An evening that surpassed all expectations: Vienna lies at Sir Rod's feet

At the risk of repeating ourselves, Sir Rod Stewart once again thrilled the crowds last night at the sold-out Wiener Stadthalle, proving once again that age really is just a number.

Shortly after 4 p.m. on Monday afternoon, the singer arrived at Vienna's Schwechat Airport in his jet from Munich. After a short drive into the city, he checked into his hotel and spent the evening at the posh Italian restaurant Fabios.
Was it the good food? In any case, a very cheerful Sir Rod (and here we repeat ourselves) took to the stage at the Stadthalle at 8 p.m. sharp the next day, where 10,500 visitors cheered him on frenetically.
From the first beat of ‘Infatuation’, the party was in full swing, with the whole of Vienna celebrating the music legend, who danced across the stage for two hours, twirled the microphone stand and repeatedly sought contact with the fans in the front rows.
Rod Stewart is like a good wine: the older, the better.
And the audience thanked the Brit, jumping out of their seats right from the start, singing along word for word and making it easy for Stewart and his band on stage to have a good evening.
Of course, and we repeat ourselves for the third time, the Austrian capital was not deprived of the big hits that made Sir Rod the superstar he is today.
Whether ‘Maggie May’, ‘Baby Jane’ or ‘Sailing’ – the set list left nothing to be desired.
The Kronen Zeitung newspaper attested that the singer was ‘in top form’ and rightly spoke of a ‘concert evening in a class of its own’.
The paper noted that some members of the audience had tears in their eyes when Sir Rod, wearing a captain's hat, struck up his global hit ‘Sailing’, a song that has accompanied many of the concertgoers for decades and has become the anthem of their lives for many.
Some of those present may well have looked at the stage with a touch of envy. Right from the start, the almost 81-year-old whirled across the stage like a whirlwind to his hits ‘Tonight I'm Yours’ and ‘Twistin' The Night Away’. And this energy hardly waned throughout the entire two hours, apart from a few short trips backstage to freshen up or change into a new outfit.
The Kronen Zeitung newspaper noted that Rod ‘is a prime example of how enjoying life is probably the most important factor’ and paid tribute to the singer: ‘Rod Stewart gave Vienna a gala evening that exceeded all expectations.’