Sir Rod Stewart teams up with WaterAid to celebrate Water’s Greatest Hits with special Boombox Bog at Glastonbury Festival
Pop and rock legend and two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducted singer-songwriter Sir Rod Stewart has teamed up with WaterAid to turn up the volume on Water’s Greatest Hits with an excloosive bog in a boombox at this year’s Glastonbury Festival.
The chart-topping toilet housed behind the tape deck of a giant boombox was co-designed by the international charity and the music icon, who has recently received a lifetime achievement award at this year’s American Music Awards.
Located near the Pyramid Stage, where Rod will be performing in the coveted ‘Legends’ slot on Sunday, the Boombox Bog amplifies the things made possible when everyone has clean water and a decent toilet, such as health, education, dignity, and opportunity. These are Water’s Greatest Hits.
The special loo features splashes of Rod’s signature leopard print and its walls plastered with retro cassette tapes. Festival-goers can have a boogie to some of Rod’s biggest hits, including ‘Da Ya Think I’m Sexy’? and ‘Sailing’ while also listening to specially recorded water-themed messages from the man himself.
Sir Rod Stewart, who received a lifetime achievement award at this year’s American Music Awards, said:
“I’ve spent my life singing to packed arenas and festival crowds, but nothing hits a high note quite like clean water and a decent loo. They might not be sexy, but they’re life-changing. That’s why I’ve teamed up with WaterAid to bring our funky Boombox Bog to Glastonbury Festival and shine a light on the importance of these everyday essentials that millions still live without.
“Together, we’re creating change that’s gonna last forever.”
Nearly one in ten people around the world don’t have clean water close to home and almost one in five don’t have a decent toilet of their own. With these essentials, people can get an education, earn a living, do the things they love and be better prepared for harder times.
WaterAid has been a charity partner of Glastonbury since 1994, supporting water and sanitation services on site while also highlighting its goal: to change the world through water. This year there will be more than 600 WaterAid volunteers working the Water Bars, cleaning the toilets and water bars, and running the women’s urinals.
Jennie York, Executive Director of Communications and Fundraising, WaterAid, said:
“We’re so grateful to Rod for helping share the amazing power of clean water and a decent toilet with the funkiest loo at Glastonbury Festival. It’s a fun and engaging way to celebrate the wonderful things that can happen if everyone has these basic needs met.
“Our fantastic volunteers are onsite keeping the water flowing and the toilets gleaming, so Festival-goers can focus on the magic that makes Glastonbury unforgettable. But when the music stops, we don’t. We're bringing people together to help build a world where everyone has the water they need to stay healthy, learn and thrive. Change really does start with water.”
Everyone deserves clean water and decent toilets – and climate change is making this harder. This year, WaterAid is encouraging Festival-goers to add their name to its ‘Water can’t wait’ open letter, calling on world leaders attending this year’s COP30 in Brazil to take urgent action to tackle the water and climate crisis. To add your name and find out more visit wateraid.org/water-cant-wait.
ENDS
For more information, please contact: Lucy Cowie, Senior Media Officer: [email protected] or Abigail Smith, [email protected]. Alternatively, please call WaterAid's press line on 020 7793 4537 or email [email protected]
Notes to editors
About WaterAid
WaterAid is an international not-for-profit determined to make clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene normal for everyone, everywhere within a generation. We work alongside communities in 22 countries to secure these three essentials that transform people’s lives. Since 1981, WaterAid has reached almost 29 million people with clean water, and over 29 million with decent toilets.
For more information, visit our website wateraid.org/uk; follow us on Bluesky @wateraid.bsky.social or find us on Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram.
- 703 million people in the world – almost one in ten – don’t have clean water close to home.
- 2.2 billion people in the world – more than one in four – don’t have safe water.
- Almost 2 billion people in the world – one in four – lack soap and/or water to wash their hands at home, if they have a place at all.
- 1.5 billion people in the world – almost one in five – don’t have a decent toilet of their own.
- Almost 400,000 children under five die every year due to diseases caused by unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene. That's more than 1000 children a day, or almost one child every one and a half minutes.2
- Worldwide, women and girls spend 200 million hours every day collecting water.
- Investing in safely managed water, sanitation and hygiene services provides up to 21 times more value than it costs.3
1: WHO/UNICEF (2023), Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2022: special focus on gender (accessed 11 Jul 2023)
2: WHO (2023), Burden of disease attributable to unsafe drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene: 2019 update (accessed 24 Jul 2023)
3: WaterAid (2021), Mission-critical: Invest in water, sanitation and hygiene for a healthy and green economic recovery (accessed 1 Nov 2023).
4: UNICEF (2016). Collecting water is often a colossal waste of time for women and girls. Available at: unicef.org/press-releases/unicef-collecting-water-often-colossal-waste-time-women-and-girls (accessed 09 Jan 2024).
