No ticket? Volunteer your way to Glastonbury.

0:00Jessi Hello everybody and welcome back to GlastoCast, the unofficial Glastonbury Festival podcast. So in today's episode, we are going to talk about ticket day.

0:17Miguel Spoiler alert, we got them.

0:19Jessi Spoiler alert, yes, we all 3 of us got tickets, which, I mean, this year was so tough, but we'll come on to that in a second. But the one thing to say is that we aren't actually a 3 today, so once again Rob was unavailable, but we love him and miss him. So it's just me and Miguel here today for now, but excitingly, for the first time, we do actually have guests in the studio in person with us today, and multiple of them. So this is gonna be really fun. I can't wait to get that started. What we're gonna speak about today is we're actually gonna talk about if you weren't lucky at ticket sale and you're a bit, you know, bummed out and you think at the moment you're not able to go, there are actually other ways you can get to Glasto. So we're going to talk about that with our guests in a minute, but first let's talk about T-Day, the, the one yearly thing that, you know, gives me the most anxiety of any other day. Um, how did it go for you, Miguel? How did— well, obviously we were both successful, we've already said that. Yeah, but how did it go?

1:20Miguel I mean, as always, it was nerve-wracking.

1:23Jessi Yeah.

1:24Miguel And, uh, and as always, when you think you experience everything with Glastonbury, there's always a new element. And if last year is because a lot of good friends of mine were trying for the first time, most of them loved the festival and wanted to come back. And in a way, I felt a different kind of pressure, like, oh, because now I know if they don't— if they're not successful, they will feel—

1:45Jessi Sad.

1:45Jamie Yeah, a feeling I felt before, which I don't want them to feel.

1:49Miguel So in a way, I still— you never get used to the experience of the ticket day. But we were there. We now— the advantage is now they know what it means, they know how it works as well, ways to try to improve luck, if there's something, anything like that, if it's possible. But yeah, all of us were ready on the ticket day and we've been preparing weeks before the festival. Some newcomers this year as usual, some new people joined our groups. And well, on the actual T-day, I was— it was the earliest I got tickets actually.

2:21Jessi Was it you who got through?

2:23Miguel Yeah, my group always get for ourselves actually. I still— I'm still waiting for someone to buy from me.

2:30Jessi Okay, okay.

2:31Miguel But so I got tickets, I think it was about 8, 9 minutes into the sale, which was quite exciting. And then I got really optimistic when that happened, like, oh, everyone's gonna go. Everyone I want to be there is gonna be there next year. But that thought lasted for 30 seconds.

2:48Jessi Yeah.

2:48Miguel Because I'm waiting for someone else to say, we're in, and nothing. And then I start panicking.

2:54Jessi Yeah.

2:54Miguel If anything, I got more nervous. Then before I got my ticket, like, I'm sorted, but now I'm nervous for the others. I want them to be there. I want them to be there.

3:02Alex They need to work.

3:03Miguel Send me, send me a message, say you're in. And then the second group, third group, fourth group. So we got 5 out of 8 groups.

3:11Jessi That's amazing. I also, we also got 5 out of 8 groups, but, um, we had a, well, I guess similar, but sort of opposite. We, nobody got through until maybe 18, 19 minutes in. So by that point, you know, we know that you're coming to the end, like, come on. and we hadn't had one person say, yep, we're sorted. So we were thinking like, is anybody getting through? Maybe this is one of the years where the server's just not working, you know. Nobody said they even saw the page, so we were really panicking about 18, 19 minutes. But then it kind of went very quickly. It went, right, I've got one, I've got one, I've got, you know, I've got our group, I've got our group. But it was kind of bittersweet for me actually, because so I was actually in Prague with 2 of my best girlfriends, and we, we booked it. And I, I mean, even after 10 years, I stupidly didn't think first weekend in October, idiot. Um, but yeah, so we were in Prague, uh, at our Airbnb. Me and my, uh, the girls had all bought our laptops, so we had laptops, phones, etc. Some of us were on 4G, some of us on the Wi-Fi, etc. But my group and one of the other girls in the room got through. but the third one didn't get tickets. Yeah, so it was a bit of a kind of bittersweet, you know. And there were— of the, um, 8 groups that we were trying for, um, we got a few more in coach actually, which was quite good, but we had 8 left to get for. And of those 8 groups, like, all 3 of the ones that are missing are quite key players. They're kind of the ones that have been with us at the festival for years. So, and then, you know, we were on— we were in Prague and we were kind of expecting to be like, right, we can celebrate for the rest of the day.

4:49Miguel Go for your brunch. Celebratory brunch.

4:51Jessi lunch. But yeah, like, you know, me and, uh, I might as well name drop, me and Camilla were kind of having to like not celebrate too much because obviously Amanda was devastated, as I would be. So it was, yeah, it was an interesting day. She put a very brave face on. I honestly would have probably just stayed even in Prague. I would have just face-planted the sofa and not wanted to move. I would have cried for the rest of the day, I think.

5:15Miguel Same here. I mean, I have a couple people who are left out now that we're gonna all— we're all gonna work together for resale.

5:21Sean Yes, same.

5:21Miguel But then on Sunday we After the sale ended, we organized to go to a pub to celebrate. One of the persons left out. He said, I'm still gonna go, I'm gonna meet you guys. And then I'm there waiting at the pub, and then he texts me, you know what, I just got downstairs and found out my bike was stolen.

5:38Jessi Oh no!

5:39Miguel But he still went.

5:40Jessi Wow!

5:41Miguel He arrived to the pub, but then it was like, he was like, I think this is one of the worst days of my life.

5:45Jessi Yeah, yeah, yeah.

5:47Miguel But everyone was there to comfort him, I guess.

5:50Jessi Yeah. I mean, it was, it was just so— I know we say this every year, but it was really, really difficult this year. Like, I, you know, I feel like we are the most successful people I know. Almost everybody else I know that was trying for tickets didn't get them. And sort of say, if they did have a group set up like we do, they may have had 3 groups and they either say, well, we got zero, or we only got one.

6:15Miguel The percentage of the success rate is going down.

6:18Jessi Exactly, exactly. But I feel like we're quite lucky we got over half. for both of us, which is unheard of for anybody else I've spoken to. So as much as I feel, you know, it's, it's quite sad that some of our key players aren't— haven't got tickets now, we will obviously try for them in the resale. But, you know, I still have to keep reminding myself that we are the lucky ones. We've done very, very well this year compared to everybody else.

6:38Miguel I must say it felt good that I was the first.

6:41Jessi Yeah, yeah, yeah.

6:42Miguel My syndicate to buy the ticket just to show, okay, that's why we should listen to him now.

6:46Jessi Yeah, yeah, yeah.

6:46Miguel Or maybe people were thinking, Is he hiding something that we don't know?

6:50Sean He's not sharing with everyone?

6:51Jessi Has he got some software?

6:52Miguel How come he's already in? It didn't happen that a group managed to buy for another group, so everyone bought for themselves. However, there were 2 people who already had tickets, they managed to get to the registration page, but when they got to the payment page, things started going a bit wrong. Which is, I mean, every year after the sale you have the discussion, is there a better way, a better system. We're not going to get into that on this episode at least, but, uh, what I would like to see, if at least if you get to the payment page, it should— you should be able to complete it. Yeah, that's, that's one thing I would like to see it sorted.

7:29Jessi They did, they did say in like, you know, they— this year I think it was the first time they actually put so much detail about, yeah, the pay, what the process would be like.

7:37Miguel Exactly, screenshots and everything.

7:38Jessi Yeah, so I think they did say that once you're— once you're at the payment page and that is, you, you know, you won't lose those tickets. But we had a similar kind of issue. So again, this year everybody just managed to get their own groups. Nobody managed to get in again and get through again. But we did have a couple of people who got to the payment page.

7:57Miguel Yeah, exactly.

7:58Jessi Um, for a group and then, you know, went through and then it just hung and it didn't go through. I know a few people were lucky in that it did that.

8:05Miguel They failed but they got the email.

8:07Jessi But they, yeah, they got the confirmation.

8:08Miguel It happened with one of my groups.

8:10Jessi Oh, was it?

8:11Miguel And they were asking Miguel, Miguel, we got to the payment, we press, and then it failed. Like, I think you might be in for a surprise in a couple of hours.

8:19Jessi Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

8:20Miguel So yeah, I mean, the— whatever the system, at least the system that is current, it should just work at least. So I would like to see that.

8:29Jessi Yeah, I think they try and improve it every year. Let's hope that maybe it does, but bless them. So we were, you know, extremely lucky and we know that, but if we weren't extremely lucky, can you imagine like one of us sat here without a ticket? That would be, God, devastating. We—

8:43Sean the podcast, we're just covering BBC coverage.

8:46Miguel Yeah, yeah, yeah, coverception or something.

8:48Jessi Well, we'd have one of us like at home. Yeah, that would be brilliant. Almost like Secret Glasto. Yeah, one of us at home like diving in. But anyway, but if we, if we weren't so lucky, uh, and I know quite a lot of people who listen to this aren't so lucky, um, it is a very difficult thing to get a ticket. But there is another amazing way to experience Glastonbury, and that is volunteering.

9:07Miguel Yeah.

9:07Jessi Which, uh, I know we've mentioned in previous podcasts because Miguel did so in 2014 with Shelter.

9:13Miguel And I loved it.

9:14Jessi And you loved it. So yeah, we, we actually have some guests in today who are volunteers from both Oxfam and the recycling team, and we're going to speak to them now. I'm, you know, people sort of go, oh well, I didn't get a ticket, so I'll have to volunteer. I have a funny feeling that after speaking to our guests, I'm genuinely going to be jealous enough of all the perks they get and, you know, the benefits of volunteering that I, I might consider giving up my ticket. But maybe, maybe no, no, no, maybe that's silly. But I think 2021, I really, really need to get on this volunteering thing because it just feels— it sounds so amazing from what I've heard so far.

9:49Miguel I mean, if you don't want to try your luck again on resale, if you start acting now, there is a big chance you're going to be at Glastonbury 2020 and also supporting a good cause. So that's what we want to share here today with the listeners and together with our guests. We want to talk about how does that work?

10:06Jessi Exactly. How does volunteering work? Why is it so amazing? Uh, what are the benefits, you know, and also what are the downsides, you know? It might be that you have a really cold overnight shift or something like that. So let's get our guests in and have a big chat about volunteering. I know I'm excited to, to hear what they have to say. Hi guys, thank you so much for coming down. It's amazing, this is our first in-person interview.

10:31Miguel GlastoCast first.

10:33Jamie Yeah, very exciting.

10:34Jessi I mean, nervous for us, but it's all right, we'll get it done. Um, so we've got 4 lovely volunteers with us here today. Let's start by going, what's your name and who do you work for? Let's start over this side.

10:43Connor My name's Connor, been to Glastonbury 5 times as an Oxfam volunteer. Absolutely love it.

10:49Jessi Nice.

10:50Alex My name's Alex, I've been a volunteer at Oxfam for 4 years. Um, yeah.

10:56Jamie I'm Jamie, also Oxfam. Um, I've been volunteering since 2013.

11:02Sean I'm Sean, I'm the outsider, hence why I'm wearing an NWO shirt. Um, I've been recycling at Glastonbury for 6 years, and I also produce and present a Glastonbury documentary series called Beyond the Pyramid.

11:17Jessi Um, cool. I'm loving the Oxfam representation here. Yeah, it's good for me. I used to do Oxfam quite a lot, but never at Glastonbury, but I used to do it regularly, so it's quite nice to have quite a few of you guys in. And we've got Miguel, I guess, representing Shelter as well.

11:30Miguel Yes, I did Shelter in 2014, as I mentioned many times before this festival, and And I always say it was my best Glastonbury yet.

11:39Jessi So if we go around the room and we'll talk about, you know, what's your Glastonbury story. So all of you have volunteered for a number of years, which is cool, but have any of you ever been as a ticket holder? What got you into the volunteering to start? So we go— let's go over here. We'll go with you, Shaun.

11:54Sean I first got into volunteering, I think I was 17, 18, and my family, we all tried to get tickets. It was at that point where we kept seeing it on the TV and we thought, why don't we go? We're all old enough as a family to go. And that kind of naive thing, thinking, you know, get on it like within the hour and we'll just click purchase and— it was harder than that. My mum woke me up because we just thought we'd have one tablet on to try. How naive we were. And we didn't, we didn't get them. And I was furious because I heard a rumor that the Rolling Stones were gonna headline that year, and I was— I had hots— I'm not gonna say that word— for Jagger. My favorite band. And I just looked, I googled ways to get into Glastonbury. I even googled like, because my dad went in the '80s, used to jump over the fence. That was a different time.

12:36Jamie Yeah, we don't advocate that, but yeah.

12:39Sean No, we didn't do that. And I kind of thought, right, is there any way I can get in there? And then I saw the recycling page and I just saw the woman's email who runs it, Fiona. And I simply emailed her just one sentence saying, hi Fiona, can I work at Glastonbury next year? And then they said, yes, you can come along. And I went there for the first time on my own, made some lifelong friends, and been there ever since.

13:00Miguel Do you remember which month was it when you emailed them?

13:04Sean I emailed them, I think it was the day the tickets went off. Ah, just straight away then. You know when you just Google... You know when you just Google an email without any thought?

13:12Alex Yeah.

13:12Sean And then 3 months later, like, hi Sean, you're in, can you send us your details? And I was like, Mum, I'm going. Who are you going with? On my own.

13:18Jessi Yeah.

13:19Sean And, um, you know, I think I was 18 and like never really left the village much before, so I literally felt like, you know, The Hobbit when he runs off and says, I'm going on an adventure! So I literally felt like that as I was leaving, uh, the station. And, you know, even at that age trying to navigate all those trains and Uh, you know, coaches and everything. And, uh, I remember I went through one bit, the main entrance, and said, oh, I'm a recycler, I'm meant to just go through. And they let me through and I went to an information desk and I was like, excuse me, where's Tom Field? I was like, um, it's over there. Have you got a wristband? And it says, oh no, I don't have a ticket. And I'm like, you don't have a ticket? And I was like, no, I don't. And you're here to recycle? I think so. And then luckily my phone had 10% battery to prove that I was there.

14:01Jamie Yeah.

14:01Sean And I went over to Tom's Field, and that's when I realized how much of a walk it was. And because I foolishly bought a pop-up tent, realizing that'd be easier to put up, but adds 10 kilograms, it felt, to the journey. I put my tent down in Tom's Field. It was the first festival I went to. And, um, there were some chaps by me, and I just said, oh, is it okay if I camp here? And I said— they said, yeah. We had a few chats afterwards. And, uh, just because of that brief encounter of me putting my tent down and just talking to people briefly, those 6 people have, uh, essentially been some of my core Glastonbury friends ever since.

14:37Connor Amazing.

14:37Sean Yeah, they're on Facebook, you know, we message each other frequently and we'll always have that sort of bond. And it was a sort of first indication that, like, um, you know, to go on your own and it was absolutely terrifying knowing like, oh, I've got these people around me who are gonna take me under my wing. I was a very— I did look a lot more younger than I did now, so maybe they thought I was just a bit like, let's take care of this timid child so he comes out of here alive. But, um, that—

15:00Jamie so that was my first experience.

15:02Sean of getting a ticket and going there and feeling at ease.

15:06Miguel Amazing. I've known about Fiona since 2014. The mystery Googler. When I followed the same steps you did.

15:13Sean The mystery Fiona. I mean, no one ever sees her, but she sorts out everything.

15:18Jamie Yeah, exactly.

15:19Sean Like travel, like confirmation.

15:20Miguel I mean, the fact that to apply for the recycling crew, there's just a single person's email.

15:26Sean Yeah, yeah.

15:26Jamie I mean, I thought—

15:27Jessi Sounds a bit too easy.

15:28Sean I mean, it was a lot easier then than it is now because You know, the demand to get in the recycling is nearly as much as it is to get a ticket sometimes.

15:38Connor Yeah, yeah.

15:38Sean Because some people find it's a second way to get in. And I was lucky enough to get in because it was after the fallow year that they were just taking people on.

15:45Jessi Ah, true.

15:46Sean And, um, afterwards, you know, I've had loads of people saying they can't get through. And the only way I've been able to bring my, my friends along is because of recommendations.

15:55Jessi Oh, so you can, yeah, recommend people?

15:57Sean Yeah, so when you email Fiona, you've got to say, I'm recommended by this person, this person, and then you vouch for them.

16:02Jamie As long as you do your shifts, uh, But even then you're not guaranteed.

16:05Sean I've had like 4 of my friends still get turned down because the demand's crazy. And when you're picking up litter at 6 AM, you're thinking, and yet I'm one of the lucky ones.

16:15Jessi It's amazing, like, when I did Oxfam, I just have a similar story about putting your tent down. So I went to Beautiful Days in 2012, I think it was, or 2013, only because none of my mates wanted to go and I really wanted to go because Frank Turner was headlining. And I basically rocked up and as I was walking in carrying my stuff Some guy went, oh, who are you here with? Are you with Oxfam? I went, yeah. He went, oh great, you're on your own? Yeah. Okay, come and, you know, camp next to me. Literally put my tent down, and all of those guys I'm still friends with now. I went to that guy's wedding about 2 years ago. So it's amazing that you just make all these pals from just where you choose to put your tent down. So on that note, let's go on to Oxfam. So Jamie, you know, how about you? What was the— why did you first decide to volunteer? Why Oxfam? That kind of thing.

17:02Jamie I think, well, I think everyone goes through the route of trying to get tickets and not being able to. I've always sort of— no, I started— I went to my first ever festival in 2011, which was a folk festival, and since then I've just sort of fallen in love with festivals. I ended up studying festivals at university. Amazing. We have a scholar! Basically, yeah, just fell in love with festivals from there and of course Glastonbury is the pinnacle of festivals. Everyone says that. Everyone who goes agrees and so I tried to go sort of as soon as I could really, as soon as I could go on my own. As you were saying, it was just after the fallow year, so 2013 after the fallow year in 2012 and I just sort of tried my very hardest to go and get tickets. Didn't manage to but then I sort of tried everything, sort of as many ways as I could to go, but the one thing that really took my interest was volunteering with Oxfam because of the sort of type of work that you do. Volunteering on the gates is sort of the main thing, and as someone who has an interest in sort of the backstage and the workings of festivals in general, that was the one thing that I sort of really had an interest in. So I was so pleased when I applied and was successful, and yeah, I've been doing it ever since. That's as— it's It's not much of a sort of heroic story. I backdoored my way through to get a ticket. But yeah, I was really lucky that in 2013 I applied and got in. But as many people who volunteer say, I would never go back to trying to get a ticket. I think I have done. I have sort of tried to get a ticket just to see whether I would have been successful if I tried.

18:54Jessi Yeah.

18:55Miguel But I never wanted to be.

18:58Jamie Just to know you've been there.

18:59Alex Yeah, yeah, yeah.

18:59Miguel I mean, they say, no, I don't need it.

19:01Jamie No, but that's it. Just to go backstage, I can be like, that's it. Yeah, just like I can go around saying, yeah, I would have got a ticket, but you know. But no, I, I— you get treated so well, um, as a volunteer, and you get to see parts of the festival that so many people don't.

19:17Jessi That's the bit I'm jealous of.

19:18Jamie That I— that, that's why I would just never try really hard to get a ticket and why I'm not disappointed when I don't get tickets, because I know that I can volunteer from now on.

19:29Jessi Do you do other festivals with Oxfam so you can get priority, or do you—

19:33Jamie Yeah, so I think I've done 7 festivals with Oxfam now.

19:39I—

19:39Jamie if Oxfam do it, I won't apply for a ticket, um, just because you get to know everyone so well. Yeah. Um, I haven't So there is a priority list, essentially, if you do 2 or more festivals. The rule has changed a couple of times, but currently it's 2 or more festivals with Oxfam, then you can be on a priority list.

19:59Jessi For the next year.

20:00Jamie Yeah, so it essentially means that you get to be on a list of people who get emailed the week before and get told that they can apply before everyone else. So it's not that you're guaranteed to go, but it's, it's fairly likely if you're on time, you can sort of apply before anyone else and apply for your chosen festival. And Yeah, I decided to do 2 festivals last year, so I'll be on priority for 2020.

20:23Jessi Nice. What, what other one did you do apart from Glastonbury?

20:27Jamie Oh, I've done loads. I've done Beautiful Days, Latitude, Reading, Leeds. I wanted to do End of the Road last year, but I didn't manage to get to End of the Road. I've done lots of different folk festivals, not with Oxfam, but yeah, I'm trying to get around all of the big ones. Isle of Wight is my next one that I'm sort Yeah, excellent.

20:50Miguel And what about you, Alex? What's your story with Glastonbury?

20:53Alex Um, so the first year I did Glastonbury was 2014, and I went with family, so I had a ticket. I'm lucky enough to, to get one, and, um, it was quite a nice experience. But I think the Oxfam route for me was more out of curiosity. It didn't— I, I just kind of stumbled across it over Google, and I didn't have anyone in particular that I was planning to go with. I just went by myself in 2015, so I did the same kind of thing as Siân, just kind of turn up, plonk your tent down, and see what happens basically.

21:25Jessi Yeah.

21:25Alex And I've noticed every year it's a different experience, which I think is what draws me back every year. You meet so many different people, have different experience every time. It's such a good way to do it, volunteering, for me, because you, as Jamie put it earlier, I think you— it's a different sense of— you just get a sense of community and with so much respect for what you do, and you get to see such a different side of it that people are often jealous about when you tell them about it afterwards. So it's really—

21:55Jessi I'm getting jealous right now. I'm thinking like, do I just suck off my ticket?

21:59Alex You know that you get to go there a day earlier than everybody else does. It's like, wow, what have— like, what goes on there? Like, what do you see? Are you allowed to go anywhere you want? And it's just— it's such a nice transition between the people arriving and just getting there a little bit earlier to get yourself settled.

22:18Connor So you do, you absolutely get a sense of entitlement, don't you? You're like, when did all the others arrive?

22:22Jessi When did the riffraff arrive?

22:24Connor Yeah, when did the riffraff arrive to our party?

22:28Miguel Let's hear from you, Connor, then.

22:30Connor Yeah, so, um, I've been— I've volunteered with Oxfam for, must be 7, 8 years now. Been to 5 Glastonburys. The first festival I did with Oxfam was best of Headlined by Snoop Dogg, Elton John, and Fatboy Slim.

22:44Jessi Was Working Oxfam at that festival?

22:46Connor That was a, that was a great kind of introduction to, um, working festivals of Oxfam. But you've got to be honest, Glastonbury is a completely different beast. Um, the shifts, you are actually really working quite hard. But, um, I wouldn't go back to buying a ticket again. Um, I've had friends, especially this year being the 50th, in my Oxfam group who have gone, right, this year, yeah, I'm gonna try for a ticket because it's the 50th. And the day of ticket day, we all got the messages and that, nope, it didn't happen for me. I'll see you there in the Oxfield again. Um, and it's a—

23:22it's great.

23:23Connor You build a community, don't you? So every year I go back and there's people I haven't seen the rest of the year.

23:28Jessi Yeah.

23:28Connor And you just completely pick off exactly where you left off, and they're your friends for the week, and then you leave again. See you next year. Back to the same part of the field, same people, and it's ever-growing. People bring their friends and, and we've got an absolute army. And it kind of ended with a huge locomotion to Kylie on Sunday last year of 40, 50 Oxfammers.

23:50Jessi Brilliant.

23:50Connor All bringing their friends after shifts, and we were just doing the locomotion through the crowd to Kylie Minogue on the Sunday. It was great.

23:58Jessi Have you brought any friends with you? Have you sort of convinced any mates to come and volunteer?

24:02Connor Yeah, so I was convinced by my friend Mike. Shout out Shout out Mike, who had been the year before. He'd already amassed an Oxfam group, so I became friends with them, and now I bring my girlfriend every year, and we've got a routine and we're building on it every year. One of the advantages of volunteering is the fact you get there early, there's no queues when you're driving, you can— you park very, very, very close to the campsite.

24:26Sean There's no—

24:27Jamie Yeah.

24:27Connor There's no huge walk. So we overpack. We— me and my girlfriend call ourselves King and Queen of Glastonbury because we've got a massive 8-person tent with like air beds and tables and beer coolers because you can do it. Your car's just, just, uh, over the road, like just 1 minute walk away. So you tend to just, you know, get comfy.

24:50Jessi Well, to be fair, I do that and I carry it all in.

24:53Miguel Yeah, I just want to say, once early hours in the Stone Circle, I met a lady and she told me she was the Queen of Glastonbury.

24:58Jamie So your title has been taken away. She's been going for since forever.

25:04Jessi I mean, my friends call me the Queen of Glastonbury, so I think there's quite a few.

25:07Miguel You were saying maybe some of your friends were thinking of trying to get tickets because it's the 50th anniversary, but there's certainly the opposite feeling where someone who didn't get tickets this year now like this, okay, now I'm gonna try and volunteer for the first time.

25:21Connor Yeah.

25:22Miguel Which I think the question is, every time we try for tickets, there's the anxiety if you're gonna be successful or not. You guys have that with the volunteering now? Are you kind of certain you're gonna be able to get a spot again?

25:33It entirely depends.

25:33Jamie I mean, as I mentioned previously, there is the thing with the priority list.

25:37Connor Yes.

25:38Jamie Okay, but I know if you're not on priority— Yeah, I know Alex and I were talking about it. Certainly if you're not priority, there is a bit of anxiety around that. I mean, I have the— my best mate and my girlfriend are both trying this year. Um, my friend who came with me to Latitude was going to do a second festival and then had to pull out of it, so therefore isn't priority. And it's all every week we email and go, oh, I wonder, oh, should we apply somewhere somewhere else? Should we, should we go to another organization just in case you don't get in? Yeah. So yeah, I think there is, I mean, especially for the 50th year, lots of big headliners apparently. And so I think everyone's saying, you know, yeah, yeah, let's do it. We haven't done Glastonbury before. Let's try and volunteer. I mean, but certainly the Facebook page has gone from something like 20,000 members to 27,000 members in a couple of weeks. So I think, yeah, it's going to be difficult this year for people who don't have priority, but Yeah, it's fun for everyone who gets involved.

26:40Connor I wasn't priority last year and it was massively anxiety-inducing. I was at work and I told my boss, it's Glastonbury tickets time.

26:49Sean I'm on a break.

26:51Connor It took longer than half an hour. Oxfam do a lot right, big up Oxfam, but the servers that day were a complete disgrace. And I had friends dotted all around the country from, you know, meeting them at the festival and friends I was going to bring for the first time and and it was stressful. So if you are going to volunteer, treat it like you're getting a ticket. You're definitely not going to walk into that, that campsite. It's like you said, being lucky at 6 AM picking litter, you still are a lucky one. And, you know, get on there at 10 o'clock when it opens.

27:23Jamie Did you get in the first time? Um, no, because yeah, I didn't either. I was— I wasn't priority last year either, and I didn't get in the first time. So it's— I mean, that is one piece of advice, is that If you are volunteering for the first time and you don't get in, obviously you're going to be disappointed, but do keep trying. I mean, there's a friend of mine who went last year who got in the day before Glastonbury started.

27:46Wow.

27:46Jessi So as people drop out, basically.

27:48Jamie And that's essentially what I've advised my friend and my girlfriend to do, is get the week off work, book it as annual leave, and then every single day just keep checking because naturally As you've already said, the servers just go into meltdown because there are so many thousands of people all trying, and so the Oxfam team certainly aren't going to publish on social media every single time they're going to put more shifts up because there'd just be no point because the servers would go down every single time. And so yeah, just certainly just keep looking just in case. Yeah, don't give up.

28:24Connor We had an awkward moment, so everyone in our house wanted to go to Glastonbury and everyone got a place with Oxfam or a ticket except one friend.

28:33Jamie Yeah.

28:33Connor So we wanted to celebrate and be like, let's go to the pub, we're going to Glastonbury next year. And we couldn't really because poor Sam hadn't got a ticket. And like you said, we all made it— because we wanted to celebrate and we felt terrible, we all made a kind of daily morning routine. So like, get to work, log on to Oxfam, is there a ticket? And we got Sam a ticket.

28:55Miguel How does it work for the Recycling Crew? Do you need to email Fiona every year to show interest again, or—

29:02Sean So I'm just getting over Sam getting a place. I thought that would be a real downer, that would. I'm really happy Sam got a place.

29:08Connor Yeah, I'm happy for Sam.

29:11Sean Oh Christ, sorry, what was it? Do I have to email Fiona every year?

29:14Miguel Yeah, do you need to show interest every year, or do you get a contact?

29:17Sean Now this is kind of a benefit of it essentially, because you kind of feel like this self-entitled SOB essentially, because you see everyone else fretting over these tickets saying, oh, I've got to get my tablets and laptops ready, and you're just there waiting for that email saying like, it's open again, just re-register. And re-register is easy because all your details are there, and, uh, because they ask you to do it again, and they ask you to do it before they open it up to new people.

29:43Jessi Yeah.

29:43Sean If— because sometimes they do accept new people if some people drop out, but usually but the past few years they haven't. And all you've got to do is fill in the same test, which is essentially like, um, there's a syringe on the floor, do you pick it up with gloves or without?

29:56Yeah.

29:56Sean With gloves. So usually they're the most obvious ones, and you fill it out for a deadline and your place is usually secure. So, um, I'm quite, I'm quite new to this whole fretting of this whole ticket, the whole stress scenario, which I never envisioned really because I always had a guaranteed place. So to hear people now, I've got to do this, got to do this, I was like, oh, I've like Chilly Billy over here.

30:18Jessi You clearly got in on the right year then.

30:20Sean Yeah, yeah, it was, it was, it was, it was fate.

30:22Jessi And Jagger was there as well, so that was, that was still my favorite performance. We talked about this.

30:28Miguel Cool. Well, I guess I should tell my story.

30:30Jessi Yeah, I keep forgetting about that.

30:31Miguel Intro to my story, I guess.

30:32Jessi We have to say this is 2014 information, so if things have changed between now and then—

30:36Sean Yeah, no, I mean, I'm not going to give much information.

30:38Miguel I'm going to say what happens. I think I've been going to Glastonbury since 2011, and 2014 was really the first year that some really close friends of mine, my housemates and some other close friends, actually said, okay Miguel, take us there then, take us to this magical place you don't stop talking about. These days I have this whole operation to try to get tickets, but that time was just me trying for the 6 of us. That was probably why it didn't happen. So when I didn't manage to get tickets in 2014, it was some dark times for me. I know my friends, because they never been there, they say, okay, what a shame. But I was really, really down and I as Sian did, I started Googling straight away. I need to find a way to get there. And then I started reading about the volunteering, and I did it through Shelter actually, and they do bar work.

31:21Hmm.

31:22Miguel And for me it was quite straightforward. I kind of registered for interest and I just started receiving the emails. I just followed all the deadlines and I was in. So it was quite fun. I did the Glade bar. I was very lucky with my shifts. So my first shift was Thursday, my second shift was Friday, so by Saturday evening I was doing my last shift and I could enjoy Sunday fully. We're gonna— that's probably a question we need to—

31:49Jessi Yeah, that's what I was gonna get to.

31:51Miguel Let's get into that then, about the work you do actually.

31:54Jessi Yeah, so let's, let's talk about— let's, uh, let's start with Oxfam. So Alex, what, you know, what are the shifts like? Uh, I know you guys have to do it overnight, so how long is your shift? And what kind of things would we be placed on?

32:05Alex So for Oxfam, each shift is 8 and a quarter hours, and you have to do 3 shifts across the 5 days between Wednesday and Sunday, or sometimes Monday depending if you opt into that. It really is down to luck where you get placed. I think there is such a big spread across the site of where you could be placed. Majority is pedestrian gates or vehicle gates. which are pretty boring, I'm not gonna lie. But the work that you do on the shifts is, I think for me, is that you have to rely on the people that you're with a lot of the time. If it's boring, um, you have to be put with the right people because, especially on an overnight shift, because you need to keep your energy up. If you're kind of not doing anything for 8 hours, it is pretty tedious.

32:52Jessi Mm.

32:52Alex So the kind of work that you'd be doing is just manning pedestrian gates, checking tickets, It's just guiding people with really obvious places that they need to go anyway. It's, in a way, it feels a little bit pointless at times, but you don't want to complain because, you know, you, you are lucky to be there, and especially volunteering as well. So yeah, it's, um, it is good fun. I think the best shift I've ever had was on a Sunday morning, um, and you start at quarter to 6 in the morning, so it is a pretty early rise, but I was lucky enough to be on the tea and coffee van. Oh, that's nice. and go in around the whole site and, um, the joy in people's faces, just like, especially if they've been on, you know, just absolutely freezing or it's raining, and then you come along and their faces just light up because it's the tea.

33:40It's the tea!

33:41Alex And then you get the people that forget their mug and they are the most disappointed people ever. That was my best shift. And the worst, I think, is probably this year I was put on Pedestrian Gate D for all 3 shifts, and it's the furthest away from the Oxfam site. It is a big trek and And past Wednesday or Thursday, there's not much that happens there.

34:02Connor So it's like an hour and a half commute to work.

34:05Jessi Yeah, essentially.

34:08Alex So yeah, when, when there's nobody coming through the gates, it's pretty boring. But again, you make friends on your shift, you, you kind of have a laugh as well. I think on the overnight shift on the pedestrian gate D this year, there was that few people that when somebody did come through late We, we made this game up that they were the 100,000th person to come through the gate, and we all celebrated. We were all clapping. We rewarded them with a chocolate digestive, and they were just so confused. They were like, am I really the 100,000th person?

34:39Jessi Amazing.

34:40Connor Because you're that first point of action for when people enter the festival.

34:43Jessi Exactly.

34:44Connor If you're looking bored, it's not great. You need to be, welcome to the best magical place in the world!

34:49Jessi Absolutely.

34:49Connor And get them excited.

34:50Miguel I mean, I think the volunteers Volunteers bring a lot into this when you hear the magic of Glastonbury, and I think you need to get yourself in the mindset to make the hours pass and make it fun, I guess.

35:00Alex Especially if they've had a long journey getting there, because the latecomers often are in a very bad mood and you've got to just be their first point of contact.

35:08Connor Carrying 16 bags and 4 crates of cider.

35:11Alex Always too much cider.

35:12Miguel Oh, you do overpack.

35:14Jessi Best thing that, you know, when I was volunteering for Oxfam at Boomtown, It is— you, you, you have to make it as fun, you know. If it's boring, that's kind of your own fault that it's boring, you know what I mean? So we were doing a morning shift on the Sunday. I think we'd started work at, I think, maybe 8 AM, and we went around and just went up to punters who were getting breakfast and clearly very hungover, and we just went up to them and went, right, tell us a joke, and if it's a good one, you'll win a prize. And these prizes were things we found on the floor, like feather boas or whatever.

35:44Yeah.

35:44Jessi And it just made life a lot easier, and it kind Kind of, you know, in fact people like that. They sort of go, oh, the staff are having a good time. I don't know, it was good.

35:51Connor It can be quite unappealing. Oh, you're going to work during Glastonbury? But to enjoy the high times, you need to relax at some point.

35:59Jessi Yeah.

35:59Connor And the alternative is, you know, sleeping.

36:03Sean Yes.

36:03Connor Sitting at your campsite for 4 or 5 hours, head in your hands, hungover. But to have those, you know, less frantic moments when you're not drinking for a few hours, where Drinking lots of water, but you're still active, still part of this working.

36:16Jessi People watching.

36:16Connor Yeah, people watching this mechanical thing that is Glastonbury. Then when you finish your shift, you have such a high, you'll run to the stage that you want to get to next, and you'll finish 5 cans that you've got in your bag. And just, you know, try and match everyone else as quickly as possible. And the highs are so much higher because you've just had that important moment of downtime, which is your shift, and you can have those important moments to make sure the highs are as blissful as they can be.

36:43Jamie Yeah, I suppose that's the thing to sort of emphasize that. I mean, because I know a lot of people say, oh, well, sort of, how much work do you do at the festival? And I suppose that is the thing to sort of note for anyone who is applying. It is hard work, and there is— and there's no— and even though obviously we tell the stories, um, especially when I said I would never apply for tickets again because I enjoy my time at Oxfam so much, You have to be prepared to work.

37:09Jessi Yes.

37:09Jamie Because, and you can't, I mean, you know, you can say, oh yeah, I'm going to turn up and slack it off and all of that. It's not slacking it off at all. You really do have to turn up, sometimes be there overnight. I mean, what, sort of like 99% of the volunteers who are on the gates will do a night shift.

37:29Alex Yeah.

37:29Jamie So even though it is loads of fun, and especially on the Wednesday and the Thursday when people are turning up for the first time There is no other feeling like seeing people so excited to be at the best festival in the world type thing. But it is sometimes really hard work, and you do have some sort of difficult situations and things that you don't experience if you're a ticket holder, but it is totally worth it.

37:53Jessi I think my, like, worst shift— you were saying my worst shift was when I was stuck up a fire tower for my overnight shift at Beautiful Days. And Beautiful Days is a very chill festival. There's not really much that happens overnight. night, so there wasn't really much to look out for. Nobody was having— and the person I was paired with was just very quiet and not really, you know, I kept trying to have a conversation with him and he just wasn't having any of it. But yeah, so it is work. You do have to make sure you're putting the hours in as well. So Sean, we've heard about Oxfam. Tell me about recycling. So what are your shifts like? How many do you have to do? You know, what's the deal with that?

38:26Sean Well, in general, for recycling, there's usually a variety of roles you can choose from, but they mostly fall into 3 distinct main roles. Number one is being on the tractor, where you're on the tractor throughout the day going around collecting all the bins and all the bags and rubbish that have been wrapped up all day. I've never done that because my 5-foot-7 frame wouldn't be as supportive on that. The other ones, which I've both given a go at, are being on the field picking up the litter either in the morning or in the afternoon, or being in the recycling centre. I started off in the recycling centre. It's like this little warehouse in the corner of that bridleway just up the top, and it's where all the rubbish has been collected throughout the day is being brought in. And there are people there who will just take the bags, rip them apart, and then all of yesterday or the morning's just rubbish just falls out. And then you sort of have to play a little game essentially saying you've got 10 seconds to quickly assign which material goes in which bin essentially.

39:27Jamie Right.

39:28Sean So you've got like compost green, you've got can yellow, So you've got plastic, this, and then you've got a bit of glass. You have a bit of fun because you walk around the corner, you get to smash it.

39:36Jessi Oh, nice.

39:36Sean That's always a bit of fun. So it's just constant doing that. But, um, the hours are incredibly, uh, they're okay hours because you get to usually start at like half 6 and you finish around 12. So you— it's only around the corner where you go, so it's not much of a walk. It's— I think it's more or less the fact that you're just standing in one place like for like 6 hours just going left, Yeah, you kind of have to be a bit brain dead, but it goes back to like what you said, Connor. You just get a bit of a kind of debrief over everything, kind of to calm down, and you just get to play this. If you make a game of it, it goes a bit, goes a bit faster.

40:09Connor Yeah, sounds like someone will make an app.

40:10Sean So yeah, you do that. Usually I'm the one who— what I do, it's really smart actually. So there's a technique I found I found to save myself the effort, because I am always on very low effort, and there's like, say, 6 conveyor belts and they all lead into one big conveyor belt. And this big conveyor belt takes all the rubbish that doesn't have an assigned bin, so it just goes like somewhere else. So what you do is you go to the corner closest to the main conveyor belt, because then you get everyone else going quickly left, right, left, right, and then it gets less and less each person to get to.

40:49Jessi I see. So it gets to a point where you don't even So it's already been filtered, you're just like the last person?

40:55Sean Oh yeah, once every 30 seconds all I do is just brush my hand and like a plastic cup might go in the right one while everyone else is doing the main work. But you know, you always look as if— so that's the one you always gotta rush to.

41:06Jessi And you've actually sent us a little clip, haven't you, Sean? You recorded— so you do your own podcast called Beyond the Pyramid, which of course we've checked out, and you recorded a bit from the recycling team this year, is that right? Do you want to tell me a bit about that?

41:17Sean Yeah, so basically over a cup past couple of years I've been recording at the actual festival because as a radio producer I really enjoy making documentaries and it's obviously one of my favourite places in the world. So I went out and ventured and just talked to people who bring the festival to life. So I've chatted to like Billy Bragg backstage at Left Field and also like some other people, organisers, like at the Theatre and Circus tent. And I've got some more episodes coming out and one place I recorded was at the recycling centre because there's someone who's So we're in the midst of the recycling factory as we know it. I wanted to kind of give people a natural insight of how everything sort of works, how we organize every bit of recycling goes to its correct place, because that's one thing that Glastonbury are very proud of. And I spoke to one of the leaders at the recycling center, Fraser, to find out how the center actually operates.

42:07Jessi Cool, so let's hear that now.

42:08We've got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 bins So we've got bins with different products, different products. I think this, for example, is cans. And we've got some spare bins over there, so we've got a few volunteers between each area who then are watching out for contamination and also for moving the bins. That's cool.

42:34Sean We've got cans there, plastic, compost, all arrayed for the appropriate recycling.

42:38They then get moved down to the area there, and in that area there we've got some other volunteers under supervision who are putting them in the correct bin lorry, then taken off to be tipped at the local recycling centre.

42:54Sean Now, Fraser, a final question. How long until all the recycling work is finished at Glastonbury?

43:01This yard here itself finishes— we shut the volunteers down on Thursday And after Thursday we are cleaning this yard, taking all the machines out, getting rid of all the rubbish. I don't know, it depends on our availability of lorries, but I imagine that I'm going to finish this recycling that's brought into us in the yard by Thursday. Anything left that's come into us in green or blue blue bags will be sent to a mixed recycling center and then sorted somewhere else.

43:38Jessi Sounds pretty loud in there.

43:40Sean Yeah, it's actually more louder than at the front of the Pyramid Stage sometimes. It's a different stage no one else gets to see.

43:46Jessi Oh, amazing.

43:47Sean It's crazy.

43:48Jessi But I mean, like, it's, it's impressive to hear, you know, all the different— you know, you think, well, I know in my own house it's like, is this recyclable? And it goes in either glass, plastic, or paper, whereas it sounds like you guys go into really Oh, it's fine. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

44:01Sean Goes through like 6 tiers to get to the correct place. They make sure everything down from the biggest bottle to the tiniest can, even to little gas canisters, everything goes to its assorted place to be recycled.

44:13Jessi Amazing.

44:14Sean And, uh, it's good because you could find some rarities there. Like, um, I found some fivers covered in chili con carne that you wash immediately, or like a laptop with nails through it. It's like some bizarre stuff.

44:25Jessi Right, that sounds like it's coming from the same restaurant.

44:27Sean It keeps you going. And if you found a bouncy ball is fun because you get to throw it around like on the conveyor belt with your team members.

44:33Jessi Brilliant.

44:34Sean So that's good. And the one I've done probably more is the On the Field. This is the one that most people would see. Yeah. And it's, it's an incredibly rewarding one because, you know, we get up in the morning the same time as the early— the same time as the returning home ravers.

44:51Jamie Me and you.

44:52Sean Oh yeah, would you pick—

44:54Jessi look at Miguel like that.

44:56Sean Which is brilliant because you're all out your faces and everyone's— you're applauding Yes. And it's brilliant. So that's always fun because you get up in the morning, you go to your assigned area. Usually, uh, it could be like the Pyramid Stage, it could be like the Circus Field, and you just, uh, go around. Always take a litter picker because they don't assign you a litter picker, but if you take a litter picker, it saves you a lot of strain on your back.

45:16Jessi Yeah.

45:16Sean And you get a mixture of bags, uh, let's say like a plastic, compost, and you just put your assigned materials in each one so that when it goes to the center They're able to throw it around a bit easier. And, uh, usually it's quite okay because if you, if you clean the area pretty quickly, let's say, uh, because you should be 6 hours, but if you do it all within 4 hours and there's nothing much to do, sometimes they just let you, let you, let you roam free, man. Uh, they just sign you off, you get your 2 meal vouchers, and, uh, yeah, it's pretty good. It's, it's a nice thing.

45:45Jamie Is it every day?

45:46Sean It's every day. You get 4 days, and, um, the good thing about being a recycler is you get the options to choose your hours.

45:54Jessi Right.

45:54Sean Now, depending on the lifestyle you want to live, Glastonbury, you can choose either the afternoon ones if you want to go around Block9, or if you want to see more of the main acts, you could do the morning ones at like half 5 in the morning. Like, if you're a parent, you've got to get up at that time. So usually we go for those ones, which are really starting to take their toll. Yeah, it's like, it's terrible if it's raining. You could find some fibers and some other substances you give to like your team member and all that.

46:19Jessi I was gonna ask you, what is the best thing— what's the best thing you found on the floor?

46:22Sean Best thing I found on the floor? Again, I think you're gonna have to cut that out. Oh, if you want to go for—

46:26Jessi if you, if you want to go for money, funny, which you're gonna find funny.

46:29Sean Always go around the stalls, the food stalls, because you've got to remember there are people there who are getting their, you know, their money out their wallet. And obviously there's a lot of things falling, so obviously you'd be digging for pound coins. You know, my friend found like a couple of 50s. If we find a wallet, we always return it though, because we always find like the ID. So it's always, always good to know, like, oh, we was able to give it back to some people. But, um, yeah, you've got to be a bit careful though, because around those corners sometimes you find like feces or something around the main stage.

46:57No!

46:57Sean I'm like, imagine the situation that person was in.

47:00Jessi Yeah. To do that. Can't really.

47:03Sean But it's a bit satisfying watching a performance and then just dropping like your can on the floor going, it's okay, I'll pick it up in the morning. Which I have, yeah. And, um, no, it seems fine. You always need a good team leader though.

47:15Jessi Right.

47:15Sean Because if you don't have a good team leader, you know, everyone's a bit miserable. They're all getting up really bloody early. They've got to pick up like a sea full of litter. And basically you just need someone who— if the team leader's like encouraging you, picking up as you day that like assigns everyone's sort of role, like, okay, we'll all line up here, we'll all make our way up. Yeah, to like save time. Then you kind of feel like, you know, you're respecting me and I'm gonna do my best to do this for you. And, um, usually it's, um, you finish around 12, and then, uh, one of the pros as well, you get to go into a hot shower.

47:45Connor Yeah, indoors.

47:46Sean Yeah, and wash the filth away and go back to the rest of your day.

47:49Jessi Where is Tom's Field? Loads of people talk about Tom's Field, and I know it's near West Holts, isn't it? Around that area?

47:55Connor No, no, it's not.

47:56Sean Oh well, you are completely wrong. This is what's brilliant about us. When we go for a night out, we're always able to find our way back because of the beacon, which is Worthy FM. We are just behind Worthy FM.

48:09Jessi So you're up near— it's a camping big round, so you're—

48:11Sean Yeah, are you near Eavis's actual, uh—

48:15Jessi Yes, yes, we always— I always camp, you know, the Peace Tent, you know, the Um, the, uh, lockup, property lockup that's got a peace sign on the top. So we always camp there. So you're at the top of there? Yeah, so we just keep going. That's where Tom's Field is.

48:27Sean Okay, so we go beyond, go a bit up, and, um, I think it's next to Eavis's house, whatever, because we're literally behind the cow shed where we camp, which is good because they literally wake us up at half 4. And, um, yeah, Tom's Field is quite nice.

48:39Jamie It's more—

48:39Sean it's secure, uh, you get like indoor showers, you know, actual chargers for your phone. Washing machines, if someone dare thought they need to wash anything.

48:50Jessi Yeah, you go there, they'll be filthy.

48:51Sean You'll have to clean their stuff up.

48:52Connor Those quality of life improvements from being a volunteer are like so important. Oh my God. The shower.

48:57Sean Yeah.

48:58Connor Just washing off the session from the night before. Especially in these hot years.

49:03Jamie Yeah.

49:03Connor That we've just had, 2017 and 2019 were very hot. And to be able to go to the shower and start again. No queues really.

49:12Jamie And this is what I keep telling my girlfriend. So she Oh, she shouldn't really say this, but she's— So my girlfriend's a little bit unsure about whether to, you know, do I go for volunteering because I'm worried about the, uh, the fact that I can't see everyone that I want to? Or there will be shifts where you— there is a band that you desperately want to see. You can swap your shifts, you can swap, but you have to swap all 3. But sometimes it's really difficult if you've got particular shift pattern that no one wants. I've tried to swap my shifts a couple of times and there's just no way if you end up on a shift pattern that people don't want.

49:50Connor I was ready to sell my soul to see the Foo Fighters.

49:53Jessi Yeah, that's it.

49:54Sean I mean, you—

49:55Jamie yeah, people get really passionate about it. But the, the thing is, is that you sort of completely forget about that when you have a shower.

50:02Alex Yes.

50:03Jamie It's really strange, you know, you, you go down to the main public showers and you see people queuing sometimes for 3 hours.

50:09Jessi Yeah.

50:10Jamie I mean, that's not an exaggeration. People literally do queue for about 3 hours. And I mean, if you get up early enough— so the earliest I had to get up was I think half past 7, and not once this year did I have to queue for a shower. And you just think, how great is that, that you, you know, that just because you're volunteering, just because you do a shift, you can have a shower and you get food tokens. And so Yeah, you do completely forget that—

50:38Connor Sorry, there's one caveat though, isn't there? Oxfam give you shower tokens now, don't they?

50:42Tokens?

50:42Sean How many is it?

50:43Alex You get 4 tokens.

50:44Connor Yeah, you get 4 for 5 days. But I've found a secret. I know that where there's more staff showers, like, I feel like a veteran. Yeah, and I've just figured it out. And there's one on the way into the site that me and my girlfriend, if there's ever a queue or anything in the Oxfam, we go Straight to the spigot.

51:02Sean Well, you have to have tokens for the shower.

51:04Jamie Yeah, so essentially, uh, so somebody doesn't have 2 showers a day. Well, yeah, it's just, it's because, um, I think the festival are quite on it in terms of who is using the most water. And because obviously WaterAid and all of the, all of the charities that the festival supports, you have to absolutely be mindful about— you can't be the organization that completely uses up all the water on the site, because of course there was the big water shortage that didn't really exist. Yeah, they made it up, didn't they? Yeah, all of their media was saying, oh yeah, it's a drought, but didn't really happen. But anyway, um, you can't be the organization that was— that caused the water shortage because all of your volunteers are having 5 showers a day.

51:49Alex Yeah.

51:49Jamie And so when I first started volunteering, you could have as many showers as you wanted to, but then they introduced shower tokens. And the only really thing that, you know, the only thing that that's really caused is people swapping food tokens for shower tokens. And it gets quite funny.

52:04Jessi So what you can—

52:05Sean your currency is something else.

52:07Jessi Yeah, because you get something.

52:08Sean What human rights will you sell for another? Bathing or food?

52:12Jamie You get some people that get really sort of precious about it, and when they turn up and you give them 4 tokens, they say, how, how am I going to survive? I was told that there'd be showers every day. And then they Oh, you know, can I have one of your shower tokens for a food token? It's like, yes, yeah, if I can get a meal instead of a shower.

52:32Connor Yeah, especially because Connor's going to show me where the secret showers are.

52:35Jessi That's it.

52:36Jamie Yeah, absolutely.

52:38Jessi Oh yeah, that's one thing this year— we talk about showers quite a lot, don't we? But that's the one thing this year that I was just, uh, desperate for a shower. We did have them, we had camp showers, you know what I mean? So my mate, we, you know, got in a swimming cozzie and your mate kind of holds up a tub of water for you And that was fine, like, but I was by the end of it going, I just want a proper shower.

52:58Alex We had that one sweaty day this year at Glastonbury as well.

53:01Sean One sweaty day?

53:02Miguel 5 sweaty days!

53:02Jessi No, the real, real, real sweaty day. Oh, the Saturday was— oh yeah, the Saturday was melting.

53:07Miguel When I volunteered in 2014, I, yeah, I had access to the hot showers and there wasn't the need for tokens, but I only had one shower.

53:15Jessi Yeah, you're in it.

53:16Sean Yeah.

53:17Miguel And I think you only had to say like to feel this experience. Yeah, the unique experience, I guess.

53:22Jessi 2014 was muddy anyway, wasn't it? Yeah, it was. So you were like, well, shower, I'm gonna be dirty again in a minute.

53:28Connor Yeah, I've got a proper like Glastonbury morning routine. So like we get up, we eat the breakfast from the canteen in the Oxfam, then we'll go and shower, wash off last night's session, then we'll crack our first can and we'll head into site. And, you know, being a volunteer is the only way you can have that guarantee that you're going to be able to get food, get a shower, and all in like that small space of time before the acts begin at half 11, and you want to be into the site.

53:57Jessi Yeah, very jealous about that.

53:59Miguel Well, I think Jamie mentioned this, but it's a question I see asked often, is can you swap shifts? Because everyone, oh, I'm gonna miss some headliners or some acts I want to see. And you say that you need to swap your whole—

54:13Jamie Yeah, so it depends Obviously for the listeners who have also done other festivals before, other festivals you can just swap one shift, but, um, for Glastonbury you have to swap all 3. So everyone's on certain shift patterns. It goes from A, I think, to E, and each of those— so if you're A, it means that you'll be on the early shifts, which we haven't even covered yet. Early shifts, the mystical, magical early shifts. Um, but then If you're on E, you sort of— you're typically going to be doing the Monday morning, sort of Sunday night type thing, and it's the later letters that people don't really want to do.

54:52Alex Yeah.

54:53Jamie Because if you're on the earlier letters, you end up sort of finishing by sort of the Saturday at the very latest, and you can enjoy your Sunday, have a leisurely trip off-site. Whereas if you're on sort of the E, D type shifts, you will end up sort of working the full duration and not finish until the Sunday, and those are sort of the that are really tricky to swap. So yes, you can swap your shifts, but more often than not it's quite difficult to.

55:22Miguel Yeah, I think the same way we said that when you're doing your shift you need to find ways to make it fun or interesting, I think when you get into the volunteering you need to go with this mindset that just take what you're given and make the most of it.

55:33Jessi Yeah, you might miss that one person.

55:35Miguel Don't go thinking I'm gonna miss out on the festival and enjoy actually the perks and the advantages of being part of it.

55:41Connor The thing with Glastonbury is you're missing missing something always anyway.

55:45Jessi Yeah, yeah, yeah.

55:46Connor Even if you're at a headliner, you're missing another 15 headliners that you wanted to see. So if you've got that— like, it's quite hard to wire yourself to have that mindset, but you just need to. You're always missing something.

55:57Jamie Yeah.

55:57Connor Whether you're on a shift or not. So just enjoy the moments you can enjoy.

56:01Jamie Other than the, uh, other than the shower feeling, nothing beats the feeling of getting your deposit back once you've completed all of your shifts and, yeah, Oxfam are satisfied that you've done everything and handed back How hard and everything, and then it's sort of, I don't know, 6 weeks later and you get your ticket back. You get the— sorry, the ticket price back, which is what the deposit costs.

56:22Alex You often forget about it as well.

56:23Jamie Sometimes I do, yeah, unless you're absolutely desperate for money at that point.

56:28Jessi £260 just lands back in your account and you think, oh, £260, brilliant. Cool, so let's, um, talk about— so I know I have a lot of fun stories from my time at volunteering. So do you have like— do you guys have your favourite on-shift story? Do you have a favourite moment that you'd like to talk about? Any celebs you met or anything like that? Let's go with you, Connor.

56:52Connor Yeah, I was quite lucky. Um, the first 3 years had the same alphabet shift pattern and the same gate. I think they kept it the same if you returned, and I was on hospitality.

57:02Jessi Oh nice.

57:03Connor And the list is as long as my arm. people I've met, you know. But one chap came through with a horse— rubber horse mask on his head, and I had to check his ticket. It said Michael Fassbender.

57:15Sean I was like, excuse me, sir, do you mind removing the mask?

57:19Connor And it was indeed Michael Fassbender. And he was wasted. And he said, which way's Skrillex? He was on the Other Stage, which is that way. So Michael Fassbender was running around Glastonbury 2016 with a horse mask on. Nice. Good.

57:36Jessi Yeah. God, working hospitality gate, that is jammy. Yeah. If I got to like volunteer and I saw that hospitality gate, hospitality gate, I'd be like, yes!

57:44Connor Had to turn Sophie Ellis-Bextor away, she had no ticket.

57:47Sean Wow.

57:49Connor Sorry, Sophie, you're not performing this year as far as I'm aware.

57:54Jessi Amazing. How about you, Alex? What was your favourite?

57:57Alex I think it's always fun when you, when you're on a on a shift that involves celebrities or acts and stuff like that. It just makes it go a lot faster. I would— I think it was 2017, I was on a vehicle gate where, um, I think the Foo Fighters came through. Jeremy Corbyn, um, Nick Grimshaw, a couple of other people, you know, no one big.

58:17Jessi Did they have like the windows down so you could see who it was, or was it just like, that's Foo Fighters car?

58:23Alex Uh, the Foo Fighters was Yeah, it was their tour bus that was completely blacked out, so— but we were told that there are Foo Fighters in there, like, you know. Um, Jeremy Corbyn had his window down, so we saw him.

58:35Jessi Power to the people. Yeah.

58:37Alex And, uh, one of my favorite bands called Parcels, they came along in their big party bus blasting Katy Perry, and they were absolutely smashed— not driving, obviously— but, um, and they were in such high spirits. They were like, come on, like, get off your shift, come and, come and party with us. And I was like, I wish I could, but no, but It's a special moment, like meeting people and yeah.

58:59Miguel Brilliant.

59:00Sean How about you, Jamie?

59:01Jamie I don't think it's my favourite time, but probably the most exciting and story-worthy was first year, or it might not have even been the first year, but one of the years when Rolling Stones came through my gate. I was on the vehicle gate and everyone was saying, oh no, you don't get to see the Rolling Stones, but we were probably much closer than most people were in that, yeah, the Rolling Rolling Stones sort of convoy came through, and you expect when a band finished they sort of just get in their tour bus and leave, but the absolute sort of entourage that they had with them was absolutely crazy in that they had 10 quad bikes came through to clear the way to start with, just to make sure that the road was completely clear so that they could make a swift exit. They were still on stage, and before the music had even finished, they were long gone off-site, complete— like, police were following them, police on, you know, police in helicopters, everything. It was, it was that crazy. Um, and then the actual, uh, full-on tour of everyone going through, they had about 12 coaches. I don't know if they had one person per coach, but honestly, it felt like that. So yeah, that was probably the most exciting.

1:00:19Sean Um, as much as I would love to say there's some celebrities passing West Holts at 6 AM while I'm picking up Thatcher's cans, I think the— because you do just turn yourself off really. I think the main best memories I have is every Thursday we have a recyclers party, right? And Michael Eavis is always in attendance, and he gives a big speech saying how much he appreciates what we do and how happy he is to see us all there. And it's just when you see something like he doesn't have to do it and he's just thanking everyone for their time and effort and it just makes everything that little bit more worth it. So there's no real—

1:01:23Jessi That's super lovely.

1:01:23Miguel Oh, so it is about a celebrity then?

1:01:25Sean Pardon?

1:01:25Jessi Well, it is!

1:01:26Miguel The story is about a celebrity.

1:01:27Sean He says he's a farmer first.

1:01:30Jamie Oh yeah, of course.

1:01:31Sean But, um, no, there's not really much I could really add to that really. Um, I think it's more like if we were gonna like combine everything we've done from this volunteering, I think the main pro we can all take from it is a sense of community. you feel with all your fellow volunteers. And the fact they're like Facebook groups and like it continues outside. Like, you know, you, Jessi, you went to someone's wedding. I mean, I message these people on their birthdays, when we lose their parents. So I think the main takeaway for me, and hopefully for all of us, is just that sense of community and friendship you get, which most other people can't if they just get a ticket.

1:02:05Jessi I think that's honestly, you know, I've said I'm jealous a few times, but this is something that I Glastonbury is something that I love so much and has become such an integral part of my life. I almost feel guilty that I haven't been a part of making it happen.

1:02:19Miguel Do you know what I mean?

1:02:20Jessi So that's the thing. When you're— when I was volunteering for other festivals, you almost feel like, yeah, even though I'm like a tiny, tiny grain of sand in this whole massive thing, I am still a part of putting this on. You know, all these people are here and having a great time in a tiny, tiny part due to me. So I think that's the one thing that I do feel I do feel guilty about it. I feel like I should give back in a way, like I should work there and then give back, and then I'd feel even more entwined with it as an entity. I don't know, but that's my guilt.

1:02:47Connor Do it one year. You have to do it.

1:02:48Jessi Do it! I have to do it one year. Every year I just feel too guilty of my mates being like, well, I'm not gonna volunteer, so I'd be the only one. But as we said on the last podcast, I'm like, screw my mates now.

1:02:57Connor Jessi, you need to do it just to get into site 2 days before everyone else.

1:03:03Jessi That is a good idea.

1:03:04Connor Because that is magical.

1:03:07Jessi Yeah.

1:03:07Connor Walking around and the Pyramid Field is like luscious green.

1:03:11Jessi Yeah. Beautiful.

1:03:12Connor Playing frisbee, the staff parties.

1:03:14Sean The karaoke outside the tacos.

1:03:16Connor Exactly.

1:03:17Sean It's just— The random stuff you don't get everywhere else.

1:03:19Jessi Oh yeah.

1:03:21Connor And everyone's so excited on those first 2 days, you know, they're not at work, they've all come to work at Glastonbury. And some of the best parties I've had are on the Monday, Tuesday. All the thousands of—

1:03:31Jamie Yeah, so it was quite funny, quite a funny story. Um, so there was a WhatsApp group for the volunteers and someone organized a Monday bar crawl.

1:03:44Jessi That was a lady called Katie. It was.

1:03:46Jamie Oh, there we go. Yeah, it started, it started a couple of years ago, uh, I think 2 years ago. Uh, first year it happened, apparently there were only about 20 people on it. Second year there were about 30 people. This year, however, literally hundreds. I'd say about 300 people turned up. There's still the picture of everyone in front of Pyramid Stage for when it actually happened. But it was just so funny that everyone sort of, sort of started gathering at this meeting place, and then about 5 minutes later it got bigger and then bigger, and then you could barely move for people that were going down.

1:04:21Miguel Yeah.

1:04:21Jamie And everyone was sort of going, who's Katie? Who's organizing this? And then there was a thread that went through about, okay, we'll turn up with blow-up animals. And the person who was in a tent next to me had brought loads of blow-up animals, and because I'm so much taller, I'm 6 foot 3, she said, yeah, she said to me, oh, can you just hold this up in the air? And then everyone thought that I was organizing it. So when are we going? I haven't organized this. So yeah, it was—

1:04:49Jessi I've seen the photo of you guys all like snaking down from the top. Yeah, yeah, through Big Ground.

1:04:54Connor It was like a group of ants. Yeah, because I got there early because we'd met, we'd come, we were inside and met. It was just by the trees. It was the Pyramid Stage, wasn't it? And you just saw the group coming down the hill.

1:05:06Jessi And that's where I camped, so that's why she texted me that. She was like, look at everybody walking through your camping field.

1:05:11Miguel That's amazing. But how many bars are open then?

1:05:14Jessi How many staff bars are there?

1:05:15Connor Yeah, that's the question.

1:05:16Jamie Yeah, like, no, actually 5, I think, because it was one of the things that we definitely had to do was split up by the time— yeah, you couldn't have 300 people all going into one bar that's staffed with about 2 people being it before, before the opening day. I think people found about 5, but it's not that well publicized because of course you can't have posters up everywhere because by the time that it opens they are slightly secret bars because they're meant to be for crew only. Uh, but there's some really lovely ones. I mean, my favorite is the one by Arcadia, the Tow and Hitch.

1:05:48Yeah.

1:05:48Jamie It was absolutely lovely. They've got an open fire. It was absolutely Absolutely rammed, but they've got a viewing platform, and if you go on the day before opening, they're testing all of the fire. So the— yeah, and that was really good because you sort of really felt a sense of excitement, like the whole ground was just filled with excitement. It was really good.

1:06:09Miguel I don't know if it's really the case, but I heard that, well, when the festival fully opens, they have to become a bit more strict on the staff bars. But if you've been there in the early days Can you get some sort of wristband? Is that true?

1:06:19Jamie Yeah, I think it depends. So there's, there's one by West Holts that they were really strict about it.

1:06:26Jessi That Maceo's?

1:06:28Jamie Yeah, and if you, uh, you can get a wristband, but then you had to have a wristband and a crew wristband. And so they were sort of— yeah, so I, I think it depends bar by bar.

1:06:40Miguel How many shower tokens from that?

1:06:45Connor I might be biased, but like the community of volunteers are like so strong and everyone's got the kind of similar mindset. So when you're there on the first few days, everyone else is a volunteer or working and they're just a great person. You don't meet any trouble or like, it's just a fun-filled, loving community that are there on those first few days. I've got some pictures of my friends who volunteered for the first time this year, hungover, passed out, outside the tent and it's Tuesday. The festival opens Wednesday. I'm like, it's only Tuesday.

1:07:17Jamie That's a really good point actually. I, I said this year— now I don't tend to drink very much at Glastonbury because I just feel like it's far more important to me to actually make the most of it, and I'm happy to do sort of like a 16-hour day of trying to see as much as I can and do my shift without getting too tired. So I don't really drink, but But then because I was there on the Monday night, I think by quite a long way the most I drank was on the Monday before Glastonbury started. Yeah, it was Thursday. That's it. My shift didn't start until Thursday. And so, yeah. Brilliant.

1:07:49Connor And another thing about being there early, I can't believe how last minute a lot of it is. You're like, how is the ribbon tower not up yet? They're still building the pier?

1:08:00Sean It only goes for 4 hours.

1:08:03Jamie On social media, when you see it gets to April and the site build begins, you think, oh, it's a bit early, isn't it? So you expect to turn up and everything be complete, and the scaffolding is still up on the Pyramid Stage, and most of the lighting isn't in place on the Pyramid Stage. Ribbon Tower, like you say, is not up yet. Yeah, it's quite surprising.

1:08:22Jessi Amazing.

1:08:23Connor One thing I make a point to do every year in the first 2 days is— like, you haven't been to the, the Glastonbury sign? Yeah, I haven't. time to do that. There's no one really around it. You get the best Instagram photo of an empty Glastonbury site and a green field that hasn't been trodden down.

1:08:40Jessi Everybody brings that up on, I swear, every podcast. You bring that up. Are you gonna go to the Glastonbury site?

1:08:44Jamie Have you not been at all? You've never been to the Glastonbury site?

1:08:48Jessi It's not that hard. I know, I know. It's because I get to the— I get to the Roman Tower and I get to the bottom of the field and I see how many people— if there weren't Oh, it's crazy. But I think how many people are up there and how steep that is.

1:09:00Jamie But what about, what about for the fireworks on Wednesday?

1:09:03Jessi Oh yeah, we go to the Stone Circle for that. So we go because they're all along that, um, yeah, so we go to the Stone Circle to see the fireworks. But I've just never been up. I've been obviously in the area, but I've never gone all the way up to where the sign is.

1:09:17Sean Yeah, you should try litter picking around there.

1:09:18Connor Oh yeah, it's quite steep, right? Yeah, when it's muddy years, people trying to get up to the sign is, is quite a trek. They're just slipping back down.

1:09:32Jamie 2014, that was a muddy mudslide.

1:09:34Jessi Brilliant. But yes, I will get up there next year.

1:09:37Sean I've done it before.

1:09:39Jamie Just like you will volunteer.

1:09:40Jessi Yeah, just like I will. But no, okay, well, I'm not volunteering next year because I have, um, some exciting things going on, but the year after, I think that's going to be my first one.

1:09:48Wow.

1:09:49Jamie You heard it here first.

1:09:50Jessi So as you guys know, we love to ask you guys on Twitter if you have any questions, or we love to put polls out for you. We just really like chatting to you on social, really. We sent out a question basically saying, does anybody have any questions for our lovely volunteers? So what we've done is we've actually sent those questions on to the volunteers and they've recorded little clips for us. So let's start with Papaphone asked, which artist were you most bugged out about that you had to work through? But he also put, PS, appreciate all the hard work that you do, which is nice.

1:10:29Alex Thanks.

1:10:30Jessi But yeah.

1:10:31This was a Saturday daytime shift. These finish 20 minutes or so before the headliners start, so you get to run to the headliners and enjoy those. and then have Saturday night getting lost in the madness that is Glastonbury. It's also my last shift of the festival, so get to enjoy Sunday completely free. No one on this lineup that I was really, really bugged about missing on Saturday daytime. That was until a helicopter went overhead and the Libertines were on that helicopter. I'm a big fan of the Libertines, but more so secret sets at Glastonbury. They're incredible. The rumors, the mystery, the excitement, the energy that a secret set brings. It's really indescribable unless you've been to one. I was lucky to be at The Killers in 2017 when they played the John Peel Stage. I was actually working for The Killers last year, their headline slot, but I can't imagine it matched the energy, the craziness of seeing them in that small tent unannounced. You know, it was unreal. So really gutted to be missing The Libertines that year. Foo Fighters pulled out, Dave Grohl broke his leg. Florence stepped up and we got to see Florence finish my shift. She was incredible. But the Libertines came in and filled in Florence's slot, and I missed that. I actually watched it from Pedgate A, streamed it live from my iPhone on the BBC iPlayer, and you could tell there was a certain energy. And yeah, that was the one I was most bugged about missing.

1:11:50Jessi We had The Glasto Thingy tweet us saying, a friend was telling me of working on the recycling line sitting next to a girl who was horrendously hungover. She did her shift with a bucket next to her so that she could throw up every now and again without having to leave her station. So his question is, how do you cope with the hangovers?

1:12:09Sean Coping with hangovers at Glastonbury during a shift at a recycling centre is something of a long memory to me because I've been teetotal for about 4 years. But when I did used to drink when I was a teenager doing the recycling centre, I remember the hangovers were never really that prominent because You gotta do like a body time and calculate, right, how many hours am I gonna be asleep for it all to sink in, to how many hours will I be up? And because you mostly get around 3 to 4, probably if you're lucky, hours sleep before you get up to pick to do, do your shift, it doesn't really sink in. So you're sort of in that sort of limbo of still mildly wobbling around everywhere, and tiredness takes into effect, so you don't feel the full headache of everything. That being said, I have seen people who are absolutely rat-faced during some shifts at a recycling centre, and they are literally quite like the walking dead. They don't pick up as much. You can just tell the ones wearing sunglasses when the sun hasn't really come up yet. But my advice would essentially be either go easy or don't sleep too much.

1:13:18Jessi And final question we had from Joe Robinson. Who said, is it difficult not to just run away and watch your favourite band?

1:13:26Jamie Yeah, so this is the most commonly asked question, I reckon, from people who speak to me who are interested in volunteering for the first time. The short answer is no, it's totally not. And also, it's very much frowned upon. We all work as a massive team, and that was certainly the first thing I noticed when I volunteered for the first time, Just how much of a team effort it is. You know, you're all volunteers, you're all there for the same reason, you know, one reason or another, whether it's to raise money or whether it's just to enter whichever festival you're doing. And you all have a supervisor who sort of watches to make sure that everything's okay, who you can refer to, and if you ran off to watch your favourite band, that would certainly be noticed. And if that does happen, then your supervisor will radio through to sort of the main control centre, And you will be asked to leave the site. Some people say that's not true, but I've personally witnessed it firsthand, and it's just not something that you want to do. It's seen as such a bad move. Not only that, if you are in an appropriate location to do so, every volunteer gets a break, so you can speak to your supervisor. They will do whatever they can to ensure that during that break, week, you can sort of go and see a bit of the band. Obviously, if it's a mega set and it's one of the headliners, then obviously you won't be able to see the whole thing. But if you are in an area where someone's playing on a little stage and, and they don't have a very long set, then you might be able to catch all of them. So, the short answer is no, don't do it.

1:15:08Jessi The long answer is you may still be able to see your favourite band, even if you are working and So we've talked a lot about volunteering, obviously that's what this episode is focused about, but we obviously love talking about why Glastonbury is particularly amazing and what gives us that magic feeling.

1:15:27Jamie Why we come back every year.

1:15:28Jessi Why we come back every year.

1:15:30Miguel Why we center our whole life around it.

1:15:32Jessi Yeah, why we spend the entire year talking about, thinking about Glastonbury. Yeah, let's ask you guys, do you have a favorite Glastonbury memory? This is not from your volunteering shifts necessarily, but was there like one band or artist or something else you did that you just always hold on to and go, oh yes, I love that moment? Should we start with— let's go with Alex this time.

1:15:51Alex I hate to say it because it is quite mainstream, but I think Coldplay in 2016 was probably my highlight because it was the year that they had— they released A Head Full of Dreams and they had the their rainbow wristbands, and it was just absolutely magic. I was so emotional, crying my eyes out, and, um, because it was just one of those moments in life, especially if you live and work in London where it's like a hustle and bustle, and just when you've got a big community of everybody singing along in high spirits, and everyone was in such a good mood, and it was just with the colours as well, it was just magical. It was such a nice crowd to be a part of.

1:16:31Jessi So I always think I'm a huge Coldplay non-fan. I once said I hate Coldplay and I was told that that's too strong. But I did watch a bit of it back and I did— the one— I think I've mentioned this before, but as much as I dislike Coldplay, I think looking at the BBC footage of it, it would have been amazing to be in the field at that time. I mean, the Pyramid Field always gives you that feeling of like, God, there's just so many people and it's a big community.

1:17:01Miguel The Killers were your highlight, isn't it?

1:17:03Jessi Yeah, The Killers. Yeah, and I wasn't even thinking that was gonna— I just thought, yeah, I'll go along and see The Killers, but they were amazing. But I think Coldplay, you know, I've seen the footage of them and I actually had one of the wristbands, but I was on another stage and it was still going on.

1:17:16Alex It went on for hours. Yeah, until the next morning, really.

1:17:20Miguel Imagine if you're home now and then it starts flashing again and it's just a way to announce they're gonna I had an amazing time as well.

1:17:35Jessi Didn't Chris Martin say like a few days ago that they're not gonna headline? Yeah, yeah, apparently. He always says that.

1:17:41Alex He does that every time. But it was— I think whether you like Coldplay or not, it was just so beautiful. It was like so pretty.

1:17:48Jessi But that's the thing, I think I would have like— I was I was at Earth, Wind Fire, I think, so I went for some disco at West Holts, which was just brilliant. So I didn't regret it in that respect, but I did look at the footage afterwards and go, it looks like, you know, a beautiful spectacle on the field anyway.

1:18:02Connor Yeah, I was at that and it was unreal, but the mud was like— you just forgot you were standing knee-high in mud. Yeah, because you couldn't see that.

1:18:10Alex You forgot where you were. Yeah, so in the moment that— yeah, it was really lovely.

1:18:14Jessi Cool. So how about you, Connor, then?

1:18:16Connor What was your favourite I mentioned it once already, but it was probably this year, the Sunday, and it was kind of like a climax of the 5 years I've done at Glastonbury all coming together. I brought friends who had never been to their first one, had all my Oxfam stewarding friends, and there was 40, 50 of us watching Kylie Minogue and Miley Cyrus on the Pyramid on the Sunday, not expecting to enjoy it as much as we did.

1:18:42Jessi Same.

1:18:43Connor We had a mountain of backpacks in the middle of like where we were all standing. We did this locomotion train and it was just that huge community of, wow, look at all these people that we've shared this experience with coming together. Lots of introductions. These are my Shift friends, these are my friends from home, these are people I met in 2015, and it all came together. Everyone was enjoying that moment together. And, you know, I sing in a band, they're called My Everest if you want to check them out on on the socials, My Everest Music. But a lot of those people come to watch my band when I play around London. And one dream, and it will happen one day, is that we step onto one of the hundreds of stages at Glastonbury, be that a tiny little stage or one of the big ones.

1:19:25Jessi Big one, yeah.

1:19:26Connor And that it's an open invite to the Oxfam or the whole volunteering community to come watch our band, Tabard's in the Air. Um, that moment will happen hopefully one day. day. So I know I've got that army of people. So let's get booked to that festival because I'll have a crowd.

1:19:42Miguel It'll be great.

1:19:42Jessi Amazing. Like, book me because I'm bringing my own crowd. That's it.

1:19:46Connor Michael, if you're listening.

1:19:48Jessi Amazing. Yeah, Kylie and Miley were one of my highlights as well. Again, wasn't expecting it.

1:19:52Miguel I mean, to show Glastonbury to a good friend of yours is the best feeling in the world.

1:19:56Jessi Yeah, you said that in the last episode. It's when your mate sort of looks at you going, I get it now. That's when you're like, yep, I love that.

1:20:02Miguel Maybe, maybe it's just amazing because I thought they don't think I'm crazy anymore.

1:20:05Jessi Yeah, yeah, that, that I get that. Yeah, I had that with my workmates, uh, like this year. They were like, God, you're always talking about Glastonbury. And then 3 of them went and they were like, ah, okay, I understand.

1:20:16Connor They still think I'm crazy though.

1:20:18Jessi Cool. Uh, let's go over here. Sean, what was your favorite Glastonbury memory?

1:20:24Sean Um, in terms of music, I'm probably gonna go back to the main reason that I got into recycling, which was to actually see the Rolling Stones. And, you know, I do believe there is a big difference between the ages of being in your early 20s to being 18. And I just remember having got my way to the front. It was so good how I got to the front because it was so packed, because, you know, they blocked an area off for camping, let people in, and no one was getting through. I was like halfway behind that Golden Circle bit. I thought, right, this is me done. I'm obviously stuck with the screens. But then I saw 2 about 10-year-old boys getting their way through. And they're jumping the fence. I put my hand on my shoulder and went, Mum's over there, lads! Oh, and it was like a steam train, it went all the way through. And then halfway through, there was a middle-aged man that just had a mic and went, Mum's over there, lads! And it just kept going. I was like 2 people from the front. And, um, I just remember being, um, because obviously when you're, you're at that age of a teenager, you've got all this hyped up energy, you've got this adrenaline, and you've got a mindset which cannot be replicated when you get older. you experience more life lessons, but to just lose your mind to a band who are not cheap to see for an 18-year-old, uh, in an environment where, you know, it's the most watched event in the world and just having energy and you just think, where did that energy go? As I've gotten on, I just realized I was able to have that perfect sort of teenage memory of losing it. I was at my first Glastonbury, which I went on my own, and I think the second favorite memory is Probably another one is just all my friends, of us all collectively, collectively, uh, climbing onto the Pyramid Stage and just having— just sitting down, just having a little moment, like sinking it all in, essentially saying like, look, we've been coming for 5 years, we've become this. You're a doctor, you're a teacher.

1:22:12Jamie Mm-hmm.

1:22:13Sean And just thinking, this is the one thing that always keeps us coming back together.

1:22:18Mm-hmm.

1:22:18Sean And just to kind of think, you know, like It is essentially a bonding thing, essentially, because you build your life around it. So that's sometimes odd to see people without wellies, without coming out of a tent with napkins, with like baby wipes smothering their faces, and just kind of thinking, you know, like, I've got a good— got a good group of friends around me.

1:22:37Jessi Nice. Was that after the festival that you—

1:22:39Sean That was after the festival, yeah. They would have definitely have headlocked— they would have definitely DDT'd us to the ground if they found out we were on there, which is funny actually because because when we climbed on there, one of my friend's sister, Beth, um, she fell down and her back hit like a brick, and she was like really crying. She grabbed my hand and squeezed it so much. And my other friend went, I know it's emotional being up here. And then we got off, and then some guy came up to us after like 10 minutes and says, uh, uh, do you guys just mind like getting off here? Because like if you get hurt, there's a lot of paperwork.

1:23:09Miguel Yeah.

1:23:09Sean And we're like, what? One of us get hurt?

1:23:11Jessi No way.

1:23:12Jamie Never.

1:23:13Jessi Brilliant. Yeah, great, great stories there. How about you, Jamie? What was your favourite?

1:23:18Jamie You know what, this is the most anticlimactic answer. No, no, I, I don't have a favourite moment. Now, I've been, I've been going since 2013, and, uh, it has to be just the whole package. You know, there's— when you try and describe Glastonbury, you're never going to be able to. You have to go. And I know that everyone here, you know, including yourselves, have You absolutely have to go. And for me, it's— yeah, I've been through different relationships, I've been through different friendships, and I mean, yeah, certainly as you were just saying, you, you sort of reevaluate your life. You sort of go, oh, here I am, it's the end of June, and look where I am, it's 2019.

1:24:02Alex You did—

1:24:03Jamie this year I went to Glastonbury on my own, I volunteered on my own, and and I met up with a friend who is now my girlfriend, and sort of Glastonbury sort of cemented us type thing. And there are certain traditions that you do, like, uh, in the first day I go to the cider bus, which is always there, and then you have your favourite food stands and just the whole build-up of going, oh yeah, you know, I'm gonna do all of those things, which to someone who doesn't go, you sort of go, oh yeah, you know, the, that green hog roast stand that I love. Oh wait, no, you don't go, you have no idea what I'm talking about. But then going to the Glastonbury sign, which Jessi, you've never been to.

1:24:41Jessi Yeah, I've never been to it.

1:24:43Jamie Going up there, I mean, it's again talking about traditions, going up on the very first day before anyone's got into the site, and then always making sure that I go up on the Sunday night as well, and just looking out and going, look at this, we've done 5 days. As a volunteer, I've been here almost a week week and it's still the most magical place ever, be it I'm now covered in mud or I'm trying to get over heatstroke or I have a hangover, you know, no matter how you're feeling, even if you feel dreadful, you're still happy because you're at Glastonbury.

1:25:16Jessi Amazing, I like that answer. Yeah, yeah, that's totally fine.

1:25:20Miguel Although between ourselves, we've been chatting like rituals at Glastonbury, good or bad?

1:25:24Jessi Yeah, so in our little WhatsApp, we've obviously— we mentioned this in the last episode and we talked about how we've done things that, like, this year we've kind of learned lessons and stuff. But you're right, I feel like I have too many traditions now. It's always like, right, Wednesday I have to do this, Thursday I have to do this, and it's almost become a bit of a— maybe I should—

1:25:41Miguel Which I think is bringing us back a bit. It's bringing us back the feeling that if we missed on one ritual, we start getting—

1:25:47Jessi oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

1:25:49Jamie Instead of just enjoying missing out.

1:25:51Jessi Yeah, yeah, massive.

1:25:51Jamie It's a real thing. And I know certainly I mean, that's, that's the biggest thing with volunteering is when you, uh, when you're on a shift and then it's certainly sort of— I keep saying the word tradition, but it's a thing that I do.

1:26:06Jessi Yeah.

1:26:06Jamie Is I try so hard, and it's the thing I always advise new volunteers to do. Don't look at the lineup.

1:26:12Jessi Yeah.

1:26:13Jamie Look at who's playing. Don't look at when they're playing, because if you turn up and no matter how grateful you are of being at Glastonbury, you turn up, look at your shifts and you go, oh, Thursday afternoon, I really— there's this small band I've been following for ages I'm desperate to see, or, oh, Sunday night there's this one headliner that I've wanted to see all of my life, the chances are you will be working it. Yeah. And then you get a massive, you know, fear of missing out because you think, oh no, my favourite band are playing at Glastonbury, and then you spend the whole first day instead of taking in the atmosphere and walking around the site and being happy that you're there you spend trying to swap your shift, and it just, it just puts a bit of a negative spin on it. Whereas, yeah, there's totally a thing.

1:27:02Alex I think you're totally right about not looking at the lineups though, because like I said earlier, I, I didn't really look at it that much this year, and I took a completely different approach and just wanted to take it easy and look around and see everything that was on offer. And you just— I think the best moments are when you stumble across things Unexpectedly, and yeah, or meet someone randomly, or, you know, it's— you never know what you're gonna find. And I think the— it's not good to exhaust yourself trying to plan every single minute of when you're going to be there because you're just going to end up feeling knackered.

1:27:36Jamie I remember when we were on site and we were just sort of chatting, and I just came back and looked at my phone and the step count, and it just said, you've just done 30,000 steps. And I texted Alex and she was like, Yeah, I haven't left the camp yet. What are you doing? And then you said afterwards, you were like, yeah, it's been my best year yet. I've had a really nice relaxed time, walk around the site when I want to. It's really interesting how everyone does their own Glastonbury a bit differently.

1:28:02Jessi Yeah, it's funny, you, you know, you talk about FOMO there, and, you know, Connor, you mentioned that even if you go to Glastonbury as a ticket holder, you're always gonna miss out on something. And that is what I've for years told myself. I've gone, I could— I can't volunteer at Glastonbury. I mean, I will if I don't get a ticket, but I'm always gonna try for a ticket because there's never enough hours in the day at Glastonbury anyway. And if I have to spend some of it working, then I don't know how I'd cope with that. But actually, the way that you flip that back on itself is totally true. Like, I'm never gonna see anything anyway, so why not? You know, I do really enjoy working the volunteer shifts. It's just fun people watching and speaking to people and doing whatever you've got to do. If I'm not gonna see it all anyway, What are a few hours of working anyway? And then contributing back to the thing that I love so much. Never thought of it that way. Thank you, you flipped my head around there. So let's do like a little mini summary, I guess. Would you ever go back to trying for tickets, or is volunteering now the way you're gonna go, and why is that?

1:28:54Jamie Personally, no. I do try for tickets, but I don't really try, so I always log in and say if I was successful— I know people listening would be really angry with that because it clogs up the servers, I know. I'm one of those people. But realistically, no. I think there are so many benefits to volunteering, not just for yourself. Of course, we've talked about the showers and things, but it raises a huge amount of money, you know, literally millions of pounds. Glastonbury is one of the only festivals that donates money to charity. But the fact that any festival that Oxfam do, that's how they get their money and they can still continue to run. And it's such a wonderful wonderful thing to do. So even when you sort of go home at the end of the festival, you, you're left with this certain feeling of what an amazing time I've had, but what an amazing amount of money I've raised for people who so desperately need it.

1:29:50Jessi Yeah, that's amazing. I think that's one part we haven't really touched on, is it? But it, like Oxfam do for, you know, every hour you work— that's why it's volunteering. So Glastonbury pay Oxfam for every hour that a volunteer works, and that's how they, you know, raise a really amazing amount of money. Same, you know, they donate money to WaterAid and Greenpeace as well, but those are the 3 main ones, and I think it's brilliant.

1:30:12Connor Here's a top tip: a lot of workplaces give you extra days off to volunteer. So if you're planning on volunteering at Glastonbury, get your volunteer days at work as well. That is genius! You get a couple of extra days off, which Why haven't we ever put that together?

1:30:30Jessi That is amazing. How about from you, Shaun? Would you ever go back to buying a ticket?

1:30:35Sean I've never had a ticket. Well, okay, it's a different dream world.

1:30:38Jessi Would you ever try? I guess you've got like a guaranteed volunteer place, so you don't even have to stress about that. But would you ever go, right, I'm gonna—

1:30:44Sean I think we all want to try and get a ticket now just to see how the other half live. Yeah, and we want to see, right, is this £250 gonna be Well spent or thrown down the drain. Just see how long can we survive being dirty, how long can we survive knowing, oh, we've actually got to pay for our meals.

1:31:01Miguel You make it sound like third world.

1:31:03Sean Yeah, well, that's what it is. It's a post-apocalyptic Disney world.

1:31:10Jessi And also, we—

1:31:10Sean I like getting up in the morning and being applauded and literally being called hero. Yeah, it does go to your head. But I think, I think we're very happy we started out doing it, really, because we know it's a guaranteed way way. We know we can enjoy it even though we have to work. And also, you know, I say like being applauded, I mean, it's important what we do essentially.

1:31:28Jessi Yeah.

1:31:28Sean Because you would never be able to walk to one field for another, and there's so much we— so much we pick up. So it is proud to see like everything you've picked up, and you just get really a lot of gratitude from everyone and sense of community. So until we do get a ticket and see what it's like and then realize, oh my God, we've got to queue up and find somewhere camp rather than just rocking up in Tom's Field and just throwing a pop-up tent anywhere. So until that day, we're gonna keep, um, we're gonna keep cleaning up everyone's mess.

1:31:55Jessi That is a really good point. I mean, it, you know, with speaking about it today, I do wonder, like, you know, we pay money to have less days, to have to queue, to not have showers, to not get given free food. It is a bit like, wait a minute, why am I even doing this? Um, but yeah, no, you make really good points.

1:32:12Connor To make everyone really jealous and annoyed I did actually get the elusive early shifts in 2017.

1:32:18Alex Ooh!

1:32:18Connor It was, um, so we were there from the Saturday through to the Sunday, a whole week at Glastonbury, and I'd finished my shifts. My last shift was on Tuesday morning.

1:32:28Oh, shut up!

1:32:31Sean Dream slots!

1:32:33Jessi Dream, dream, dream, dream.

1:32:35Connor I was just letting in, um, you know, traders and—

1:32:38Jessi Yeah, yeah, yeah.

1:32:39Connor And, um, you know, other workers.

1:32:40Jessi So you actually had the full 5 days? like as if you were a punter, but you still had access to showers, etc.

1:32:46Connor Showers, charges. Wow.

1:32:47Sean That is incredible. They're the hardest ones to get. And I also think, because I've also done 2 after-festival shifts, and sometimes that can be just as good. Because when you see everyone depressed because they're taking the funfair away, you still do your shifts and come back and you're just having a camp out with all your friends.

1:33:03Connor Yeah.

1:33:04Sean Putting the barbecue— putting like the fire on and just chilling. And essentially you just de-wire, and when it does come to an end, you do want to get the hell out of there because you're tired as hell.

1:33:12Jamie I mean, that is— it's the one thing about early shifts. I was also very, very lucky to get early shifts in 2015. They're, they're really good because it's often quite quiet because you're letting the traders in, but there's a sense of sort of excitable apprehension of, uh, sort of, oh, how— what's this Glastonbury going to be like type thing. But then I suppose if you're looking for a negative of it, it does feel very Because you sort of— I mean, I know I got to the Monday and usually sort of the Monday after the festival, usually I'm sort of like, yeah, I'm ready to go home now. I've had a nice sort of— I had a really nice time, but it is time to go home. When I did the early shifts and I'd been there since the Saturday before, I was exhausted. I could barely drive home because I was so tired. So you put all of your energy into your shifts and then you do party a little bit harder than you usually would, and so by the end you feel feel like you've been there for about a month, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but as I mentioned before, you really do have to work quite hard.

1:34:13Yeah.

1:34:13Jamie And there is, I'd say, a slightly higher expectation of you when you are given the early shifts, because even though it is completely random, you, you know, you are one of the chosen few that get to do— that get to be on site early. And it's one of those things where you have to tick a box to say, can I do the early shifts or the large majority of people will for about 100 positions out of 2,500 people. So yeah, it's, it's great if you get the opportunity.

1:34:42Connor When all your friends that you see every year arrive on the Monday and Tuesday, they're like, what are your shifts like?

1:34:48Jessi And you're like, done them!

1:34:51Sean And then you dodge the cans.

1:34:55Jessi Thank you guys, it's been amazing having you here. We've had an awesome episode talking about volunteering. One of the few legitimate ways remaining if you don't go for the April resale. And the nice thing about it is most of these organisations, they open up their applications in kind of March. But the main thing to take away is if you're thinking about volunteering, sign up for the newsletters now. I think most of them, if you do a bit of a Google, do what Shaun said at the beginning, go online and go, how can I get to Glastonbury? There are various kind of— we mentioned a few. Obviously we've got Oxfam and Recycling Here. but you've got Shelter, you've got Festaff, there are loads more. And I think one of the fun ones that I've always thought about is working at the Oxfam charity shops that are on the festival. That would always be good fun. Yes, so you can go online and join a newsletter and then they'll let you know when applications open, but it is going to be tough this year. It's not going to be something that you can think about, you know, 3 weeks before the festival. Well, actually, you mentioned maybe places do open up. Not very often.

1:35:51Jamie That tends not to be the case.

1:35:55Miguel Register interest and don't lose hope.

1:35:56Jessi Yeah, exactly, that's the way to do it. Thanks, guys.

1:35:59Miguel I think we should just clap because I know at least Shaun will get—

1:36:02Jessi Yeah, thank you.

1:36:04Sean See, usually I'm there with my little paper camera.

1:36:17Jessi That went really, really well. I really enjoyed that.

1:36:19Miguel It was an amazing, amazing— it's good It's good to have other people around us who love Glastonbury as much as we do.

1:36:25Jessi Yeah, yeah, you're always sort of nervous when you kind of say to people, well, can you come and chat on this thing? And as much as, you know, you think, oh well, maybe people will be enthusiastic, it's really great that so many people are so enthusiastic about Glastonbury and just talking about it and telling stories. I love it.

1:36:38Miguel To the point when we were receiving our guests today, straight away you were already jumping to talk about Glastonbury. And I'm thinking, I wish I can just press record right now. But then of course—

1:36:48Jessi Save it for the podcast.

1:36:49Miguel Yeah, stop, stop talking about Glastonbury at the moment. But of course we know we would then end up with like, what, 8 hours of audio?

1:36:57Jessi Oh yeah, I mean, honestly, we say it every time, but I could talk about this for days. And it was the first, as we said at the beginning, first for us to have actual live in-person guests with us, which was great. And yeah, I don't know about you, Miguel, I know you've already volunteered once and you say it was your favorite one, but yeah, I'm— I don't know, all the way through it I was going, why Why haven't I not done this?

1:37:17Alex Yeah.

1:37:17Jessi Why haven't I not done this? So I, yeah, I think I must do it in 2021. It just has to happen.

1:37:23Miguel We should do it together. I mean, 2021 will be my 10-year anniversary. So maybe, maybe that's a pretty good idea.

1:37:31Jessi 10-year special.

1:37:31Sean Yeah.

1:37:31Miguel 10-year special. And well, yeah, we hope we gave you, the listeners, enough information for you to decide if maybe that's something you want to do, because there's still time.

1:37:41Jessi You can still be at Glastonbury 2020 if you've Yeah, I mean, it is still going to be difficult to get in. I will say it's not kind of you can just go, yeah, I'll volunteer, sign up, and it'll be easy.

1:37:50Miguel Um, last minute spots do open.

1:37:53Jessi Last minute spots do open. Um, just basically get on those newsletters, get talking to the right people, and I'm pretty sure you'll, you'll find your way in.

1:38:00Miguel Check the website of each organization to learn about deadlines.

1:38:03Jessi I think it's good to go on the website and just check out what the actual job entails as well, because obviously different— we've talked about shelter being bar Oxfam being gate stewards, and obviously the recycling team being either in the big recycling warehouse or, you know, out collecting litter.

1:38:18Miguel Absolutely.

1:38:18Jessi There are so many different roles for volunteering, and, you know, some might suit you better. If you really know that you can't do a night shift, maybe the recycling team is the one for you. But go do some research and find out what's out there.

1:38:29Miguel I mean, yeah, we wanted our guests to share about the experience, but there's still a lot of information you need to absorb, so Get online, there's an eFest thread on volunteering already for 2020. You can read the one from 2019, there's a lot of questions that maybe we didn't cover that you can read there and find much more about it.

1:38:49Jessi Yeah, eFest is a great source of information, so if you're not on there, get on there, pay for a gold membership.

1:38:54Miguel Yeah, support the website because there's a lot of information you can get from there and there is a really, really nice community, a welcoming community.

1:39:00Jessi Great, well, thank you very much. Here we go, another episode done.

1:39:03Miguel Yeah, I think that's it from us.

1:39:05Jessi Yep, we will see you next time. With Rob, hopefully.

1:39:08Alex Yeah.

1:39:09Jessi Thanks guys, bye!

1:39:10Bye-bye!