The kindness of strangers: alone in the crowd at Glastonbury, a stranger hugged me tight while I cried about my dead dad

‘A lot of people mean well but they don’t know how to help you. But this woman’s pure empathy was cathartic.’ Illustration: Victoria Hart/Guardian Design

My father died when I was 19, after a short and sharp fight with cancer. Unsure of what to do or how to proceed with life, I took a year off university and went backpacking through Europe. The other side of the world seemed like a good place to be.

I ended up at the music festival Glastonbury in 2011. It was a great lineup that year but there was one act on the bill that really caught my eye: U2. They were my dad’s favourite band, so it seemed only right that I should go and see them. Of course, U2 aren’t exactly a massive draw for people my age, so I ended up alone in the massive crowd at the main stage while my friends saw other bands.