Main photo Thanks to Carsten Hamburg/Marienthal
Lets start off this week where we left of last week.. Hamburg..
As fans arrived at Hamburg airport they were greeted with this amazing Wolfie’s display
And here as promised are more brilliant shots from Marc and Claudine Baulisch -Steines
As Rod went in to the arena Carsten Hamburg/Marienthal was pleased to get a great photo [See main picture] with Rod saying “Last night he did not sign for 6 people waiting for him. He referred to us as sellers. Then he went in. Today a totally different person. He wanted to know the last song of the show and I answered correctly. So I finally got my photo and I am very happy, because getting a picture with him is not easy”
Budapest MVM Dome
On Saturday the tour arrived in Budapest and Marc and Claudine were again there to bring you the best pictures
Meanwhile back in Germany…Is it party or no party?
Rod was keeping up with the scores from The Stuttgart Arena
Unfortunatly Scotland’s hopes of creating history at Euro 2024 was ended by an agonising stoppage-time goal as they lost 1-0 to Hungary.
Steve Clarke’s side knew they had to win in Stuttgart to have a realistic chance of progressing beyond the group stages for the first time.
They failed to even register a shot on target until the second half, but held off any threat from their opponents who also needed three points to keep their hopes alive.
Scotland were somehow denied a penalty and Grant Hanley passed up a brilliant chance before Kevin Csoboth finished off a Hungary counter attack to fire past Angus Gunn in the 100th minute and end the Tartan Army’s party in Stuttgart.
Cologne Lanxess Arena
On Tuesday Rod and the band were in Cologne and SMILER was represented by the camera skills of Marc and Claudine Baulisch -Steines and also Silke Mock
And here are the thoughts of Martin Heidt
Defying the Three Lions – Rod Stewart rules in Cologne
Where just a few days ago tens of thousands of Scottish football fans celebrated their Tartan Army at the European Football Championship, this time it was the English who were “on the move”. On Tuesday, England met Slovenia in the Cologne stadium and so the numerous supporters of the Three Lions were now cavorting around Cologne Cathedral.
One Englishman, who flew into Cologne from London in the late afternoon, was only marginally interested in the game. Sir Rod Stewart, an avowed supporter of the Scottish team anyway, had a job to do. ONE LAST TIME he was to be on stage in the Lanxess Arena at the same time as the England game and present the songs of his career to his fans. No sooner said than done.
Stewart managed to make sure that none of the almost 20,000 people in the arena were even remotely interested in the fact that Harry Kane’s England were “breaking one off” against Slovenia just nine kilometres away and couldn’t get past a meagre 0:0.
Sir Rod reigned supreme in the arena, organising a party that lasted a good two hours. Right at the start, the 79-year-old “belted out” ADDICTED TO LOVE, YOU WEAR IT WELL and HAVIN’ A PARTY, three songs that really got the crowd going. Rod didn’t give himself or the fans a break. With TONIGHT I’M YOURS and the Bonnie Tyler classic IT’S A HEARTACHE, he got the party going again. And so it continued. In between, the audience occasionally breathed a sigh of relief during songs like TONIGHT’S THE NIGHT or I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT and Sir Rod was also able to take a deep breath during one or two costume changes.
When he disappeared backstage for a new outfit, his band took over at the front and continued seamlessly where Stewart had just left off. The singers then belted out I’M EVERY WOMAN and HOT STUFF to the 20,000-strong crowd. This didn’t dampen the atmosphere in the arena at all and now even the last person realised that the party zone in the cathedral city wasn’t in the stadium that evening, but in the Lanxess Arena.
Rod Stewart naturally took the opportunity to reiterate his anti-war stance and once again dedicated the song RHYTHM OF MY HEART to Ukraine and the war-torn Ukrainian people. His “Fuck Putin” was well received in the cathedral city – unlike recently in Leipzig and Budapest, where some fans responded to the singer’s statements with whistles and boos. But in Cologne, Rod received nothing but pleasant applause. “Yay instead of boo” – wrote the Kölner Stadtanzeiger newspaper.
The two hours in the arena came to an end far too quickly for many fans and Stewart stepped on the accelerator once again at the end of the show. BABY JANE, SOME GUYS HAVE ALL THE LUCK, DA YA THINK I’M SEXY and the legendary SAILING brought the marvellous evening to a close.
The press also had high praise for Sir Rod. “He surpasses himself on this evening,” wrote the WAZ newspaper from Essen. “He is a real multi-functional tool, a confident professional at the microphone. And an eternally young singer to boot, with his shirt unbuttoned wide open and his bum full of bumblebees: He does jumping jacks, gyrates his hips, wiggles his outstretched bum and conjures up figures on the floor in a way that only figure skaters can. Not a trace of a man who will complete his eighth decade next year,” enthuses the Aachener Zeitung.
There’s really nothing to add to that.
Zurich Hallenstadion
On Thursday the party arrived in Zurich and our SMILER team of Marc and Claudine Baulisch -Steines and Martin Heidt were there to bring you the report
Zurich: Praise for the “Nati” and a special highlight
Rod Stewart once again had the audience wrapped around his finger at his performance in Zurich on Thursday evening and put on another top-class concert in the Swiss metropolis with its 400,000 inhabitants.
In front of around 15,000 people in the sold-out Hallenstadion, Stewart changed the setlist only slightly from the concert in Cologne. One of the special highlights of the show was the song PEOPLE GET READY, which “The Impressions” recorded in 1965, but which Rod Stewart and Jeff Beck first brought to greater popularity with their cover in 1985. During PEOPLE GET READY, Sir Rod showed pictures of the Swiss national football team on the big screen and praised the “Nati” for their performance so far at the European Football Championship in Germany. “You’ve made it into the top 16 of the European Championships. Well done!” shouted Sir Rod to the cheering fans in Zurich. However, the singer didn’t say another word about the elimination of his beloved Tartan Army from the tournament.
Rod Stewart also scored with sympathy in other ways. The British music icon cheerfully led the audience through the two-hour concert. There were 25 songs on the set list, including of course his classics such as MAGGIE MAY and SAILING. While singing the song “It Takes Two”, which he released with Tina Turner in 1990, he said: “Unfortunately Tina can’t be here today”.
As at every one of his previous concerts in Europe, the singer was in high spirits at the only show in the land of the Swiss and was always in the mood for a little joke. “I was here with the Faces in the 1970s and today I have an account with UBS (note: major Swiss bank),“ he joked, drawing laughs from the audience.
As always, Rod left the stage after around two hours, leaving a hopeful audience in his wake. Hopeful, because everyone in the Hallenstadion is defintely hoping that Sir Rod didn’t retire last night, but will find his way back to Switzerland in the coming years.
The tour continues tonight in Munich. Rod Stewart will be on stage in the Olympic Hall from 8pm.
This week’s Rod Art
With Rod showing extra support for Ukraine last week we thought it would be a good time to show one of our good friend Paul Reprintsev’s tributes to Rod
Paul is from Kharkov, Ukraine and is the Art Editor at Видавництво “Ранок” He has drawn and painted Rod many times and we at SMILER are proud to have featured his work on many occasions.
Soundwaves Art
Rod has teamed up with Soundwaves Art to release a very limited collection of artwork created from the audio of “Forever Young”.
Every artwork has been hand signed by myself and the soundwaves artist Tim Wakefield to support the incredible work of @warchildUK , a nonprofit organization protecting, educating and providing psychosocial support to children in war zones around the world.
There are only 100 prints and 4 originals available. https://soundwavesartfoundation.com/collections/rod-stewart?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR2I5pimX7BmeILurzhk_tNqHdmPHKgx8oLac7ZiJmxQfhIvXb_EtKbckeg_aem_TIZYHAhDVs2zQhdSPbIFTg
And Finally..
Rod will be in Munich Olympiahalle Munchen tonight, Paris ZENITH PARIS – LA VILLETTE on Sunday, Vienna Wiener Stadthalle Halle D on Tuesday and Prague O2 Arena on Wednesday If you are going to any of these shows have a brilliant night and please send in any photos or thoughts and we will see you next week..