FIFTY3FRIDAYS: GLASTONBURY REVISITED
Oh dear, the year is flying by. This New Year’s Day joke is already out of date. The theme of our first Fifty3Friday of the brave new year is even less topical. As my voluntary hiatus got in the way of writing about my time at Glastonbury 2025, I thought it might be an idea to include some highlights today as a sign-off to 2025 [OK but 2 days late – Ed]. In truth I get anxious just thinking about writing about Glastonbury let alone actually getting around to doing it. I've h
3 days ago
FIFTY3FRIDAYS: BOXING DAY PLAYLIST
In last Friday’s column, I shared seven songs that stood out for me in 2025. I’ve added another 35 to create my Boxing Day Playlist 2025.
Dec 26, 2025
FIFTY3FRIDAYS: HERE ARE SOME I MISSED EARLIER
Why ‘tis the season of those ‘best of’ lists. Yet in a year when I hardly wrote anything, it seems a bit of catching up is required before making any pronouncements about favourite records of 2025. So, let’s chew over some of the songs I have not had the pleasure of bringing to your attention until now and see what lands. This process will continue and end beyond today's post with a Boxing Day Playlist. At least that’s the plan… Photo by Gerome Bruneau We’ll start with a nam
Dec 20, 2025
FIFTY3FRIDAYS: NOW ON INSTAGRAM
Ever the Johnny-come-lately, last week I thought it was about time I opened an Instagram account -@TonyHardyFifty3. That bit was easy. Working out what to do with it will take a bit more time but most if not all the artists I have ever written about have an Insta page so it is much easier to tag them to point out I have just said something nice about their new single. Doing so on X has become a complete pain and after a longer break from publishing this column than I had inte
Dec 5, 2025
FIFTY3FRIDAYS: A TRIUMPHANT RETURN
This might be the first edition of Fifty3Fridays since May but today’s headline is all about a return to the stage by a very special artist after a 13 year break. More of which soon, but before we get to it, where in the world are we, James? Well, Friday night found me at the mid nineteenth century Anglo-Catholic church of St Matthias in Stoke Newington, North London. This in itself presents a profound public transport challenge, especially when you have decamped to Haslemere
Nov 30, 2025
FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: GLASTONBURY EMERGING TALENT 2025 RESULTS
All Glastonbury ETC Final photography kindly by Rick Mav After being offline since mid-November, other than two posts to support the Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition 2025 , Fifty3Fridays is back with a resume of who made it through to the live final and who won. Readers may recall that I downed the music writing tools as we contemplated the enormity of a house move after almost 35 years in our Kingston home. The column made a brief return in January to announce ETC 202
May 2, 2025
