Photo Thanks to Duncan Barnes and The RAC Arena
Perth RAC Arena
Rod kicked off the Australian tour on Saturday night at the Perth RAC Arena, Rod was in great form as you can see from our main photo used with thanks to Duncan Barnes and The RAC Arena.
Maurice Berettieri attended the show and told SMILER ‘It was a truly AMAZING night !!!’ his friend Michael Collins was on hand to get some fantastic photos…
Melbourne Rod Laver Arena
Tuesday and Wednesday saw Rod play two nights at the Melbourne Rod Laver Arena with it’s superb logo!!
Rod sent a message to big Ange from his hometown posting this brilliant photo captioned
Nice to be in your hometown, Ange!
_beksyb told SMILER ‘It was an amazing night’ and she also took these great shots
Darren & Chris were at the second night and also took some brilliant shots
Over 60
Over 60 Entertainment were back stage on Wednesday and said
“This is very special, we haven’t been able to come down here since 2017 – we waited a long time for this.”
https://www.facebook.com/oversixtys
Hawke’s Bay will go ahead
Rod’s promoters are confident his New Zealand show at Hawke’s Bay in April – in what will be the first major music event since the region that was devastated by Cyclone Gabrielle last month.
On Friday, promoter Live Nation told Stuff Entertainment in a statement: “Our teams continue to monitor the massive clean-up and rebuild effort underway in the region, and we are liaising with local authorities and the police”.
“Our confident expectation is that the Rod Stewart concert at Mission Estate Winery on April 8 will go ahead as scheduled.”
The Mission Estate Winery concert will be the first big show since Cyclone Gabrielle – Sting was forced to cancel his March 4 concert at the same venue, and Kiwi pop legend Lorde postponed her March 1 concert.
This weeks Rod Art
This week we feature a fabulous modern painting of Rod by artist Pablo Pintor who is from the UK but lives in Spain and paints in oil and acrylic paint.
Pablo told SMILER this week ‘I’m a big fan of Rod but also I like to paint interesting faces, charecter faces. He has a great face’
To see more of Pablo’s work go to https://www.instagram.com/pablopintorartist/?hl=en
Hard Rock Cafe Memorabilia #12
This weeks Hard Rock is not a Hard Rock at all but infact The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Museum, Cleveland, Ohio where Brett Shingledecker spotted this 1972 tour suit designed by Fleur Thiemeyer
Have you ever spotted a Rod item in a Hard Rock Cafe or similar while you were visiting?..If you have send a picture in to [email protected] and tell us about it and I will post them in future ‘This week’s news and gossip’ posts.
End This Horror
Rod has urged people to stand up for animals as he slammed sick trophy hunters for being “savagely cruel and senseless” ahead of a crucial vote on Friday. he joined a host of celebrities, including Scottish Succession star Brian Cox and Liam Gallagher, who are backing a Daily Mirror campaign to outlaw the vile hobby and ban hunters from bringing their sick souvenirs back to Britain.
Rod also urged MPs to attend a vote taking place today [ Friday] on a crucial law change, as at the start of the week only 28 MPs had confirmed they would be attending. Rod said: “We are in danger of losing some of the world’s most magnificent wildlife because of the selfishness of ‘trophy’ hunters. How can this so-called sport be considered a pleasure or even fair when the opposition is unarmed?”
Oasis frontman Liam, added: “Trophy hunters are spoilt little brats; haven’t they got enough toys to play with.
“They’re wiping out wildlife. Soon there will be nothing left for them to kill. How are we going to explain that to future generations? Let’s get it banned.”
Don Shinn
Tributes were paid this week to Don Shinn who was the keyboard player in The Soul Agents who were the regular backing group for a young Rod Stewart in the early 60’s, The band landed a weekly residency at The Marquee Club in Soho and travelled all over the UK performing gigs. The Soul Agents name was inspired by a sign Don spotted outside a church in Shirley.
Don was also cited alongside Jimi Hendrix, as the greatest influence of Keith Emerson, of rock supergroup Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
Don passed away in his hometown of Southampton aged 77.
Picture In A Frame
DJ Calvin Harris appeared on the Scott Mills show on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds on Wednesday, When asked by Scott if he still takes his framed photo of Rod to all his gigs, Calvin said “Yes, he’s on the rider… the tech guys set him up [at each gig]. I’ve got this picture of Rod and he’s like pointing at the camera…”
Scott asked: “Is it the same picture that you bring, or is it on the rider for them to provide?” Calvin continued: “The venue doesn’t provide but the tech boys, my guys provide it, but there was one gig where they forgot Rod and ever since then they’ve got 4 or 5 identical pictures of Rod.”
“That must put you right off your set [if you don’t have Rod]?,” Said Scott, Calvin added: “Aye, it does. The thinking behind it is Rod is reminding you to engage, be present, have an amazing time and it’s just like having someone just cheering you on in the corner. If you ever feel alone.”
Calvin also said that Rod’s stage energy is the reason why he chose him for his on stage memento, and added: “It’s a very specific photo, Scott. It’s a very specific photo from the early 90s, I want to say, and he’s got the hair – the very famous hair. It’s the sort of era that you imagine Rod. Peak Rod!”
He continued: “So I’ve got him there in the corner and occasionally it creeps into some of the photos and people are like ‘who’s… is that your dad, or…?’ No! It’s Rod Stewart! And he’s helping me out!”
DJ Steve Aoki first shared Calvin’s unusual stage addition in 2018, when he wrote on Twitter: “When u realize @calvinharris has a framed photo of Rod Stewart on his dj booth. Simply amazing”
SMILER Rod sculpture
We announced our big SMILER Logo Rod Stewart sculpture project this week , we are proud to be working with artist Tim Jeffs who has agreed to make our SMILER logo come to life in a limited edition 8 inch life like sculpture of Sir Rod.
Tim has said he will make a limited edition of 25 Rod sculptures based on our original photo by Shanlee Johnson, You will see Rod in full mic swinging action pose dressed in stunning pink jacket and black pants ..and as an extra bonus for the first time ever our world famous logo will have feet!!
The sculptures will be a limited edition of only 25 figures and will cost £90 each, Each one will be numbered and hand painted by Tim and will come with a signed certificate.
We are asking for pledges to pay £90 at the moment and members can pledge on a first come first served basis, after we have 25 pledges we will make a short reserve list in case anything goes wrong and someone has to drop out.
Tim will also keep us up to date with photos of the progress of the project that I will post in my weekly news and gossip section, If you would like to be part of this exciting project please hurry and send your pledge to me at [email protected] we are well over half way to getting 25 already!
Speaking this week to SMILER about the questions we have already been asked Tim said “Yes, I will add Rod’s mole although the dimensions of the face will be approx 1 inch high so it will be tiny”.
Adding “Rod’s hair- this is probably the most difficult part as it is impossible to get the full, ‘fluffy’ effect when sculpting from a hard material. The best is to match the ‘waves’ and give some sort of spikey effect…But SMILER team member Yve has been advising”
And “I intend to show the original sculpture in stages, even though the initial work will only show general structure. I will fully paint one Rod before casting and painting the remaining 24 so the team can see it”
Hope that answers everyones questions, For more information go to https://www.rodstewartfanclub.com/news/our-smiler-logo-is-coming-to-life/
And Finally..
Anyone going to the Mt Duneed Estate, Waurn Ponds on Saturday or Adelaide AEC Arena next Tuesday have an amazing night and don’t forget to send in any photos thoughts or reviews of your night with Rod
See you next week..