We didn’t even know Krishnan Guru-Murthy’s son Jay was into music, let alone performing at this year’s festival.
But it appears the 16 year old is, at the Rabbit Hole stage with his mates, who form the band Askew – one of the youngest in the Worthy Farm festival’s history.
Before today, the teenage band had only ever played in front of parents in a pub, so this is a big step.
Needless to say, to be part of a Glastonbury lineup on the same day that the are the headliner is surely every 16 year old’s dream – and Krishnan knows it.
took to Twitter to share his excitement that his teenage son would be playing at the legendary music festival.
Alongside a panoramic video of the festival and Askew doing their sound check ahead of this afternoon’s performance, the 53-year-old dad wrote: ‘Overexcited dad living vicariously while 16 year old and mates sound check at #glastonbury #askew #rabbit hole at 5.30pm.’
That’s not a bad plug for the young band – made up of Eli Crossley, Alfie Lewis, Jay Guru-Murthy, Freddie Wormleighton and Will Pond – as Krishnan gets mega useful-dad-points for his 697,000 Twitter followers.
In the video, the teens can be heard playing one of their songs, with Jay on the electric guitar and looking totally at ease on stage.
Incredibly, this will be one of the band’s first ever gigs, as lead vocalist Eli explained to in a recent interview.
‘We haven’t really done any gigs or anything, but we’ve been able to practise at a studio. Now the fact we’re playing Glastonbury is quite crazy,’ he said.
The big opportunity for the band came, very randomly, when Eli appeared on BBC Breakfast and talked about a genetic condition he lives with called Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
The condition is a progressive muscle wasting and life-limiting disease which has left him in a wheelchair since last year.
He appeared on the radio to chat about a new piece of tech called the Smart Suit which will hopefully help him continue to move his upper body as he gets older.
The conversation then turned to his band, Askew, and how he longed to play at the Somerset festival.
After the interview, Eli remembered how lots of people sent messages saying, ‘Get Eli to Glastonbury,’ and ‘This kid sounds pretty good you should let him play,’ while tagging the Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis.
Although the public requests didn’t seem to have an immediate effect, the incredible prospect became real when Island Records’ Jon Turner watched Askew perform at a school musical, due to his child attending the same school.
According to the publication, Jon put the request to someone who knew Emily, and she then decided to give them a shot at a performance of a lifetime.
The band were apparently so gobsmacked at the news, they didn’t believe Eli when he told them, and instead shouted: ‘You’re insane, we’re not playing Glastonbury, are you mad?’
Krishnan has always kept his family life fairly private, but celebrated having spent 14 years together with his wife Lisa Guru-Murthy back in 2019 on social media.
Tonight’s Glastonbury performances can be watched live on BBC Two from 7.30 and on BBC iPlayer.
