It’s a beautiful summer night, under deep blue skies and Rods faithfuls are pouring in to the football stadium looking forward to a great night under the stars with Rod and the band, not to mention special guests Boy George and Culture Club. We can’t wait to see them, both icons in music history.
After grabbing a very hot Cornish Pasty and a couple of bottles of cold beer, we take to our seats on the pitch. We had a look for the merch van too but it was closed up… a bit disappointing.
The sun is still shining bright and hot as Boy George and Culture Club taketo the stage, about 15 minutes later than scheduled, to a warm welcome, although some of the partisans in the crowd sat solidly in their seats!! The rest of us were up dancing singing and loving George’s dulcet tone and a persistent reggae vibe that fashioned the moves we made! For a lot of us, bringing back happy memories of the early 80s, when we were all a lot younger and George, who announced his recent 62nd birthday, was at the top of the charts with Culture Club. It was a bit of a funny start to the night with stewards telling us to sit down and George encouraging us to get up and boogie… indeed as Penny did when she took to her seat partway through George’s set . Strangely, it still seemed to cause spats amongst the audience, as although pitch seating tickets usually says “people around you may stand“ some didn’t like it… what dancing to Boy George and Rod Stewart?! … behave!
George was on great form and feisty too … calling out a woman in the crowd who was on her phone during the whole performance; George was not pleased and told her Karma comes around with a scowl. He gave us “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me”, “Time”, his beautiful cover of Bread’s “Everything I Own”( which was his first solo single after leaving the band) “Church Of The Poisoned Mind” and the feel good “Karma Chameleon” which had (most!) people up on their feet . This was the first time Boy George had supported any other act and he said he was worried the crowd wouldn’t like him?! – after some lovely words he left us well warmed up and ready for Sir Rod.
On he came and sneezed twice during his opening of Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love”. In a Silver Jacket, the girls in silver minis and the band in what seems to but their normal pink jackets and black trousers … so the show started. “Ohh La La” (Faces), “Wear it well” and a little later a full screen shot of the fantastic Tina Turner, who Rod called an amazing woman, and a duet of “It Takes Two” with the girls, who as always supported Rod through the entire show with tap dancing , drumming and playing their own spots; one being a fantastic rendition of “Lady Marmalade” (Patti LaBelle). Rod has an obvious strong tie with the band and everyone gets to have their moment, with Jimmy Roberts stepping up and playing the most incredible Sax segments that were most appreciated by the audience and the main man on stage.
Rod paid homage to Ukraine by wearing a yellow shirt and brilliant blue suit as he sang “Rhythm Of My Heart” to a back drop of war scenes and President Zelenskyy, stating at the end that Putin must be one of the most evil men in the world, for which he received a heartfelt applause.
Then up next was a much anticipated duet by Rod and Boy George of “The Killing of Georgie” which brought another dimension to the story, as Boy George told of his Mother putting the original single in his sock drawer in a brown paper bag , telling her son (who she’d described as ‘highly strung’) he might find it interesting … the collaboration was sensitive and inspiring, a mutual respect between the two men for all to see.
Then a little sit down for Rod with the classic “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You”, the crowd were with him all through the show; taking the tunes in and singing to Rod, he stood and beamed. Then on to “Baby Jane” which got us all rocking again.
But the abrupt ending to the evening left everyone, as well as Rod, stunned! As he was told due to his late start he’d come to the 22:30 curfew and the show had to stop!! With some hurried words about the Mayor and a curfew … he was gone.
No goodbye, no encore, No Sailing! Lights up and the set being taken down before we had even left the stadium! An unexpected end to a fantastic evening but he will be back, maybe with a new format, and so will we x
Another unexpected thing, this time a good one … we came across Boy George in our hotel at breakfast , I was able to tell him he was much appreciated and snapped a quick photo too!
Main photo Marc Baulisch – Steines
Other photos Angela Rodda
One reply on “Plymouth Argyle Home Park Stadium… Saturday 24th June 2023”
Great review Angela, I agree it was a fantastic show , spoke to a lot of people after all saying despite the end how much they enjoyed it.the Plymouth press were blaming Rod saying he stormed of stage but that was not the case as I saw a guy at side of stage pointing at his watch telling him time was up.