Sir Rod Stewart is being forced to fork out hundred of thousands of his own pounds to perform at Glastonbury 2025. The Maggie May hitmaker, 80, last headlined the festival on the Pyramid Stage in 2002, but this year he’ll take up the teatime legend slot – previously occupied by stars like Diana Ross and Shania Twain.

In a new interview with RadioTimes, Rod explained that the large paycheque he’ll get from festival bosses simply isn’t enough to cover his own expenses. He explained: “It was about eight months ago when I was asked to do it, maybe a little longer. But it didn’t fit with my schedule because I’ve got to bring everybody back from America.”

Rod is currently heading up his own Las Vegas residency at Caesars Palace on the Strip – and to perform at Glastonbury means flying the equipment, staging and all his crew back to the UK. He said: “It’s going to cost me £300,000 to do it and they only pay you about £120,000. So it’s going to cost me.”

He told the publication he’ll be flying his band in Premium Economy, and admitted: “I haven’t flown commercial for 20 years.”

Thankfully, Rod’s hardly short of money. The star owns a fleet of cars and often travels by private jet – though he doesn’t own one himself. He boasts properties in Essex, Florida, Los Angeles and France, and decks himself out in “diamonds and gold” using his multimillion-pound net worth.

It’s hardly a surprise, then, that he boasts a net worth of £220million. 

Glastonbury organisers don’t disclose what individual artists are paid, but over the years some wages have come to light. Paul McCartney and Coldplay were both paid around £200,000 each for their headline sets, with booker Michael Eavis confirming that performers typically get “less than 10%” of what they’d usually earn for other festivals.

Organisers aim to donate at least £2million from the festival to good causes, including its official charity partners Greenpeace, WaterAid and Oxfam. 

Rod’s full interview can be read in the new issue of RadioTimes.