He borrowed a tent mallet. They adopted him for the week.

Adam James saved all year to attend Boomtown Fair in Hampshire, his first music festival, and he went alone. His dad, Andy, was worried enough about the five-day event that he had a plan to drive down and bring him home if it got overwhelming. Adam is autistic and has ADHD. "I've always put it off because I've never had anyone to go with," he said. Then he pitched his tent near a group of guys from Bristol, one of whom asked to borrow his tent mallet. That was the whole beginning of it. They noticed he was on his own and invited him to camp with them for the week. "I couldn't live with myself letting him be on his own so we took him in," said Ciaran Herniman. Adam broke his usual rule and told them about his autism. Nobody flinched. He cried when he left. Since Andy's Facebook thank-you went viral, Adam, who DJs as Adzo, has been booked to perform at Boomtown in 2027.