Latest news with #AJ
The Guardian
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘We get to press pause on real life' – why Glastonbury is the ultimate friends holiday
One morning at Glastonbury's Stone Circle, my friend AJ pointed towards a crowd of revellers and said 'Dalai Lama'. I laughed thinking it was some kind of offbeat joke. 'No,' he said, 'it's the actual Dalai Lama.' 'Sure,' I said. I never even turned around, it seemed simply too far-fetched that he would be at Glastonbury festival. The joke was on me though because it was the Dalai Lama. He was there meeting festivalgoers ahead of his speech later that morning. This is the anecdote I use to illustrate to people who've never been before why it feels as if anything might happen at Glastonbury festival. 'It was the actual Dalai literal Lama. At 6am. In a field!!' They're usually backing away slowly at this point. Unexpected encounters, memorable weather and meeting up with old friends are just a few of the reasons my love of Glastonbury has only grown over the years. We've gone from arranging to meet up under a comedy sign to using the Official Glastonbury app, powered by Vodafone, to share everything from lineups to where to find the best bagels. Glastonbury has been written about, filmed, mythologised, tweeted, TikToked and think-pieced to the point that every sentiment you reach for to describe how it makes you feel ends up sounding like a cliche. It simply can't be helped. It is all the things people say: a ritual, a reunion, a sacred space where we remember who we once were and honour who we've become (and yes, also a fun, strange party in a field), so forgive me if I start to sound like a cliche because for me and my friends, the annual pilgrimage to Worthy Farm has become sacrosanct. The year of the Dalai Lama was 2015, when we first made it a tradition. It wasn't my first Glastonbury but that year about 25 of us got tickets – all friends from university who'd dispersed to different parts of the country after graduating and who were giddy to be reunited, finally. A few of us – my closest group and I – pooled £25 each and bought a tent off eBay; it was weighty, ancient and pitching it required the building knowhow of a trained architect and the patience of a monk. Ten years on, though, it has seen us through a lot. It proved a haven in particular in 2016, the year of wild, torrential, biblical rain – if a tight fit. Our designated early arrivers had stomped through a sea of mud to reach our favoured site with it on their shoulders like a coffin. It was also the year when the Brexit results were announced. I was awoken on Friday morning by my friend Jamie's plaintive howls of: 'We're out, we're out. The pound has crashed and David Cameron's resigning.' I remember sitting on the hill behind the Park stage during one of the brief pauses in the rain, looking out across the whole site, that classic view – the Ribbon Tower, the flags, the tents scattered like old confetti. We were in our mid-20s, had entered the jobs market in the middle of the great recession and were only just starting to feel that our careers might actually go somewhere. At least we're here, we kept saying. At least we have this. That night – soaked, cold, tempted to burrow into the tent and stay there – we ventured out to see Stormzy then Kano headline the Sonic stage in Silver Hayes. It was such a big performance, defiant, full of bravado, we couldn't help but feel a renewed optimism. We hugged and screamed and danced. I left the set thinking that I would pay whatever it took, a hundred times over, to keep convening in this field, with these people, for as long as I possibly could. And, mostly, we have. Over time, we've celebrated engagements there, house purchases, new jobs. We celebrated friends moving countries, and coming back. We celebrated surviving a global pandemic. Pressing pause on real life, for those few days, we get to live in a technicolour bubble where joy is easy and time bends. We laugh more. We listen harder. We dance like idiots. We cry when the sun sets behind the Pyramid stage on Sunday. We remember that, beneath the bills and burnout, we are still the same people who sang through the thunderstorms, arms flung around each other. Connecting friends to the best of British summerVodafone has been connecting people to the places and things they love since 1984 – that's why it is The Nation's Network. Vodafone will make sure friends stay connected during their time at the festival by powering the Official Glastonbury app, with features including live location sharing, reliable coverage and free Connect & Charge facilities. In a new highlight for 2025, the app will even measure ticketholders' step counts so that friends can compare who has covered the most ground. And Vodafone is upping the ante by matching the average festival-goer's step count with donations of sims (to a max of 75,000) through its programme. As children have come along we've managed to incorporate them to a degree: in 2023, for instance, when my friend Sophie was pregnant we turned her 12-week ultrasound scan into a flag. It had the words MEET US AT THE FETUS written across the bottom. The flag hung above our tent all weekend like a beacon of absurdity and love. (We've stopped short at bringing any of them along because, quite frankly, I don't think any of us are brave enough.) Last year, I had a three-month-old at home and watched from my sofa but I'm back this year. A little older, a little softer, just as devoted. I'll be there with my boyfriend, my SPF50, Loop earplugs and the mild sense of dread that comes with being in your mid-30s and about to spend four nights on an inflatable mattress. We've also downloaded the Official Glastonbury app and shared our lineups. The location-sharing feature might actually save us this year – no more frantic texts saying 'by a flag' or 'left of the big speaker' while squinting at a man in glitter hot pants who looks vaguely like your friend from behind. There's something comforting about that – about being able to stay connected without stepping outside of the bubble. About knowing where your people are, even in the chaos. Because that's what Glastonbury has always meant to us: not the headliners, not the hype, but the simple fact of being together, in a field, once a year. Still showing up. Still choosing each other. And yes, I know, it's all a bit of a cliche. But like most cliches, it only became one because it's true. Vodafone, connecting you to Glastonbury this summerThe Official Glastonbury 2025 app is available now! Download the free app, powered by Vodafone
Scottish Sun
10 hours ago
- Sport
- Scottish Sun
Anthony Joshua was such a student of the game he would ask amateur boxing hopefuls for advice, reveals Galal Yayai
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) ANTHONY JOSHUA was such a student of the game he would even ask amateur boxing hopefuls for advice. AJ only started boxing at 18 but just four years later he won Olympic gold for Great Britain in London. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 3 Anthony Joshua at Team GB's Sheffield HQ in 2020 Credit: Getty 3 Galal Yafai trained alongside AJ Credit: PA:Press Association And after turning professional, he won the unified heavyweight world titles under the mentorship of GB head coach Rob McCracken. Flyweight Galal Yafai - who won gold in Tokyo in 2021 - spent time with AJ at the GB's Sheffield HQ and was blown away by his eagerness to learn - from all comers. Yafai told SunSport: "It's quite crazy really and it's not a disrespectful thing, but sometimes he'd ask someone who's like a young kid who's just getting on the team, who's not even on the full podium squad that's on like an academy, which is like the younger team. "He'd ask them questions and I'd be like bloody hell, why are you asking him, him a question? READ MORE IN boxing GAME ROVER I worked at a Land Rover factory but hated it so much it inspired Olympic dream "They just get on the team, he should be asking you, you're the Olympic gold medalist, you're the unified world champion. "But yeah, he'd always ask questions even from people - I don't want to say below him - but that are new to the team, way less experienced, not even just a little bit like way less experienced. "But he'd always give time, he's always good to myself and everyone around." Joshua, 35, parted ways with McCracken after losing to Oleksandr Usyk, 38, in September 2021. CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS He has since been cornered by Robert Garcia, Derrick James and most recently Ben Davison. AJ has been out the ring since September when he was knocked out by Daniel Dubois, 27, before undergoing elbow surgery. He is yet to return to camp and Yafai - who faces Mexican Francisco Rodriguez Jr on Saturday - warned not to rule out a reunion with McCracken in Sheffield. Boxing icon Tyson Fury spotted posing topless in Scots town as he chats with locals Yafai said: "I was there when Josh was there and he became like part of the family and it was quite surreal at one stage because he was one of the most famous people in Britain, especially sportsman, but he became just someone that you'd see every day in the gym when he was in camp anyway. "So I almost became numb to it but he was a great fighter and a superstar. He helped everyone in in British boxing and I looked up to him when I was coming through. "If he ever came back Sheffield it'd be good to see him around but I don't know that's something that him and Rob would have to go through but crazier things have happened." Yafai bids to earn a shot at unified WBA and WBC champion Kenshiro Teraji - but first has to get past veteran Rodriguez Jr. He said: "I'd expect it, but you never know in boxing. Rodriguez is a top five competitor. "He's a former champion, he fought the best of the best, so it's not an easy fight. People don't really know him too well but I can't look past him. "He's a really good fighter and that's the thing nowadays, if people don't know who you're fighting, they don't think they're that good, which is the biggest mistake someone can make because he's a really good fighter but he's just not hugely well known here. "I'm not looking past him. He's a great fighter and hopefully I can get rid of him Saturday." 3 Yafai facing off with Francisco Rodriguez Jr Credit: Getty
The Irish Sun
10 hours ago
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Anthony Joshua was such a student of the game he would ask amateur boxing hopefuls for advice, reveals Galal Yayai
ANTHONY JOSHUA was such a student of the game he would even ask amateur boxing hopefuls for advice. AJ only started boxing at 18 but just four years later he won Advertisement 3 Anthony Joshua at Team GB's Sheffield HQ in 2020 Credit: Getty 3 Galal Yafai trained alongside AJ Credit: PA:Press Association And after turning professional, Flyweight Galal Yafai - Yafai told SunSport: "It's quite crazy really and it's not a disrespectful thing, but sometimes he'd ask someone who's like a young kid who's just getting on the team, who's not even on the full podium squad that's on like an academy, which is like the younger team. "He'd ask them questions and I'd be like bloody hell, why are you asking him, him a question? Advertisement READ MORE IN boxing "They just get on the team, he should be asking you, you're the Olympic gold medalist, you're the unified world champion. "But yeah, he'd always ask questions even from people - I don't want to say below him - but that are new to the team, way less experienced, not even just a little bit like way less experienced. "But he'd always give time, he's always good to myself and everyone around." Joshua, 35, parted ways with McCracken after losing to Oleksandr Usyk, 38, in September 2021. Advertisement Most read in Boxing Exclusive Exclusive CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS He has since been cornered by Robert Garcia, Derrick James and most recently Ben Davison. AJ has been out the ring since September when he was knocked out by Daniel Dubois, 27, He is yet to return to camp and Yafai - who faces Mexican Francisco Rodriguez Jr on Saturday - warned not to rule out a reunion with McCracken in Sheffield. Advertisement Boxing icon Tyson Fury spotted posing topless in Scots town as he chats with locals Yafai said: "I was there when Josh was there and he became like part of the family and it was quite surreal at one stage because he was one of the most famous people in Britain, especially sportsman, but he became just someone that you'd see every day in the gym when he was in camp anyway. "So I almost became numb to it but he was a great fighter and a superstar. He helped everyone in in British boxing and I looked up to him when I was coming through. "If he ever came back Sheffield it'd be good to see him around but I don't know that's something that him and Rob would have to go through but crazier things have happened." Yafai bids to earn a shot at unified WBA and WBC champion Kenshiro Teraji - but first has to get past veteran Rodriguez Jr. Advertisement He said: "I'd expect it, but you never know in boxing. Rodriguez is a top five competitor. "He's a former champion, he fought the best of the best, so it's not an easy fight. People don't really know him too well but I can't look past him. "He's a really good fighter and that's the thing nowadays, if people don't know who you're fighting, they don't think they're that good, which is the biggest mistake someone can make because he's a really good fighter but he's just not hugely well known here. "I'm not looking past him. He's a great fighter and hopefully I can get rid of him Saturday." Advertisement 3 Yafai facing off with Francisco Rodriguez Jr Credit: Getty
Perth Now
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
UK rapper guarantees Aussie show next year with new album
'I love the Australian saying, 'How you going', because we say, 'How's it going', or 'How you doing', but you guys have kind of merged the two.' UK rapper AJ Tracey loves performing in Australia due to high-energy crowds and passionate fans, and he can't wait to be Down Under some time next year. The 31-year-old has just released his third studio album, Don't Die Before You're Dead, which marks a return from a self-imposed hiatus. The album traverses grief, therapy, faith, family, healing and what it means to be British, where recent singles like 3rd Time Lucky tackled his mother's battle with cancer, and West Life closes in on private, romantic corners of the star's life. 'I'm excited for this new music to come out, and I'm excited to get touring, get to festivals, and hopefully get back to Australia soon,' he said. 'I never really intended to take a massive break. It kind of just sort of happened. I was just living life and trying to take a break and clear my mental state. And it just ended up being longer than I thought. 'I want to say (to the fans) thank you so much for waiting, and I appreciate it. Every time I come to Australia, you show up for me and show me love. I'm not joking. Everywhere I go, whenever people say, 'Where do you like performing? ' I always say, 'I love performing in Australia'. AJ Tracey (middle) with Headie One and Aitch. Credit: Supplied And also it feels like home. It feels like when I'm in the UK, the same feeling is when I'm in Australia. It just feels very similar. Everyone understands we've got the same kind of culture. The music taste is the same.' AJ said he wanted to be in Australia playing summer festivals at the start of next year to get away from the UK's brutal winter. The album took three years to create and sees the Ladbroke Grove native become more vulnerable in his lyrics. 'I think this album is basically my experience of being British as a mixed-race man,' he said. 'I want to showcase growth, to hammer home that the UK is a melting pot of cultures, and that I'm proud to be British—no matter how hard people try to make it about 'us versus them'. 'All the features are British. 99 per cent of the production is British. And I just feel like it's cool to champion where you're from and just celebrate what we have here.' One of his favourite songs from the project is Crush featuring Jorja Smith, whom he worked with on 2019's triple-platinum Ladbroke Grove. AJ Tracey and Jorja Smith for their song Crush. Credit: Supplied 'She's the goat, yeah, she's a G Man. We went into the studio, and she was like, 'Yeah, I want to rap on this record'. And then she just killed it,' he said. Reflecting on his break from music, AJ said he 'realised I hadn't been doing enough growing'. 'Learning new things, going to new places, spending time with my mum, studying Islam. It was necessary for me to take my time,' he said. 'I went to therapy, had difficult conversations, spent time with my mum, and finally made peace with my dad. He's just a human who made mistakes.' He also said it was important not to get caught up in social media. 'It's cool to use Instagram and TikTok. Obviously, they're a tool, and it's good to have fun on them. But I think they're not the end of the world. 'You need to experience things like going for a walk in the park, enjoying your family time, and enjoying being with your friends. I just think that's really, really important. And I think COVID-19 taught me that, because during COVID-19, the whole world was just locked down, and I felt like I needed to be grateful for the things that I do have going for me. When we came out of lockdown, I needed to enjoy life more than I have been, because we take things for granted.' It seems AJ fans won't have to wait another four years for an album to drop as he said he plans on keeping to release singles and 'another album soon'. He also revealed he hoped to collaborate with Australian singer and rapper The Kid Laroi.
Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Sport
- Daily Mirror
Anthony Joshua's coach breaks silence over Daniel Dubois fight corner drama
Joshua suffered a brutal knockout in the fifth round last September - and his team have come under fire for their advice during the heavyweight dust-up Anthony Joshua 's trainer Ben Davison has finally explained his controversial "roll the dice" advice during the Daniel Dubois fight. The former two-time heavyweight champion was knocked out by Dubois last September in front of a sold out Wembley Stadium. Joshua was knocked down multiple times before being stopped in the fifth round. Heading into the fifth, Davison told 'AJ' to "roll the dice" and unleash the right uppercut. Joshua came out guns blazing in the fifth round and rocked Dubois before eventually being caught with a left hand that sent him crashing to the canvas. Reacting to the stoppage, Shane McGuigan was very critical, stating: "I think that is dangerous advice there to be honest, getting him to bring it up (uppercut) off the double jab," he said of Davison's instructions. "Daniel throws that right hand straight off that double jab, he is going to walk straight on to a short right hand. If you ask me, I would say keep your hands up tight and get through these next few rounds." Responding to McGuigan's claims, Davison told talkSPORT: "He is saying that Daniel puts a right hand behind the double jab. He would be 100 per cent correct. "But we have asked AJ to throw a double jab and bring it up the middle (uppercut). Daniel was defending AJ's right hand by ducking underneath it. Therefore, if he is ducking underneath your right hand, then the correct adjustment is to dip him onto the right uppercut." When asked what he meant by his "roll the dice" order, Davison replied: "The roll the dice is something he has worked on throughout camp, which is throw the double jab and bring it up through the middle. Against Hrgovic, he was regularly getting underneath Hrgovic's right hand. "Hrgovic then started to throw an uppercut, but he didn't bring his feet in close enough to deliver the shot. Roll the dice didn't actually mean go out there and take [one to give one]. What we meant was that it's something you have worked on and you haven't thrown it throughout the fight." It looked likely that Joshua and Dubois would go head-to-head in an immediate rematch, but 'AJ' suffered some minor injuries in the initial encounter that forced him to take some time away from the ring. 'AJ' is targeting a return to the ring before the end of the year after having elbow surgery. His promoter Eddie Hearn revealed that his star client could return anytime between October and December. 'AJ' is still targeting an all-British showdown with Tyson Fury amid talks of the 'Gypsy King' potentially making a stunning return to action. Hearn himself is still holding out hope that Fury will make a retirement U-turn and fight his star client. The Boxing promoter told DAZN: "It's probably three fights away. For me, if I'm advising AJ, we're back this year, we have two Tyson Fury fights, what else is there to do? Maybe fight a Daniel Dubois, but for me once AJ fights Tyson Fury, he's kind of done it all. "I'd love him to have another crack at Daniel Dubois and I'd love him to have another crack at Usyk but you just keep going on and on and on. Now, if we get to next year and he's still firing on all cylinders then 2026 won't be his last year. But for me, something feels right about coming back this year, beating Tyson Fury twice and then sailing off into the sunset."
