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Rod Stewart to Play Legends Slot at Glastonbury Next Year

Rod Stewart performs on stage during his One Last Time concert at Royal Arena Copenhagen, Denmark June 9, 2024. (Ritzau Scanpix/Torben Christensen via Reuters)
Rod Stewart performs on stage during his One Last Time concert at Royal Arena Copenhagen, Denmark June 9, 2024. (Ritzau Scanpix/Torben Christensen via Reuters)
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Rod Stewart to Play Legends Slot at Glastonbury Next Year

Rod Stewart performs on stage during his One Last Time concert at Royal Arena Copenhagen, Denmark June 9, 2024. (Ritzau Scanpix/Torben Christensen via Reuters)
Rod Stewart performs on stage during his One Last Time concert at Royal Arena Copenhagen, Denmark June 9, 2024. (Ritzau Scanpix/Torben Christensen via Reuters)

Rocker Rod Stewart will play the legends slot at Glastonbury 2025, the first act confirmed for next year's edition of the British music festival.

His Sunday afternoon performance will be the 79-year-old singer's first at Worthy Farm in southwest England since he last took to the festival's Pyramid stage in 2002.

"I’m proud, ready and more than able to pleasure and titillate my friends at Glastonbury in June," Stewart said in a statement.

One of the biggest selling artists of all time, Stewart follows the likes of Lionel Richie, Diana Ross and Shania Twain last year to play the legends slot.

Stewart has a spate of European and North American tour dates scheduled for next year but earlier this month, he announced he planned to stop performing "large-scale world tours".

"But I have no desire to retire. I love what I do, and I do what I love. I’m fit, have a full head of hair, and can run 100 meters in 18 seconds at the jolly old age of 79," Stewart wrote in an Instagram post.

Stewart, known for 1970s hits "Maggie May", "Sailing" and "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?", released his latest album "Swing Fever", a collaboration with pianist Jools Holland, earlier this year. The record topped the UK albums chart.

The Glastonbury festival was started by dairy farmer Michael Eavis in 1970 and over the decades has become a sprawling and often muddy five-day event in June, with some of the biggest names in music performing for tens of thousands of revelers.

Next year's edition will take place from June 25-29.

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Entertainment

‘Moana 2’ Rides Musical Wave of Pacific Culture and Creativity

US actress Auli'i Cravalho (L) and US actor Dwayne Johnson pose on the red carpet upon arrival for the UK Premier of "Moana 2", at the Cineworld, in Leicester Square, in central London, on November 24, 2024. (AFP)
US actress Auli'i Cravalho (L) and US actor Dwayne Johnson pose on the red carpet upon arrival for the UK Premier of "Moana 2", at the Cineworld, in Leicester Square, in central London, on November 24, 2024. (AFP)
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‘Moana 2’ Rides Musical Wave of Pacific Culture and Creativity

US actress Auli'i Cravalho (L) and US actor Dwayne Johnson pose on the red carpet upon arrival for the UK Premier of "Moana 2", at the Cineworld, in Leicester Square, in central London, on November 24, 2024. (AFP)
US actress Auli'i Cravalho (L) and US actor Dwayne Johnson pose on the red carpet upon arrival for the UK Premier of "Moana 2", at the Cineworld, in Leicester Square, in central London, on November 24, 2024. (AFP)

For Auli'i Cravalho, returning for the Walt Disney sequel film 'Moana 2" was a Hawaiian homecoming for both herself as an actor and for her character.

"Moana's journey will take her very far, but also that growth means coming back home and experiencing that with your community," the Hawaiian native told Reuters.

"Speaking of community, the connection of all of the people across the Pacific, this feels like a celebration of Pan Pacific, Pan Polynesian culture," she added.

For the cast and creators of "Moana 2," the project was not just professional, it was personal.

"It feels so incredible that my growth as a human seems to be juxtaposed with hers (Moana's)," Cravalho said.

"Moana 2," directed by David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, and Dana Ledoux Miller, opens on Wednesday.

The Stagwell Group's entertainment and technology arm, National Research Group, predicts "Moana 2" will bring in $145 million over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend.

The film follows wayfinder Moana, who receives a sudden call from her wayfinding ancestors to travel the seas and break the curse of god Nalo, which prevents the people of various islands from reconnecting.

She forms her own crew, which reunites her with demigod Maui, played by Dwayne Johnson.

The music for the first "Moana" was written by "Encanto" songwriter Lin Manuel Miranda, while the sequel introduces the songwriting duo Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear.

The duo, which rose to prominence on TikTok, won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album in 2022 for "The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical," attracting a lawsuit from Netflix. It also created an opportunity to take over the songs for the sequel.

While they wanted to "pay homage to the beautiful world" of the first "Moana" with the music, they also aimed to add their own "flair to it."

Part of the flair for the entire film was figuring out how to add even more Pacific Islander culture within all aspects of the sequel, which was key for the director trio.

"I think it's so special that we get to celebrate the Pacific in these films, and that we get to have a heroine who is just so compelling and empathetic and awesome and weird and goofy," said Ledoux Miller.

"I think we can see a little bit of ourselves in her," the Samoan director added, noting that many Pacific Islander communities have the same values of family and togetherness that Moana does.

For the directors, it was about going on a "new adventure with old friends" and striking a balance between familiarity and something brand new.

The film is highly anticipated after Disney's other 2024 animated sequel "Inside Out 2" crossed the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office in less than three weeks of release, reaching that level in the fastest time of any animated film in history.

The first "Moana" found box office success as well, topping 2016 box office numbers by earning $81.1 million over the five-day Thanksgiving holiday period and $55.5 million for the weekend.