Glastonbury 2023: Watch Rick Astley cover AC/DC song ‘Highway to Hell’ on drums
During his set at Glastonbury Festival 2023, Rick Astley covered AC/DC song ‘Highway to Hell’, and played the drums.
Playing on the Pyramid Stage from 12:00 until 12:45, the ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ vocalist switched to the drums for a cover of the 1979 hit by the hard rock band AC/DC. Singing and playing the drums, the rendition was met with a large round of applause from the audience.
At 18:00 today, Astley will perform another set on the Woodsies stage with Stockport indie band, Blossoms. They will be playing a set comprised entirely of covers by the Mancunian outfit The Smiths. They have previous form for this after playing a duo of shows together in late 2021.
In a new interview, Astley discussed his “love” of The Smiths and covering them. “I can’t tell you how much I love doing this,” Astley said to the NME about the project with Blossoms.
He added: “I know it’s sacrilege and they should hang the lot of us on the line for doing it, but I also just don’t care. I’m 57. I’ve talked it over with the guys from Blossoms many times and said, ‘If at any moment any of you decide that you don’t want to do this, just holler’. They’re in the middle of their career, four albums in. I’ve got nothing to lose. You can hang me, you can do whatever you want. It doesn’t matter.”
The musician said he’s “always” wanted to be in a Smiths covers group. “Even when I was in bands as a kid we never played The Smiths’ songs because they were a bit too intricate for us,” he continued. “I never saw The Smiths but I’ve seen covers bands of them, and I just fall in love with them every time.”
Watch Rick Astley cover AC/DC’s ‘Highway to Hell’ at Glastonbury Festival 2023 below.
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