Rick Astley reveals how his next tour will be different

Following the announcement that Rick Astley will be going on tour next year, he joined Simon Mayo at Greatest Hits Radio for a chat, to talk about his 'Reflection' tour and his success over the years.

While Rick burst into the charts with hits such as 'Never Gonna Give You Up' and 'Together Forever', back in the 80s when he had a huge amount of success, he revealed that he thought he'd never perform again after quitting music when he was in his late 20s.

Rick Astley reflects on his break from music

The singer explained: "I quit when I was about 27 and I never thought I'd get to do it again. I didn't particularly want to do it again, that's why I quit, but when I kind of started, I fell into doing gigs again."

He went on to reveal that it was multi-artist gigs that he enjoyed. "I actually really loved it because there was no pressure about a new record," he explained. "There's no like, we're going to play the new single and see if it sort of goes down well. It's just, we're just playing hits. That's it."

However, he admitted he could understand why some artists don't like performing their biggest hits, saying: "I think certain artists do struggle sometimes with going back to a song that has kind of defined them.

"And I'm the other way. I'm a little bit like, well, I had 15 years off love, so I'm grateful that I'm here and if you want me to sing that twice, I will, I'll do it at the beginning and at the end if that's what you really want. Do you know what I mean?"

What songs are on his tour setlist?

With some big hits under his belt, Simon Mayo was keen to know what songs fans could expect on his setlist when he is on tour next year. However, Rick admitted he hasn't decided on a full setlist yet, but he has been surprised at some of the song suggestions from fans.

"I've been discussing that (the setlist) with the guys that I work with," Rick explained. "I want to do something a little bit different in terms of play some songs from some records that we don't always do."

He continued: "Obviously I'm not daft. I play 'Never Going to Give You Up', obviously 'Together Forever', and the ones that I had, you know, a bit of a hit with and stuff because that's the gig, that's why I'm there.

"But because I've made some new records in the last sort of 10 years or so, obviously I've been kind of fairly legitimately allowed to play those as well."

The singer, who turns 60 next year, went on to explain the reasons behind the name of his new tour. He said: "I've called it 'Reflection'.

"It's partly a pun on the poster for it, because of the big sunglasses I'm wearing and the fact that we're going to have reflected in those sunglasses different things. I am reflecting this year on my life in general, but my kind of like, how am I still doing this kind of thing? And reflecting over the time.

"I do want to play the songs that people want to hear 100%, but what has freaked me out a little bit, we've been looking on social media and stuff about people already saying, I wonder if he'll play this, I hope he plays that and the other. And I'm a bit surprised sometimes when they pick track 4 from album 3, because I'm like, I didn't think that anybody wants it!"

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• rick astley
• simon mayo