The Glasto Thingy and the numbers behind the poster.

0:00Miguel Hello and welcome to GlastoCast, the unofficial Glastonbury Festival podcast. I am Miguel and I'm joined by Jessi. Hello, Jessi, how are you?

0:14Jessi Hey, Miguel, I'm good. So good to hear your voice again. Excited to be back. Let's do another episode. Woohoo!

0:20Miguel Speaking of woohoo, where is your level of excitement for Glastonbury at, at the moment?

0:25Jessi Oh my God, we are like, what, 8 weeks, 9 weeks away, something like that. It really is. I mean, every year it creeps up and you get excited, but my God, just these poster drops and everything, I am so excited. It's basically all I can think about at the moment, and yeah, not ashamed to admit it.

0:43Miguel Yeah, it's true, every new update just gets me going. It definitely is ramping up the excitement to the festival. Well, in this episode we'll have a chat with the Glastonbury statistics expert, the Glasto Thingy, Yep, he accepted our invite. A very active member of the online Glasto community, he will tell us about his story with the festival and his quest to document and find out if there's a pattern with the official announcements.

1:09Jessi I am so impressed, Miguel. We've got the Glasto thingy. Like, he's one that we've mentioned, you know, and we've been talking about between just me and you for ages. We're like, we've got to get him on the podcast. But he finally said yes. Yay!

1:23Miguel For some reason, and maybe you'll find out about this when we talk to him, we always thought that he wouldn't accept to come to the podcast, but yeah, it happened. So we're gonna have a conversation with him.

1:34Jessi Yeah, his anonymity has been broke— well, no, he still doesn't tell us his name, I will say. But yes, his anonymity has been broken somewhat, and yes, we've got to speak to him live, so I'm happy about that.

1:44Miguel So speaking about all the excitement, uh, Jessi, how great it was to have an episode launch day again?

1:50Jessi Oh, it was so good. I mean, it just reminded me of those, you know, when we first launched the podcast and like we were getting so much good feedback, and it was just so wild to think that People were, you know, on their commutes or on a road trip or whatever, and they were listening to our voices in their ears and things. Um, yeah, it'd been ages since we'd launched an episode, so, you know, we were a bit nervous about— well, just, you know, not is the audience still there, but, you know, our Twitter account had been quiet for ages, our Instagram hadn't had anything posted for like 2 years. So, you know, it was kind of nervous posting out a new episode, but yeah, the response we've got has been amazing. Loads of people, you know, messaging us directly and, you know, sharing our episode and stuff. And it's been fab. So thank you everyone. It's been so exciting.

2:36Miguel I used to love our lounge days and it's been so long. And, you know, something that we even talked with Captain on the last episode, we mentioned about this hiatus and this forced pause on everything. So we were wondering how it's going to be. And I think even he mentioned when he was building the lineups, like there wasn't any gigs or sometimes you need gigs to find out about new people. So, and of course we end up going a bit quiet, the Twitter account wasn't so active, so it was really great to come back and see that, yeah, people are still listening to us.

3:06Jessi I love that. Captain needs gigs to book a lineup, we need a Glastonbury to make a podcast, basically.

3:12Miguel Yeah, in a way. And I think what's quite interesting, since we launched the episode, I've been finding tidbits of discussions around the forums, not just on Glastonbury forums, because the discussion with him ended up being a bit wider than just Glastonbury. We learned so much of what happened behind the scenes. So I've been finding some people discussing, oh, you hear that episode? It was so interesting, this and that. So this was an interesting part of the episode. But of course, the focus was the lineup of Glastonbury. And have you added any new artists into your to-watch list at the festival, Jessi?

3:48Jessi Yeah, I mean, I came out of that conversation with Captain thinking, right, okay, there's, you know, probably I think there were at least 10 people that I need to check out. I'll admit I still haven't actually finished that list. I'm— maybe I just haven't had enough time to listen to music, you know, properly, rather than just put it on the background. But there are a couple that I've sort of jumped into and I'm really excited for, one of which is Black Midi, which Captain mentioned a few times. And yeah, I think, I think because Black Midi was the first one he mentioned to me when I said I'm a bit of a rock girl, so I was sort of like, oh, I wonder what, wonder what this is about. It wasn't what I was expecting, but I am really into it. I think the first time I listened to one song, I was like, uh, And I just went by like the Spotify, you know, like top song basically. But I'm getting into them now. And then the other band was Amel and the Sniffers, which is like another one that I've actually listened to a good chunk of. Um, and that's— she's the sort of— well, it's an Australian kind of, I guess, punky rock band, uh, female-fronted. But both Black Midi and Amel and the Sniffers, like, as much as I'm enjoying them, like, I like them listening on Spotify, I can tell just by the kind of music that they play and from what Captain said, obviously, that they are gonna be awesome live. And I think that once I've seen them live, I'm gonna be— they're gonna be like a band that I love rather than just a band that I like. Both of them. So super into both of those at the moment. And then I've got way more on my list I still need to go for. How about you, Miguel?

5:21Miguel Amazing. Yeah, that's great. Uh, yeah, Black Midi is a band I've been following for some time. I watched them at a festival already, but it will be interesting to see how the gig is going to go at Glastonbury. From new acts, I think this is exactly what you said, and again, I really enjoyed the conversation with Captain, and I keep going back and referring to it. He put something that he kept banging on about is how those bands, they're going to deliver. They're going to deliver a live act. They're live act bands. And then from the suggestions that he, I think he was giving to you as well, one that I went to check, and I think it is definitely going to enjoy watching this live is Warm Duscher.

5:58Jessi Mhm.

5:59Miguel And I think it's a similar vibe to what you just said. Maybe listening to their music on Spotify, okay, I'm not so sure. But when I went to YouTube and started looking for live performances, like, yeah, this, this is going to be a blast at the festival. I think more than that, I think what changed me since listening to Captain is, well, I do have a lot of bands I want to see from the main poster already. I was very excited, but at the same time I was feeling a bit Whelmed, let's say. I was looking at the poster and like, why? I feel like I'm missing something.

6:28Whelmed?

6:29Jessi Whelmed, yeah.

6:30The Glasto Thingy Just whelmed?

6:30Miguel Just whelmed, yeah.

6:31Jessi Not overwhelmed? Yeah, exactly.

6:34Miguel And I kept asking myself why. And then I think one reason is because I kind of tick many boxes already of live acts. I've seen everything I wanted to see. And even though I'm following new music, I end up watching them at gigs in London already. So I think it was lacking that. I think every year Glastonbury does at least one band. Okay, if I only watch this one band, The festival is already amazing for me, so that gets me more excited. So whatever happens will happen. And I realized I was missing this, which is silly. And I think it's what Captain kind of mentioned, how people put a lot of weight on the headliners, even though there's so much more. So he kind of brought me back after— when I was editing the episode that I realized this. I was putting weight not necessarily on the headliners, but now he turned my head around and like, wait, I have so many bands I want to watch and I'm gonna be happy seeing any of this. so many bands. So I'm more than ever more excited by the lineup and thinking that maybe it's going to be the best Glastonbury ever.

7:30Jessi Amazing. Well, I'm glad Captain fulfilled his purpose of getting us excited about the lineup, hey?

7:35Yeah, it's true.

7:37Jessi It's true.

7:37Miguel Especially as new recent developments since we recorded that episode, and even after, since we recorded the conversation with The Thingy that we're going to listen soon, we had some new posters having been put out by the festival.

7:51Jessi Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was going to say that was You know, I, I, you look at the main original poster lineup, right? And, and everybody says, oh, there's loads of names to come and yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

8:01It—

8:01Jessi we've had what, Avalon? We've had, um, Silver Hayes. Yeah, we've had— just had Arcadia.

8:07Miguel And also not just music, there was a Theatre and Circus, I think, right?

8:10Jessi Oh yeah, Theatre and Circus. Yeah, there's been like a number of stages now announced. Um, Glasto Latino has been announced and stuff as well. True. But Like, particularly when you look at Silver Hayes and, um, Arcadia. Like, I, I said to Captain, you know, there was Fortet and Bicep on the main poster.

8:28Miguel Yeah, yeah.

8:28Jessi But what do you think about other sort of electronica, like, or just dance, you know, DJs? And look what there was to come. My God, there are so many names on those 2 posters that I would have thought would have been on the main poster.

8:42The Glasto Thingy Yeah.

8:42Jessi You know, they're not, they're not like small artists that no one's heard of. It's— they are big, big names that were not on the main poster. So God, I'm just so excited for all the rest to come.

8:53Miguel Yeah, I love the other posters. I think they really bring home the, the idea that Glastonbury is just so many festivals in one, because you look at a single poster for one area and like, yeah, this, this in itself is a festival. If this was your weekend, you, you sorted. But then there's everything else. So I always go with a mixed group of people who have been before, or some, some are going for the second time, and some are veterans. So it's For me, it's quite interesting to see the different reactions. And I think the ones who are about to go to the first Glastonbury are now feeling that when they see the new area post, like, okay, what is this? What is this poster? This is not the festival. Oh no, this is there? And then you show them, yeah, this is there and it's just this part on the map. There's everything else surrounding it.

9:37Jessi Yeah, yeah. As you say, it is like probably 10, 12 festivals all just kind of squished in next to each other. You know, um, yeah, it's amazing. Oh, so happy.

9:46Miguel And big news is that the Spider's back, which I'm very excited about, even though it's a shame that maybe we're missing the Pangea develop another year or 2. But, uh, it is what it is. I guess it's just one of the things that got affected by the forced cancellations. So let's see if they're gonna bring new developments for Arcadia Spider. Maybe they have all these years to plan something else. And quite excited to see when, uh, if there's new information coming out soon about their plans.

10:13Jessi Yeah, yeah, it would be really amazing to see if they're doing a— you know, for me, I'm hoping for a bigger spider because it's, you know, it is quite difficult to get under there if it's a busy act. So yeah, particularly with some of the artists on those— on that lineup.

10:24Miguel Yeah, the lineup is massive.

10:27Jessi Yeah, exactly. So yeah, it's, it's, uh, I'm glad they've sort of announced that. Um, but yeah, it's— that's one of the things that we actually discussed with The Thingy in a minute, as, as Miguel mentioned. Yeah, we recorded our chat with The Thingy You know, a few days ago from now. Um, and one of the things we talk about is Arcadia and the Spider, but we now know. It's true. Yeah. How exciting.

10:49Miguel Yeah, it's a shame that we couldn't, uh, record this conversation before because one of the questions we put after the thing is the lineup is, is out, what can we expect next? Sadly, we are hearing some of that before we— the episode is out. But oh well, we're still gonna learn everything about the, the man himself.

11:07Jessi Oh, and I mean, the thingy will tell you that, you know, this time of year things happen. Like, Glastonbury news is coming every day. So, you know, it was always going to happen. Great.

11:24Miguel So moving on. And actually, before we get to the chat with the thingy, we need to share an update with you guys. I'm sure you probably noticed already, it's just Jessi and myself here today. We're missing our lovely Rob, and sadly this is going to be our reality moving forward. Uh, Rob is leaving his co-host duties, uh, because as if you listen to our last episode, he had better things to focus on. Maybe he had before, but now he's going to use his free time for his family.

11:53Jessi Yeah, and you know, Rob was a busy man beforehand. He's a fireman in, in real life, so, um, he was already quite hard to pin down. And bless him, you know, now he quite rightly has to concentrate on his daddy duties. So, but You know, I'm sure that post-festival Rob will want to come on and chat to us. I'm very sure that he will be a regular guest or like he'll regularly leave us some voice notes or updates to add to the podcast. So yeah, we, we miss him, but from now on it's me and Miguel and this hopefully means that we'll be able to get more podcasts out to you. That's our plan basically. Definitely a couple more before the 2022 festival happens.

12:32Miguel Absolutely. Yeah. The microphone will always be open for Rob anytime he wants to come and contribute. And as Jessi said, moving forward, uh, the of us will continue the podcast, but that means that more than ever we are looking for your contribution. So we also opened the microphone for you.

12:47Jessi We're already in conversation with a couple of people, so we've got some, you know, future episodes sort of in the making. But we would love to hear from you in whatever way is best for you. So please feel free to drop us an email. The email address is [email protected]. We can get you to send in a voice note that you record in your phone and then we can just play it. Or if you want to, if you've got a big story to tell and you want to come on and have a chat, we can of course arrange that. We've got a really good remote setup that we can chat to you on. And yeah, just keep the stories coming. Tweet us if you want, we'll read out some shoutouts, all of that good stuff. We want it to be, you know, as much the podcast for you as well as just us two, you know, relentlessly discussing the thing that we love the most. But yeah, let's, let's get some contributors.

13:35Miguel And by the way, Jess, I think we actually have some shouts to read for this episode.

13:43Jessi So yes, we've had some awesome tweets come in for some shoutouts, and I'm gonna try and do them justice and read them out now. Forgive me in advance for getting used to pronouncing usernames wrong and things. But so firstly, we've got Reg the Hedge, uh, whose Twitter handle is Reggie1Kenobi. There you go. Uh, and Reg says, can I have a shoutout? It will be my 10 years Glastonbury anniversary this year, and my wingman Ron Don's 5 years Glastonbury anniversary. 22nd of June can't come quick enough. So that's Reg the Hedge and his wingman Ron Don. Great names here. The next shout out is from Crates. I think I'm pronouncing that right. It— his, his Twitter name is @Cretino, uh, but it's not with a C. Anyway, he has said it's @ATJennings88, that's the Twitter username, So it's AT Jennings' first ever Glasto, and he doesn't quite know it yet, but he will fall in love with the best place on the planet. Give him a shout out. I absolutely love that. It is the best place on the planet. Completely agree. And then we've got these 2 little tweets which are quite sweet. They go back to each other. So firstly, Glastopia was, you know, agreeing with someone else and saying, the Glasto community has been my saving grace these last few years. Uh, and then he said, Also, I would like to shout out the lovely Martin Curtis 01 for being a true Glasto Twitter friend. If you see him on his Glasto tractor, then don't forget to wave. He's got some nice emojis there. And then Martin replied, uh, saying, 100% yes. I only really found all the amazing Glasto Twitter peeps in 2020, and I'm so happy that I did. It's been fab and fun. Thank you for the introduction. So that's quite cute. They sort of were Saying hello and shouting out each other, which was sweet.

15:31Miguel And actually, there's one last shout that we want to share, and it's the one that triggered this whole conversation about how important it was, the online community of Glastonbury lovers in these last years. And it's the one sent by Glasturbation, which is quite funny to say it out loud. But yeah, we love it so much that instead of us reading it, we got in touch with him and he sent us an audio clip. So let's hear it from Glasturbation.

15:53Hi, it's Terry, or Glasturbation on Twitter. I've been going since 2013, and I'm lucky enough to live near the festival site. But if I want even more Glastonbury, I can always turn to my Twitter account. And it's Glastonbury Twitter that I'm giving a shout out to really. Over the last couple of years in particular when we've been deprived of the festival and life's been a bit miserable, it's been a really good place to turn to. Either when something just pops into my head and I sort of want to get it out there, I want people to talk about the same thing that I'm thinking about. And it's just really nice, people talk and there's all the other accounts on there that keep the conversation going. And it's really good for obsessives like me and the many others on Twitter to be able to be involved in conversation all the time. So my shout out goes to them, and extra love to those that don't even have a ticket yet constantly get involved in the conversation. I don't know how you do it. Um, other than that, I'm looking forward to seeing you guys in the fields and having a dance and getting pissed in June. I'll see you then. Bye-bye.

16:52Miguel Oh, I love that message. And, uh, you know, Jessi, I always wonder how is it for the occasional listener— not the occasional listener, but our listener who really doesn't get involved on all things Glastonbury throughout the year. How is it for them listening to our podcast when we keep mentioning all these usernames and Twitter handles? Because everyone, that's how we refer to each other. Even when we met before, you were like, Where's My Tent? And Rob was All Things Glasto. I was Glasto360. So I don't know if they got lost listening to our podcast, but it is what it is. We He started the podcast. I mean, we did the first series that was for you who was going for the first time to learn everything about Glastonbury and get ready to make the most of it, hoping that when you were there you would fall in love and come back and become one of us. If you're lost right now and you're about to go into your first Glastonbury, come back to these episodes, be part of the community, and then everything's gonna make sense. Maybe there's some internal jokes you've been missing and some references to some stuff. things. So yeah, this is what's happening here. It's a big community. We created the podcast to be part of it, to give back, to say thanks.

17:57Jessi I was going to say, like, you know, when we used to do our meetups at Glasto in like 2010, sorry, 2012 and stuff, like we, maybe not 2012, sorry, there wasn't a festival then, you know what I mean? 2010, 2011, something like that. We used to have to go to these meetups with, you know, hi, my name is stickers on us. But instead of having our actual name, we used to have our Twitter handle on them.

18:19The Glasto Thingy Yeah.

18:19Miguel Yeah.

18:19The Glasto Thingy So that is that's—

18:21Jessi we just knew each other as that, and it was so weird putting like faces to Twitter handles and stuff. So if you do go to Glasto and you love it, then Twitter is a great place to get involved because the conversation is happening year-round. E-Fest as well, you know, I've mentioned it before, but just a shout out to their— their forums are always super active year-round. And it's not just— I mean, the Glastonbury forum is the best forum, let's be honest, but they have forums for like all different festivals around the UK and Just kind of general festival chat as well. It's a good place to be. Yeah, it's a fun community and this podcast is just one small piece of it.

18:54Miguel And yeah, and that's exactly where we went to invite the guest for this episode. That's The Glasto Thingy. We recorded this conversation a few days ago and I'm sure many of you from the forums and Twitter are very curious to hear directly from him and maybe learn some curiosities and how he started the whole project. So let's hear our conversation. Emily Eavis once tweeted, had a feeling you may have the stats. So we are very happy to have you with us today to find out what's coming next for Glastonbury 2022 firsthand. Hello and welcome to our podcast.

19:36The Glasto Thingy Hello, thank you very much. Thanks for the invite.

19:38Miguel Uh, first things first, uh, since we start planning the podcast on the first episodes, uh, Jessi, Rob, and I, we been discussing who else we can bring together. We always wanted to invite other members of the community, and your name would always come first— your Twitter handle, actually. That's where I'm getting at. We always made the assumption then that maybe he wants to keep it secret, he doesn't want to reveal himself too much. So my first question to you is, are we calling you the Thingy, or you have a name to give us?

20:06The Glasto Thingy I would stick with the Thingy.

20:08Jessi Oh, I love that. I'm happy with that.

20:11The Glasto Thingy Yeah, stick with that. You know, I'm You know, a number of people who go know me and I've met them, you know, have meetups, that sort of thing. I perhaps tweet a little too much during work hours to put down my name. So I'll leave it at that.

20:26Miguel That works wonderfully for us. Of course, you're going to have to, when we release this conversation, please, please give a thumbs up on Twitter to confirm that it's actually you.

20:35The Glasto Thingy Yeah, I will do.

20:37Jessi You know what? When we were planning for this, I genuinely thought you might come on with one of those little voice changer You know, devices or something like that. I love it. But anyway, we're really happy to have you, and we'll happily call you the thingy even if it's a bit of a mouthful.

20:50Miguel That's great. So, uh, basically, uh, every time we have a guest on, we like to start with our default question, which is, what's your Glastonbury story? So if you want to give us a rundown, or the— when was the first time you went to the festival? How did you end up there? Were you already going to other festivals? Did you try tickets for some time? Uh, did Did you fall in love right away? You've been going since? I'm dropping a lot of questions just to kind of give you some guidance of what— just a quick summary, if you can give us how you started at Glastonbury.

21:19The Glasto Thingy Okay, so I was a bit of a late developer really, and I didn't go for the first time until 2010, which was a good year to start, you know, perfect weather that year, a good lineup, all, you know, everything sort of lined up for that. I had a few friends who were going. And they broke this to me after the initial sale, so I didn't know they were going. And I was like, oh my God, I need to get a ticket as well. So I managed to get some late on in the resale for that year, and that was it. I was off to my first one. I used to go to a lot of other festivals back in the '80s, like Donington and Reading, but back then I never really fancied Glastonbury because the lineups just didn't appeal to me. But we'll now tell everyone that, you know, the lineup doesn't matter. But to me then, at stage, yeah, it just didn't look the sort of thing I'd want to go to. So yeah, I was hooked after that first one. I've been lucky enough to get tickets to every one since then, including doing a few on my own. 2011 I went on my own. 2014 I planned to go on my own but ended up meeting with a lot of other people who were also doing the same thing through eFestivals forum. So there was a group that met up, everyone who was going on their own— well, not everyone, a load of people going on their own— met together, camped together, and since then have been meeting up every year, both at the festival and away from it. Lifelong friendships have been made. There's even been a wedding. So hi, Camper Alf, if you're all listening, which I hope you will be. We have people who come from all over the UK and Ireland. And even one intrepid person who ventures over from California. So this year I'm going with both my sons. The youngest is making his debut. It's his first trip. Me and the older one will be going down early-ish on Thursday. So we're going down Tuesday night. We don't sleep in the queue. We haven't got to that stage yet, though I am sort of tempted, but we won't be doing that. Join the queue very early. Then we'll be setting up in Pains and holding space for as long as we can for the rest of Camp Ralph to arrive and see if we can get us all in, in the one place together. And then my younger son's coming down by coach on the Thursday. So yeah, that's my plans for this year when I started.

23:47Miguel Perfect.

23:48Jessi That's amazing.

23:48Miguel That's fantastic.

23:49Jessi Yeah.

23:50Yeah.

23:50Miguel You mentioned 2014. It feels like it was a year that a lot of things got started for you. And I know, I think I mentioned this to you on Twitter, 2014 was a really important year for me as well, which was the only year I couldn't get tickets in the sale. But then I went and applied to volunteer and I ended up going on my own. And I think it probably was one of the best years I had at Glastonbury. And I met a lot of people not from forums on Twitter at that time, even though I used to read and follow conversations. But I think that's what kickstarted then my idea to then become more active because I went by myself and ended up making a lot of friends and I kind of wanted to be part of that. And and tell people that you can go on your own, because I think it's an often question that you see, someone who was able to buy tickets by themselves only, and they kind of ask, I'm going alone, what should I do? And that's what it lets really to where we are right now in terms of Twitter and podcast.

24:44The Glasto Thingy That's it. It's a really good way to do it actually, in that you haven't got to hang about and wait for anyone or make any other plans. You just go and do exactly what you want. So sorry to any mates who are listening to this, I really have a great time when I go with you. But on my own as well, that 2011 especially, I saw so many acts that year. I just went from stage to stage and just, you know, there's no— we've always, when I've gone with my mates, we always, it doesn't matter, oh, do you want to see these? No, I'll see you later. And that's it. Yeah. We don't have any issues like that. You know, some people have rows over who they're going to go and see and that. There's none of that. But that just being able to do exactly what you wanted on your own when you wanted to, it's quite a free experience. And you do get to chat to people, especially in the big crowds. I found down the front of the Pyramid waiting for the acts, there's always people to talk to. So yeah, it's a good way to do it.

25:36Jessi Yeah, I mean, my next question was really going to be like, how do you Glastonbury? But I guess you've basically mentioned that, like your plans for this year and, you know, loving being at the solo and also not. But I guess, have you, have you always been in a tent? Have you ever done any kind of glamping or campervanning? You know, have you got your like ultimate camping setup now? Do you do much planning before you go? Like, obviously I'm guessing with all your, you know, stats and statistics and dates and etc., and looking at the lineup so intensively, etc., just wondering like how, how planned are you and things like that? Is there any more, you know, details around that?

26:13The Glasto Thingy Yeah, so I've always been on a tent within the festival grounds itself. The first year I went, the friends who booked the tickets, they were staying in an offsite glamping place. So I used to walk up to where they were and walk back down again every day to go and meet them. And yeah, it looked very nice. They had showers, they had their own bar and that, but I think I prefer being in amongst it, even though, you know, you're losing sleep and you haven't got all the comforts of home. But I like that, being in amongst, I think.

26:50Miguel Yeah.

26:51The Glasto Thingy The noise depends who your neighbours are. It can be a nightmare. I haven't had any at Glastonbury would have had a few nightmare neighbours at other festivals. But yeah, being in amongst it, I'd rather have that. Planning it out, I do obviously do Clashfinder, like most people do.

27:09Miguel Yeah.

27:10The Glasto Thingy Put one of those together, plan out who I'm going to see, listen to as many bands as I can beforehand to maybe find some new acts to listen to or to go and see. I don't know if you've seen it on Twitter. Brave Sir Robin does a brilliant Glastonbury Spotify playlist, which is— he bases it on the setlists for the acts rather than what their most popular songs on Spotify are. So you get a good flavour of what they're actually going to do. So I go through that list often very quickly, going on to the next act after a few seconds. You can tell this isn't for me. I'm moving on to the next one. So I'll plan that out so I'll know which bands I really want to see. I try to make sure I have some time to go to the Theatre and Circus Fields to have a wander around there so I'm not just doing bands all day. And yeah, just take it from there. Try to stick to the plan as much as I can. I don't want to come away with, oh, wish I'd gone to them. But there's always the distractions at Glastonbury, isn't there? You're watching something nuts with 4 other people when you're missing one of the bands you really had your, you know, your eye on that you wanted to get to. So yeah, I spend a lot— I'll be up early watching the sort of earlier bands as well, the ones starting at 11 o'clock. As anyone who knows me will tell you, I'm not one for dance music at all, so a lot of the late-night stuff doesn't appeal. It's all lost on me. It looks nice, sounds awful. So I'm more likely later on to be found in places like the Avalon Cafe or the Cabaret Tent. I love Mavericks. I don't know if you've ever been in there. A different type of late-night entertainment. It's like a small cabaret stage. There's chairs, tables. You might even get a free drink, the odd cocktail they'll give away. That's a good, good way to spend the evening. Yeah, I like it in there, but I'm not someone who is still going at 3 and 4 in the morning in the Temple. That's not for me.

29:13Miguel Sure.

29:13The Glasto Thingy Other people in our camper group, yes. Not me.

29:16Miguel And I guess a continuation of this same subject, we always, at least us, we always discuss, we have these rituals that we do every year at Glastonbury that after we're looking at going back to the farm, that's something that we want to do again. Or even if it's that small moment of after you've set up your tent and then you open the first drink, do you have anything you always look forward or anything or something that you like, I have to do this every year?

29:42The Glasto Thingy Yeah, that's, that's one of the main things to do is don't open your beer until your tent's up. So always have that one. First beer is normally as I'm pumping up my air bed. One I always do, I always try and get to Hobo in the Avalon Cafe. Hobo Jones and the Junkyard Dogs. That sort of seems a bit of a tradition for us. We'll always go to that one. So yeah, it's in, set the tent up, wait for the others to arrive, and then go for a wander off around the site. Have to walk up the hill to by the sign and the flags sometime on Wednesday or Thursday, look out over the site. Good to be back again. And I think that's it. I try to mix it up so I'm not doing the same thing every year, but I tend to find I basically just repeat the festival with a few different bands.

30:32Miguel Yeah, you mentioned the sign, and we always joke with Jessi that she has never been to the But she's, uh, we haven't released that while in the time of this chat now. We haven't released a new episode, but she's, she, she promised that she's gonna go there this year. Is that, is that something that you have never done at Glastonbury that you're still looking forward to? Or you say, oh, I'm gonna do this this year, but that never ends up happening? Sorry, sorry to put you on the spot as well, Jessi, again.

31:00The Glasto Thingy No, no, uh, I am— no, I don't think so. I, I tend to have done most of the things I want to. Every year I say I'm gonna have a Bloody Mary for breakfast. Breakfast and never do. So maybe I'll do that this time. But I think of the— I'm not sure how many it is now, 8 maybe— that I've been to. I think I've covered all the ground I want to. It's now just, yeah, going back. Hopefully there'll be something new to go and see.

31:24Jessi Yeah, that's the thing, isn't it? I was just gonna say, Miguel, like, honestly, I was gonna try and let us get past this without mentioning the fact that I haven't been up to this sign. If anyone's playing the GlastoCast bingo card of how many times are we going to mention this across the episode, We've got to be up there on 5, 6 times. I will get there this year. I will take the picture, I will put it on the Twitter, and everyone will clap. Clearly. I was going to ask, uh, the thingy— have you been to the Underground Piano Bar, which is one of the other ones that we talk about that I have not yet been to?

31:55The Glasto Thingy Yeah, I've never been there. I've been there and seen as far as the queue. I don't like to queue up for anything at Glastonbury if I don't need to. Um, so I've thought, is it gonna be worth it? I don't know. So I just go, I go, no.

32:10Miguel I do agree with that because if I think about things I haven't done or that it took a couple of editions for me to do, usually involve things that I have to queue for. So I understand what you're saying. For instance, one that's in my list now that I think maybe then I will have everything complete is I've never been to the Rabbit Hole and to the NYC Download, which is more on the naughty corner side of things.

32:34Jessi Yeah, I always do the Download because I don't mind queuing for that. I mean, it is It sometimes is absolutely mega. But yeah, the rabbit hole and stuff, I totally agree. You see a queue, I think me and my friends usually just go, look, let's commit, let's wait 15 minutes and see how far we get. And then, you know, if we've moved quite far, then great. If we haven't, then we'll sack it off. But it's just one of those things you have to go, have I got a beer for the queue? Am I with people that I can converse with in the queue? I don't know, you know, let's talk around, let's make friends. I don't know, those kind of things.

33:06The Glasto Thingy Yeah, I think the only time I've ever queued up for something was E-Rake Express, the first year that was there when they had the train.

33:12Jessi Oh yeah!

33:14The Glasto Thingy Yeah, yeah, when that was opening and they were late opening, so we were standing there for a while. But it was quite fun in that people kept coming up to us and obviously it's in the naughty corner, whatever you want to call it, and there's a lot of people there for dance acts and they'll come up and go, what are you queuing for? What's on? Thinking it was some secret dance act or something. And he said, oh, it's Glen Matlock. And they just sort of look at me like I was insane. You know, he was the bassist in the Sex Pistols. And then they just shake their heads and walk away.

33:41Jessi So that was the time. I was going to say, I gathered from your, you know, saying that the festivals you went to in the '80s, '90s, like Donington and Reading, etc., I was going to say, you sound like me, came from kind of a rock background and were like, no, you know what, Glastonbury is too much, too much. It's not really my thing. And then obviously once you've been, you realize that's not the case. But yeah, I was the same when Earache Factory started. I was like, yes, we've got a metal corner, excellent, you know. So it was good. Well, metal punk, whatever you want to call it, but it was good fun. Um, I guess, you know, let's, let's, let's turn to who you are and what you do, which you've touched on, I guess. But, um, so when did you start your Twitter account? Me and Miguel were, were just reminiscing about this before you joined, um, joined the call. We were like, I remember your Twitter account exploding overnight almost. Um, but yeah, when, when, when did that start and kind of, you know, what inspired you to create it, I guess? What, what made you go, you know what, I'm gonna start posting about this has happened before and these are the dates, etc.?

34:41The Glasto Thingy Yeah, um, there's probably quite a story behind that, but I could— yeah, so it was something that started on eFestivals again on the Glastonbury chat forum. So as you'll know, the first thing anyone wants to know once they've got a ticket ticket is, when is the lineup at? So that question is asked all the time by especially newbies to it. So a lot of the time on the forum someone would be asking that. So someone started a list of dates so we could just say this is when it was. That expanded with a few more things going in. People were doing a bit of digging around the internet. To use some of their— give them a shout out I suppose— some of their E-Fest usernames. Beaver89 was one. Brave Sir Robin, who have mentioned it the playlist, he was involved. Duke Icon, who was the font of all Glastonbury knowledge. So they put a lot of effort into it. Then there was another user, I think it was Jay Barber, but I'm not sure on that. Apologies if I'm wrong. They put this list into the blog part of the site. So from then on, if anyone asked, when is the lineup out, they'd be pointed at the list. But the thing was, people couldn't remember where the list was. So then someone would say, okay, when's the lineup out? The next post would nearly always be, where's the lineup thingy? And that's where the name comes from.

35:59Jessi Amazing.

36:00The Glasto Thingy The lineup thingy. And that's why it's such a stupid name, but that's where it started from. So eventually someone suggested making a website for it so it was easy to find and easy to point out, to link to. At the time, I was in a job where I worked away from home a lot and was often sitting bored in a hotel. In the middle of nowhere. So I made a website with it. I expanded on what was already there, added more information, put in links to the stories of when the different bits of news came out, put in things like the resales, how long it was for a sale before they sold out, all that sort of stuff. So just kept building it up. And then a bit later, again stuck in this hotel in the middle of nowhere, I started the Twitter account, starting just basically with the on this day stuff and then expanding it to rumours, photo of the day, crap memes, anything like that, and anything else that I could find. And I think that was 2016, but I'm not certain on that. You know, when you get this how long you've been posting on Twitter comes up on your feed every now and then. I think that's when I started that. So yeah, it's just sort of gone from there. So There's the Twitter one, which is the main one. I sort of interact on that a lot more than I do, uh, on the others. But there's also an Instagram one, which has just gone over 2,000 followers, and a Facebook one, which I really should give up on because I think there's about 20 people follow the Facebook one, and I don't put much effort into that one, just cut and paste things.

37:31Jessi I mean, yeah, Facebook is a bit of a dying medium, to be honest. So I, yeah, I agree with you there. It's funny, again, I was just speaking to Miguel about this, and I was like, what I find funny about the name, it's really interesting to hear where came from. I, I assumed it was from, um, from E-Fests. Like, it, it almost plays on that. So there's always the joke at Glastonbury that the second stage is called the Other Stage because, you know, people will be like, oh, where's so-and-so playing? Be like, is it the Pyramid? No, no, no, it's on the Other Stage, you know. And it's kind of like similar thing with the thingy. It's like, oh, you know, when's that date? Oh, it's on the— it's on the thingy, check the thingy, you know. So Yeah, I just— it's interesting to hear where it came from, and it was a similar sort of situation, but on the forum, like, who's got the link to the thingy? Yeah, I love that.

38:17Miguel What I also love about all of this conversation is how it brings me back to the early days of the internet before social media, because we are talking about usernames instead of people's names. So I do love that. And I think Twitter kind of came to complement quite well what was happening on e-festivals and other groups about Glastonbury. I think Twitter became quite an interesting community as well. Do you think that starting the Twitter account has affected your experience much with the festival and with the other people?

38:46The Glasto Thingy Yeah, I guess so. It's made it more of a sort of all-year-round thing, I suppose. You know, it's constantly someone discussing something about the festival. It's rare now I pick up my phone and I haven't got a notification of something that's going on So yeah, and it's a nice part of Twitter as well. I've got a couple of Twitter accounts, a normal one and the Glastonbury one, and the timeline on my Glastonbury one is generally a lot nicer place to the timeline on my other one, which reflects more the sort of bin fire that Twitter can be. So, you know, people send me stuff, I get news, photos, and rumours, and Just keeps the excitement going, I guess, over the year.

39:31Miguel This idea of making an around-the-year sort of thing is, I think, what's prompted me the idea to do the podcast as well. I think, I think the medium of podcasts was coming stronger and the whole idea of binge-watching and binge-consuming. And I thought like, hey, I want to also contribute to people who want to talk and discuss Glastonbury all year round. So that's when I approached Jessi and Rob to do the podcast.

39:56Yeah.

39:56Jessi And it's kind of why we started our own accounts before then, wasn't it, Miguel? Like, you know, you had your Glasto 360 with your amazing, um, sort of photo spheres and stuff. And like, I know mine was a bit more general and where's my tent, but I mean, it was the love of Glastonbury that inspired me to constantly chat about festivals. But I just tried to make sure that I was chatting about lots of festivals and trying not to be too exclusive. But we all knew that that's the one I wanted to talk about the most anyway. So, um, I, I guess I've got a question. Like, I know this is probably a silly question, and Lord knows how you're going to be able to pick this out, but have you got like a favorite statistic that you've uncovered? Or like, I don't know, is, is there like a, a date that always reminds you of a certain Glastonbury thing? Is it— is there like something that you always look forward to every year, like a particular tweet that you know that, you know, this is on this day? I don't know, is there, is there something that you've posted out that you go, yeah, this is, this is my favorite sort of stat or, or piece of information that I found?

40:56The Glasto Thingy There's a few things, I guess, really. I love the things where weird stuff's happened, like names appearing on the poster and then disappearing again. Like D'Angelo— I don't even know how you say it— D'Angelo? D'Angelo? He appeared on the lineup poster during the day in 2016, then vanished again, never to be mentioned. So it was just sort of, was he booked? Was it a mistake? What happened? In 2017, late in the day after the poster had come out, Liam Gallagher And Liane Le Havas appeared on the poster and then disappeared again. So I like little bits like that. That's always, you know, where someone's probably pressed the button they shouldn't have done. And what, what's going on there? I mean, is it just a pointer to what's going to happen later?

41:39Jessi I love that. You can just imagine like somebody in the office panicking, basically, is probably what happened there.

41:44The Glasto Thingy Yeah, I know, which is bad. I shouldn't enjoy that really, but I do. Sorry, in the office and anyone who listens. Um, but I think the old— the older stuff is more fascinating. Um, I think tweeted recently about 2002 for a year and just thinking about how that would go down now with what was happening then. The license wasn't granted until late in January, so they didn't even know it was going to be allowed to go ahead. So, and part of that agreement was the introduction of the super fence. The tickets went on sale towards the end of Feb and they took about 25 days to sell out. And no lineup news was actually published at all until a week before the festival, and then the final headliner wasn't confirmed until the Wednesday of the festival. So back then most people didn't go until the Thursday, and a lot turned up on Friday as well, so they had no idea who one of their headliners was until the day before they left the house. A lot of people also turned up ticketless thinking they'd be able to get in, only to be faced with a massive fence and extra security. And I'd just like to imagine what social media would be like if that was how it was now. You bought your ticket, we're not going to tell you till the week before who you're going to see. Can you imagine?

43:00Miguel Yeah, but you know what, we did have a conversation with Captain, who is the director of music at Boomtown Fair, and that's exactly the approach they are having for this year. They're releasing— they're keeping the lineup mostly secret. until almost the time of the festival. So there are people trying things differently, maybe to bring back, maybe to bring back something from the past or try to reduce the impact of social media. So it is happening, funnily enough.

43:27The Glasto Thingy Yeah, there are people who went even earlier than that, so they didn't know who was playing until they got on site. So, you know, I suppose it is going back to that. And part of me would like that, but another part of things that I like, that chance to listen and discover new artists before I go who are on the So, you know, you don't want to get home 6 months later, listen to someone go, these are really good, and find out they were at a stage when you were just doing nothing, you know. So, um, yeah, it makes sense. See both sides. Yeah.

43:55Miguel You did mention people at the office, and of course, as we said at the beginning, you got it— you've been praised by Emily Eavis. Do you feel you have a certain responsibility now, or are you proud when you are able to dig some information yourself directly from Yeah, I often wonder what they really think of accounts like mine and some of the other—

44:15The Glasto Thingy when we, when we let something out that shouldn't be let out the bag, are we an annoyance or do we keep the festival in people's minds? Is it— it'd be interesting to find that out one day, I suppose.

44:26Miguel Very good questions.

44:28The Glasto Thingy Yeah, I don't know. Do they hate us or do they love us or somewhere in between? I'd imagine it's somewhere in between.

44:34Jessi I mean, we have the same We have the same, you know, not worry, concerns, I don't know. But we're like, obviously we know we're unofficial, right? And we say that every time we do a podcast, we say it right at the beginning, we post it everywhere online. But you do wonder, you're like, God, do the festival know who we are? Like, do they like us? Do they hate us?

44:53The Glasto Thingy Yeah, yeah, it's interesting, isn't it? I saw, I don't know if you know, I did an April Fool's joke. If you saw it, I said that the Ribbon Tower was going to be converted into a helter skelter. Someone had said that The— there were people maybe not right at the top or people within the festival who weren't happy about it because I'd put fake quotes in and fake links and things like that. So I don't know, I don't know, maybe they find it a bit of fun, maybe they're just like, oh, what's this idiot done? I don't know.

45:22Miguel Well, let's, let's move forward. We go too deep into this subject.

45:27Jessi Cool. So let's actually speak about the festival this year. And I'm just so happy that I can say that, like, the festival is in 2 months' time. Oh my God. But anyway, so Glastonbury 2023. Have you got any new facts and figures for this year? Is there anything that's popped up? Is there anything new that you'll be tracking?

45:46The Glasto Thingy Well, there's a couple of things we can say for sure that everyone knows. Obviously, Stick Lynch is a new tented area that used to be Campervan West, so it'll be interesting to see how that goes in comparison to Worthy View. The Beat Hotel has been replaced with something new by the same team. I have been told of one thing that's changing, but been asked to keep it quiet, so I won't say anything on that. And after my April Fools debacle, maybe no one would believe me even if I did, so I'll keep quiet on that one. But I think, yeah, one of the best days of the Glastonbury year is always when the updated map comes out, so hopefully we'll see some new things on there. I love comparing it between this year and last year. Someone always does a GIF where the 2 overlap each other and you can see what's changed. And also then as the build starts, see if we get any clues. But they've done some stuff around Spike. I think they made it a bit bigger. But again, I don't think that's any secret. People who went to the campsite last year were reporting on that. So yeah, be interesting to see.

46:51Miguel In our last episode, we discussed the poster and lineup, and I would like to know if you check how— of course we had this Force Yatus of 2 years, and I feel like this lineup that came out, it has this challenge that people want everyone that was announced in 2020 to play, but they also want to have big and new surprises, which is sort of hard to do. So, but basically my first question is how the release this year stacked up against 2020. If you check how many acts were dropped, how many additions, or the date was when it was announced the first big announcement of the lineup.

47:27The Glasto Thingy Yeah, I did announce it. I got it wrong and I tweeted it twice. People kept pointing out names who actually were still on it. We had to look at that. So this year's poster then, what can I tell you? It was the earliest ever poster by 8 days over 2020 and 11 days earlier than one that actually happened over 2019. 89 names on it, which is the highest number of acts announced since they moved to this format of poster in 2014. So before this, they used to— the posters would come out and you'd have which area or which stage the bands were on. From 2014 onwards, it was just like that load of names in no particular order other than the headliners at the top. This year they've gone with alphabetical, so we've got even less clues as to who's on each stage. So yeah, Highest number of acts on it apart from last, um, 2020, which didn't go ahead. There were 41 acts on the poster for 2020 that stayed onto the 2022 poster, so we lost 54 along the way. So quite a few that disappeared. So as far as that goes, yeah, not a huge— well, probably about 50% of the lineup gone from what we'd expected then. Will any of them appear on the later lineups? I don't know.

48:46Miguel I love to be hearing all the facts and numbers directly from you.

48:48Jessi I was just thinking the same. I was just thinking the same.

48:52Miguel You personally, is that a name that disappeared from the poster that you, that you're gonna miss?

48:56The Glasto Thingy Not from the poster, but one who was almost certainly going to play but was never officially announced, and that was Aerosmith. Um, I don't know if you remember, they, they self-confirmed basically by putting Glastonbury on their, um, their own website twice. 2020 and 2021. The gap was there for 2022, and then they cancelled the tour and they're doing a residency in Las Vegas instead, which is pretty annoying. I was really looking forward to— I haven't seen them for a number of years. I was looking forward to that.

49:25Jessi We talked about that on the last episode. I said that was the one that really, you know, as we've said, you know, me from a rock background, I was like, yes, come on Aerosmith. But yeah, it's a shame. But maybe next year, who knows?

49:36Miguel But it's good that you mentioned that because this is another thing that you're able to do With your account on Twitter, which is look for, for the first spotters and the Glasto-shaped holes on bands' tour dates. How does that work? Can you talk a bit about that?

49:51The Glasto Thingy A lot of it, again, as with most of the information I get from, I just find it on eFestivals on the forum there because there's so many people who post on there, and if they find anything, that's the first place they'll put it in. So I try whenever I remember to link back to the forum when they found it on there. So it's— there's a couple of threads which are really good to follow on there. There's a self-confirmed one where people put the information when someone— they've seen that someone's confirmed themselves. And what— there's another one which is a good one to follow on what day is someone playing, so you can start to figure out who you're going to be able to see and who you're not going to be able to see. So that's when the, the acts start putting the dates onto their own tour posters and websites and things like that. So if It's a good place to keep up to that. Now as the account has got bigger, I do get people sending me stuff themselves individually. You get, you know, DMs saying, have you seen this? Someone contacted me to let me know that an actor was playing for sure who was linked to them. So yeah, it's good. I'm starting to get my own sources. I'm starting to feel important rather than just stealing everything from EU Festivals. So yeah, it's good. And I spot the odd one myself. Jessi Mallon, an actor I really like, I'd seen on his Facebook page that he was playing. So I get the odd one myself, but not many.

51:08Miguel I think, as I said again, I think that Twitter complements a lot e-festivals and you became an important part of that. And as you say, you always cite the sources and that's why I love this Potter's badge as well. So it is a good combination of where you get your information from about Glastonbury.

51:27Jessi So when we were getting ready for our next couple of podcasts after our long hiatus of, God, over a year— sorry— but we put— we finally got back onto our GlastoCast Twitter account and we said, does anybody have any questions, uh, or anything they want to say, or any shoutouts or anything? You replied, uh, very cheekily, when does the rest of the lineup come out? Which of course is probably a question you get asked all the time, and you are the best person to answer this, so I'm going to turn it back on you. When does the rest of the lineup come out?

51:58The Glasto Thingy Right, well then, so we are now into the timeline when we can expect to see the individual areas coming out, including one tomorrow. But obviously by the time that comes out, by the time this comes out, that will have already happened. So yeah, we're fitting back into the normal sort of timescale. There were 16 different areas announced before the full lineup came in 2019. So, you know, there's Avalon, Silver Hayes, The Common, The Glade, Shangri-La, West Holts, etc. Even The Park last time had their own announcements, which was the first time they'd ever done that since the area appeared in 2007. You would then sometimes get a few that come out, sneak out after the lineup. Cineramageddon came out after the lineup in the 2 years it's been there. Arcadia has done that a couple of times as well. And then you also get some of the smaller stages, they'll announce the lineup but it doesn't get any sort of fanfare from the official account. So I think the last time Avalon Cafe, Babylon Rising often does that. So yeah, there's plenty to come out over the next few months. There's a lot that needs to be announced. We should then move on to the full lineup with stages and times. Emily posted it will come in June It's usually late May, early June, so I don't see that there's any reason to doubt that. So yeah, and just to preempt the next question, if I may, one of the things I'm asked most about this when the lineups come out are, are we gonna get any big acts, any big names to come? And it's a difficult one to call. Had Aerosmith not dropped out, we'd have been saying yes, there's definitely another big one to come yet.

53:46Yeah.

53:47The Glasto Thingy 2017 had a similar number of acts on the first poster. 56 of those were on the 5 main stages. Sorry, 56 acts that were on the 5 main stages weren't on the first poster. So, you know, there's still a lot of gaps to fill up on the big stages there. But they were almost all lower down on the bill. So the first few, 3 or 4 acts on the bill. Apart from the secret sets that year, the only real big name was Liam Gallagher. But as I mentioned before, he'd already sort of been hinted at because he appeared on the poster on lineup day and then disappeared again. So, you know, we sort of knew that was going to happen. So there's still, you know, possibility of a few new names. You know, we get the odd curveball who may not be appearing high up the bill but is like a sort of, you know, a wow moment. Jeff Goldblum, for instance, in 2019. If the guitarist hadn't leaked it, I think we could have all said, who saw that coming? But that was just a brilliant addition to the lineup. His soundcheck was one of the highlights of 2019. So before he'd even started the show, he was just— I don't know if you were there— he was just chatting to the crowd. It was going so well, the woman from the BBC came out and asked him had he started. So yeah, I don't think we'll get any other big ones, but potentially the odd name here or there.

55:08Miguel You know what, I was there at Jeff Goldblum, so I saw that happening. And then later I I, I, I was on Twitter and I saw that you were sort of, uh, tweeting, and then you released like a video, and then from the angle, like, I think he was next to me. It's like, oh, so I was very close to the thing.

55:27The Glasto Thingy I did actually walk past the 3 of you on the, um, on the railway track.

55:33Miguel Oh, look at him, Jessi!

55:35The Glasto Thingy You seem to be in a bit of a rush to go somewhere. I was like, shall I chase after them? No, no, I'll leave you there. No, maybe next time. Next time I'll definitely chase you.

55:45Jessi Yeah, do it. I mean, that Wednesday, if it's when we were thinking, like the Wednesday evening we were walking down the railway track, let's just say at least one of us was really quite worse for wear at that point. So probably a good thing you didn't say hello to us.

56:00Miguel You had the right call.

56:02The Glasto Thingy Yeah. Yeah. And it's always that awkward moment when you introduce yourself by a stupid Twitter handle. It's like, you know, yeah.

56:10Jessi I mean, we've been part of Twisto for years, so we've been used to that. Like, obviously that's, that's always the most awkward thing is when you go up to people and go, I'm Jessi Jim Fox, or I'm Where's My Tent, and people go, oh, okay.

56:21The Glasto Thingy Yeah, yeah, we had similar with that first time we all met up for the solo campers in 2014. We'd all have to say, well, this is— yeah, I'm this person and this is my real name.

56:31Miguel But yeah, uh, I think, I think you end up touching a lot of the other questions I had in mind basically any predictions about surprises for this year. You already sort of touched on that subject, so maybe I'll change that a bit. And of course you say there's always like a secret set, and last year, I think— last year, last edition, we had The Killers, which was quite big.

56:54Yeah.

56:55Miguel No, the year before.

56:56The Glasto Thingy That was the year before.

56:57Miguel They ended up headlining. So I think my question is going to be, if there's anyone who's going to be doing a secret set, is there a band that you choose? And which stage?

57:05The Glasto Thingy It's a good one. Um, I would like, now that Aerosmith aren't doing it, there to be something perhaps similar to replace them. But it's who's available. There's so many bands touring, um, this year, and you think, oh, they've got a space, but when you look, it means they'd be doing 4 or 5 days, you know, um, on the bounce. And a lot of people will say, oh, but you know, surely that doesn't matter, I work 4 or 5 days a week. But the bigger the act, the more likely they are to make sure they've got a space between the gigs. And there's a massive rock festival on in France over that weekend, Hellfest, that seems to have like 90% of the metal bands playing over that weekend. So I don't know who's actually going to be free to fill that. Again, going back to the info off eFestivals, Neil has said he's heard Paolo Nutini's going to be doing it. Whether that'll come out on the as an official announcement, or he may sneak in as a surprise set. Um, I don't know, so be interesting.

58:09Jessi I've, I've actually got like a potential suggestion, and I am more than— I know that it's very likely that you're gonna tell— you're gonna have already researched this and tell me why it's not gonna happen. But I was actually looking at getting Simply Red tickets for my parents and me to go to, and they have a gap and they're kind of in the vague area, and I Simply Red at Glasto would be wicked. Let's get a bit of Mick Hucknall on the Pyramid Stage as a sort of secret surprise act. I think that would be brilliant. But, uh, feel free to now tell me why that is probably not gonna happen. But that was one that I thought could, could be a possibility.

58:47The Glasto Thingy I'd say it's probably not gonna happen because they're a truly awful band.

58:51Jessi Come on, I knew you could do that. Right, okay, I I agree that they are like, I mean, cheesy as hell, and you know, but they've got, I think, a couple of their songs.

59:04The Glasto Thingy They've got a few.

59:05Jessi Really good for an afternoon.

59:06The Glasto Thingy I'll let you have it. Yeah, I remember looking at them when someone suggested them, and I maybe just blanked that out of hope that they wouldn't appear. But, um, I, I, again, but a lot of those, when you look at the bands and you go, oh, that'd be terrible, but they'll get massive crowds to go and see them.

59:22Yeah.

59:22The Glasto Thingy And there's, um, I don't know if you remember, one of the people off McFly hinted they were going to be there. So that could be similar to when Busted played the Avalon, and they might do that. But they just get absolutely massive crowds, don't they? So a lot of the ones you think, oh, that's a bit cheesy— people love a bit of cheese at Glastonbury, don't they? You've only got to look at the Legend slot to see how that turns out.

59:45Miguel Let me, let me try the same as Jessi just did. My guess for a secret set is Thom Yorke was in the poster in 2020, and then he played at the livestream recorded at the farm with a new band together with Jonny Greenwood, also from Radiohead, The Smile. And so that's the one I'm putting down to— and he's done in the past. So I think a secret, maybe late afternoon set at the park.

1:00:08The Glasto Thingy Yeah, I've got a feeling off the top of my head that they're actually playing somewhere else over the weekend. I have to take that out. I think they've been discounted but I can't. All right, all right. I think it's one of them where there is a potential, but it would mean flying in from another country, doing the set, and flying back out to another country. And it sort of goes against the whole ethos, doesn't it? Just flying in for one day. But it doesn't mean it won't happen, but I think they were very much doubtful.

1:00:37Miguel So that's my guess done as well.

1:00:40Jessi I like that. I'm, I'm kind of hoping for— oh God, I'm gonna say this and maybe they're on the poster. No, they're not. I'm kind of hoping for Royal Blood to come back because they were so good in 2017. Or 2019, oops. Um, but whichever, they were so, so good. And the thing is, they haven't really released a new album, have they? But, um, yeah, maybe that's what I'm hoping, maybe from the rock angle. I don't know.

1:01:01The Glasto Thingy Yeah, I think they had a space, didn't they? It's, um, because it's that whole, um, what they would— did they do the— in fact, I think it's changed around a few times where they're saying there's a rock act on in the middle of the day. Uh, were they classed as being the one last time? I don't know. Yeah, potentially. I think they were there about— I should have all my bits of info handy here ready so we can look at them. Oh no, no, no.

1:01:29Jessi We're treating you like this encyclopedia of like, come on, give us names and dates for everyone. But yeah, okay. Well, we've made a couple of predictions there, one of which clearly didn't go down very well for my bad music taste.

1:01:42Miguel But saying that, Jessi, and the thing is, there's one last thing we would like to ask you. We thought it would be fun to play a quickfire round. You just answer the first thing you think about it. If you want to say pass, we won't hold it against you. But are you up for it?

1:01:59The Glasto Thingy Yeah, go on.

1:02:00Jessi We won't dig into the questions, so don't worry. Like, you're not going to give us an answer and then we'll ask you to expand on it. It is quickfire. Give us your answer. Let's go.

1:02:09Miguel All right, let's do the quickfire round. And I know you like to keep things secrets, but if you just can give me the idea which around each area you camp and why.

1:02:21The Glasto Thingy Uh, we camp in Pains, and it's popular with the rest of the group. If it was up to me, we wouldn't, but for that one I'm willing to give it up. It's a good area with people arriving at different times throughout the day, um, to be able to hold a space and get us all together, and it's quite handy for the park.

1:02:39Yeah.

1:02:39Jessi Yeah, it's the end of the festival. I don't usually go anywhere near for camping, but yeah, love it. Um, so what is your one essential Essential packing item?

1:02:47The Glasto Thingy A Lenor bottle.

1:02:49Jessi Amazing. Those who know, know.

1:02:54Miguel Yeah, no, I think we'll leave it at that. Those who know, know.

1:02:58Jessi Yeah.

1:03:01Miguel Your best time at a headliner?

1:03:02The Glasto Thingy Uh, The Stones, 2013. Best gig ever. Not just best Glastonbury, best gig ever.

1:03:08Miguel Perfect.

1:03:09Jessi Agreed, agreed.

1:03:10Miguel And that, uh, legend slot?

1:03:15The Glasto Thingy Um, Ray Davies.

1:03:16Jessi Oh, nice. Okay, uh, what is your best, like, food trader overall? If you just had to pick one food trader, what's the one?

1:03:24The Glasto Thingy The Rack Shack.

1:03:25Jessi Oh yes, great shout. Okay, and best meal when you're a little bit hungover in the morning?

1:03:30The Glasto Thingy Um, bacon and egg barm, isn't it? I think it has to be.

1:03:36Jessi Yeah, classic. Love that.

1:03:38Miguel Uh, your favorite bar at the festival?

1:03:42Jessi Uh, right, okay, so it's Wednesday, it's about, I don't know, like 11 in the evening. Whereabouts are you right now at the festival?

1:03:50The Glasto Thingy I will be sitting on a bench outside, um, the bar in the theatre, um, in the Cabaret Field, talking to people who I haven't seen since the last festival.

1:04:02Jessi Amazing, I'll see you there.

1:04:05Miguel And well, knock on wood, but if the forecast is mud, Walking boots or wellies?

1:04:10The Glasto Thingy Walking boots.

1:04:11Miguel All right, one for walking boots. But even for 2016 sort of weather?

1:04:17The Glasto Thingy Yeah, in 2016 I wore what they call muck boots, which are like wellies but with a zip down the side, after having recommended. They were getting pulled off my feet with almost every step. My son was wearing walking boots and he just strode through the mud like it was an off-road I mean, the age difference probably helped, but apart from that, he, he sold me completely on walking boots.

1:04:42Brilliant.

1:04:45Jessi Um, okay, so lastly, are you Team Flag or Team No Flag at the main stages?

1:04:52The Glasto Thingy Oh, I'm gonna hate myself for this. Team Flag.

1:04:56Jessi Hey, I think I'm Team Flag as well. It's totally the Glasto atmosphere, but as long as there's not— it's a tough question, isn't it?

1:05:04The Glasto Thingy It's one of them— if you—

1:05:05Miguel I want to be able to see They should find a way then to allocate the correct number of flags.

1:05:12Jessi Yeah.

1:05:13The Glasto Thingy As long as I can judge which one's allowed. Not that guy with the I Heart Sausage flag. He's not allowed anywhere near. From 2009. Anyone else? And just one flag on per pole as well. You can't have more than one flag. Yeah.

1:05:28Jessi I'm getting into the rules a lot. Oh yeah. When people stack like 4 in a row.

1:05:30The Glasto Thingy Yeah.

1:05:31Jessi 4 in a row means you block the whole thing. Yeah, I got you. I agree.

1:05:35Miguel We're going to save you from the question about people with chairs. That one we left out.

1:05:41Okay.

1:05:42The Glasto Thingy But yeah, do you want an answer?

1:05:46Miguel Up to you.

1:05:47The Glasto Thingy I don't mind them, but if you're then going to stand up and watch a band, fold your chair away instead of leaving that taking up a space and you standing in front of it.

1:05:54Miguel There you go. Common sense.

1:05:57Common sense.

1:05:57Jessi That is the correct answer. Correct answer.

1:06:01Miguel I think that's all we needed, really. I'd like to thank you again very much for joining and coming to our podcast. As I said, your name was there since the start, and our idea was exactly to start connecting even more with people that go to the festival and create all these longtime friendships and bring other people in and help newcomers. And I think you're a big part of it.

1:06:25Thank you.

1:06:26Miguel the job you do on Twitter and all your collaboration with the other users at EVE Festival. So thank you so much.

1:06:32Jessi Yeah, thank you.

1:06:32The Glasto Thingy Okay, it's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you.

1:06:34Miguel Well, there you go. What a great conversation with the Glasto thingy. We still don't know his name, but now we know his voice. At least there's something. I wonder if he's gonna add anything on this podcast into his own statistics. First time I've been to a podcast.

1:07:00Jessi You know, I actually half expected him to turn up with one of those like voice changer things. I wouldn't have put it past him, to be honest. I thought we were gonna be like talking to Darth Vader, basically.

1:07:10Miguel You know what? Maybe he did. Maybe, maybe he had someone else representing him. We will never know. Maybe the Glastonbury thing is actually a group of 5 people or something like that.

1:07:22Jessi Yeah, maybe it's a clickbait.

1:07:24Miguel Anyway, we joke, but, but as, as I said in the conversation with him, please make sure you retweet and confirm it is actually you. And well, I think that's it from us today. We really hope you enjoyed this, this episode. And as we say, the microphone is now open to you. And we have a new, new plan now that we all—

1:07:44Jessi we want to end the episode always with the story that you share Yes, our sign-off of episodes is now going to be a short Glasto story provided by you guys, the listeners. We really would love to hear your Glasto moments. So if you think you've got a good story, if you want to contribute, you know, ideally keep it short. We're looking for things like, you know, a connection you may have had with a stranger, or, you know, something you saw in the naughty corner that your friends didn't believe the next morning, or maybe you bumped into a celebrity or ended up side of stage. All of this, any, any kind of lovely Glastonbury story that warms your heart, please pass that on to us. The easiest way would be to record a voice note on your phone and then send that to us at [email protected], or feel free to get in touch with us and, and we can help you record it in another way.

1:08:36Miguel But yes, we want to have lovely listener stories to round off our episodes going And we have a fantastic story to start with by a lovely lady called Charlie who sent us this.

1:08:47Hi, my name's Charlie and I'd love to tell you my favourite Glastonbury experience. So my story happened at the Rabbit Hole. It was 2011, I think. It was a very wet Glastonbury. I'd heard of the Rabbit Hole in 2010 and I think I'd found it that year on my own but didn't go in. So I was really keen to go inside. Me and a couple of friends, I think it was quite late, we were looking for somewhere to go that was a bit more dry, so I was like, come on, it's time, let's go, we're gonna go to the Rabbit Hole. So went there and found the entrance, had to answer the riddle from the White Rabbit. We were taken in on our hands and knees to crawl through the burrows, lit by fairy lights. When we came out, it was in this huge dance space, which I guess was made to look like the White Rabbit's living room. So it had lines of washing hung across the room, and there was a DJ in there, and the floor was like orange with a big black swirl in the middle. It was very cool. So we were partying in there for a while, and I noticed on the other side of the room there was this really intimidating-looking painting. It was like black and white psychedelic with someone like raising their foot. So I said to my friend John. I was like, John, have a look at this painting, you know, it's looking really weird, let's go and have a closer look. Anyway, we go over there, we're looking at this painting, and then John's staring at the bottom of the painting.

1:10:09Jessi I was thinking, what's he staring at?

1:10:10And then he kicks the bottom of the painting and it opens to reveal a secret passageway. So, um, we looked at each other and John was like, go in. So I was like, okay, crawled on our hands and knees again through another tunnel, again not knowing if we should be going through, not knowing where we were gonna go to, thinking like, is this real? And we came out into an old cinema. So, it was crazy again, you know, the feeling of finding the— one of the secret places at Glastonbury anyway, and then when you're in the secret place, to then find another secret entrance. But I mean, not even— I mean, the rabbit hole itself, you know, once you know where the entrance is, it's quite obvious. But this is something That, you know, I would assume not many people have, you know, experienced. So, yeah, so we, we were in this old cinema and there were a few people in there who obviously, like, actors, all dressed up to look like rabbits, but proper Alice in Wonderland rabbits in your, like, you know, topcoat and tails. There was a 1950s film on, you know, Calamity Jane, with the song, I just blew in from the Windy City, the Windy City is mighty pretty. So that was showing on the screen, which was, you know, trippy. I somehow knew the song, so my friend was even more weirded out. And there was like a small bar at the back which said Brandy Bar. So one of our friends loves brandy, and I went up and I was like, can I have some brandy? And the woman behind the bar was like, I'm sorry, we don't serve brandy here, you know, deadpan. And I was like, but, but it says Brandy Bar. And she did this like really theatrical look at the sign, and I was like, So it does. She was like, one moment, and she just disappeared from sight, like ducked down under the bar and was just gone for ages. Again, those kind of things just add to the whole, is this real? Is this really happening to us? Kind of feeling. It's just amazing. So we spent a bit of time in the old cinema and then we were like, right, okay, let's go back into the dance room and find everybody and show them So we went back into the room, found our couple— we only had like 2 or 3 friends there— found them and we were like, guys, come on, come and see this, you're not gonna believe it. We took them over to the painting and the bottom was locked. So we were like, no, I swear there was a secret passageway. Um, and I know they believed us because, you know, I think if you've been to Glastonbury, you believe the story. Lots of people who haven't been to Glastonbury Definitely think I'm a compulsive liar based on some of the stories that I tell, especially that one. The effort that they must have put into making this old cinema just for a few people to discover it and have this amazing magical experience and an amazing story— just feel so lucky to have found this amazing thing and kind of been part of that. I'll definitely be on the lookout for more secret entrances this year, but I was just hoping that either one of you had heard of the secret cinema in the rabbit hole, or if one of your listeners had, um, had found it even, because I, I don't know of anyone else, um, who has. So yeah, it would be great to know.

1:13:24Miguel Oh, what a great story from Charlie. And you heard the question, she wants to know, have you been down the rabbit hole? Let us know on Twitter if you found the place Or any other experience you may have had at the festival at a secret location. And that's it from us. I hope you enjoyed the episode, and until next time!