Rod Stewart spends £70,000 shipping giant model train set to UK home.
It was reported early this year, by The Express that Stewart adores his model railway so much that he spent £70,000 on getting his 124ft-long creation shipped from the US to his house in Essex, where he was to reassemble it.
The 79-year-old singer will play the Legends slot at the Worthy Farm festival next year and his friend and fellow train enthusiast Jools Holland has revealed that he intends to take one of his stations to keep himself occupied before he performs on the Pyramid Stage.
Jools told The Daily Mirror newspaper: "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."
The musician and TV presenter believes that the 'Maggie May' hitmaker could even make a miniature version of the festival.
Jools said: "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."
Rod recently revealed that he was concerned about divulging his passion for model railways as he didn't think it was a "rock 'n' roll" hobby but explained that he finds working on his set "relaxing" and often spends several hours in his workshop.
He told Railway Modeller magazine: "When I walk into my workshop, it's like entering the gates of heaven for me. It's just ahhh... this is my time. I would say I spend, on average, four or five hours a day if I can. Even if there's twenty minutes I go over to my workshop.
"In twenty minutes I can get quite a lot done. And it's really taken over my life somewhat. In a wonderful way. There was a time I hid away from it.
“It’s a great honour, it’s going to cost me a fortune to do it – $300,0000,” he explained. ” “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 $1,00,000, I would have done it. It’s a great honour. It really is the greatest honour.”
The legendary musician will take on the annual Legends slot, which often draws some of the biggest crowds of the entire weekend. The “Maggie Mae” singer will perform on the Sunday of the festival, which will run its main music program from Jun. 27 to 29. (Billboard report)
We're excited to announce that Sir @RodStewart will play the Sunday teatime legend slot at Glastonbury 2025. pic.twitter.com/RP1kWuUZeU
— Glastonbury Festival (@glastonbury) November 26, 2024
The announcement was made Tuesday morning (Nov. 26) on BBC Radio and on the festival’s official social media pages. The 79-year-old previously appeared at the festival as a headliner in 2002, joining Coldplay and Stereophonics as bill-toppers that year.
The Sunday Legends slot is one of the most coveted in the festival’s history, and has seen a host of massive names perform on the Pyramid Stage. Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Lionel Richie, Kylie Minogue, Diana Ross and more have all appeared at the festival since its first edition in 1970. Shania Twain took on the Legends Slot at 2024’s event.
This marks the first announcement for the Somerset festival, which is already sold out for next year. Tickets went on sale earlier this month and were snapped up by eager punters in under an hour following the introduction of a new online queuing system.
The festival is yet to announce the headliners for the festival, but various names have been closely linked with topping the bill. Olivia Rodrigo, Sam Fender, Harry Styles, Lady Gaga and more are all considered to be in contention for taking the top spot on the lineup. No timeline has been announced for revealing the headliners, though the full lineup is usually shared in the spring.
2025’s edition will mark the final event to take place at Worthy Farm before the traditional fallow year in 2026, which sees the landowner Michael Eavis and his family allow the grounds to recover every four years. The festival will return again in 2027.
