Let the good times roll: Dortmund had plenty to celebrate on Saturday evening

Borussia Dortmund put on a great football show at Signal Iduna Park in the early evening, winning its home match against VfL Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga by a clear 4:0. Next door, in the Westfalenhalle, football fan and music icon Sir Rod Stewart entertained enthusiastic fans.
His journey through music history turned out to be a fantastic evening for all of the 10,000 visitors. Hit after hit, classic after classic - in exactly 100 minutes, the Brit left nothing out that his audience wanted to hear from him.
The curtain went up at 8pm sharp and Sir Rod kicked off the evening with Infatuation, followed by Tonight I'm Yours and Havin' A Party. The atmosphere in the hall quickly reached boiling point.
Another 19 songs followed, including Maggie May, Baby Jane and I Don't Want To Talk About It, of course. But also the Faces song Ooh La La or Rollin‘ & Tumblin’ by Muddy Waters. Overall, the set list remained almost identical to the last few gigs in Northern Europe. Rod only made minor changes, although he did tweak the end of the show: Stay With Me and Hot Legs were not the two encore songs this time, but slipped into the ‘normal’ programme. As an encore, the singer then presented his anthem Sailing, which got the crowd singing again.
The Dortmunder Ruhr Nachrichten experienced a singer who was as happy as a lark. ‘In fact, there was no sign of fatigue,’ the paper wrote in its concert review. ‘Rod Stewart danced and rocked across the stage and his typical grating voice has lost none of its quality’.
Michael Meinzer had travelled by train from Rhineland-Palatinate to Dortmund in the morning. In the early evening, the Bayern fan (!) took advantage of the hour and attended the BVB match, but then left the stadium early and walked the few metres over to the Westfalenhalle to be in front of the stage in time for the start of the concert.
‘It was a great concert, the atmosphere was great,’ he told STORYTELLER an hour after the end of the show as he sat cosily in his hotel with a beer. ‘It was great that Rod didn't leave out any of his big hits. The audience was a colourful mix. From old to very young, all age groups were represented. The majority of people stood and danced for most of the evening. Others were taking pictures and videos with their smartphones, but everyone was having a great party.
Holger from Berlin, who STORYTELLER readers may already know (STORY link), was also there - of course - and had a seat in the front row. He was particularly impressed that Rod came into the audience during a song and shook hands with the fans in the front row. ‘The concert was simply superb, and it was great that Rod shook my hand too’.
After exactly one hour and 40 minutes, the curtain fell after Sailing. ‘In view of the wealth of hits that Rod Stewart has amassed in his career, the evening could have gone on for hours,’ said the Ruhr Nachrichten newspaper, echoing the sentiments of many visitors in Dortmund.
Setlist:
- Infatuation
- Tonight I'm Yours
- Havin' A Party
- Some Guys Have All The Luck
- You Wear It Well
- Ooh La La
- Rollin‘ & Tumblin’
- The First Cut Is The Deepest
- Tonight's The Night
- Forever Young
- Young Turks
- Maggie May
- I'd Rather Go Blind
- Lady Marmalade (Band only)
- Baby Jane
- I Don't Want To Talk About It
- If You Don't Know Me By Now
- Proud Mary (Band only)
- Da Ya Think I'm Sexy
- Stay With Me
- Hot Legs
- Sailing (Encore)