Sir Rod Stewart has planned a whopping 80 concerts this year, the year in which he turned a slim 80 years old. He mastered the first of these last night with flying colours. Atlantic City experienced an evening that will not soon be forgotten.
The arena was filled to capacity and the few remaining tickets were all sold out quickly. Around 7000 visitors in the sold-out Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena waited with huge anticipation for the start of the show, which Sir Rod entered on time and in high spirits.
For almost two hours, he rattled off his greatest hits and transformed the arena in the ‘Las Vegas of the East Coast’ into an oversized party temple. Stewart surprised the audience with two big surprises on the set list.
Two songs had actually made it into the programme that had never been played before or hadn't been for a long time. Firstly, there was the song Mandolin Wind from the 1971 album Every Picture Tells A Story, which was an integral part of a Rod Stewart concert many years ago and was played 48 times on the Out Of Order tour in 1988, for example. But then Mandolin Wind somehow disappeared into oblivion in recent years and has now been brought back into the programme by Sir Rod, much to the delight of more than just the long-time fans in the arena.
And then there was If You Don't Know Me By Now, a song that is primarily associated with Simply Red, but which Rod Stewart also released on his album Soulbook (2009). This song on the setlist in Atlantic City was probably the surprise of the evening par excellence, as Sir Rod - as far as we could find out - had never sung it live at a concert before.
But that wasn't the only reason why the first show in 2025 was a rousing evening. Afterwards, 7,000 visitors all went home enthusiastic and some of them will certainly be thinking about getting tickets for another concert. The next opportunity to see Sir Rod live will be next Tuesday in Jacksonville, Florida.
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