A celebration of music and memories: Rod Stewart in Gdansk

After eight years, Sir Rod Stewart returned to Gdansk - for the last time? - back to Gdansk. For the first time since 2017, the Brit played in the Ergo Arena again and his Polish fans were all there. Young and old - they were all there. 11,000 fans made the arena, which opened in 2010, burst at the seams. And Sir Rod was once again in a great mood.
Some of the visitors were still loitering around the drinks stands when loud Scottish bagpipe music from the loudspeakers announced the start of the show. People quickly rushed to their seats and then the lights went out and the red curtain with the striking lettering ‘Let the good times roll’ rose to the sound of ‘Tonight I'm Yours’.
Rod immediately danced across the stage and got the crowd in the arena fired up from the very first minute. The evening really got going with ‘Havin’ A Party’ and by the time Bonnie Tyler's classic “It's A Heartache” was played, nobody was sitting in their seat.
‘The packed hall pulsated with emotion,’ noted the online news portal “gdansk.naszemiasto.pl”. With ‘It Takes Two’, ‘You Wear It Well’, ‘Ooh La La’ and ‘Some Guys Have All The Luck’, the 80-year-old continued to really push the envelope and seemed to give the audience and himself no rest.
Only then did he slow down a little with ‘The First Cut Is The Deepest’ and ‘Tonight's The Night’, and the dancing, celebrating and no longer very young audience thanked him by singing along to the songs with great confidence.
‘A unique celebration of music’, summarised gdansk.naszemiasto.pl. “The artist radiated endless energy and inspired with his charisma and his voice”.
‘Forever Young’, Rod picked up the pace again with this song and followed it up with the next rock hits “Young Turks” and “Maggie May”.
‘Rod Stewart enchanted the audience,’ wrote Gdansk.pl, describing the performance of “I'd Rather Go Blind” as one of the most emotional highlights of the evening. Stewart clearly enjoyed the reaction of his fans and followed up with ‘Downtown Train’, ‘Baby Jane’ and ‘Rhythm Of My Heart’. For the latter, he showed the familiar images of the Ukrainian flag and President Selenskiy on the large screens - the solidarity with Ukraine went down well with the Polish fans and received a lot of applause.
During ‘I Dont Want To Talok About It’, the audience once again proved their confidence with the lyrics, while ‘If You Don't Know Me By Now’ has always been one of the highlights of a Rod Stewart concert in recent weeks. This was also the case in Danzig.
During ‘Da Ya Think I'm Sexy’, Sir Rod once again took a dip in the crowd and shook several hands in front of the stage, his marvellous female singers in tow.
The first sounds of ‘Sailing’ slowly signalled the end of the evening. The curtain then lowered for the first time, but rose once more and Rod Stewart ended his performance just as he had begun it. With power, speed and his 1970s hits ‘Stay With Me’ and ‘Hot Legs’.
‘Rod Stewart proved that he is still capable of captivating the audience and delivering an unforgettable experience. This concert will certainly be remembered by all those present for a long time to come,’ summarised “gdansk.naszemiasto.pl”.
After a day's break, Sir Rod will also perform in Krakow on Thursday. And may then welcome one or two - perhaps already - familiar faces in the audience. ‘Sir Rod is simply gigantic, I could watch one of his concerts every night,’ says Jakub from Gdansk. ‘I took extra holiday this week so that I could see his two concerts in Poland. I'll also be there in Krakow on Thursday’.
And Michal from Warsaw agreed: ‘It was a fantastic evening. It was a shame that it was over after just under two hours. For me, seeing Rod Stewart live is Christmas’.
This morning, the Stewart troop is travelling to Krakow and will be on stage there tomorrow from 6 pm in the Taruon Arena. The concert is sold out except for a few remaining tickets.

Setlist Danzig:
1st Tonight I'm Yours
2 Havin' A Party
3 It's A Heartache
4 It Takes Two
5 You Wear It Well
6 Ohh La La
7. Some Guys Have All The Luck
8. The First Cut Is The Deepest
9 Tonight's The Night
10 Forever Young
11th Young Turks
12th Maggie May
13 I'd Rather Go Blind
14 Downtown Train
15 Baby Jane
16th Rhythm Of My Heart
17 I Don't Want To Talk About It
18 Lady Marmalade
19. if You Don't Know Me By Now
20 Da Ya Think I'm Sexy
21 Sailing
22 Stay With Me (Encore)
23rd Hot Legs (Encore)