Rod Stewart booed over Kyiv support by German fans

Rod Stewart was booed by concert-goers at a farewell gig in the eastern German city of Leipzig when he posed with a Ukrainian flag.

Rod Stewart failed to please fans in eastern Germany when he voiced support for Ukraine. Picture: Getty Images.

Rod Stewart was booed by concert-goers at a farewell gig in the eastern German city of Leipzig when he posed with a Ukrainian flag and shouted “f..k Putin”.

The British singer’s chilly reception appears to have been an expression of mounting disquiet in Germany’s east over Western support for Kyiv and the confrontation with Russia, with even mainstream political leaders pressing for a peace deal.

Stewart, 79, played at Arena Leipzig on what is billed as his final tour of Europe, following appearances in Copenhagen and Amsterdam.

As he had done at previous concerts, he announced that he was dedicating the song Rhythm of My Heart to Ukraine and had photographs of President Volodymyr Zelensky and the devastation caused by the Russian invasion displayed on a big screen above the stage.

This time, however, the audience responded with a “howl of whistles and boos”, according to a music critic from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper who reviewed the performance.

“Stewart strikes poses, he dances, he puts everything into his voice – but the audience is no longer clapping along,” the critic wrote.

“The connection to the stage has been broken off since Stewart opened the song with [the words] ‘f..k Putin’.”

Polls suggest the public in eastern Germany are increasingly disillusioned with Ukraine and nearly half of the voters there want the government to provide Kyiv with less assistance.

The right-wing populist Alternative for Germany party, which is pressing for a ceasefire, came first in most of the region’s constituencies at the European elections this month. Even in Leipzig, a relatively prosperous city, the party won first place in the simultaneous municipal election with 18 per cent of the vote.

THE TIMES