What can fans expect from Sir Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood when they first performed together in 1969’s legendary band The Faces? They famously “had me a real good time,” and now they’re reuniting for Glastonbury.
It’s been 55 years since Sir Rod Stewart first teamed up with Ronnie Wood as part of legendary band The Faces and famously ‘had me a real good time.. Now the rather more wrinkly rockers are to reunite on Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage later this month, when they take the Legends slot.
The Faces’ faces have changed a lot in the past five decades or so since they played their distinctive fusion of rock ‘n ‘ roll, blues, and psychedelia. They have had hits like Stay With Me (1971), Ooh La La (1973), and Had Me a Real Good Time (1970). Wrecking hotel rooms dominated the band’s headlines as much as their music, making them as well known for their drinking, drug-taking, and debauchery as they were for their hit songs.
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Back then, Rod Stewart was a fresh-faced 24-year-old singer with the five piece band, known as ‘Rod the Mod.’ Now 80, the Da Ya Think I’m Sexy star recently revealed, enthusiastically, of him and Ronnie on That Peter Crouch Podcast: “We’re going to do Glastonbury together.”
Playing together in The Faces from 1969 to 1975, when Rod left and the band split, the music he and Ronnie helped create was said to have influenced The Sex Pistols – although their concerts were either brilliant or shambolic, depending on how much alcohol they’d consumed.
In the biography of Ronnie, 77, Ronnie said, “We were the sponsors of Holiday Inn and Marriott, and anywhere we could get kicked. They were known as the Holiday Out, in our house. No hotel chain would have the Faces because of the damage and madness that occurred when we checked in as Fleetwood Mac. Half of the audience would return to the hotel. Whoever was present would be at the party with us, and everyone would stay.
Touring America, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the UK, the band played more than 500 concerts. DJ John Peel was an early champion of their music and said a 1973 Faces gig at Sunderland Locarno was his all time favourite live concert. While Rod and Ronnie were the band’s most famous faces, there were other notable musicians. These included other bassist Ronnie Lane, who died in 1997 after a battle with multiple sclerosis.
Tetsu Yamuchi took his bass position after he left in 1973. Additionally, drummer Kenney Jones replaced Keith Moon after his passing in the wake of his death in 2014 as keyboardist Ian McLagan, who passed away after a stroke. Along with Paul Rodgers and The Jones Gang, he also co-founded the band The Law and began a five-year tour of the United States. Ronnie joined the Rolling Stones in 1975, Rod’s departure year.
They have undergone numerous changes over the years, most recently for Rod Rod’s 1986 Wembley Stadium concert’s encore. Ronnie Lane and the band performed on stage that year, but by that time, he had multiple sclerosis and was unable to stand. Consequently, Bill Wyman played bass for him. The same lineup (minus Lane) reunited at the 1993 Brit Awards, and they reunited again in 2015 at Rod’s private 70th birthday party.
Rod said in a birthday speech that “Being in the Faces was a mad and brilliant time for all of us,” adding that this is our chance to remember them and say “Had a Real Good Time” despite the fact that we don’t have Ronnie and Mac with us anymore.
Then, for the first time in over 50 years, Jones, Stewart, and Wood made the announcement that they were working on a new album that was scheduled to be released in 2026. They have actually been working together a lot, Rod recently revealing that he was working on a new documentary with Ronnie and Kenney Jones, 76.
Rod, who has twice been inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, has won a Grammy and a Brit Award and holds the World Record for staging the largest free rock concert in history. His New Year’s Eve concert at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1994 was attended by 3.5 million people – and he looks set for a busy 80th year, as he prepares to embark on a world tour.
At the age of 80, he said, “I enjoy going on tour now more than ever.” I’m in Vegas for seven concerts before traveling the world. I stay in shape thanks to it. You must be physically fit to do it. If I didn’t do it, I’d probably die. I’ve seen so many men who are forced to retire and have nothing to do but wake up in the morning.
Rod and Ronnie are obviously rocking it, no matter how shaky they may be.
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