Glastonbury virgins: Rick Astley will get prepared for his first time – similar to Elton John

While the likes of Arctic Monkeys and Fatboy Slim are Glastonbury veterans, there are many performers taking to the levels on the well-known competition for the primary time this 12 months – together with one Sir Elton John.

For the Rocket Man, this one is further particular, because it marks his remaining ever UK gig earlier than he retires from touring.

“There is no more fitting way to say goodbye to my British fans,” Sir Elton has stated of what is going to be his first and final Glastonbury present. He has promised a special setlist to the one performed throughout tour gigs, and teased particular friends – with everybody from Lady Gaga, Ed Sheeran, Chris Martin and Britney Spears to Dua Lipa, Taron Egerton and Olly Alexander on the hearsay listing.

Despite being one of many biggest-selling music artists of all time, the 76-year-old has nonetheless admitted to feeling “intimidated” about headlining probably the most well-known competition on the earth.

But as a Glastonbury virgin, he is in good firm this 12 months, with loads of different acts experiencing the Worthy Farm magic for the primary time.

Among them is Rick Astley, who will open the Pyramid stage on Saturday morning.

“I’ve dropped our daughter off many times, but I’ve never actually gone through the gates myself,” he instructed Sky News. “That’s form of unusual, contemplating I’m on the Pyramid Stage tomorrow… I do not understand how I’m going to get to sleep tonight really desirous about that.

“You kind of think, we’ll give it our best shot, we’re going to go down there and we’re going to do this, that and the other. And then when you arrive and you see the enormity of it, the size of it and the scale of it – because cameras can’t do it justice – you have to actually be here and take that time to actually drift through a little bit.

“I feel the nerves worsen, however I additionally need to form of try to take pleasure in it, simply be within the second and never let it slip away with out me really being current, because it have been.”

The dimension of the competition is one thing the singer realised he had underestimated.

“The scale is hard to deal with. I’ve looked at who’s playing and I’m thinking, ‘oh, I’d love to see them, I’d love to see them’. Now that I’m here, I’m thinking, you haven’t got a hope in hell of getting from that stage to that stage. So I’ve realigned my bands and artists that I want to see. It’s just massive.”

Astley is a type of artists beloved by everybody; as he chats forward of a not-so-surprise set alongside Blossoms, he’s stopped for selfies a number of instances. No doubt his early Pyramid stage set will draw an enormous crowd, and the sing-along to his most well-known hit, Never Gonna Give You Up, ought to present a memorable Glastonbury spotlight.

At 57, he says he’s having fun with absorbing the competition for the primary time as he experiences his profession resurgence.

“There’s a lot of people who’ll come to Glastonbury and they might be 18 or 19 and play it for the first time, and that’s great. But having waited so long to get a chance, I think that’s a cool thing as well… to come to Glastonbury at this point I think is amazing. I’m really conscious of making sure I enjoy it and I think if I was a lot younger, it might just sort of buzz by without me realising.”

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Other big-name first-timers performing in 2023 embrace Guns’n’Roses, who headline the Pyramid stage afterward Saturday, and Yusuf Islam, AKA Cat Stevens, who takes this 12 months’s “legends slot” on Sunday afternoon.

Astley says he can perceive why even Sir Elton feels some nerves. “I don’t care who you are, if you’re one of those people who gets up there and just dials in and doesn’t care, then you shouldn’t be doing it anyway.

“I’ve met him a bunch of instances and I simply do not assume he is that form of a personality. I feel he desires to placed on a present and depart Glastonbury wanting extra.

“I’m sure he’s like that. I’m sure [Paul] McCartney is like that, I’m sure they all are. They don’t want to come here and just be ‘okay’. They want to come and blow it away. I think it’s going to be emotional, his set, because of what it means – it’s the last British gig, almost the last gig ever. So it’s going to be… I think I might have a few tears anyway.”

As for his personal set, Astley says he has no concept what to anticipate when he walks out on to that well-known stage, following within the footsteps of stars together with Sir Paul, The Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce, Kylie Minogue and dozens extra.

“We’ve all seen it, you know, it’s enormous. It’s mad. But I also think there’s a lot of love here… I think music is way less separate and people’s tastes are way more eclectic. I think they’re quite as happy to go and see the biggest rock band in the world, then go and see Elton on the last night, maybe catch someone like myself, you know, at 12 o’clock… with a hangover.”

Hangover or no hangover, Astley will ship, ticking off a milestone second in his profession.

“It’s a privilege to be in the audience at Glastonbury,” he says. “But it’s a super privilege to actually be one of the performers.”