The Queen of England isn't the only British superstar who arrived in Virginia with a lot of fanfare last week. With a fully produced Hollywood trailer called The Rodfather and a flurry of bagpipes heralding his entrance, Rod Stewart took the John Paul Jones Arena stage Friday night.
Thanks to a last-minute give-away of several thousand tickets to UVA employees, Stewart was able to perform to a nearly full arena. And like Justin Timberlake in March, Stewart performed "in-the-round."
Stewart rattled off 26 of his classics, including a rousing sing-along "Maggie May." The mostly middle-aged audience seemed thrilled with the 62-year-old Stewart, whose voice and rock star swagger are as vibrant as they were when albums like Every Picture Tells A Story and Never A Dull Moment were topping the charts.
The performance marked Stewart's first visit to UVA since December 15, 1971, when he strutted his stuff at Memorial Gym (alongside future Rolling Stone guitarist Ron Wood) as a member of the Faces.
Stewart gets the night started.
Stewart atop his "theater-in-the-round"
Before the Blonde One arrived, concertgoers watched The Rodfather.
In keeping with Stewart's Scottish roots, his band was decked out in traditional tartan patterns. To the gratitude of those in the front row, they left the kilts on the tour bus.
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