Stormzy tells how tech failure made Glastonbury show the ‘most difficult thing’
The grime star’s in-ear monitors failed minutes into his headline performance on the Pyramid Stage.
Stormzy has revealed that his in-ear monitors failed 20 minutes into his headline performance at Glastonbury Festival, making it the “most difficult thing” he has ever done.
In-ear monitors are used by musicians to hear their own songs when they are playing live, and help them stay in time and key.
The Brit Award-winning grime rapper, 26, said that when he walked off stage he thought it had been “the worst thing” he had ever done.
However, after speaking to festival organiser Emily Eavis he realised that it had gone “all right”.
He told Q Magazine: “The thing about Glasto, and I’ve not told anybody this, but I had no sound.
“My in-ears blew after about 20 minutes, so I had no sound for the whole thing. It was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done.
“When I walked off stage, I thought I’d f***** it. I thought it was the worst thing I’d ever done.
“I came off stage and thought I’d totally, absolutely, blown it. I was crying for, like, an hour. I was in hysterics.
“I thought I’d f***** it up. Heartbroken, man. Heartbroken. Then after calming down for an hour, some of the people at the festival, Emily Eavis and that, gave us a memory stick to watch it back.
“And I got about halfway through and I was, like, ‘Shit, I think it all went all right’.”
On Tuesday Stormzy, real name Michael Omari, announced that his second album will be called Heavy Is The Head and will be released on December 13.
In a post to his 1.3 million Twitter followers, he also unveiled the album’s cover image, which shows him wearing a crown and holding the Banksy-designed Union Jack stab vest he wore at Glastonbury.
Stormzy used his Friday night slot on the Pyramid Stage in June to highlight the experience of young black people in the UK.
Crime statistics flashed across the big screens along with excerpts from a speech by Labour MP David Lammy about racial prejudice in the criminal justice system.
Stormzy said the performance was “significant” because it felt like the “absolute summary and epitome of everything” he had done so far in his career.
The rapper, who was awarded the prize for best solo artist at the Q Awards in October, also ruled himself out of running for prime minister against Boris Johnson.
He said: “Oh nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. That’s not on the cards for me. I’m gonna stick to being a musician. That’s what I’m best at.”
Stormzy also described meeting Beyonce and Jay-Z as “the greatest conversation of my life” and said he would like to collaborate with the couple, “God willing”.
Read the full interview in Q Magazine.
