi And we love it.

1:28:45Bilal Yeah, well, it seems to land, and we enjoy doing it. But for me, this year is slightly different. We were doing one episode a month before Glastonbury 2024. This year, we'll probably try and increase that frequency, try and get more conversations going. I'd love to have both of you on an episode as well. But so there's a slightly different shift because you end up with the podcast, you end up thinking more about the festival before you show up. And that's a bit of a surprise for me because I used to be the guy who just showed up without looking at the lineup necessarily. But yeah, it's going to be fun. I'm looking forward to it. It's just a shift for us.

1:29:27Jessi Nice. Well, you've had me on. A number of times. You need to have Miguel on. Let's do that.

1:29:32Miguel But here's the question then. If both of us join Jessi, will their episode be 2 hours long? Because today was the proof that we cannot do short episodes.

1:29:42Jessi Yeah. So that's one thing for anybody who wants to listen to Festival Sounds and also enjoys our podcast. I will say it's a lot more snackable and easier to listen to because their episodes are usually less than 30 minutes. So they're kind of commuter length. Whereas once again today, we warned Bilal, we said, look, we're going to try our best to— and if you look at our kind of notes for the episode, like our plan, all of them say like 10 to 15 minutes for each section. And we've overshot that by a massive amount, as always. But Festival Sounds, definitely, like, if they're going to be doing weekly episodes or biweekly episodes, definitely one to be subscribing to and following because, yeah, they're very much like you can Listen to one on your commute. There's loads of good stuff in there and, um, yeah, and you won't have to commit to 2 hours like you do with us.

1:30:29Bilal Yeah, we, we do aim for 25, 30 minutes. Every so often, you know, you get a guest.

1:30:34Jessi You get me on. Yeah. Yeah.

1:30:37Bilal You get a guest and they've got, they've got— so the reason for setting up the podcast is I'm fascinated by people's stories. And when the guests start to speak, yourself included, Jessi, I don't want it to stop. I want it to carry on. It's like that thing with a music set. No good set is long enough. And it's the same with a good conversation. I just want it to keep running. And yeah, some of the episodes end up longer than you'd expect. But yeah, 25, 30 minutes until Tilly and I are just staring at each other thinking, we've got nothing else to say on the subject. Let's move on.

1:31:14Jessi Yeah, I mean, to be fair, we've had that a lot when we get guests on sometimes. Just, you know, off the top of my head, um, when we had, uh, well, when I did the one with, um, Dan Sue from Rum Shack and The Common, I was doing that myself, like recording it from inside my camper van on site at Glastonbury. He wasn't able, he wasn't on site yet and didn't have time when he got on site to do it in person. But I just remember being at like everything he said, I just wanted him to carry. I was like, I want you to, um, keep talking and almost like record something to me that I can listen to, to fall asleep to. He So not saying that he was making me fall asleep, I just mean like he was just so inspiring and so wonderful that, yeah, I totally, totally—

1:31:55Bilal I really enjoyed that episode and the one, um, with festival postcards. I thought that was really smart because there you've got a corner of the festival that makes people smile, but probably you don't think about it too much. And what you did was just bring that backstory to life. I loved that episode.

1:32:14Jessi Yeah, there's definitely been some. And Captain Barrett as well, and Beans on Toast. Like, there's some people we've interviewed that I've just been like, oh, incredible. So yeah, but anyway, sorry for making your episodes longer, but if anybody— definitely go and listen to Festival Sounds and you'll be getting more regular content and it will be, um, uh, commuter length.

1:32:31Miguel Yeah, and we're gonna have to come to terms we are long form, Jessi.

1:32:34Jessi Yeah, yeah, I think we're well aware of that.

1:32:36Miguel So final, final question or fun little game. Now we're here waiting for the new, the first poster drop. Uh, do you think it's going to be in alphabetical order or not? Because they said last year out of nowhere, they decided to do the split by stages and sort of, uh, random or decided order by artist again. So what do you think is going to happen in 2025?

1:33:00Jessi Do you think Lana Del Rey just like kicked up such a fuss that they were like, we're going to have to do this?

1:33:06Bilal What do you think? That was hilarious. Okay, I don't mind either format. I, I get that there's a pecking order and people always think they're better than the next act, so alphabetical makes sense. I, I don't mind that as long as it's not a repeat of the one that was done like a circle.

1:33:23Jessi Yes.

1:33:23Bilal Oh my God, how am I supposed to read that? So that— it looked cool and as a poster would be incredible on the wall, but I, my preference would probably be alphabetical. That, that works for me.

1:33:37Jessi All I'll say is, uh, anybody listening to this and you guys, if you want to Google, um, Tomorrowland's posters are hilarious. They do it in alphabetical, everyone is the same size, and the font is about like pixel size 9, and you just have to— and it's all in capital letters, and you have to like squint and read it all. And there's— because obviously there's so many artists at Tomorrowland, they squeeze all onto one poster and it's hilarious. So I'm saying as long as it's not like Tomorrowland's poster, I'm cool.

1:34:07Miguel But Primavera did, I think, this year where they have this, they seem to have done all different types of different highlights. Uh, some artists does a different color and different font, but there's no key to the, to what all that means, but they did, maybe that's a mixed approach.

1:34:24Bilal Yeah. Oh my God. I've just seen the Tomorrowland poster. Yeah, that's terrible.

1:34:29Miguel It's horrendous, isn't it?

1:34:31Bilal Absolute train wreck.

1:34:32Miguel Well, I think Bilal gave the perfect answer. As long as that is not circular, we're happy.

1:34:37Jessi Yeah, circular and the font, you know, we're all getting old now. Like, I'd like to be able to read it. Like, let's not go too small.

1:34:44Bilal And my gut feeling is we're only a couple of weeks away from that poster drop. One of the reasons I'd like it not to be circular is straight away I'm putting a playlist together, top 2 or 3 songs from each artist, trying to give myself a feel for it. Now, when I say that I don't pay too much attention to the lineup, that's also true, but it's just my background music because every so often you get some song that jumps out at you.

1:35:13Jessi Mm-hmm.

1:35:14Bilal But I love that. That's when the summer is kicking off or the The hype is starting to kick off when that poster arrives. Yeah.

1:35:24Miguel Awesome.

1:35:25Jessi Awesome.

1:35:26Miguel Well, Bilal, thank you so much for joining us for this episode. And to everyone listening, if you don't follow or subscribe yet to Festival Sound, go there and do that now. And you can also find us on, well, you can go to our website, glastocast.co.uk. There's a contact form over there. You can find us on Instagram, well, Twitter, but now also on Bluesky. So you know where to find us to send us a message Or to send Miguel a job offer.

1:35:51Jessi That's more important.

1:35:55Miguel Which is more important. Yeah, this bit that I'm doing was just to get to this point, really.

1:35:59Jessi Well, I was going to say that I've been really slack on the socials and that is my bad. So I'm going to be better. I'm going to start hyping it because once again, and I know we do this every time, but we really would, it's been a long time. So that's my excuse. We really would love you to tell your stories. Um, we're looking, always looking for guests. to come and join us to talk about things. I'll probably be reaching out to some people and seeing if I can get anyone on, but if you're listening to this and you want to tell us a story, we also have a contribution form where you can basically send us a voice note up to 2 minutes, literally on the website. Miguel, what's— is it contribute.glastocast.co.uk?

1:36:34Miguel Yes, yes, exactly that.

1:36:36Jessi Okay, so it's just contribute.glastocast.co.uk. So do jump on there and send us a little voice note and we will get that out on a future episode. Amazing.

1:36:46Miguel Well, thanks so much, Jessi, and thank you so much, Miguel.

1:36:48Bilal Oh, thank you for having me. The two of you doing Oxfam ticket checks is going to be iconic. When people recognize you on the way in, I cannot wait for that.

1:36:59Miguel Well, let that be a prediction of the future then.

1:37:02Jessi I need to get some more badges and stickers done because if I'm on the gates and I get somebody recognize me, I want to be like, yes, And sticker people up. We'll do it, we'll do it. Now, honestly, Blauw, it's been so lovely to have you. Obviously, I've, you know, been on a couple of yours and we've met in real life now. And, um, yeah, big fan of Festival Sounds, but it's lovely to have returned the favor and to hear about your Glastonbury as well.

1:37:22Bilal Well, thank you so much for having me on.