It's down to the match planners in the Scottish Premiership that the kick-off to Rod Stewart's European tour turned out to be quite a rush for the 79-year-old singer. On the very day that good old Rod began his one-last-time tour in Antwerp, the legendary Glasgow city derby between Celtic and Rangers was scheduled in Scotland. And as luck would have it, this match on matchday 36, one week before the end of the season, was also to be the decisive game for the Scottish football championship.
As a hardcore Celtic supporter, as our Rod is, it was clear that he HAD to be at Celtic Park on this day and keep his fingers crossed for his Bhoys in Green. But how could this all be reconciled with the tour kick-off in the Belgian harbour city of Antwerp, which was taking place on the same evening?
Stewart quickly decided to commute between the two cities and boarded his private jet on Friday to fly to Belgium for the rehearsals and final meetings with his band.
Once all this was done and the show at the Sportpaleis was Eprepared down to the last detail, Rod was back on the jet.
Destination: Glasgow and Celtic Park. Right on time for kick-off at 12.30 (UK time), the singer was sitting in his seat in the VIP stand in Paradise, eagerly awaiting the game.
Celtic could take what would probably be the decisive step towards the league title with a win and the Hoops did not disappoint their most prominent fan. Matthew O'Riley put the men in green and white ahead after just over half an hour, and Rangers defender John Lundstram made it 2-0 a little later with an own goal. The stadium was in high spirits, as was Rod Stewart, but he was still annoyed. Cyriel Dessers brought Rangers level shortly before the break.
A short time later, O'Riley missed a penalty and the game was on a knife-edge. But Celtic remained in control and managed to hold on to their narrow lead. 2-1 after 90 minutes - Celtic Park became a party zone as the Hoops needed just one point from their final two games to secure their 54th championship in the club's history.
But Rod didn't have time to celebrate the Bhoys' victory in style. Immediately after the final whistle, he made his way back to the airport and boarded his jet for Antwerp again. First the pleasure - then the work.
Rod landed in the Belgian harbour city at around 5.30 p.m., signed a few autographs for waiting fans on his arrival and was then driven straight to the Sportpaleis.
At 8.30 pm on the dot, a visibly cheerful Rod Stewart took to the stage in Antwerp and opened the evening with the Robert Palmer hit ‘Addicted To Love’ in front of around 10,000 fans. Over the next 105 minutes, Stewart didn't miss out on any of his big hits. ‘You Wear It Well’, ‘This Old Heart Of Mine’ and ‘Forever Young’ - the atmosphere in the hall grew from song to song and the crowd had one big party.
In between, Rod slowed things down a little with a few ballads - ‘The First Cut Is The Deepest’, ‘I Don't Want To Talk About It’ and the audience sang along loudly. With ‘Maggie May’, ‘Young Turks’ and ‘Baby Jane’, however, the evening soon got going again at full throttle. During ‘Your'e In My Heart’, the goals from the afternoon derby in Glasgow were played, followed by a picture of the Celtic supporters with the words ‘Champions 2024’ on it. Rod is not the only one who is certain that his Hoops will be crowned the new, old Scottish football champions this Wednesday.
With ‘It Takes Two’ and ‘Sone Guys Have All The Luck’, Rod then turned into the home straight at his European opener. ‘Da Ya Think I'm Sexy’ and ‘Sailing’ concluded a great concert in which the audience sang along even louder than the grinning Rod under his captain's cap. In the end, everyone went home happy and satisfied. The fans, because they were treated to a show in a class of its own, and also our Rod, who no doubt enjoyed a cold drink or two in the evening after the fantastic football match.
Up The Hoops - Up the Rod. The next concert takes place on Tuesday in Hanover. And this time without any excessive travelling stress for the singer - Celtic don't play again until Wednesday.
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