Glastonbury rumours 2019: meet the man who discovers the secret sets

Much of Glastonbury’s magic lies in the wildly unpredictable, and certain secret sets have become the stuff of legend: when Jack White joined Alex Turner and Miles Kane in 2008; when Mumford and Sons took to Strummerville; when Lady Gaga entertained 400 wide-eyed revellers in Shangri-La and pretty much every time Radiohead popped up somewhere unexpectedly.

In the age of smartphones, the online rumour-mill has only become more fevered on site, adding to the cacophony of the bush telegraph that continues to disseminate secret set information (remember in 2015, when everybody was convinced that Prince would appear at the John Peel stage, only to be greeted by The Kooks?).

But since 2014 there has been one guiding light: @Secretglasto. Set up in 2014 by Mark Proudfoot, who was then “bored” and on the brink of sitting his AS levels, the Twitter account collates all of the rumoured Glastonbury acts and posts only the most likely on Twitter.

Five years later, and @Secretglasto has 27,000 Twitter followers, many of whom rely on the up to-the-second updates to watch surprise sets from artists including The Killers and The Libertines. Days before he descends on Worthy Farm to pick up the scent of another year’s worth of surprise sets, Proudfoot told us how he does it:

How did you start @Secretglasto?

I was bored in class one day. It was 2014, before I’d even gone to Glastonbury, and I thought it was something that people would be interested in and would help people. It was pretty difficult without having experience of Glastonbury’s geography - the first year wasn’t a stellar year for the account. But I guess that’s what happens at first, when you don’t know who to trust and I didn’t know anything about the festival really at the time.

Where do you find your information about who might be playing?

The internet, mostly. Twitter accounts, forums. Sometimes the artists confirm on their social media accounts, which is helpful. With The Libertines’ secret set in 2015, we knew they were an option but couldn’t be sure even on the morning of their performance. Eventually, though, they posted it on their social media. That was a nice confirmation because we were pretty stumped. It saved a lot of difficulty.

Have you acquired any helpful sources from within the industry over the years?

We have some leakers but they’re very honest about how sure they are of the set is happening, whether that’s 100 per cent or 80 per cent or whatever. If they can’t confirm, they’ll often send us in the direction of someone who can corroborate.

Some of the sources are people who are involved with tours or Glastonbury itself, but quite a few of them won’t talk to us unless we have information in advance. Often we’ll reach an agreement that we won’t release a set until a certain time; we never want to jeopardise anything, we want Glastonbury to continue putting on the secret sets like everybody else. We do our best and by the looks of things we haven’t caused Glastonbury too much upset

When did you realise that @Secretglasto had become a valuable resource?

When I was on site people were saying “you should follow this account”! I think 2015 was the year that it became quite well-known. But we still rely on the same sources, and we don’t have any association with the festival organisers.

How gullible are you? Is it easy to work out if a rumour is legitimate or not?

Over the years, there’s become a team of us. @Secretglasto is now run by four people. Between us it’s a lot easier to call things as true or not because you’re not relying on just one person’s judgement. We’re all involved in the music scene so we can smell a lot of untruths from quite a while away. We’re also very aware of who’s touring and who’s free, which other people may be less aware about. Hearing that a secret will happen from a band that are Belgium on the day it’s supposed to happen, for instance.

One of the most persistent rumours this year has been about Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. What did you think of that?

Bradley Cooper as a solo act was one we were looking at, but it’s far less believable with Gaga in tow given the slots that are available. It looks deeply unlikely, especially now that Emily Eavis has denied it. As far as I’m aware, Emily would much rather avoid talking about something than lie about it.

So if they were likely to appear, she wouldn’t have denied it?

She just wouldn’t have commented if it was happening, no.

Every year the perennial rumours raise their heads. What are your takes on them?

Paul McCartney is fairly constant. He’s one that we feel is going to happen again at some point but the exact year is up to him really. Probably, he’s a possible headliner next year or maybe the year after. Fleetwood Mac are an endless rumour. Given what they are rumoured to have said at Wembley Stadium, that we would see them at a festival next, it is possible.

Oasis reforming is always a huge deal but I don’t see it happening anytime soon. Every year they wait to reunite the amount of money they can make from it goes up. And I don’t feel Glastonbury would be the festival they’d play on their first reunion, either. It’s more likely to be something like British Summer Time, where the ticket prices are more flexible.

There’s been some thought that the 50th anniversary line-up next year will be one of the best yet.

Bands would rather play the 50th Glastonbury. I don’t think the festival itself is going to try and make the 50th bigger than it would otherwise be, because otherwise it makes other years pale in comparison. But they can also only book bands that want to play. If bands say we want to play next year and take a lesser slot, they can create a better line-up.

What are rumours you’ve been most proud of seeing come to fruition?

The most magical one was The Killers in 2017. There’s always a worry that you’ve got it wrong, so to be there and to see them walk on stage was beautiful. The Killers started being a strong option, rather than one of many, the week before the festival, but we have to be at least 98 per cent sure before we put the tweet out, unless we specify in the announcement that we’re not wholly sure.

Why do you think secret sets are so much more of a part of Glastonbury than any other festival?

I think because it’s a festival that sells out in advance and they have this ethos of putting on the greatest day possible rather than maximising profit. Glastonbury’s organiser have a different ethos of how to run a festival and the secret sets are very much part of that. We enjoy the rumours, the secret sets and surprises, and bands do too, because it allows them to do things they couldn’t do elsewhere. When Radiohead played a lot of The King of Limbs during their 2011 set, that was something they’d never be comfortable doing in a pre-announced slot.

Which act would be your pick for a secret set at Glastonbury? Tell us in the comments below.