Westside Cowboy win Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition

Huge congratulations to Westside Cowboy on winning Glastonbury’s Emerging Talent Competition!

The four-piece band – featuring students Paddy Murphy, Reuben Haycocks, and Aoife Anson-O’Connell – scooped the coveted prize on Saturday 26 April after beating eight finalists selected from thousands of entries.

Credit: Jason Bryant

Launched in 2004, the annual competition is open to UK and Ireland-based musicians and offers the winners a £5000 talent development prize and the enviable opportunity to perform on Glastonbury’s Woodsies stage this June.

Speaking to NME after the announcement, vocalist Aoife said: ‘We’ve had so many achievements that mean so much to us in such a short space of time but this means the most. It means so much to everyone in the band, I just vividly remember growing up watching the Glastonbury sets on the telly.’

Judged by a panel of festival organisers, music industry professionals, and media figures, the Emerging Talent Competition is renowned for spotlighting breakthrough talent. Past finalists have included Mercury Prize nominees and winners such as English Teacher, Flohio, Declan McKenna, She Drew The Gun, Scouting For Girls, The Subways, and Izzy Bizu.

Read the band’s interview with NME.

30 April 2025