Rick Astley recently had an interview with NME and listed the tracks that changed his life. For the song that got stuck in his head, he named Hary Styles’ ‘As It Was.’ Rick said:
“Well, we’ve been playing Harry Styles’ ‘As It Was’ [live] a bit, and the simplicity of that tune is annoyingly brilliant. I really like him, I think his records are great.”
Rick Astley covered ‘As It Was’ for the first time at this year’s Glastonbury Festival, along with AC/DC’s ‘Highway to Hell,’ and a series of tracks by The Smiths. Fans who were among the audience praised Astley’s performance. One of them wrote:
“Rick rocked !!!! Best set so far for me was Rick Astley. What a genuine and talented guy – got the crowd moving.”
Another one pointed out the fact that he sang ‘Highway to Hell’ while playing the drums:
“Big respect for anyone who can drum and sing at the same time.”
Another fan wrote about how amused Rick looked while performin onstage:
“Watching him play every instrument in every genre while covering vocals without mimicking the original singer like a single trick cover band singer is really quite something. The man appears to just love music.”
Below, you can watch a fan shot video of Rick singing ‘As It Was’ and his ‘Watermelon Sugar’ cover.