OUT NOW!
Episode 2 of the brand new series of The Word with Miranda. In this podcast Miranda catches up with Steve Symons, Booker for the West Holts Stage, one of the world's biggest festival stages. Did you know 2/3's of the adult population in the UK watch the Glastonbury Festival on the TV? So as a booker Steve not just curates for the festival goers but for people watching on TV and around the world.
With over 100 stages at Glastonbury, West Holts has grown into the 3rd biggest and most iconic. In this podcast we find out how the stage has gained this reputation and some of the secrets behind creating an iconic festival stage.
Steve celebrates 40 years of working at Glastonbury Festival this year.
West Holts is described by Steve as the outernational rhythm hub of Glastonbury, taking you on a journey from spiritual jazz and neo soul through cosmic disco, dance queen divas, breakbeat culture , afrofunk, reggae, hip hop, psychedelia and music that defies any categorisation at all and most definitely not a World Music Stage. Standing on its own merit of a global reputation built up by Steve and his team, the success of this stage is undoubtedly because it defies all categorisation as he works tirelessly searching the world for the very best of music, regardless of genre. From Japanese orchestras to Hip hop legends this stage has seen them all from Nile Rogers to Anderson Paak, Tribe Called Quest, Roy Ayres, The Roots, just to name a few that I had the privilege of seeing myself.
For many years the backstage bar at the West Holts Stage, formerly known as the Jazz/World stage, was a hidden secret for all musicians & crew and hosted jam sessions that would go all night and feature performers from the Pyramid stage & across the site alongside DJ's, including myself and the collaborations was something you could only dream of. It was known for being the place to hang out "afterhours", mainly because it was the only place. Michael Eavis would often be seen chilling with the team. My memories of seeing some of my musical heroes jamming and at arms length is something I will be telling my grand kids about....I feel utterly privileged to have had this experience for the few years I did, so I am so excited to hear some of Steve's stories.
When I asked Steve to delve a bit deeper and try and explain the ethos of the music of West Holts stage he replied:
"Paying respect to the elders and generations gone before us that have led music to where it is today and that pretty much anything that is good in music has come from Africa originally and the Black American tradition over 100 years has given us everything from Jazz to Techno and way beyond". Wise words Steve.
Steve sets us up for this year's incredible lineup including the amazing back story of singer Asha Puthli, now in her 70's but was ostracized when she tried to launch her career decades before. Returning to the global stage after 44 years, one of the greatest vocalists of all time.
Some of Steve's highlights over the years include Nile Rogers, Shibusashirazu Orchestra & Jerry Dammers Spatial Aka Orchestra, but a bit like being asked which is your favourite child, after 40 years I suspect is an impossible question to answer...
It's these kinds of acts that make West Holts stand alone from any other festival stage and why Steve has created such a well deserved reputation, here's to his next 40 years curating the West Holts Stage at Glastonbury Festival.
Just some of the bands Steve is looking forward to seeing this year include:
@jungle4eva
@jessieware
@ashaputhli
@etjusticepourtous
@amplifiedhistory
@archives.nia
@corinnebaileyrae
@blackfootwhitefoot
Plus two amazing hosts/comperes:
@jasmine_ketibuah and @angelmelselector
Plus DJ's Plus DJ's @benguinbristol and @smeatondave
Have a listen to this podcast and find out what Steve looks for when booking a band and why he is so looking forward to this year's acts.
The Word with Miranda is available on multiple platforms including Podbean.
Link in my bio and Linktree or go straight to:
https://mirandarae.podbean.com/
#glastonburyfestival #glastonbury #westholtsstage #westholts #festivals #glasto2024
