Glastonbury Festival: Rod Stewart declares 'music brings us together' as he complains about heat on stage

Veteran rocker Sir Rod Stewart declared “music brings us together” as he was joined by a trio of veteran superstars during a rousing performance at Glastonbury festival on Sunday.

The 80-year-old performed alongside his former Faces bandmember Ronnie Wood, Simply Red’s Mick Hucknall and Scottish singer Lulu in the festival’s coveted ‘Legends’ slot at Worthy Farm.

Rod Stewart on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury. | BBC

He was also joined during the 90-minute set by the festival’s founder, Sir Michael Eavis, who was wheeled onto the stage by his daughter, organiser Emily Eavis.

The first music star welcomed to the stage was Hucknall, 65, for a rendition of Simply Red hit If You Don’t Know Me By Now. Rolling back the years, Sir Rod then performed Faces 1971 hit Stay With Me while The Rolling Stones star Wood, 78, played guitar.

After this Lulu made her entrance, wearing an all white ensemble, to sing Hot Legs alongside Sir Rod.

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Bagpipes had signalled the arrival of Sir Rod, who kicked off his afternoon performance with his 1981 single, Tonight I’m Yours (Don’t Hurt Me).

“I’m here, enjoy yourselves ladies and gentleman please, music brings us together, we need music”, he told the large crowd who had gathered to see him.

Sir Rod, who recently cancelled a slew of shows while recovering from the flu, wore flared trousers, a white shirt and a black jacket, before changing into a green suit.

But it took just one song for Sir Rod to discard his jacket, remarking on the temperatures on stage as he said “it’s f***ing hot”.

Across his set he played songs including Some Guys Have All The Luck, Forever Young, The First Cut Is The Deepest, and Maggie May, which he performed from a runway that jutted out into the crowd.

Before he launched into a cover, Ukrainian flags were shown on a screen behind Sir Rod, who said: “There’s been a lot about the Middle East recently, quite rightly so, but I want to draw your attention to Ukraine in the next song, it’s called the Love Train.”

Sir Rod had courted controversy in the build up to his set, having called on Britain to “give Nigel Farage a chance”.

Sir Rod, who publicly backed the Reform leader, has spoken about how close he came to pulling out of his Glastonbury appearance.

Sir Rod Stewart performs onstage during day five of the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm. Picture: Leon Neal/Getty Images | Getty Images

He said before the festival: “We’re fed up with the Tories. We’ve got to give Farage a chance. He’s coming across well. Nigel? What options have we got?”

Sir Rod had previously appeared at Glastonbury in 2002 alongside Coldplay and Stereophonics.

Controversial band Kneecap had a day earlier taken a swipe at Stewart during their Glastonbury set, with the Irish hip-hop group asking the crowd: "Is anyone going to see Rod Stewart tomorrow night?"

The question was greeted with boos from a host of festival goers.

Rapper Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh 27, known as Mo Chara, feigning surprise and said: "Wait, did I miss something?". He added: "He's older than Israel.”