Return after 27 years: Rod Stewart wraps Tampere around his finger

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.

With his anthem Forever Young, the still forbiddingly fit 80-year-old Stewart always strikes a chord with his fans, many of whom are not much younger than he is, and yes, Sir Rod has a certain ‘forever young’ quality when he rocks the stage to Young Turks, warbles down his starter song Maggie May and then immediately follows it with You Wear It Well. Blessed is he who can play his greatest hits exclusively to his audience for two hours.
With the Etta James cover I'd Rather Go Blind, Stewart rang in the second, somewhat more contemplative phase of the evening, only to leave the stage for a few minutes after Downtown Train and change clothes.

He returned with You're in My Heart and I Don't Want To Talk About It and the audience were tested on their ability to sing along to the lyrics. The Brit also proved that he is the master of cover songs with If You Don't Know Me By Now, which Simply Red turned into a number one hit at the end of the 1980s and which Rod released on his album Soulbook in 2009.
After another short break backstage and the next change of clothes, Rod then fired up the crowd in the arena once again for the finale. With his foot on the gas, he presented his Baby Jane and the disco anthem Da Ya Think I'm Sex, before Sailing lit up the arena once again with numerous lighters.
As in Kaunas, Stewart returned once again with the Faces smasher Stay With Me before the stage curtain finally came down to mark the end of a magnificent evening.
The Finnish news magazine raved: ‘One Last Time: A living legend bids farewell to his Finns’. There is hardly anything more to add.