My Glastonbury Adventure 2025: Part 4, 'A Chance Encounter'.

Alanis by Anna Barclay.

Friday and Saturday proved to be the worst of days and the best of days for me at Glasto 25. I’ll get Friday out of the way first. It began pleasantly enough. After breakfast our gang gathered around the radio at about 10.30 to listen to Heidi’s triumph ‘live’ from Glastonbury on BBC Radio 2 which was great fun. I called her Radioheid from then on. One of our two Donna’s is a huge Radiohead fan and had their t-shirt on, so I took a photo of them called Radioheid & Radiohead. However, I started to feel quite ill shortly after that. I think it was the heat causing it. It had been nice and warm all week, but by Friday the temperature had reached heatwave proportions. It was almost 30 degrees C, and we Celtic types don’t like it that hot. Even worse, our second shift was from mid-day to 6 O’clock, the hottest time of the day. The music had just started on the Pyramid Stage when we arrived for work. From the backstage area we could hear Supergrass followed by CMAT (who I would have loved to see), Burning Spear, and Lewis Capaldi. The work was fine; I had no problems with that. It was the heat that was doing me in. There was a water point and every time I walked past it, I took my hat off, turned on the tap full blast and stuck my head under it. 

Radioheid & Radiohead.

It was a real relief when me and Odele had a tea break in the shade outside the workers canteen. That seemed to revive me and got me through the shift. I must have walked past dozens of well-known people in the hospitality area, but I’m so out of touch these days I didn’t recognise anyone. I did see one man run up to somebody, shake his hand, and ask for a selfie with him. “Who was that?”, I asked the man when he had walked off. “That’s Tom Ogden from The Blossoms”, he replied excitedly. That meant nothing to me because I had never heard of him. I felt a lot better when the shift ended, and I knew tomorrow would be easier because we were on morning shift before the heat kicked in. Alanis Morissette was just beginning her set when we left backstage. I can’t say she was on my list of must-see acts, but I stopped to listen and quite enjoyed it, and found I recognised some of the songs, especially Ironic because I bought her Jagged Little Pill album a long time ago, although I haven’t played it in years.

After Alanis I headed home because I was starving. Dinner was excellent, Turkish Aubergine with chips, curry sauce, delicious salad, and a nice dessert. Then I enjoyed two cold ciders from Tom’s Bar. My original plan for the evening was to go and see Dhani Harrison, The Searchers last ever gig, and Ani DiFranco because I have an album by her called Red Letter Year that I like. All those plans went out of the window though because I was just too tired to walk down there. I listened to a bit of Biffy Clyro from the back of the field. I didn’t know anything about them, but they did sing a little bit of God Only Knows as a tribute to Brian. A band called The 1975 ended the night, but I was already in my Sleeping bag by the time they came on.

Me & Zoe (Blurred)

I had asked Kellie to give me a shout in the morning, but I was already up and about at 4.30. Compared to Friday I felt great in the cool of the morning and was raring to go and ‘kick some ass’ as they say in America. Take away breakfasts were available at that time of the morning, but I couldn’t be bothered to queue up for a baguette with a vegetarian sausage and an egg in it. The work was a pleasure on Saturday morning. Me and Odele kept busy tidying up the walkway to the Other Stage, then cleared up some of the BBC area. BBC people are very friendly and polite by the way. Then we were asked to tidy up this area that I think is called Moonglow. It is where the A listers stay in futurist looking caravan type things that I think are called Airstreams. I was busy clearing a table outside one of these things when a friendly familiar looking lady emerged from inside and thanked me for what I was doing. We started talking and she apologised for sounding hoarse and said she had lost her voice and had a show to do that day. The penny dropped, and I realised she was a famous BBC radio presenter. She asked my name, and then said, “What’s your friends name?”, looking at Odele a few yards away. “It’s Odele”, I replied, “Odele, come and meet Jo Wiley”. “That’s not Jo Wiley, it’s Zoe Ball”, Odele replied.

“Oh no, sorry I got your name wrong Zoe”, I spluttered.

“Don’t worry, it happens all the time, people are always getting us mixed up”, she said, laughing.

Zoe & Odele (Much better)

Anyway, Odele took a photo of me and Zoe which came out blurry sadly, and I took a photo of them both which is a lot better. Then Kate appeared who had met Zoe the previous year, and Zoe remembered her, so that was another photo opportunity. Finally, Zoe wandered off with this man who smiled at us. When they had gone, I realised he was none other than Zoe’s ex-husband and still best friend Norman Cook better known as the world-famous DJ Fat Boy Slim. What nice people they are. The Kaiser Chiefs were on stage when our work finished at mid-day, but I headed straight for the Acoustic Stage. We didn’t have any more work for 34 hours and I was determined to make the most of it. What a fantastic day of music it would turn out to be.

To Be Continued………………………………….