Rod Stewart is the first act confirmed for Glastonbury 2025, with the festival announcing on Tuesday that the rock star will play the Legends slot on the Pyramid Stage.
The appearance will mark 23 years after his last performance at the Somerset festival.
Sir Rod, 79, will play the famous Sunday teatime ‘legends’ slot, following in the footsteps of Shania Twain in 2024.
Rod told the BBC that he was ‘proud and ready’ to play at the sold out festival, adding that – at the age of 79 – he was ‘more than able to pleasure and titillate’ the crowd.
He previously headlined the festival in 2002, alongside Coldplay and Stereophonics.
His 2025 appearance was announced by co-organiser Emily Eavis in a post on Instagram on Tuesday, which read: ‘Bringing Sir Rod Stewart back for the Sunday afternoon slot on the Pyramid Stage is everything we could wish for.’
Rod Stewart is the first act confirmed for Glastonbury 2025, with the festival announcing the rock star will play the Legends slot on the Pyramid Stage
‘What a way to bow out with the final legends slot before we take a fallow year. We cannot wait.’
The singer, who will turn 80 in January, will become one of the oldest artists to perform a major set at Glastonbury. Burt Bacharach played the Pyramid stage in 2015 at the age of 87, while Paul McCartney headlined the week after his 80th birthday nack in 2022.
The five-day festival takes place in June at Somerset’s Worth Farm and draws in around around 200,000 music fans each year to watch some of the world’s biggest musicians perform.
The official Glastonbury tickets went on sale on November 14 and November 17.
The stakes were even higher than usual, as 2026 will be a fallow year, meaning the festival will not go ahead.
Rod’s Glastonbury announcement comes days after the rocker told fans he plans to end large scale world tours.
Rod said his 2025 European and North American tour dates will be his last major projects – but he doesn’t want to hang up the microphone just yet.
He wrote: ‘This will be the end of large-scale world tours for me, but I have no desire to retire.
His appearance was announced by Emily Eavis in a post on Instagram, which read: ‘Bringing Sir Rod back for the Sunday afternoon slot on the Pyramid Stage is everything we could wish for’
Sir Rod, 79, will play the famous Sunday teatime ‘legends’ slot, following in the footsteps of Shania Twain in 2024
‘I love what I do and I do what I love. I’m fit, have a full head of hair and can run 100 metres in 18 seconds at the jolly old age of 79.’
The Maggie May hitmaker added he wants to to perform at more intimate venues for his next tour slated for 2026, after the release of album Swing Fever with Jools Holland earlier this year.
He said: ‘I’d like to move onto a Great American Songbook, Swing Fever tour the year after next – smaller venues and more intimacy. But then again, I may not. The ambiguous Sir Rod Stewart.’
Sir Rod will also headline a new residency in Las Vegas from March until June at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace.
The musician’s European tour will end on May 13 at the MEO Arena in Lisbon, Portugal, while his final North American tour date is scheduled for August 15 at the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre in St Louis, Missouri.
Back in July, Sir Rod said he has ‘no fear’ about death ahead of his 80th birthday and added he aims to stick around for another 15 years.
He previously headlined the festival in 2002, alongside Coldplay and Stereophonics (pictured)
The Glastonbury announcement comes days after Rod told fans he plans to end large scale world tours
He told The Sun: ‘I’m aware my days are numbered but I’ve got no fear. We have all got to pass on at some point, so we are all in the same basket. I am going to be enjoying myself for these last few years as much as I can. I say few — probably another 15. I can do that easy mate, easy.
‘I’m not like I was in the ’70s and ’80s and I can’t stay up all night, get drunk and go mad and still have a voice just like that. Nowadays I have to protect my voice before and after every show.
‘But no, you think I just have water on my rider? You’re talking to Rod Stewart here, mate. We go mad after every show. There are 13 of us, six women, really great musicians and I make them drink. We absolutely love it.’
Rod, who has had both prostate and thyroid cancer, said: ‘I am more aware of my health now than before. You should be when you start getting on a bit. It’s very important. I am a bit of a hypochondriac. I think men in particular should take advantage of all the wonderful medical science out there.
For his 80th birthday in January, Rod knows that he will be having a huge party but recently revealed that his wife Penny Lancaster, 53, has kept him in the dark about any further details
Despite this, he revealed he doesn’t take any medication at all apart from the odd anti-inflammatory if his knee is giving him trouble.
Rod said he works out three or four times a day and is kept on the straight and narrow by his personal trainer whom he has been working with for over three decades.
For his 80th birthday in January, Rod knows that he will be having a blowout party but revealed that his wife Penny Lancaster, 53, has kept him in the dark about any further details.
His eight children are also said to be heavily involved in the planning. Rod is father to Sarah Streeter, 61; Kimberly, 45, Sean, 44, and Ruby Stewart, 37, with his first wife; Renee, 32, and Liam Stewart, 30, with his second; and Alastair, 19, and Aiden Stewart, 13, with his third, Penny.
