Rod Stewart planning to “leave all the rock ‘n’ roll stuff behind” after 2023 tour

18 June, 2023

Rod Stewart

Rod Stewart has said that he’s planning to “leave all the rock ‘n’ roll stuff behind” after his extensive 2023 tour this year.

In a new interview with BBC Breakfast, which you can watch below, the musician said he isn’t “retiring” and that he’s looking to instead change musical genres from rock to swing.

“I’m not retiring,” Stewart told BBC host Charlie Stayt. “I’ve just done a swing album with Jools Holland, which is going to come out next year, so I want to go in that direction. I just want to leave all the rock ‘n’ roll stuff behind — for a while, maybe.”

Stewart added that he was “really looking forward to doing something else” and that his forthcoming work with Jools Holland’s band “borders on rock ‘n’ roll anyway, it’s just not ‘Maggie May’ and ‘Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?’”

You can watch the interview below:

Back in February, Stewart visited his local NHS hospital in Harlow, Essex and paid for a day’s worth of MRI scans to help reduce the waiting lists.

The artist said he wanted to prove that he wasn’t “all mouth and no trousers” after his comments about the state of the NHS earlier this year. He also said he wanted to pay for scans elsewhere in the UK.

According to the Princess Alexandra Hospital’s chief operating officer, Stephanie Lawton, Stewart’s donation cut their waiting list for MRI scans by 10 per cent. In total, 20 patients were able to receive their scans that day thanks to Stewart’s help.

Stewart called into a Sky News phone-in back in January where he decried the state of the NHS, criticising the “ridiculous” waiting lists which are currently some of the longest on record. It was during this conversation that he pledged to pay for scans to help cut the waiting lists.

Stewart said he was inspired to make the gesture after getting a scan himself in a private clinic in Harley Street.

“I walked in and said, ‘I’m terribly sorry, I’m half an hour late.’ They said, ‘Don’t worry, there’s hardly anybody in here today,” he explained. “There were eight people with hardly anything to do. Then I thought this is a terrible injustice, so here we are.”

He continued: “If this is a big success, which I think it will be, I’d like to do it in Belfast, Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, and just keep it going, and hope some other people follow me. Because I want to prove I’m not all mouth and trousers and that’s why I’m here to prove that I followed through with it, OK folks.”

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