FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: GLASTONBURY EMERGING TALENT 2025 RESULTS

tonyhardy2
May 2
3 min read

Updated: May 3

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 2025 and then in March I revealed my 3 Round 1 choices who joined the longlist of 90 acts selected from the thousands of entries.

Then it all went a bit quiet. I kept wondering when the eight finalists were going to be announced and only found out via a random visit to the Glastonbury site. Maybe I missed the email. Anyhow the acts chosen to appear at the live final in Pilton on 26 April were: Air Drawn Dagger, Ari Tsugi, Eli Dayo, Mali Hâf, Nat Oaks, Master Peace, Sarah Meth and Westside Cowboy, representing an appropriately diverse range of styles. Sadly, my wonderful three choices - Jazzi Sirius, Izzy Steele and Eleanor Dunsdon & Gregor Black – were not among them. Cue great gnashing of teeth and a large dental bill; a fate shared by 21 other Round 1 judges, similarly unblessed.

I do hope that Jazzi, Izzy, Eleanor and Gregor will take heart and reflect on their awesome achievement in making it to the longlist stage. With any luck, being playlisted by Glastonbury Festival has brought them all some new followers. You can listen to their entry songs again HERE.

And so to the live final…

I always look forward to attending the live final which is hosted in the friendly and well-equipped environment of Pilton Working Men’s Club. You can’t get to the bar usually for London-types fainting at being asked to pay so little for their drinks. Unfortunately, in view of the proximity to the date of our house move, this year it was not to be. In hosting and supporting the competition, Glastonbury Festival, PRS for Music and the PRS Foundation should be applauded once more for giving unsigned acts, often unknown outside their immediate fan base, the chance to reach out to a wider audience and put their music front of stage.

After what I hear was a great night of live music, Manchester-based quartet, Westside Cowboy, was called the winner, gaining a slot on the Woodsies Stage at Glastonbury in June, plus a £5,000 Talent Development prize from the PRS Foundation. The judges, who included Michael and Emily Eavis, Glastonbury stage bookers and music business professionals, also awarded two runners-up places to Ghana-born, Gloucester-raised neo-soul & hip hop act Nat Oaks and Welsh language singer-songwriter Mali Hâf who each earn a spot on a Glastonbury stage and a £2,500 PRS Foundation Talent Development prize.

1st photo - Nat Oaks 2nd - Mali Hâf

You can read a fine review of the evening by my fellow Round 1 Judge, Joe Lepper, on Neonfiller who described Westside Cowboy as "worthy winners" and giving an "exceptional performance." A great story and I’m pretty sure he hadn’t just met a girl called Maria, either. [Trying too hard there - Ed].

So, I’ll leave you with two tracks from Westside Cowboy: the band’s energetic live performance of its excellently titled ETC entry song, “I've Never Met Anyone I Thought I Could Really Love (Until I Met)” followed by the latest single, “Shells” - a slow-burn and then erupting paean to acceptance.