United Kingdom, June 28 -- Sir Rod Stewart came close to cancelling his Glastonbury performance.

The 80-year-old star is set to play the Legends slot on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury, but Rod admits that he came perilously close to cancelling his performance after being struck down with illness.

The Maggie May hitmaker - who is married to model Penny Lancaster - told The Sun newspaper: "I've had to cancel five shows because of this b****** flu.

"This time last week I was thinking of cancelling. It was a close shave. I have had Influenza A. It's been so terrible.

"But my dear wife Penny and some good medical people got me through it. There was a lot of technical massaging from some very good people I know, which sounds filthy doesn'...