My life in the music business doesn’t involve going to many conferences, but the annual International Live Music Conference is a must.

It’s the one opportunity to catch up with old international friends, get news and gossip from other festival promoters and perhaps even learn something.

The Sunday morning breakfast interview is normally the highlight of the weekend, and this year it was a bit of a life-changing experience – a remarkable interview with Glastonbury owner Michael Eavis.

Firstly the confession – I’ve never been to Glastonbury.

As a teenager I went to the old Reading Festival a few times and saw the Stones at Knebworth in ’76 – I’ve even managed several bands that have played the festival – but my event company has always had a job on the last weekend of June as it’s a big social date, so I’ve had the choice to accompany one of my artists and get ‘lost’ in a Somerset field, or be responsible and work at some society wedding and make some money.

Boringly I always chose the latter.

In the live music business Michael Eavis, right, is sometimes cynically referred to as ‘the richest farmer in the world’ because of his incredible success with Glastonbury. And, in the past, I’ve shared this cynicism.

Now I have not only to admit that I was totally wrong but also that my cynical attitude was simple jealously.

During this in depth conference interview it transpires that even after 40 years, the festival still walks a financial tightrope, is still essentially run by a group of friends with a witty, thoughtful, real farmer at its helm, and that he has managed over all the years to maintain his noble intention to produce the best festival in the world – in which he clearly succeeds – and to ‘give something back’.

Eavis still signs all the cheques, isn’t interested in the big corporate buyer (though he’s had endless approaches), regards the festival as a family business which he’s in the process of passing on to his daughter, and maintains that his primary objective is to raise money for good causes (£40m so far) and support his local community.

Eavis is a maverick, probably a bit of an old hippy, and is totally genuine.

As the interview ends the packed room rises in a heartfelt standing ovation and I’m ‘emotionally overcome’ – probably triggered by the embarrassed admission of my terrible jealousy, the surrender to the exhausted realisation that I’ll never get anywhere near a fraction of his achievement, and the fact that my 20 month-old daughter woke me in the small hours and I’m knackered.

Either way, it was a lesson learned!