Mannheim: 9,000 fans thrilled by the master of casual entertainment

Give him a stage, hand him a microphone, and the man delivers top-notch entertainment. That was the case yesterday, Saturday, at the SAP Arena in Mannheim. 9,000 fans came to see their Sir Rod live one more time and were rewarded with a slightly modified but still rousing programme.

Compared to the previous day's performance in Leipzig, the singer changed his set list ‘in a few places’, to use football jargon, and this time kicked off with Robert Palmer's classic ‘Addicted To Love’, followed by his hits ‘You Wear It Well’ and ‘Ooh La La’, which he recorded with the Faces at the time.
By the time ‘Havin' A Party’ came around, no one in the audience was left sitting. There was dancing, swaying and swaying. And Sir Rod provided the musical accompaniment, joking with the fans in the front rows, flirting with a female fan here, then waving to a slightly greying gentleman seconds later.
The fans, most of whom spent their Sturm und Drang years with the man on stage, revelled in old memories, especially during songs like ‘It's A Heartache’, ‘Tonight's The Night’ and ‘The First Cut Is The Deepest’. Many of them surely still remember where they were or what they were doing when they first heard ‘Maggie May’ on the radio or who they danced the clamper blues to ‘Sailing’ with in the party cellar back then.
A Rod Stewart concert, as all of yesterday's attendees will confirm, is a journey through 60 years of music history and, in most cases, through one's own life.

Rod once again impressed with powerful rock numbers such as ‘Young Turks’ and ‘Hot Legs’, but also shone with his soulful ballads such as ‘I'd Rather Go Blind’ and ‘I Don't Want To Talk About It’. This man simply enjoys being on stage and doing what he does. This rubs off on his audience and makes for unforgettable evenings.

In its concert review, the newspaper ‘Mannheimer Morgen’ described Sir Rod as the ‘master of casual entertainment’ and attested that he had ‘just stepped out of the fountain of youth’. And with that, the paper struck a chord with the fans. One visitor raved: "The concert was just great. For someone who is almost 81 years old, Rod Stewart put on a great show. His singing was also fantastic.‘ Another said: ’I'm primarily a fan of Peter Maffay, but my friends took me along today and I'm really thrilled. It was a top-notch show. Hats off to what Rod still brings to the stage at 80. It was just awesome."

Setlist:

• Addicted To Love

• You Wear It Well

• Ooh La La

• Havin' A Party

• It's A Heartache

• Rollin' And Tumblin'

• Forever Young

• The First Cut Is The Deepest

• Tonight's The Night

• Maggie May

• I'd Rather Go Blind

• Young Turks

• Downtown Train

• I'm Every Woman (Band only)

• Reason To Believe

• I Don't Want To Talk About It

• Have I Told You Lately

• Proud Mary (Band only)

• Baby Jane

• It Takes Two

• Some Guys Have All The Luck

• Da Ya Think I'm Sexy

• Hot Legs

• Sailing

• Love Train