Saturday morning started with an early wake up call in a B&B in Kilmarnock. It was the morning after the night before where I had witnessed Rod rock Rugby Park. I rushed to catch my train at 8-20am to Glasgow followed by the 9-44 to Inverness. There was plenty Rod fans on the train & as we passed Perth it was clear the party had started as people moved from carriage to carriage you could hear the echo of Maggie May flooding through the train. We arrived back in The Highland Capital & I soon found myself with my friends & family at The Raigmore Motel for the pre gig party. There was lots of Rod fans in attendance & the atmosphere was great with a selection of Rods hits playing all day long. I ordered my taxi on Thursday night as I knew Inverness would be very busy so bang on 6-30pm my taxi arrived. And we were on way to see our hero.
We arrived at Caledonian Stadium & joined the long but fast moving que we were soon inside & you could feel the excitement we found our way down to our front row seats where I draped my Inverness Fan Club flag over the barrier. The sisterhood where soon in full flow where Ruby told the 18,000 strong crowd she “felt good to be home” which resulted in huge roars & applause from the excited crowd.
It wasn’t long before the crowd were roaring & shouting again this time it was for the arrival of newly-knighted SIR Rod Stewart. Rod danced his way onto the stage & opened with Having a Party this went down a treat & I had to be rather strong to hold my place at the front barrier. As everyone pushed forward for a better view. You could tell Rod isn’t used to the cold Highland weather as he was clearly shivering this was beamed on the large screens to the sides of the stage. He said “it’s a lovely night, a little chilly, but we will warm you up” true to his word It wasn’t long before the party got into full swing belting out such classics as Every Beat Of My Heart, Forever Young & You Wear It Well.
Rod looked relaxed and happy to be back in The Highland Capital after a 6 year absence. Like every Rod concert time seemed to fly by & it wasn’t long before the band started playing His most famous song Maggie May, this went down a storm with the crowd who began to belt out the words before Rod even started singing.
The crowd were that good in fact Rod let us continue singing.
He eventually said, “you are the first crowd EVER to sing unprompted an entire verse so well done. I’m impressed.”
This again resulted the crowd to massive whoops & cheers.
Rod continued with his set Paying homage to his Scottish Roots He went on to lead the crowd to an evocative rendition of Wild Mountain Thyme
Rod then did his usual & left the stage with his band, before returning for the extended encore version of Do You Think I’m Sexy where he dawns his cowboy hat to sing
Before the song finished & Fireworks light the night sky,
Rod announced “See you in 3 years Inverness” & made his exit.
Another fantastic night in Inverness was written into the history books & lets hope Rod stands by his statement & returns in 3 years time to complete a Highland Hatrick.
Footnote :
I have a mannequin that lives in my old red telephone box so last week I decided to dress him up as Rod & place him on the ledge outside my house, the plan was he’d be up for the week till the real Rod came to town but he wasn’t even up for 24 hours & I had the police on the phone asking for him to be removed. Got a call off the local paper yesterday who had heard about “Rod” & today he has made it into the local paper!
Review Martin Johnston Ireland-Rod Stewart Inverness Fan Club
Photos Martin Johnston Ireland
Motage Tommy Kevitt