Main Photo By Marc Baulisch -Steines
Antwerp
On Friday night Rod was in Antwerp belgium to kicks off his latest European tour but after rehersals it was a quick rest and a then another inportant kick off was looming
To Glasgow..
Rod was back in Glasgow with son Alastair for the lunch time kick off of the Celtic v Rangers match
Jim White – known best for his famous Deadline Day antics on Sky Sports News over the years – shared a tweet of Rod standing outside of a jet with a Celtic flag flying high ahead of boarding a plane.
He wrote on X: “Only a @CelticFC super fan like Sir Rod Stewart would fly to Antwerp this morning to rehearse for the opening show of his European tour Then fly to Glasgow tomorrow morning for the lunchtime Old Firm clash, then back to Antwerp to go on stage tomorrow night!”
It was worth the trip for Rod as Celtic enjoyed a 2-1 win and he also met up with Celtic legend Henrik Larsson at the match
And back to Antwerp
Rod made it back in time for his Saturday nights show complete with a new stage lay out and SMILER photographer Marc Baulisch -Steines was at the show to get some superb shots
Rod also introduced a new talented band member on violin Andrea Young a Nashville-based singer, songwriter and multi- instrumentalist who has trained classically since the age of two.
To read the SMILER review by Martin Heidt go to
Hannover ZAG Arena
On Tuesday Rod played the first show in Germany and Martin Heidt was there to give us his review with some great photos by Silke Mock
The Rod Express rolls on – Hanover experiences a magnificent evening
Hanover was ready for an evening full of hits and memories and the 9000 fans in the sold-out ZAG Arena were not disappointed. At 8.13pm, Rod Stewart took to the stage in the Lower Saxony metropolis and off he went with the Rod Express through almost two hours and an inspiring evening.
Rod Stewart lined up hit after hit and the audience often sang along at the top of their voices. At his first appearance in Hanover in 22 years, Rod gave full throttle, as he had done three days earlier in Antwerp. The last time the singer with his Struwwel hairstyle and grating voice was a guest on the Leine was in June 2002.
The set list took the fans through 60 years of music history that evening. Whether it was ‘Maggie May’,‘Sailing’ or ‘Forever Young’ – the self-confessed Celtic fan didn’t leave out any of his big hits from the last few decades. With ‘It Takes Two’ and ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’, Stewart recalled the late, equally charismatic singers Tina Turner and Christine McVie from Fleetwood Mac.
The show was an experience for young and old. Many of the die-hard Stewart fans were delighted with the obligatory footballs that were kicked into the audience. Others danced enthusiastically in front of their chairs to the sounds of the band, who twice musically bridged Stewart’s costume changes.
After two hours, 9000 people went home completely happy. A young girl told NDR after the concert: ‘I’m only 16 years old, but that was the best concert I’ve ever seen, no matter how many more are to come.’ Many of the visitors will agree with this assessment.
SMILER photographer Marc Baulisch -Steines was also on hand to get more superb shots
Stuttgart Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle
Wednesday saw the band’s second German show and SMILER photographer Marc Baulisch -Steines and Martin Heidt were in the crowd again..
Championship celebration in Swabia: Rod Stewart thrills the fans in the Schleyerhalle and celebrates Celtic’s championship
This evening in Stuttgart’s Schleyerhalle proved once again why Rod Stewart’s concerts are always worth a visit and why the 79-year-old Briton has such a loyal fan base. Stewart delivered another brilliant show at his second German concert of his One Last Time Tour, thrilling the audience with his great hits from six decades.
At times, the singer may have been focussing on the Celtic Football Club match taking place at the same time, that took the decisive step towards the 54th Scottish Football Championship in Kilmarnock that night. Rod didn’t have to worry about his favourite club, however, as Celtic won 5-0 at Rugby Park and secured the championship with one match day to go.
So it wasn’t a surpise that Celtic’s noble fan Stewart danced, jumped and ran across the stage in a correspondingly good mood, communicated with the audience in his usual charming manner and once again delivered a show in a class of its own. The band bridged the breaks, which he no doubt also used to take a look at the football action in Scotland as well as changing his costume, with the songs ‘I’m So Excited’ and ‘Lady Marmalade’. The setlist was only slightly changed compared to the concert in Hanover: ‘Baby Jane’ returned to the programme, but this time Rod left out the Faces hit ‘Stay With Me’. He also presented ‘People Get Ready’ to the celebrating Swabian audience, as well as the Bonnie Tyler classic ‘It’s A Heartache’.
After almost two hours, Stewart ended the show with the hits ‘Da Ya Think I’m Sexy’ and ‘Sailing’. To the final notes of what is probably the best ballad of his career, Rod waved his captain’s cap, threw kisses into the audience and said goodbye to the fans, who were probably all hoping that this performance in the Schleyerhalle was not yet One Last Time.
Setlist:
Addicted to Love ● You Wear It Well ● Infatuation ● Have You Ever Seen the Rain? ● Tonight I’m Yours ● It’s A Heartache ● Forever Young ● The First Cut Is the Deepest ● I Don’t Want to Talk About It ● Maggie May ● I’d Rather Go Blind ● Young Turks ● Baby Jane ● Downtown Train ● I’m So Excited (Band) ● Tonight’s the Night ● People Get Ready ● Have I Told You Lately ● Lady Marmalade (Band) ● It Takes Two ● Some Guys Have All the Luck ● Encores Da Ya Think I’m Sexy? ● Sailing
This week’s Rod Art
This week we we feature the work of West London artist Papa Artsy who is the creator of ‘Selfie Icons’
Papa Artsy was asked to draw a commission for Rod by non other than Jim Cregan and said
“I knew that Sir Rod was a huge fan of Sam Cooke, so I decided to merge an old photo of him alongside Sam (taking a selfie of course!) – hopefully stirring the imagination to what it would’ve been like hearing these two incredible vocalists singing together!
I love doing this kind of stuff!”
To see more stunning Selfie icons go to
https://www.instagram.com/papaartsy2020/?hl=en
Jools BAFTA
Jools Holland was nominated for a BAFTA Award this week in the Best Entertainment programme for his Later… With Jools Holland – BBC Two Show unfortunatly he was beaten by Strictly Come Dancing.
Penny posted the picture above on her Instagram.
Shut the f*** up
talkSPORT presenter Simon Jordan has told Rod to support Arsenal or Tottenham after being told to ‘shut the f*** up’…
Rod took offence to the ex-Crystal Palace’s owner view on Scottish football, who claimed Celtic and Rangers would struggle in the Championship.
It led him to lash out at the talkSPORT host on his Instagram story in an X-rated rant, posting: “I’m absolutely sick and tired of the constant deriding and disrespect of Scottish football shown down south.
“Especially by one Mr Simon ‘motor mouth’ Jordan (who I’m sure has had elocution lessons in the past).
“It’s our game, we know it’s not the EPL or LaLiga, but it’s our game and I love it.
“So back off Mr Jordan, and by the way, what did you achieve at Crystal Palace? With all due respect to Palace of course.
“One thing Graeme Souness quite rightly pointed out the other day on talkSPORT.
“If Celtic or Rangers were in the Championship with the money that’s dished out by Sky etc it would only be a couple of years and we would be able to compete, no doubt about that.
“So shut the f*** up Jordan, and leave Scottish football alone.”
And Jordan was quick to hit back after co presenter Jim White shared that he received a message from Rod while in Germany and offered Jordan the chance to respond.
“Rod Stewart last night messages me, ‘I’m in Germany hacked off at your pal Simon’,” he said. “Look at what I’ve written on Instagram. So I look at what he’s written on Instagram.”
White then read out the post, which allowed Jordan to fire back.
,“He is from bloody Highgate for crying out loud.
“I only attack Scottish football because it is a low-hanging fruit – which is incidentally what you would probably find under Rod’s kilt if you looked.
“But I realise Rod is a national treasure, and I suppose nobody wants to offend a national treasure, but the flip side of this is that I have almost got to the point where I want to strangle myself with a pair of his unfathomably tight trousers if I need to listen to another story about his private jet, what football pitches he’s got and what swimming pool he swims in.
“But why would anybody be talking about Scottish football? He should be thanking me for talking about Scottish football – and actually coming from Highgate he should be supporting Arsenal or Tottenham.
“But you can’t silence people’s views because you don’t like what they say. If you get a surveyor round your house and he tells you there is a leaky roof, you don’t tell him to shut his gob because you don’t like what he said.
“You look at the validity of what his points are and go, ‘Is there any substance behind it?”
“If you want to talk about elocution lessons, go get yourself some so you can at least have some vague resemblance of a Scottish burr.
“Because as far as I’m concerned, I don’t know many Cockney Scots, but there we are.
“He’s saying he’s fed up with people down south – where he lives – criticising people and Scottish football and being disrespectful.
“But it’s like an emu mentality, burying his head in the sand, and god bless him, maybe he’s confused himself with Rod Hull and doesn’t know who he is.
“But the bottom line is, my point about Scottish football is I want to to be better, it’s not disrespectful, so tell me where I’m wrong?
“It’s a shocking indication of Scottish football that the two biggest clubs in Scotland can’t put fans inside their own stadium (for Old Firm matches).
“It’s a poor example of how competitive the domestic leagues are that nobody beneath Celtic and Rangers even make an impression on the league.
“It’s a poor indication that the broadcast deals and the commerciality of the leagues are worth nothing.
“It’s a poor indication that there’s no real players from Scotland coming out that once looked like Graeme Souness and Kenny Dalglish. What is unfair about that?
“So why don’t you deal with my argument rather than make this an ad hominem on the individual. It’s silly, go away Rod. Sing us a song, you are a singer.”
Over to you Rod
Fawlty Towers
On Wednesday Penny enjoyed a night out at the gala opening night of Fawlty Towers: The Play at the Apollo Theatre in London with her brother Oliver
And Finally..
Roger Stone who has been a key ally of Donald Trump and Republican operative for years, posted a picture on X claiming to show tens of thousands of people who had turned out to see the former president at a rally in Wildwood, New Jersey.
However, as it turns out, the picture was actually an image of Rod’s record breaking concert from 1994 which took place in Rio De Janeiro.
Posting the image on Sunday, Stone wrote: “Yeah , New Jersey is in play for @realDonaldTrump. Could Joe Biden draw a crowd like this?”
On December 31, 1994, Rod performed at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro in front of an estimated 3.5 to 4.2 million people who had a fantastic night as we are sure anyone attending Belgrade Kombank Arena (Stark Arena) tonight, Ljubljana Stozice Arena. Slovinia on Sunday or Bratislava Zimný Štadión Ondreja Nepelu also in Slovinia will, if you are in attendance please send in your photos and let us know what you thought of the shows, and don’t forget Rod’s fans in Poland you can now buy Wolfie’s whisky
https://wolfieswhisky.com/pages/find-us
See you next week..