PRACTISING his skills on the decks since being 10 years old, a St Helens DJ will live his dream of delighting crowds at one of the world's biggest festivals.
Performing under the moniker 'Earl Raff', Earl Rafferty has earned his stripes as a DJ over the years after playing sets in Ibiza and festivals such as Baltic Weekender and El Dorado.
Taking his tunes from St Helens to Glastonbury, the Vault club's resident DJ will return to the "special" festival next month to play a number of sets across smaller tents over the weekend.
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Earl, who is based in Windle but originally from Fingerpost, said: "I've actually played at Glastonbury for the past four years now [...] and it's a very special place.
"Sometimes I've had sets where it's been quite quiet but I've had others where it has just been crazy and you don't want to get off the decks - it's the best feeling ever!
"Last year, I played on the Thursday and it was just full of people from St Helens, Prescot, and Huyton [...] it's a very rewarding thing to see everyone and have your best mates there."
Despite having more than a decade of experience behind the decks, it has not always been plain sailing for the 25-year-old DJ, who performs weekly at Church Street nightclub the Vault.
With the stop-start difficulties of the pandemic causing chaos across the music industry, this almost resulted in Earl giving up his dream for good as he began retraining as a barber.
Nevertheless, as ordinary life and festival season returned, Earl said he couldn't give up his passion just yet and is "buzzing" to return to Glastonbury at the end of June.
With his friends accompanying him for the ride, 'Earl Raff' will perform at the Tolpuddle and Lizard stage at Glastonbury, with further sets also to be confirmed.
There will then be further sets for Earl at the Vault and festival slots across the country.
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