Utilita Arena Birmingham
Friday and Saturday saw two nights an Birminghams Utilita Arena Arena
SMILER photographer Yve Paige was at Fridays show
And said ‘So Friday was so good, after arriving in Birmingham and getting ready to see Rod we went to the malthouse for pre drinks and had such a lovely time catching up with everyone some I’ve not seen for ages and ages just too many to name, Rod was on fire and we were up dancing most of the set. If he goes down the route of singing ballads sitting on a chair I’m with him all the way, he can do no wrong in my eyes’
On Saturday Rod surprised the crowd by adding ‘Hole In My Heart’ to the set list
And after all the sad news from recent weeks Rod dedicated ‘I Don’t Want To Talk About It’ to his sister Mary who was in the crowd.
Trace Naylor was on hand to get these fantastic photos including our main photo.
And Daniel Beirne also got some top shots
To read Birmingham Live’s review go to https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/reviews/went-see-rod-stewart-utilita-25727918
Let It Snow
Then it was back to Cold Old London and a play in the snow before heading off to Leeds.
First Direct Arena, Leeds.
Rod arrived in Leeds on Tuesday and played another blinding show Gary Kershaw took some shots from up front..
Manchester AO Arena
On Wednesday night the party moved to Manchester, We were side of stage to witness yet another outstanding performance from Rod and the band, Not fogeting Johnny Mac who has also announced his own headlining tour dates starting in Newcastle on April 17th 2023 then it’s back here in Manchester on April 20th at Night and Day next it’s calling at London’s The Camden Assembly on Aril 21st, Birmingham O2 Institute3 on 22nd April and Leeds The Wardrobe on 23rd April.
To read The Manchester Evening News review go to https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife-news/review-pictures-rod-stewart-manchester-25756209 But playing The Twisted Wheel at 13 ?
Cecilia Castleman
Curt Schneider from Rod’s band has been working with singer Cecilia Castleman, to find out more about the project go to
World Cup in Qatar and Rod Stewart UK Tour: The Sufferings of a Sports Journalist and Hardcore Stewart Fan in Winter 2022
One SMILER who hasn’t had the best of times on this tour is Martin Heidt who runs the SMILER Twitter talking to SMILER this week Martin tells us why..
World Cup in Qatar and Rod Stewart UK Tour: The Sufferings of a Sports Journalist and Hardcore Stewart Fan in Winter 2022
It was supposed to be the highlight of the year, after hard times due to Corona and private events, again a few hours and days of joy with Rod Stewart and many familiar faces. When the tour dates for winter 2022 were announced a few months ago, my “planning” began. Two or three shows were to be scheduled for the end of 2022, but where? London? Liverpool? Glasgow?
I have already been to a concert in London several times. Not very interesting for me, even if there is always the chance to meet Rod in one of his favourite pubs. Liverpool? My second music hero besides good old Rod was and still is John Lennon. So why not attend a Rod concert in the city of the Beatles and then visit the legendary sites of the Fab Four as a tourist? Cavern Club, Penny Lane etc etc….
Or Glasgow after all? The city where there are demonstrably the best concerts and which is home to one of my favourite football clubs?
This question was on my mind and I decided to take my time and think it all through.
After a few weeks, I decided to attend the Glasgow and Liverpool shows. Just before Christmas, it would be a perfect gift to myself. I immediately set about booking the hotels. In no time at all, I had the rooms fixed in half an hour. As for the tickets, I decided to wait a while. They didn’t necessarily have to be front row tickets. I also could take my time with the flights; in summer, the prices to and from Mallorca were incredibly high anyway.
It was a pity, however, that despite all the enthusiasm and anticipation, I had actually forgotten that there was to be a World Cup in Qatar this year. And it wouldn’t take place in the summer as usual, but in the winter months of November and December, which is exactly when Rod was touring the UK.
I only became aware of this problem later, when I started to look into the World Cup in advance.
And then it came as it had to come – in the form of my roster. Keeping track of my World Cup duties made me throw the whole plan out the window again. Liverpool? Not possible in terms of dates. Glasgow? The day fitted, but the travel options home didn’t allow me to be back in front of the computer in time for my duty. There were no direct flights from Glasgow or Edinburgh on offer and the prices were also extremely high at €400.
So what to do? Cancel the tour? I didn’t quite want to admit it yet, and searched like mad for any options that would allow me to fly to the UK and see at least one concert.
I spent hours on Ticketmaster, the various flight booking sites and hotel homepages. But then at some point the realisation crept up on me: it’s not going to work. With a heavy heart, I realised that I would only be able to experience the 2022 UK Tour through social media channels, videos on YouTube and SMILER reviews and – unfortunately – not live on site.
And so it came to pass….. In these days of Facebook and Instagram posts, tweets on Twitter and short, mostly funny videos on TikTok, you do get quite a bit of what had happened in the various concert arenas. But the more you see, the more frustration you feel that you can’t be there yourself. It often happened to me that I was at a show in my mind while I was working and going live during the World Cup. Now it’s 8.30 p.m. and the show is about to start. With which song do you think he will start the show? And so on and so forth….
Even the often entertaining football matches couldn’t distract me, my mind was somehow always on the stage Rod was on.
I never felt like that before, actually I was always very relaxed when I couldn’t be at a tour in the years before, although I would have liked to. But this time it was completely different. Why, I ask myself. Probably because I, like many others, realise that Rod, as we all know and love, will no longer exist in the reseeable future. It’s only human that thoughts creep up on him to take things a little easier at the tender age of 77. Who has had the good fortune of still being able to see their star on stage until the ripe old age of almost 80? Many of Rod’s colleagues “filed for retirement” much earlier or even disappeared from the stage of life altread. We – as Rod fans – can consider ourselves lucky that our hero has lasted this long. Even if we all don’t know yet what it will be like when Rod finally stops touring and takes his well-deserved retirement.
That’s why it’s clear: I still have to see him once, then in 2023. Europe would be the best, but I’m not sure if anything will come of it. That’s why I’ve made plans to fly to Vegas in November 23. And don’t worry, this time my employer won’t interfere: the next World Cup won’t be for another four years.
This weeks Rod Art
This week we feature a superb 80’s Rod from Florida based artist Dan Thompson
Dan told SMILER this week that his work was Digital with a S-Pen on Samsung Note ‘I had a spinal injury that makes it difficult to paint now but digital is do-able I try to stick to those techniques when illustrating’.
To see more work by Dan The Man Thompson go to
And finally ..
Anyone going to the final English date at Utilita Arena, Newcastle on Saturday or The SSE Arena, Belfast on Tuesday please send in any pictures or thoughts on the shows for next weeks news
