It takes a Glastonbury veteran to sing about the festival and Beans on Toast fits that bill. Affectionally referred to as ‘Beans’, he’s been attending Glastonbury Festival since the age of 16 and he hasn’t missed one since! Just to add to the bragging rights, the first Beans on Toast was also at the festival in 2006 and he’s played every year since.
Beans’ latest single “Glastonbury Weekend’ is an ode to the festival he loves and a reflection on what would do without it. At its simplest, the track is a social commentary on the stereotypical activities people have been up to during the lockdown compared to the antics and images everyone is familiar with when talking about Glastonbury Festival. As well as this, it’s not short of all the charm Beans on Toast fans have come to know and love.
The track is centered around the question of “What’re we gonna do Glastonbury weekend?” which is a sentiment many avid festival goers will be feeling this weekend (24th-28th June). Although it never answers this question outright, Beans’ raspy and optimistic vocal style reassures us listeners that “we’ve got bigger fish to fry” and all we need to do is make a plan for what we can do with our friends over this festival weekend.
As the track goes into its final 30 seconds it starts to end on a somber note, with Beans admitting that lately he’s been scared about what’s going on in the world and that he needs Glastonbury Festival to cheer him up he reiterates the question “What’re we gonna’ do Glastonbury weekend?”. Ending on this question is the final glimmer of hope, Beans is expressing that even though we don’t have the festival this year, the weekend that it was supposed to happen on is what we make of it – it’s the people we surround ourselves with.
‘Glastonbury Weekend’ the fourth single Beans has released during the current pandemic, you can watch here or download it here and check out the three other singles he’s released on his YouTube channel here.
Words by Matt Wheatley