Fresh from his unforgettable Glastonbury debut, his recent appearance at Radio Two in the Park and the success of incredible new album Are We There Yet?, RICK ASTLEY confirms a new headline show at Cardiff Castle.
Arguably Britain’s most beloved pop star, he will headline the historic venue on Wednesday July 10th. He will be joined by special guests LIGHTNING SEEDS.
It has been 36 years since Rick first shot to fame, yet he is now a more prominent force in popular culture than he ever was.
The endearingly boyish 57-year-old is still winning over new fans, performing with Foo Fighters, Take That, Blossoms, becoming an unlikely social media sensation and simply embracing the unending love that greets his era-defining smash Never Gonna Give You Up.
Indeed, since returning to #1 in 2016 with his album 50, Rick – who this year took his first ever bow on Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage and headlined two nights at the Royal Albert Hall – has enjoyed the strongest run of album chart success of his career to date.
His long-awaited ninth studio album Are We There Yet? was released to much acclaim in October, debuting at #2 on the UK Album charts. The chart topper has now sold 40 million records worldwide.
Are We There Yet? is the sound of Rick reflecting and building upon the experiences he’s gone through since the release of 2018’s Beautiful Life. Some of the new songs were started during lockdown in 2020, but he decided to leave them deliberately unfinished until it was feasible to play them live again.
As well as the sound of his unmistakable voice, Rick performed almost all instruments on the record. As a result, Are We There Yet? shows that Rick is still pushing to reach even greater musical heights.
Rick’s live shows are incredibly joyous affairs as he beautifully mixes songs old and new, such as Together Forever, Keep Singing to Angels On My Side as well as incredible covers including the likes of Harry Styles’ As It Was and AC/DC’s barnstorming Highway To Hell.
It is 35 years since special guests Lightning Seeds first hit the charts. The audience can expect to sing along to a string of hits including Life of Riley, Lucky You and football anthem Three Lions.
The headlining show for Cardiff Castle is presented by promoters DEPOT Live and Cuffe and Taylor.
Nick Saunders from DEPOT Live told us…..
“Rick Astley is arguably Britain’s most beloved pop star. From his hits of the 80s to his most recent music, Rick has mass appeal to fans old and new and I have no doubt this will be an incredible concert.”
Rick Astley is the latest headliner revealed for what promises to be an incredible summer at Cardiff Castle. He joins indie music legends Manic Street Preachers and Suede who will play two consecutive sold-out co-headline shows, a double-headlining show from US alt rockers The Smashing Pumpkinsand Weezer, British rock band IDLES and headlining shows from Avril Lavigne, JLS, Tom Grennan and Madness, with more to be announced.
Unbelievably, that means of course, he’s been in our musical lives for well over 36 years now. In fact, I remember, as a much younger journalist, interviewing an even younger Rick right at the start of his career. Like everyone who’d heard ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ we thought the voice belonged to a – well let’s say, more mature chap. In the end we met a very shy, nervous 21 year old, who could never have imagined, all these years later he’d still be doing it with such success.
At the age of 21, Rick emerged from the shadows of the Stock, Aitken and Waterman production house to become one of the biggest stars on the planet. ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ topped charts the world over and catapulted him on a journey that would encompass 8 consecutive UK Top 10 hits and 40 million sales.
We all know the rest of the incredible story of hit after hit under the HIT FACTORY banner. Then, after stepping aside to focus on his family, he shot back to Number One almost 30 years later with his hit Platinum-selling album ‘50’. If you’ve not heard it, it’s an absolute cracker. In fact, here’s a couple of tracks from it……
Rick has proven to be a consistently huge draw in the live arena. He’s sold over 100,000 tickets to his UK headline shows since releasing ‘50’ in 2016. A couple of years ago saw him complete a gargantuan 38-date stadium tour as special guest to TAKE THAT in which he played to over 500,000 people. We were almost front row for one of those gigs and he was really fantastic and the perfect TT support act.
Here’s a few Rick Pics from his greatest hits tour to get you in the mood for Cardiff Castle……
His shows are a real celebration, mixing the famous hits that he made his name with, alongside current fan favourites. We defy anyone not to have a little sing and boogie along with him. Obviously everything he did was bang on, the biggest surprise for us though was his version of Calvin Harris and Rag ‘n’ Bone Man’s ‘Giant’. You’ve got to keep that one in Rick, it was fantastic.
RICK ASTLEY and LIGHTNING SEEDS get to Cardiff Castle on Wednesday 10th July. Tickets and more details are available from HERE
The full DEPOT LIVE line up now looks like this…..
- 14 June – The Smashing Pumpkins and Weezer with support from Teen Mortgage
- 2 July – Avril Lavigne with support from Simple Plan
- 05 July – Manic Street Preachers and Suede
- 06 July – Manic Street Preachers and Suede
- 07 July – JLS
- 10 July – Rick Astley with support from Lightning Seeds
- 12 July – IDLES
- 18 July – Madness
- 26 July – Tom Grennan
