Rod Stewart tells people to “give Farage a chance” ahead of Glastonbury 2025 performance

"He’s coming across well"

Rod Stewart has urged people to give Nigel Farage “a chance” ahead of his ‘Legends Slot’ at Glastonbury 2025.

The veteran rocker is set to perform on the Pyramid Stage this Sunday (June 29) in the so-called “tea time slot” he previously derided as sounding a bit “pipe and slippers”.

Speaking to The Times ahead of the performance, the ‘Maggie May’ singer asked about the UK’s current political climate, and proposed more people support Reform UK leader Farage.

“It’s hard for me because I’m extremely wealthy, and I deserve to be, so a lot of it doesn’t really touch me. But that doesn’t mean I’m out of touch,” he said. “For instance, I’ve read about [Sir Keir] Starmer cutting off the fishing in Scotland and giving it back to the EU. That hasn’t made him popular.”

Revealing a personal connection to Farage, the singer said he wasn’t convinced about the options available to voters, saying: “We’re fed up with the Tories. We’ve got to give Farage a chance. He’s coming across well. What options have we got? I know some of his family, I know his brother, and I quite like him.”

When asked about Farage’s stance on Brexit, Stewart continued: “Starmer’s all about getting us out of Brexit and I don’t know how he’s going to do that. Still, the country will survive. It could be worse. We could be in the Gaza Strip.”

As noted by The Independent, his comments appear to contradict those he made back in 2024, when he criticised the politician for claiming the West had provoked Russia into starting the war in Ukraine. He has been an ardent supporter of Ukraine since the conflict began in 2022, even renting out a home for a family of Ukrainian refugees.

As for his upcoming Worthy Farm slot, he previously shared that he was able to persuade festival organisers to extend his set from the usual 75 minutes up to an hour and a half.

While the singer is expected to break out hits like ‘Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?’, he will also be using the Glasto set to reunite with his former Faces bandmate and Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood. He confirmed the news last month, and the collaboration will mark their first since they regrouped at the 2020 BRIT Awards to play ‘Stay With Me’.

It also comes as the group have recently recorded “about 11 tracks” for a new album – which will be their first full-length effort in over 50 years when it comes out.

Speaking about his set when it was first announced last year, Stewart shared that while it was “a great honour” to be taking on the slot, “it’s going to cost me a fortune to do it – $300,000 [£222,071].”

“I’ve got to bring all my band back from America, of course Glastonbury don’t pay for that,” he explained. “But I don’t care if it cost me $1million (£789,440), I would have done it.”

So far, Glastonbury has seen a surprise set from Lorde – who performed her new album ‘Virgin’ in full (and scored a five star review in the process), a spunky set from Wet Leg, Lewis Capaldi’s triumphant return for a secret set at the Pyramid Stage, a surprise appearance by Peter Capaldi at Franz Ferdinand’s set and more.

The weekend continues with Charli XCX, Deftones, Neil Young, Olivia Rodrigo, The Prodigy, Rod Stewart and many more. Check out the full line-up and schedule here.

Check back at NME here for the latest news, reviews, interviews, photos and more from Glastonbury 2025.