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09.04.2024, 10:00

Wolfie's goes Germany: sipping his whiskey backstage with Rod Stewart

Around four weeks to go until Rod Stewart's European tour kicks off with a concert in Antwerp on 11 May. As is well known, the 79-year-old singer will also be performing numerous concerts in Germany as part of...   mehr

21.02.2024, 14:03

Swing Fever: Rod Stewart and Jools Holland release their first album together

A new swing album is being released, which in itself is not big news. It happens every now and then in the music world. But when this new album is released by Rod Stewart and Jools Holland, it's worth taking a...   mehr

25.01.2024, 14:14

Ranking: The best live albums of all time

The music magazine "Musikexpress" has published a list of the best 100 live albums of all time. Rod Stewart made it to 93rd place with the album "Absolutely Live". The magazine also voted Nirvana's MTV...   mehr

17.01.2024, 10:17

Concert tickets: the secret behind the pricing

The announcement of a tour by our favourite artist regularly sends us into a state of complete ecstasy and anticipation. We have to be there, preferably very close to the stage, in row 1, eagerly awaiting the...   mehr

10.01.2024, 12:32

10 January - the date that connects me to Rod Stewart more than any other

Sharing your birthday with your favourite musician is something special. You experience the day with even more joy because you know that somewhere else the singer you trust is also celebrating his very special...   mehr

08.01.2024, 12:55

An evening at Twickenham railway station changed the music world thanks to Long John Baldry

In the long career of Rod Stewart, there are probably two events that had the greatest impact on his career as one of the world's best singers. One was the day in 1971 when a radio presenter in Cleveland...   mehr

03.01.2024, 11:32

Welcome 2024 - the tour countdown is on

We would like to take this opportunity to wish all our readers and friends a happy, healthy and successful New Year 2024. Many of us spent the New Year with friends and acquaintances, family and colleagues....   mehr

11.12.2023, 11:24

The song that really got everything going: Maggie May

"Wake up Maggie, I think I got something to say to you ...." - With this line of text, long-time Rod Stewart fans immediately know what's coming. The opening of the song MAGGIE MAY is like an anthem at the...   mehr

03.12.2023, 11:02

European Championship kick-off and Leipzig concert: Saxon fans may be expected to be flexible

Football and Rod Stewart belong together like Big Ben and London, like Paris and the Eiffel Tower, like Munich and the Oktoberfest: you can't have one without the other. The now 78-year-old singer has been a...   mehr

27.11.2023, 18:01

Between Rod Stewart and Vladimir Klitchko: Düsseldorf musician Gina Brese tells her story about a legendary performance with Rod Stewart

Who among us hasn't dreamed of being on stage with Rod Stewart and performing a song? Gina Brese, singer, saxophonist and songwriter from Düsseldorf, experienced this dream back in 2015. On 28 November 2015,...   mehr

27.11.2023, 10:38

Album of the week: Tonight I'm Yours (1981)

We all know the feeling. You hear the latest song by your favorite artist on the radio and of course you want to have that record right away. So you run off to the nearest record store .... Oops, sorry, wrong...   mehr

24.11.2023, 09:09

Concert Review: Saying Goodbye to 2023 in Style (by Sue Walton)

The November 22, 2023 was Rod Stewart’s last show of the year at Caesars Palace and in true Rod Stewart fashion he ended on a high note, leaving fans wanting more. Fortunately, “more” will be coming our way...   mehr

23.11.2023, 11:50

Wetten dass.... I'll meet you, Rod?

Next Saturday, the legendary TV show Wetten dass will take place for the last time in Offenburg. Since 1981, Wetten dass has been THE big Saturday evening entertainment programme on German television and has...   mehr

17.11.2023, 11:49

Concert marathon 2024: Will Las Vegas really be the end?

The moment that Rod Stewart fans have always dreaded is getting closer and closer: the singer's departure from the stage. Barring a miracle, 2024 will be the last year in which the now 78-year-old will thrill...   mehr

Rod Stewart: Concert history in Germany

As we all know, Rod Stewart began his unique career in the early 1960s thanks to the legendary Long John Baldry, who listened very carefully to a young man squatting on the floor at a grey and uncomfortable English railway station and passed the time waiting for the next train by singing a little. Baldry liked what the man was saying and brought him into his band. The rest is history, young Rod's career was unstoppable from then on.

In the first few years, the gigs were limited to the United Kingdom and mainly to clubs and venues in the capital London, but it actually took around four years before Rod Stewart performed in other European countries for the first time. That was on 13 October 1967 - in Ghent, Belgium. His fame grew and grew and soon gigs abroad were no longer a rarity. By 1968, Young Rod had already travelled to France, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland. In the same year, he crossed the pond to the United States for the first time.

However, it would be a good two years before his first concert on German soil. On 2 December 1970, the time had finally come: Rod sang on a German stage for the first time in Hamburg.

Since then, he has performed 121 concerts in good old Germany. The last ones to date took place in Berlin, Hamburg, Mannheim, Cologne and Munich in summer 2019. Five more shows will be added next year in Leipzig, Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne and Munich. Will they really be the last?

Many of us who have attended numerous of these 122 German concerts to date can of course remember many highlights over the years - both positive and negative. I personally remember a few of them.

28 October 1986: My first concert in Düsseldorf. On the day of the show, I checked out all the hotels in the city because I really wanted to get Mr Stewart's autograph. And I actually met him in the last hotel on my list. The whole band drove up to the Ramada Renaissance Hotel in a double-decker bus in the late afternoon. In the confusion that ensued, a man in a long coat and hat suddenly walked past me. But the camouflage was in vain, of course I recognised Rod immediately. But the autograph I was hoping for didn't materialise (yet). He just grinned at me and then disappeared into the hotel lift - bad luck for beginners, I'd say.

03 July 2013: Dortmund, which will go down in concert history as "Ballgate". The show was actually sensationally good. Then came the part where Rod handed out the signed footballs to the audience. Suddenly, some lunatic kicked the ball back onto the stage with all his might and hit one of the backing singers with full force. Stewart really bundled the troublemaker off the stage and then very reluctantly continued the show. But how. He stood like a statue at his microphone and reeled off Baby Jane without any emotion. Afterwards, he left the stage visibly pissed off and angry - without an encore, without saying goodbye to the audience. The evening was not only spoilt for him, but also for the loyal fans who gathered for an after-show party following the concert. Some of the band members had actually announced their attendance, but everyone's mood was spoilt after the incident and no one turned up. Incidentally, the infamous ball that triggered the disaster ended up in the concert organiser's cupboard after the concert. However, all my attempts to talk them out of the ball were unsuccessful. The ball is probably still gathering dust in that cupboard in Bochum.



18 May 2019: I will never forget my last concert in Germany because after many years I finally managed to get Rod Stewart in front of a camera lens. The photo with him is one of the most important pictures I've ever taken. It was taken in Cologne city centre on the morning of the concert in the Lanxess Arena. Incidentally, there is another snapshot of this moment, which was taken from a hotel room on the first floor. My thanks still go to the two photographers Ruth and Andy.

18 July 2007: The concert in Hamburg was an absolute highlight in all these years, not only because of the show itself, but also because of the fantastic after-show party that followed. There is already a separate blog about this.

And here are the unbelievable statistics on Rod Stewart in Germany:

Concerts played: 122, the first on 15 December 1970 in Hamburg. The last to date on 18 May 2019 in Cologne. Rod performed most frequently in Berlin and Munich, followed by Hamburg. Here is the overview.

Concerts in

- Berlin, Munich (12 each)

- Hamburg (11)

- Frankfurt (8)

- Cologne (7)

- Dortmund, Stuttgart (6 each)

- Mannheim (5)

- Kiel (4)

- Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hanover, Leipzig (3 each)

- Kassel, Würzburg, Halle/Westphalia, Oberhausen (2 each)

- Offenbach, Kirrlach, Münster, St. Wendel, Memmingen, Karlsruhe, Heidelberg, Waldeck, Mönchengladbach, Mainz, Lüneburg, Hof, Essen, Rostock, Friedrichshafen, Erfurt, Bonn, Eckernförde, Wiesbaden, Nuremberg (1 each)

Source: concertarchives.org

12.11.2023, 13:43

Concert and party review: Rockin' In The Round Hamburg 2007

In the early 2000s, even before Facebook, Twitter & Co, the good old Storyteller was THE forum for Rod Stewart fans in Germany. You could register at the web address www.rod-stewart.de and then post, comment...   mehr

12.11.2023, 13:02

Rod Stewart Tribute: Rud Stewart (If the original obliges you and saves your butt)

He likes to call himself an Englishman who lives in Sweden: Michael Dean, probably better known to most as Rud Stewart, has also lived in Mallorca and has a soft spot for Australia and New Zealand. His great...   mehr

12.11.2023, 12:04

Rod Stewart Tribute: Rob Caudill (When Your Nose Gives You Direction)

Imagine you're at the airport, strolling relaxed through the city or sitting comfortably in a restaurant and all the people around you are staring at you as if you're from another galaxy, or constantly asking...   mehr

30.09.2023, 13:54

My ultimate setlist

There were 60 years of a unique career to work through. If my personal setlist were to be performed, Rod would probably have to be on stage for several days at a stretch. The following list of Rod Stewart and...   mehr

30.09.2023, 12:58

The arenas in Germany

Quarterback Arena in Leipzig Address: Am Sportforum 2, 04105 Leipzig Opening: 11 May 2002 Capacity: 8000 seats Website: https://www.quarterback-immobilien-arena.de The Rod Stewart concert will take...   mehr

27.09.2023, 14:03

Rod Stewart Tribute: Robin Stone

Young Reinhard discovered his love of music when he was still a three-year-old. It all began with a drum kit his father had made himself and the music of the Bee Gees. Today he can look back on a long musical...   mehr

25.09.2023, 14:05

Album of the Week: Foolish Behaviour

Foolish Behaviour is the tenth of 31 studio albums by Sir Rod Stewart and was released on 21 November 1980. The ten songs on the album were recorded at Record Plant Studios and Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles...   mehr

25.09.2023, 09:12

Story: The Faces thrill at their first concert in Germany - "Stewart's voice gives you goosebumps"

Hamburg, 2 December 1970: It's a cloudy day on the Elbe, with rain showers coming down again and again. At seven degrees it is quite cool. Not the kind of weather to chase a dog out the door. And yet, on this...   mehr

24.09.2023, 14:14

Album of the week: TIME - back to the roots

One should never say there is nothing left for a person to do after publishing his autobiography. Rock star Rod Stewart is a prime example in this respect. In 2012, he published his autobiography with the...   mehr

23.09.2023, 14:18

When Georgie Boy Really Pissed Off John Lennon

Without a doubt, ex-Beatle John Lennon, who would be 83 years old today, and Rod Stewart belong to the group of the greatest music stars this planet has ever seen. Both started their careers in the early 60s....   mehr