Sir Rod Stewart, 79, will enjoy Glastonbury in a different way next year, bringing his surprising hobby along for the ride.
The legendary musician is set to return to Worthy Farm in 2025, 22 years after he last took to the Glasto stage. Rod’s last performance was in 2002, when he headlined alongside Coldplay and Stereophonics. Next year, he’ll take the Sunday teatime legend slot, alongside other beloved acts such as Nile Rodgers. According to Jools Holland, Rod won’t travel to the festival empty handed, and will likely take a model railway with him.
BBC star Jools, who’s bonded with Rod over their love of model railways, shared that Rod always travels with one of his stations now. "He can’t bring the whole set because it’s enormous. But whenever he’s on tour, he’ll have a station building which he will take with him to a hotel,” Jools told the Mirror.
He even hinted that Rod could make a Glasto-themed model to commemorate the event. He speculated: "He could create his own little railway that goes around Glastonbury - a little ride-on thing that went up to the Healing Fields, around the jazz tent and back to the Pyramid Stage."
When opening up about his new hobby recently, Rod shared that part of his major set - a card model of a church - was a gift from Jools. "He wasn't using it," Rod revealed. "Like me, I've got loads of buildings here that I don't use. And he said 'yeah take it'. He's a good lad Jools."
While his hobby might come as a surprise to some fans, Rod admitted that while he used to be shy about his passion he’s now proud of his pastime. He explained: "There was a time I hid away from it. Because I thought railway modelling and rock'n'roll don't go together and I was sort of embarrassed. But I'm not anymore, I'm proud of it.
“I mean obviously music is my main life's work, but this is definitely second. It's the greatest hobby in the world. It really is - it's just bloody brilliant. I love it."
Rod previously opened up about Glastonbury, and admitted that returning to the festival would cost him a lot of money. "It's going to cost me a fortune to do it - $300,0000,” he revealed. "I’ve got to bring all my band back from America, of course Glastonbury don't pay for that. But I don't care if it cost me $1 million, I would have done it. This is a great honour. It really is the greatest honour."
Rod broke the news of his Glastonbury return on Instagram in November. Taking to the social media platform, he gushed: "I’m absolutely thrilled to announce that I’ll be playing @glastofest 2025! After all these years, I’m proud and ready and more than able to take the stage again to pleasure and titillate my friends at Glastonbury in June. I’ll see you there!"
* Follow Mirror Celebs on Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .
English (US) ·