The best day of his life: Holger from Berlin meets his idol Rod Stewart

It is 25 March 2014 - a cold and foggy day in Berlin. It's early on this Tuesday morning and thousands of cars are making their way through the city's congested streets. Around the underground stations and bus stops, people are hurrying back and forth, all on their way to their offices, shops and businesses to go about their daily business. The usual chaos in the German capital, like almost every morning.
Things are much more relaxed in a cosy flat in the east of the city. Holger sips his morning coffee in peace, music blaring from the radio. Since reunification in the 1990s, he has rightly been one of the most enthusiastic Stewart fans in the whole of Germany. ‘I grew up in the GDR, so it wasn't so easy to follow everything Rod Stewart did. But I did notice a few things. And when the wall came down, I simply lived out my fandom,’ he says. Holger took off and there was hardly a concert in Germany where he wasn't standing or sitting in the front row. ‘Sitting is for arse,’ Holger emphasises. ‘You have to stand at a Rod Stewart concert. Even if all arenas are now seated’. But standing or sitting - the main thing is to be there and always in the front row, even with today's enormous ticket prices, this is a must for Holger. ‘The concerts have cost me a small fortune, but you only live once, right?’ says the blond-haired man. ‘Of course I'll be there again this year’. Rod Stewart is playing seven concerts in Germany in 2025, coming to Dortmund, Bremen, Hamburg, Leipzig, Cologne, Munich and Mannheim in May and November/December.
But we digress. So Holger is drinking his coffee, as he always does before travelling to work, and has no idea what the next few hours have in store for him.
Everything looks like a normal day at the office for the Berliner. But then he suddenly pricks up his ears: Rod Stewart is being talked about on the radio. Holger assumes that the station is once again doing one of those adverts for the German tour announced in the summer, which should also bring the Brit to Berlin for a concert.
But when the announcer talked about the stadium at the Alte Försterei (the home ground of Bundesliga football club 1. FC Union Berlin) in connection with Sir Rod, the Berliner listened more closely. And was told that the singer was coming to Berlin that day for a promotional event that would take him to the Alte Försterei, among other places.
All of a sudden, Holger's peace and quiet was over. He saw the opportunity to finally fulfil his big dream of meeting Rod Stewart in person and maybe even getting an autograph.
Holger was immediately on fire. Rod Stewart is coming to Berlin and will be at the Alte Försterei. Today. The day's planning was thus turned on its head. The Rod fan immediately rang his boss and spontaneously took a day off. Then he threw on his clothes, grabbed his camera and put Rod Stewart's autobiography ROD in his rucksack. Thus ‘armed’, the now 56-year-old made his way to the Alte Försterei.

A few minutes later - the stadium and Holger's flat are not too far apart - he arrived at the Försterei and a long wait began. Holger stood in front of the stadium entrance, wrapped up tightly, hoping that every car that turned round the corner would finally be the one taking Sir Rod to his promotional appointment. But nothing happened at first.
Meanwhile, at Schönefeld Airport, around 14 kilometres from the Försterei, a private jet from London hovered in: Rod Stewart had landed. And he also had his wife Penny in tow. But our Holger had no idea, he continued to stand bravely in the Berlin cold and waited for the arrival of his hero.
To make the long wait a little shorter, Holger chatted and phoned a few friends. Among them was the author of this story, who remembers Holger becoming more and more ‘jittery’ by the minute, saying ‘That's him’ or ‘There he is’ every time a car came even remotely close to the stadium. Brave Holger had no idea that it would be hours before he met his idol.
But he bravely persevered, defying the cold and the recurring drizzle and waited. And waited. And waited.

A few minutes later - the stadium and Holger's flat are not too far apart - he arrived at the Försterei and a long wait began. Holger stood in front of the stadium entrance, wrapped up tightly, hoping that every car that turned round the corner would finally be the one taking Sir Rod to his promotional appointment. But nothing happened at first.
Meanwhile, at Schönefeld Airport, around 14 kilometres from the Försterei, a private jet from London hovered in: Rod Stewart had landed. And he also had his wife Penny in tow. But our Holger had no idea, he continued to stand bravely in the Berlin cold and waited for the arrival of his hero.
To make the long wait a little shorter, Holger chatted and phoned a few friends. Among them was the author of this story, who remembers Holger becoming more and more ‘jittery’ by the minute, saying ‘That's him’ or ‘There he is’ every time a car came even remotely close to the stadium. Brave Holger had no idea that it would be hours before he met his idol.
But he bravely persevered, defying the cold and the recurring drizzle and waited. And waited. And waited.
The afternoon came and Holger had been standing outside the stadium in the Köpenick neighbourhood for around four hours. At around 4.30 pm - as the author, who was on the phone with Holger at the time, recalls - the steadfast and persistent Rod Stewart fan suddenly became very excited. ‘There's a dark van coming, it seems to be a Mercedes, it has dark windows. It must be him,’ Holger shouted excitedly into his phone. ‘There's a gate open now and the van is driving into the stadium grounds. Now it's stopping.....’ And with that, Holger pushed the person on the other end of the line away.
And now? Was Holger's mobile phone battery flat? Or what just happened? The answer came a few minutes later. Suddenly the phone rang again. ‘HOLGER calling...’ was written on the author's display. And he could hardly contain himself. ‘He's here, I've taken a photo and he's signed my autobiography. Penny's there too....’, he stammered into the phone.

Holger was beside himself with happiness. Once he had calmed down a little and the initial excitement had subsided, he ‘reported’: ‘When the van had driven through the gate into the stadium grounds, it suddenly stopped, a door opened and Rod stuck his head out. He beckoned me to come over. Rod and Penny were sitting in the car, grinning at me. We talked a bit - but don't ask me what we talked about. Then we took some pictures and Rod signed my book with a dedication. Now they've gone into the stadium. And I'm standing here again’.
Holger was totally overwhelmed, his dream, his biggest dream had just come true - he had actually met his hero, Sir Rod. ‘The best thing was that he actually drove past me and then waved me over,’ enthused Holger.
While Rod Stewart then completed his interviews and photo shoots in the stadium, a totally frozen but completely delighted Holger made his way back home. ‘At first I couldn't believe what had happened today,’ he said later on the phone. ‘I have to let it all sink in first’. He spoke and put a Rod Stewart CD in his player. Once Rod, always Rod.

This is how the Berliner Kurier reported on the day