Have I told you lately my Glastonbury gig is going to cost me £180,000? Veteran rocker Sir Rod Stewart’s record-breaking appearance at the world’s greatest musical festival will leave him massively out of pocket. The Maggie May crooner is shipping his band over from Las Vegas to play a 90 minute slot on the Pyramid Stage on June 29.
But after a knee op and two bouts of cancer the 80-year-old says lugging his equipment and mates all the way from The Colosseum at Caesars Palace to Somerset is worth every penny. Speaking to Radio Times he said: “It’s going to cost me £300,000 to do it and they only pay you about 120,000 quid. So, it’s going to cost me [but] it doesn’t matter”. Three times married father-of-eight Sir Rod is one of the best-selling British artists of all time with worldwide record sales of 250 million.
He has a replacement knee after years of sliding on stage and was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2017 and thyroid cancer three years later. This month he was forced to cancel a string of shows after a nasty bout of flu.
But the prospect of death doesn’t bother him.
He said: “It’s unavoidable. I don’t worry any more than anybody else. But you can keep yourself fit. I’m surprised at how many men are so scared of going to the doctor’s. I had prostate cancer, and I tell people: go to the doctor – finger up the bum, no harm done.”
Sir Rod has been in relationships with a string of beautiful women including Britt Ekland, Kelly Emberg, and Rachel Hunter.
The Do Ya Think I’m Sexy singer met his third wife Penny Lancaster in 1999 and they married in 2007 in the cloistered medieval monastery La Cervara in Portofino and honeymooned on board the yacht Lady Ann Magee moored in the Italian port.
The oldest person to perform at Glastonbury Festival was Burt Bacharach, who was 87 when he played in 2015.
Sir Paul McCartney was 80 when he headlined in 2022.
This will be Sir Rod’s second appearance at Worthy Farm and comes 23 years after he performed.
He said: “It’ll be glamorous, it’ll be sexy. Not me – I’m talking about the other members of the group. And we’ve got a little orchestra coming on to play with us. And we may have some bagpipes. I’m really looking forward to it.”