We were so excited to see Rod coming to Carlisle on our doorstep as my wife Christine and I are big fans of Rod, we have seen him many times in other areas and couldn’t believe he was coming to our city where we run a pub opposite the concert venue called The Beehive. From the moment we heard Rod was coming the priority was to get tickets,from the day they went on sale Christine was ready on the computer at 8am trying to get the nine tickets we required for friends and family, the site crashed it was so funny watching Christine go into a blind panic with hot sweats however 15 minutes later it was up and running again, tickets were purchased and everyone was relieved. I have never seen her so happy and relieved since our wedding day 30 years ago and I turned up after being out the night before haha.
In December 2015 unfortunately Carlisle was hit by storm Desmond, Brunton Park, The Beehive and 2000 homes were flooded. this was devastating for the city as this was our second flood in ten years. Rod heard of the devastation and kindly donated £10.000 to the Carlisle flood fund which was amazing gesture and they took him even closer to their hearts. He also sent me and Christine a signed photograph with a personal message to say see you in June which was amazing for him to take the time out to do this.
Moving onto June 21st (the concert), we were up and running again in the pub from midday the atmosphere was amazing, fans from all over the country descended on Carlisle and a lot of our friends from our hometown Prudhoe also came, everyone decked out in tartan attire, as the day progressed the atmosphere was electric it was the best atmosphere I have ever encountered. Wow.. in to Brunton park we went and things got better Rod starting with “Were having a party” the crowd went wild. Many fans who I personally know are still living in temporary accommodation unable to return to flood hit homesand I personally witnessed big smiles on their faces and hysteria which I hadn’t seen in a long time. Maggie May, Forever Young and all the favourites were sang creating a memorable occasion and he even sang Sailing which was quite apt and made us laugh as we literally sailed up Warwick Road in December in life boats.
Overall Sir Rod was fantastic, Brunton park was bouncing, Carlisle had the feel good factor back and showed the country we were up and running again…THANK YOU SIR ROD STEWART
Special thanks to my good friend Jean Garoghan
Review By Michael and Christine Wheatley
Photos By Michael Wheatley and Jean Garoghan
Montage By Tommy Kevitt