Text: STORYTELLER/MH

Rod Stewart served up a breathtaking selection of legendary songs. At the same time, he showed that he is still in as good a shape as he was on his last visit to Finland in 1998. The concert got off to a lively start with the song Infatuation. The curtain went up and the audience in the Nokia Arena rose respectfully. The audience was then treated to a series of 80s hits as Tonight I'm Yours (Don't Hurt Me), Some Guys Have All the Luck and This Old Heart of Mine followed each other and took over the arena. Throughout the concert, the audience was fuelled by Rod's lively remarks, such as: "Enjoy yourselves, we're going to play the best songs all night! Have fun, guys, have fun!" When ‘Young Turks’ ended and Rod launched into his biggest hit ‘Maggie May’, even the usually reserved Finns stood up and sang along.

For Sir Rod Stewart, it was only the third concert in Finland in his long career and the first in over 27 years. The Brit had previously performed in Helsinki in 1976 and 1998.In the packed Nokia Arena, the singer showed that even at an advanced age, he is still the best guarantee for great hits and the best music entertainment. The 80-year-old entered the arena stage at 8pm sharp in a good mood, with the audience eagerly awaiting the start of the show. And Rod really got going, belting out four songs to the fans right at the start that got even the very last dance-averse in the audience off their seats: Infatuation, Tonight I'm Yours, Some Guys and This Old Heart Of Mine - Sir Rod didn't allow himself or the audience a single moment to catch their breath. But the Brit knew that his fans also love his sensitive ballads, so he added the two 1970s classics The First Cut is The Deepest and Tonight's The Night. The fans indulged in old, decades-old memories, couples cuddled in thoughts of times long gone, others sang along to the songs at the top of their voices.

Sir Rod Stewart once again provided an unforgettable evening at the start of his 2025 European tour. A visibly cheerful singer took to the stage punctually at 8 pm to thunderous applause from the audience. ‘Kaunas, we have 23 songs for you today. I hope you enjoy the evening as much as we do,’ the 80-year-old called out to the almost 20,000 fans.And it didn't take long for Stewart to really get the audience in the arena fired up. With Infatuation, Tonight I'm Yours and Some Guys Have All The Luck, Stewart and his band really got the audience going and the man on stage didn't miss out on any of his numerous hits from the last few decades. I'd Rather Go Blind, Forever Young, Downtown Train, First Cut Is The Deepest, Tonight's The Night, It Takes Two and others found their place on the setlist, as did You're In My Heart, I Don't Want To Talk About It and Sailing. After around two hours, Sir Rod bid his fans an enthusiastic farewell with the Faces hit Stay With Me. The online news portal 15min wrote afterwards very aptly of an ‘unforgettable evening’ and stated that Sir Rod, at the age of 80, ‘really tore the place down’. The conclusion was that ‘real rock knows no age limits’.The internet portal Kaunas Kasvyksta went one step further, saying that Sir Rod had turned the arena into ‘a rock'n'roll sanctuary’. ‘His energy, charm and timeless voice created an unforgettable evening for thousands of fans’. The Stewart entourage flies on to Finland today, where the concert in Tampere is on the tour programme tomorrow evening.

What an era! Sir Rod Stewart took to the stage at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for the 200th time in total on Wednesday. For this performance and the 199 before it, the singer was honoured during the show by the regional president of Caesars, Sean McBurney, with a certificate and a lot of warm words.

Live music events are nothing unusual in the Texan capital Austin, as the US metropolis of just under one million inhabitants has always been one of the hotspots for live music events, especially when it comes to country, blues and rock. 

How lucky a singer must be to be able to easily draw on his vast repertoire of songs to thrill his audience two nights in a row. Sir Rod Stewart could probably be on stage non-stop for a whole week and still not have played all the songs from his long list of hits spanning six decades. At Hard Rock Live in Florida, the Brit therefore limited himself to his great classics at both gigs last weekend. And Sir Rod mixed up the setlists a little on both evenings.

Shortly before the show began at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Tampa, Florida, the sound of countless bagpipes filled the hall where 7,000 visitors were about to spend an atmospheric evening with superstar Rod Stewart at Hard Rock Live.

The Stewart concert year begins as the old one ended: full of energy, full of joy, with enthusiastic fans and, above all, a Sir Rod Stewart in top form.

Sir Rod Stewart has planned a whopping 80 concerts this year, the year in which he turned a slim 80 years old. He mastered the first of these last night with flying colours. Atlantic City experienced an evening that will not soon be forgotten.