Rick Astley has had quite a 2023. Making his Glastonbury debut and playing the Pyramid Stage was, he says, “a gorgeous experience”.
And he’s ending the year with a high-energy bang. On Sunday, on BBC One, as part of his Rick Astley Rocks New Year’s Eve concert, he will be seen teaming up with Rylan Clark to sing a cover version of Dead or Alive’s You Spin Me Round (Like A Record).
An incredible fact about that number one single is that Rick Astley was there in the studio when it was recorded 40 years ago.
“The crazy thing is I made tea for Dead or Alive in the PWL Stock Aitken Waterman building, while they made that album [Youthquake],” he explains on the balcony of London’s Roundhouse venue during rehearsals.
“That was the first album that I was ever anywhere near, even though I was just tidying up, making the tea and getting the sandwiches.
“I’d like to take all the credit for it. Two sugars! Proper strong builder’s tea. That will get you through an album alright.”
Astley’s longevity is part of what is being celebrated this evening – four decades which have seen him transition from tea boy to being Glastonbury’s cup of tea.
It is slightly galling to realise that even the Rickrolling craze (which introduced him to a whole new generation by tricking people to click on misleading internet links which direct them to the video for his hit Never Gonna Give You Up) is itself 17 years old.
Now Astley is following in the musical first-footing footsteps of Robbie Williams, Alicia Keys and Sam Ryder, having been chosen to play the concert shown annually either side of the midnight fireworks on BBC One. Traditionally it attracts one of the biggest TV audiences of the year.
This is why Astley has brought in reinforcements. As well as Rylan, tonight’s concert will feature a duet with Sharleen Spiteri from Texas.
“I’ve got to know her through different festivals,” he explains.
“She’s jumped up on stage and sung Highway to Hell. She’s fearless. She’s got some pipes on her that woman, I tell you.”
Tonight, they will be heard taking on the Motown classic Ain’t No Mountain High Enough: “I like doing covers. It reminds me of being a kid in a band,” he enthuses.
Sam Ryder’s medley of medleys
Cover versions served Sam Ryder very well when he hosted the show last year as he blasted through Taylor Swift, Stevie Wonder and Queen medleys, with that band’s guitarist Brian May describing him as “smashing it”.
Astley says the first thing he did after being offered the gig was to watch Sam Ryder’s programme back: “He nailed that show. Now I’m beginning to feel the pressure.”
And his nerves get worse when I point out that the acts who have played at the Roundhouse include Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and The Doors (“The Doors? Oh, I did not know that.”)
The venue also has a its own history of New Year’s Eve gigs. On the 31 December 1966, The Who headlined Psychedelicamania, with support from Pink Floyd.
Billed as “a giant New Year’s Eve freak-out all-night rave’, it culminated with Pete Townsend picking up his guitar like an axe and thrashing his amplifiers with such ferocity that debris hit the audience, leading to a number of very angry letters of complaint appearing in the following week’s Melody Maker.
Astley will be going for a rather different vibe.
Less Psychedelicamania, more: “Turn on. Tune in. Nod off.”
“It’s funny, I must say I’ve not been out on New Year’s Eve for a very long time,” he says. “Make something nice for dinner, get something nice to drink. See the new year in at home, have the telly on and join in. And I’m hoping people are going to have a good time doing that.”
However, the atmosphere of the Roundhouse will play a crucial part: “The thing about this place, is that it is a real venue,” he says as a huge RICK ASTLEY sign is constructed above the stage.
“That was the most important thing to me. The idea of doing a TV show frightens me to death, to be honest. So, we’re doing a gig and the BBC are filming it. That’s how I’m looking at it.”
The crux of any New Year’s Eve show is which song to play first after midnight. When it comes to Rick Astley, I suggest that there is not really much room for manoeuvre.
Thankfully, he laughs in agreement: “Obviously that song Never Gonna Give You Up has been part of my DNA now for more than 30 years. As mad as people may find the fact that I still enjoy singing it, I still do. I think it kind of solidifies in my own mind how lucky I’ve been.”
It is a joy to see a singer going misty eyed over their own number one single from 1987.
“Some people may think that’s a bit corny, but it’s been really good to me that song. I never take it for granted. I relish playing it as I know it’s my biggest tune.”
It also provided one of the standout moments at this year’s Glastonbury Festival, when Rick Astley was the unlikely choice to open the Pyramid stage on the Saturday, on a line up which included Lizzo and Guns N’ Roses. Later that same day he reappeared on the Woodies stage to play a set of Smiths cover versions with Blossoms.
“I never thought I’d get to play Glastonbury, never mind the Pyramid Stage and the fact that it went so well it was amazing. I just loved every moment of every second.”
So much so, that he plans to return: “I’d really love to go in 2024, but just as a punter and just go and watch bands, have a glass of wine maybe and just chill out.”
Astley has a lot to look forward to in 2024. He has his own arena tour, his own outdoor shows in Cardiff and Halifax, he will be making his Latitude debut and play alongside Liam Gallagher and Calvin Harris at TRANSMT in Glasgow.
He laughs when that line-up is mentioned: “When I look at who is headlining some of the festivals I play, it’s not even false modesty.
“When I picture myself back being a 21-year-old, doing that Stock Aitken Waterman thing that, let’s face it, the whole music media hated. Let’s just get that out on the table. I never thought I would be playing festivals at any point in my life with. Even back then, when I was having hits.
“The world has just moved into a different place. Things are so much more eclectic in the way that people listen and stream. Everyone listens to everything. And the people in the audience love that. I think that’s what a festival is these days.”
Rick’s resolutions
Before he heads back to rehearsals there is just time to ask him for his New Year’s resolutions: “I want to get fitter. I’m noticing, as are a few friends of mine who are in my age group, who are performers, writers, producers, but those who get on stage mainly, we’re all feeling it a bit,” he chuckles.
Fittingly, this means that there are a number of things that Astley has decided he is never gonna give up.
“I need to get up there on my bike, I think.
“Instead of having weights hanging around the house, actually use them. There aren’t sore bits. There are just bits that are 57 years old.”
Rick Astley – ready to roll into 2024.
Rick Astley Rocks New Year’s Eve is on BBC One at 23:30, except in Scotland, where Hogmanay will feature music from KT Tunstall.
