I am Pete Wheeler AKA Wonder Wheel Presents

Published 12 Jul 2010 09:00 0 Comments

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Rock on: James Ewers from My Luminaries performing at Glasto. PHOTO: JON SADLEIR

Royal welcome at Glasto

AT THIS year's Glastonbury Festival, I was privileged to play some DJ sets across the weekend and spent six days on site taking in the sun, sights and sounds.

A number of acts from Reading took to the many stages and I caught up with two of them who had very different but particularly memorable experiences.

My Luminaries won the Emerging Talent competition and the opportunity to open the festival on Thursday at the Queens Head stage.

The band got a big surprise during their soundcheck as Glastonbury organiser, Michael Eavis, entered the tent accompanied by Prince Charles and Alex James of Blur.

"All three of them came up and chatted to us" said lead guitarist Mike Murray: "Prince Charles asked us if we'd play him a song."

Their set, mostly consisting of tracks from their current album 'Order For The Chaos' was a big success.

Mike said: "It was the best gig we've ever done. There was a sea of 2,500-plus heads and a hell of a lot of people knew the words which made it easy to play."

Singer James Ewers added: "We closed our set with a cover of Fleetwood Mac's Go Your Own Way.

"Everyone was singing along...it's a special place and this was a real achievement for us."

For me, the true spirit of Glastonbury is found away from the main stages in areas like the Shangri la field where Reading DJ duo Dutty Moonshine (Michael Rack and Alex Furley) played their unique blend of swing 'n' bass which they describe as '1930s swing remixed for today's dance generation!'.

"On Thursday we headlined the massive Hub stage" said Michael, who organises the brilliant Vaudeville Raves in Reading. "Thousands of people were raving it up, there was almost a riot when we stopped as the crowd wanted so much more."

"Swing'n'bass/electro swing is kicking off in a big way," Michael added. "There was so much demand at the fest that every swing act was pulling triple shifts running from stage to stage such as ourselves."

Being part of the festival was a real honour for me and doing that alongside so much local talent made that an even greater one.

This article appeared in Royal Borough Observer 08 Jul 10

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