DJ is back with bangers for party on riverside

FRESH from helping Monty Don to create the first ever dog garden at Chelsea Flower Show, radio presenter and DJ Jo Whiley is ready for another summer of playing music festival bangers.

Jo, who is known for her colourful outfits when introducing acts at Glastonbury, will be back at this year’s Henley Festival. She will be taking to the decks in Pure Heaven on the Friday night of this year’s black tie event.

This set is new and has a theme of festival anthems.

Jo says: “There will be some Nineties in there because everybody loves those big classics. Mixed in with that will be the big stuff that everyone loves when you’re at Glastonbury or Latitude or wherever, so maybe some Killers, maybe Kings of Leon, the big singalong epic anthems.”

The mother-of-four lives in Towcester in Northamptonshire with her husband Steve Morton, a music executive and band manager and their children, India, Jude, Cassius and Coco.

She has worked with and interviewed many musicians and fellow DJs over the years and is currently a presenter on BBC Radio 2, so is in a great position to choose the hits.

Jo says: “There are some songs that I have learnt, just from being in the audience or playing them, that hit the sweet spot and everybody will put their arms in the air and sing along. They’re just certified anthems.

“But it’s also good to mix that up with newer artists, someone like Charli XCX, who is playing at Glastonbury this year.

“It’s about getting the dynamics right. I don’t want to just play wall-to-wall indie, I want people to have all different types of genres and eras because it makes it interesting and fun. I’m going to give people a really fun time and great songs to dance to. I love a bit of disco and there are so many great disco anthems.

“Sometimes you read the crowd when you’re on stage and you can just tell that something’s going to work more than something else.”

Jo is pleased to be returning to the Henley Festival and its riverside setting.

“I loved it,” she says. “I’ve got such good memories of playing last time — it was a really beautiful event.

“Everyone was very exuberant and I remember it was quite wild — everyone was just dancing like crazy and really enjoying themselves. It had a really magical aura to it.

“I was blown away by the sight of the river, which was a like a flotilla with people on little boats and rafts, whatever they could get their hands on, having parties.

“I was so jealous that I wasn’t on one of those boats. It was a really beautiful sight.

“Henley is a place that I have always thought I would love to live if I wasn’t tied to where I am because I love being by the water.

“The fact that you’ve got the river there is just the dream.

“I’m genuinely really looking forward to coming and I will try to spend a bit more time there than I did last time. It’s just so gorgeous.”

The DJ will turn 60 the week before she appears and has a celebration planned with her extended family.

“We’ll have a marquee in the garden and do a barn dance,” she says. “I did it for my 50th so I thought, ‘Why not again?’

“It’s really fun and gets everybody involved. You have a line caller and they tell everybody what to do and where to go. It’s good to celebrate.”

l Jo Whiley’s Festival Anthems is in Pure Heaven at the Henley Festival at 10.45pm on Friday, July 11. For more information, visit henley-festival.co.uk