Rod Stewart canceled several recent concerts because he’s been battling a bad case of the flu, but his next performance is scheduled to take place on June 29 at the U.K.’s famed Glastonbury Festival. As previously reported, Stewart will be joined at the event by his old Faces bandmate and friend Ronnie Wood. The longtime Rolling Stones guitarist is expected to make a special guest appearance while Sir Rod performs on the festival’s Pyramid Stage during the event’s teatime legends slot.
Stewart was recently interviewed about his Glastonbury performance by BBC Radio 2 presenter Zoe Ball. During the conversation, Rod was played a recording of Ronnie asking him a question: “What can you remember, in the ’60s, about the Intrepid Fox?”
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Stewart immediately yelled, “Hey!” and then said, “Oh, that’s where we met.” The Intrepid Fox was a pub located in the Soho district of London.
“It’s up the road from the Marquee [Club],” Rod continued. “We met in there one night, and he had the same haircut as me, and … [I] literally said, ‘Hello, face,’ and he said, ‘Hello, face’ to me. And then, of course, later, we joined the Faces.” In the 1960s, the term “face” referred to someone who was part of London’s mod scene who was considered a stylish or fashionable dresser.
“[T]hat was quite a remarkable [moment],” Stewart added. “I think [Ronnie] was playing at the Marquee with [his early band] The Birds, and I was down doing business. But we just met in that pub.”
The original Intrepid Fox closed in 2006, but the pub still exists in a different London location. Stewart suggested that he and Wood go there sometime and have a pint of Guinness.
Stewart on His Enduring Friendship with Wood
Stewart and Wood first played together from 1967 to 1969 in the Jeff Beck Group. In 1969, the two joined the Small Faces, which rechristened themselves the Faces. The band broke up in 1975, when Wood was hired by The Rolling Stones.
Rod and Ronnie remained friends, and have occasionally performed together over the years. During the BBC interview, Ball asked Stewart about what is special about his enduring friendship with Wood.
“We have the same sense of humor,” Rod noted. “[W]hen we get together and we start talking to each other, [people around us] go, ‘Christ, it’s like you two are in 1975. … You’re exactly the same. You still laugh at the same thing.’”
Stewart continued, “And we’ve got the same nose, same haircuts, and same sex habits, apparently.” The jokey final part of Rod’s comment drew a chuckle from Ball. He then added, “We’re brothers.”
As previously reported, Stewart has been working with Wood and the other surviving Faces member, drummer Kenney Jones, on a new album. Rod explained to Ball that he’s to blame for the long-in-the-works project’s delay because he needs to write more lyrics to the songs on which they’re collaborating.
(Photo by Dave M. Benett/Getty Images)