Triumphal march: Rod Stewart takes Raleigh by storm

‘You have to give people what they want to hear,’ Sir Rod Stewart once said in an interview. No sooner said than done. And so the concert in Raleigh, the capital of the US state of North Carolina, became a triumphal march through six decades of hits for the 80-year-old music legend from ‘cold old London’.
And so the Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek in the state's second-largest city was filled to capacity.
The evening was opened by Cheap Trick, who had their biggest hit with ‘The Flame’. The rock sound of the band, who had already toured the States with Sir Rod in 2022, went down well with Stewart fans and thus shortened the wait for the Brit's performance.
He once again took to the stage in high spirits and kicked off the nearly two-hour show with ‘Infatuation.’ In Raleigh, too, the motto was ‘Havin' A Party,’ which was also the second track on the list of 21 songs.
Hit after hit – lucky is the man who can draw on hundreds of popular songs and spoil his fans for hours on end.
‘Some Guys Have All The Luck’, ‘Love Train’, ‘Forever Young’, ‘Young Turks’, ‘Maggie May’ and ‘It Takes Two’ – Sir Rod made his audience's hearts beat faster with every passing minute.
The visitors rocked to the sounds coming from the stage or reminisced when things got sentimental with ‘Tonight's The Night’ or ‘Have I Told You Lately’.
During the costume change, the band took over the stage and belted out ‘Lady Marmalade’ and ‘Proud Mary’ to the audience. Long-time singer Holly Brewer was missing from the stage on Tuesday, but she was seamlessly replaced by the equally talented Georgia Napolitano, who will be standing in for her this summer.
As ‘Sailing’ heralded the final phase of a very entertaining evening in Raleigh, numerous lighters were raised once again before Sir Rod brought the show to a powerful close with the Faces classic ‘Stay With Me’.

Setlist:
• Infatuation
• Some Guys Have All The Luck
• Havin' A Party
• Love Train
• The First Cut Is The Deepest
• Tonight's The Night
• Forever Young
• Scottish Jig - Instrumental
• Youg Turks
• Maggie May
• I'd Rather Go Blind
• It Takes Two
• Lady Marmalade (band only)
• If You Don't Know Me By Now
• Have I Told You Lately
• You're In My Heart
• Rhythm Of My Heart
• Da Ya Think I'm Sexy
• Proud Mary (band only)
• Sailing
• Stay With Me