NEWS
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.
NEWS
Brad Paisley has called Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding “one of the least pretentious weddings he’s ever seen”.
The country star attended the ceremony alongside his actress wife, Kimberly Williams-Paisley. They joined around 1,000 guests at New York City’s Madison Square Garden earlier this month as the global pop icon married the American football star.
Although the celebration attracted enormous attention and involved tight security and a stunning makeover of the famous arena, Paisley said the occasion never came across as excessive.
“Ironically, (it) was one of the least pretentious weddings that I've ever seen or ever will see,” Paisley told The Associated Press during an interview. “It meant a lot to be (invited). It was, kind of, a big thank you from her to invite us.”
Paisley, who chose Swift as an opening performer for his tour when she was a teenager in 2007, said he was delighted to be included in what many considered the biggest celebrity wedding of the year.
“They were very clear with the invite, and I took this personally when I got the invite, because in the invite, it said, ‘If you're getting this, you mean a lot to us,’” he revealed.
The musician also explained that guests were not told the wedding’s exact location until the date drew nearer.
“It was really fun to watch the cat and mouse game of, like, ‘We can tell you roughly where it's going to be, we're not gonna say what building... and here's the date. If you're in, we'll tell you more,’” he continued. “I went to my wife, I said, ‘Want to go?’ and she said, ‘Absolutely, we gotta be there!’ So, we did it, it was RSVP yes.”
Other famous attendees included Brad Pitt, Gigi Hadid, Bradley Cooper, Ed Sheeran, Sabrina Carpenter, Hugh Grant, Haim and Tom Hanks.
