Sir Rod Stewart supported by Boy George and Culture Club

Wednesday 28^th June 2023, cinch Stadium at Franklins Gardens, Northampton

Putting two icons from different decades and genres of music on a bill together shouldn't necessarily work on paper, but it does for Sir Rod Stewart who's on a six date summer tour with his 'new mate' Boy George & Culture Club. Together they both knew how to get a crowd singing and dancing along to classic hits and covers on an overcast and humid Wednesday evening at the home of the Saints, Franklin's Gardens, and NLive Radio presenters, Clare, Simon and Steve were there to soak up the atmosphere.

First up were 80's legends, Boy George & Culture Club who launched into a cover of the Rolling Stones classic 'Sympathy for the Devil' which showed off George's strong vocals. It's always difficult for a warm-up act because people are still arriving and finding their seats, but the tight band clearly knew to expect it from jokes that George made inbetween songs whilst also hyping up the crowd ready for Rod to take to the stage. A few spots of rain started to fall during the Culture Club set, but luckily managed to hold off for the rest of the evening.

Other songs in the hour long set included hits like 'Church of the Poison Mind' and 'Do You Really Want to Hurt Me' along with covers from other artists such as 'Everything I Own' originally a 1972 hit for Bread, Wham's 'I'm Your Man', and 'Get It On' from T Rex. Before singing, George explained that Marc Bolan was a big inspiration of his and one of the reasons he wanted to get into music. It was of course the inevitable 'Karma Chameleon' that rounded off the set and got the whole audience on their feet. 

Whilst queuing outside we'd spotted a Boy George lookalike, possibly a tribute act, heading towards the stadium entrance. With a purple suit and large hat, it was hard not to miss him, and it was amusing later to see him in the audience because it felt like some kind of weird parallel timeline was going on, like some future George was rewatching previous performances.

A half hour interval followed which was plenty of time to replenish drinks and food, have a loo break and explore the merch stand at the back of the pitch. Quite a few fans were wearing tartan hats or scarves, and the occasional Rod fancy dress wig, that had been available outside the venue, but the official merch mainly consisted of a variety of t-shirts and hoodies catering for fans of both acts, with tour dates on the back, along with a couple of smaller items.

Before long it was Rod's turn to take to the stage, and despite being from London he knows how to play up to this Scottish ancestry with a rendition of 'Scotland the Brave' on bagpipes being played as the introduction. Surprisingly Rod's first song was not one of his own hits but a cover of Robert Palmer's 'Addicted to Love' complete with a backing band of talented ladies recreating the music video playing guitars.

Even though it was Rod The Mod's first concert in Northampton, he had previously played with Faces at The Nag's Head in Wellingborough in the early 70's.

The first part of this setlist was packed full of upbeat songs that got the crowd dancing including Faces song 'Ooh La La', Rod's own hit 'You Wear It Well' and Sam Cooke classic 'Twistin' The Night Away'. At 78, Rod showed he's still got all the moves playfully dancing around the stage.

Afterwards Rod encouraged the audience to have a breather and sit down whilst he sang some slower songs. He also made a few quips about the Plymouth incident, the first date of this tour, that had gone viral for Rod being cut off abruptly before singing the final song and he assured us that wouldn't happen this time. The first 'slow song' section included Forever Young and Yusuf/Cat Stevens cover 'The First Cut is the Deepest' before launching into one of Rod's best known hits – Maggie May.

Later on in the set, Rod invited Boy George back on stage for a special duet of The Killing of Georgie, based on a true story of gay man, and personal friend of the Faces, who was killed in New York City in the 70's. For Boy George, it was a special song too because his mum had brought it for him, the first Rod Stewart song he heard, and it helped him realise about his sexuality.

Other moments in the set included a tribute to Rod's favourite football team – Celtic whilst belting out 'You're In My Heart', a story about the time Van Morrison said 'Hello' before singing his song 'Have I Told You Lately', and a poignant moment when Rod spoke about the war in Ukraine whilst wearing a shiny blue and yellow suit, the colours of the country's flag. This then led into a performance of 'Rhythm of My Heart', originally by Marc Jordan, with photos projected onto the screens of the conflict along with a call for peace, ending with Rod giving a salute to a photo of President Zelenskyy. This got a huge round of applause from the audience.

Rod's backing band also got to show off their musical skills playing a variety of instruments, tap dancing and performing covers of 'I'm So Excited' and 'Lady Marmalade' whilst the main man changed into multiple outfits.

The final song of the night was Rod's biggest selling hit and a number one – Sailing, which encouraged arm swaying and singing along from the crowd whilst beautiful sea and night sky scenes were on the screens. Ending just before 10pm, Rod and the band took their bows and said thank you, explained there would be no encore due to the venue's curfew but hoped everyone would have a safe journey home. At that point everyone gathering their belongings and headed to the multiple exits.

Overall it was a fantastic night and for a venue that is fairly new to holding concerts, it was extremely well organised. Although it wasn't full, the atmosphere, dancing and sing-alongs from the crowd showed that iconic performers can still span generations with songs that are well loved.

Check out a couple of videos from the concert below…

You can also listen to Simon Selects - Rod Stewart Songbook show by heading over to our Listen Again page.

Photos: Simon Hoggarth, Video: Steve Mapson