Rod Stewart has spoken about his upcoming ‘Legends Slot’ at Glastonbury 2025, and said that he wishes it didn’t get labelled as the “tea time” performance.
Festival organisers Michael and Emily Eavis opened the gates to the festival this morning (June 25), and the 2025 edition is set to run up until Sunday night (June 29). It will be the last instalment before a fallow year in 2026.
Rod Stewart is set to take on the coveted Legends Slot, which is held on Sunday afternoon on the Pyramid Stage. The appearance follows him headlining that same stage back in 2002 alongside Coldplay and Stereophonics.
However, just days before the performance kicks off, the ‘Sailing’ singer has revealed that he isn’t happy with the label it has been given.
“I just wish they wouldn’t call it the tea time slot,” he told the BBC in a recent interview. “That sounds like pipe and slippers, doesn’t it?”
He also 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.
The crowd at Glastonbury 2023. Credit: Andy Ford for NME
“Usually I do well over two hours so there’s still a load of songs we won’t be able to do,” he told the outlet, after previously revealing that he “begged” to secure a 90-minute slot. “But we’ve been working at it. I’m not gonna make any announcements between songs.
“I’ll do one number, shout ‘next’, and go straight into the next one. I’m going to get in as many songs as I can.”
While the singer is expected to break out hits like ‘Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?’ and ‘Maggie May’, 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 the Worthy Farm 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.”
Headliners for Glastonbury 2025 are Neil Young, The 1975 and Olivia Rodrigo on the Pyramid Stage, and Loyle Carner, Charli XCX and The Prodigy on the Other Stage.
Other names on the bill include Biffy Clyro, The Maccabees, Lucy Dacus, Father John Misty, RAYE, Wolf Alice, The Prodigy, Doechii, St. Vincent, Deftones, The Libertines, Wet Leg, Weezer, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Future Islands, JADE, TV On The Radio, Self Esteem, CMAT, Blossoms and Turnstile.
The crowd at Glastonbury 2023. CREDIT: Andy Ford for NME
There have also been rumours about some secret sets, which arose after the full line-up and day splits were unveiled at the start of the month. The name with the best odds is Pulp – although both frontman Jarvis Cocker and keyboardist Candida Doyle have dismissed the rumours.
You can find the latest weather forecasts for Glastonbury 2025 here and check back here for more NME coverage of the festival.
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