2023-10-04 08:15:00
Although with the concert that he will offer this Wednesday at GEBA Rod Stewart will make his sixth presentation in our country since his first shows offered in 1989, the legendary Scottish singer actually set foot on Argentine soil for the first time in 1978, to encourage his soccer team in the World Cup, in a visit that had fictional overtones from a bet won by his colleague Elton John, the company of Freddie Mercury’s father and a violent assault that occurred while he was eating at a Buenos Aires grill.
But his stay in these lands in the cold days of July while the competition was taking place generally went unnoticed by the general public who, except in rock environments, were unaware of the enormous popularity of the singer, who was only going to achieve massive recognition that year. riding his big hit “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?”, a song that had emerged months ago during his adventures at the Rio de Janeiro carnival.
Rod Stewart and the bet that brought him to the World Cup
The story of Rod Stewart’s presence in the ’78 World Cup began when, as a renowned soccer fan, he placed a bet with his colleague and friend Elton John, another famous fan of this sport, related to the fate of their respective teams, the of Scotland and England, in the qualifying stage for the great World Cup event that would have Argentina as the host country.
As Scotland achieved its place in the World Cup and England was left out, the composer, pianist and singer with the extravagant costumes had to pay for the blond performer’s trip.
Néstor Celasco, the then director of the Music Hall label, which had Rod Stewart’s catalogue, found out through the international record company Warner that the singer was going to visit the country, so he took care of finding him a companion who would be available. available 24 hours a day.
At a call from the historic Argentine rock manager Oscar López, Peter Deantoni, then representative of Vox Dei, entered the scene, who reconstructed for Télam the details of Rod Stewart’s visit.
«Celasco asked López, who was the director of the Sazam label, a sub-label of Music Hall, for someone who spoke good English and López called me. “We went to look for Rod at the airport with Celasco, he stayed at the Alvear Hotel and I was at his disposal all the time, 24/7,” Deantoni recalled.
The Scottish singer arrived accompanied by Bomi Bulsara, none other than the father of Queen star Freddie Mercury, and “by a designer of limousines for Arab sheikhs who was a character,” confirmed the Argentine manager.
By then, both in his role as singer of The Faces and in his solo stage that exploded in 1971, Rod Stewart had accumulated hits like “Maggie May”, “Hot Legs” or “Sailing”, among many, and had recently released the single “Do Ya Think I`m Sexy”, which began to take over clubs around the world.
Curiously, this future great hit had emerged months earlier, when in the Southern Hemisphere summer of 1978, Rod himself had attended the Rio de Janeiro carnival and had heard a popular song by Jorge Ben Jor called “Taj Mahal.” In fact, the Scot had to reach an out-of-court agreement with the Brazilian due to the enormous similarity between both compositions.
The truth is that, beyond his career, the artist was only massively recognized during his visit to our country when he attended a fashionable nightclub called “Experiment”, located on Avenida 9 de Julio, where he was surrounded by women swaying when “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?” sounded from the speakers.
Rod had a Porsche watch and managed to take it off and hide it in the hood of the sweatshirt he was wearing. Immediately, the Police entered and a shootout began in which the three thieves were immediately shot down.
We all fell to the floor and I remember that López threw himself on top of Rod and screamed in desperation: ‘Don’t shoot, the guy is worth a million dollars.’
Peter Deantoni, manager of Vox Dei in those years and witness to Rod Stewart’s visit.
It is worth remembering at this point that, in those years and until late in the ’80s, artistic novelties from the rest of the world arrived in the country with a certain delay and only fans who cared regarding tracing a little further than what they had heard regarding them had news of them. commercial radios offered.
Rod Stewart at the World Cup: what games he saw
Regarding the World Cup event, the manager, who years later would work with Pappo, Los Abuelos de la Nada, Nito Mestre and international figures such as Frank Sinatra and BB King, among many, revealed that they only attended two games: the debut of the Argentina once morest Hungary, on the River court, on June 2; and the next day they moved to Mendoza to see Scotland lose 3 to 1 once morest Peru.
«In the Argentina match, we turned around and saw that right above us was the Military Junta. Later I found out that an attack was planned for that day on the River field. “It might have been a disaster,” Deantoni said.
“Then we went to Mendoza where Scotland was beaten by Peru and Rod ended up bitching at the players,” he continued.
The dinner that might have been a tragedy
But among the singer’s different outings there was one in particular that might have ended in tragedy. It was when Deantoni and López took him to eat at a grill located on Maipú Street, near the corner with Lavalle, called “La Candela.”
«It was a grill where the local jet-set went. We were sitting and three guys enter with short weapons, itaka type. One stayed at the door, the other went to the cashier’s side and the third began to go through the tables gathering the valuables of those who were eating,” said the manager.
«Rod had a Porsche watch and managed to take it off and hide it in the hood of the sweatshirt he was wearing. Immediately, the Police entered and a shootout began in which the three thieves were immediately shot down. We all fell to the floor and I remember that López threw himself on top of Rod and screamed in desperation: ‘Don’t shoot, the guy is worth a million dollars,'” he recalled in a smiling manner.
The sequence did not last more than a few minutes due to the rapid action of the Police, probably because security in those days had been reinforced by order of the genocidal civic-military dictatorship that reigned in the country, given the large confluence of tourists through the world cup contest.
Why did you leave the World Cup?
The reality is that the singer returned to his country without seeing the other two games that Scotland played, but not because of the assault he suffered (“He lived between Los Angeles and New York, so those things seemed normal to him,” Deantoni considered), but rather because his wife called him at the hotel and asked him to return home immediately.
Had he stayed throughout Scotland’s participation in the competition, his stay would not have been extended by more than ten days due to his country being eliminated in the first round.
Deantoni crossed paths with Rod Stewart once more a few months later, when he traveled to Los Angeles on a mission to contact The Rolling Stones, and brought him as a gift a Valmont wine “that he had really liked” and a ball signed by Maradona, ” “whom I greatly admired, even though he was still very young.”
«I saw him once more years later when he presented an album in Los Angeles and I went to the show and then we met for lunch at the hotel. That time he told me: ‘The ball you gave me is now worth a fortune,’ because Maradona was already the great figure he was worldwide,” Deantoni concluded.
Rod Stewart returned to Argentina in the summer of 1989 in his artistic debut in our country, when he gave a concert in River Plate and another at the José María Minella stadium in Mar del Plata. His last visit was in February 2018 at GEBA, the same place where this Wednesday he will perform for the sixth time.
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