SINGER, drummer and natural showman – is there anything Rick Astley can’t do?

The 57-year-old opened Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage at noon on Saturday, setting the tone perfectly for this evening’s entertainment in the beating Somerset sunshine.

“My god, look at you,” he told the audience as he prowled the stage. “Shall we have a sing-song?”

Dressed in a salmon suit, Astley was likeable, funny and self-deprecating from the start, poking fun at the idea that most of the thousands of people in the crowd had turned up solely for his debut hit, ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’, adding that he would be “keeping them waiting” to hear it.

But anyone who thought that would be only reason to see him was sorely mistaken.

Throughout his 45-minute set (which was, somehow, his Glastonbury debut), Astley expertly delivered classic tracks and newer music, even squeezing in covers of Harry Styles’ ‘As It Was’ and Chic’s ‘Good Times’.

He opened by taking the crowd back to the 80s with ‘Together Forever’ before launching into some of his newer music, such as 2016’s ‘Keep Singing’ and ‘Dippin My Feet’, released this year.

Somerset County Gazette: Astley wowed on the Pyramid Stage when he made his long-awaited Glastonbury debut.Astley wowed on the Pyramid Stage when he made his long-awaited Glastonbury debut. (Image: Ben Birchall, PA Wire)

After introducing his latest single, he joked: “I’m not an idiot; I’ve got the biggest audience in the world and TV here. Of course I’m going to play a new song!”

He was joined on stage by his band and two stylish “tigeress” backing singers, who were unleashed to showcase their talents at the end of ‘Cry For Help’.

At one point, he restyled his quiff with a hair dryer while his band kept playing behind him, before he donned a cowboy hat thrown on stage by a front-row fan.

Things took an unexpected turn later when he sang and played the drums for a cover of AC/DC’s ‘Highway To Hell’, a song he played for hours as a teenager.

He blamed his trousers getting caught in the bass drum pedal for an imperfect performance with the sticks, but no one will have cared about that after watching another of his dreams be realised.

Then, of course, it was time for his magnum opus – the very definition of a crowd-pleaser.

And Astley took his moment superbly, singing the first verse with the audience a capella before holding the crowd in high spirits for nearly 10 minutes, allowing his band members to throw in solos.

After watching one legend storm the Pyramid, all eyes will be on Cat Stevens tomorrow to see how he compares in the Teatime Legends slot.