Every picture tells a story, or so the song goes. The picture I saw at the Sevens Stadium in Dubai on Friday night told me that in more than 40 years, Rod Stewart hasn't really changed that much. OK, he's grown older - he is 65 - meaning his stamina isn't what it was, but his songs linger. They certainly lingered on at the Sevens because the packed audience sang every word of every song with him. He did throw in one or two from his latest album, Soulbook. But mainly it was, like the man himself, golden oldies.
Stewart was on stage for only about an hour and a quarter - far shorter than his supporting act, Spandau Ballet - who, by the way, were superb and had brought everyone to a frenzy before Stewart took to the stage. The non-forgiving camera, when it was on his face, took no prisoners. On a warm night Stewart looked unprepared for the UAE climate. He was sweating profusely and puffing his cheeks after just two songs and took three breaks to change clothes, leaving his band to keep everyone amused as he did so.
But when he did sing, he and his fans had a good time. They were all there in the set - Maggie May, First Cut Is the Deepest, I Don't Want To Talk About It, I Was Only Joking, Sailing. There were times - quite a few of them actually - when it was hard to hear what the man himself was singing, so loud was the crowd. One could sense, at times, that Stewart was starting to get slightly peeved at this. During many of his songs he appeared to give up and just let the crowd get on with it. "That's new to me, I've never heard the audience sing that one before," said Stewart after Do You Think I'm Sexy? - including the instrumental bits - was belted out by a throbbing mass of middle-aged men and women.
He performed one very oldie, Twisting the Night Away, and this is where the picture did tell a different story. Twisting away in the crowd were, to my astonishment, a couple of children. I had gone to the concert determined to find some young people in the audience: surely after more than 40 years as a solo singer he has picked up some new fans along the way. I was beginning to think it would be a fruitless search until I spotted Jane Harvey, seven, and her 10-year-old sister Linda.
They were weaned on Rod, according to their mother Sarah, from Dubai, so knew every song in his repertoire. But the twist? Yes, there they were, along with all the fans who could remember it the first time round, twisting away. "He's great," said Linda. "All my friends think I am silly to like my mum's type of music but it makes you want to dance, doesn't it." Linda and Jane were even joining in with the singing, arms waving as they did so, while mum proudly took pictures of them, a whole new generation of Rod fans for when he reaches his 70s.
If he is still performing then - and don't write the possibility off as it is not far away - he will have to think of a new way to end his show. Friday was, quite frankly, bizarre. For their encore Spandau Ballet came back to play their two best-known and best-loved songs, True and Gold, and everybody was grateful - yes even Jane and Linda who, it appears, were also weaned on Spandau Ballet - so when it came to the point where Rod and his band all walked off stage at 10.30 his fans, quite reasonably, hung around expecting him to reappear if only for a number or two. But no. There on the big screen at the back of the stage for all to see was: "Mr Stewart has left the building." No encore, no bow, not even a "Good night Dubai, you were great."
Perhaps that was what the problem was. Perhaps Dubai was great. Perhaps Rod the Mod had actually been outsung by his fans. Thinking about it though, he may have hit on something. When he does reach 70, or even 80, he could still earn money by just standing on the stage and conducting the audience, let them do all the singing. But first he will have to attract more Janes and Lindas and get them to bring their friends because his current fans will be too old to help him out - either that or they will have forgotten the words they were belting out on Friday night.
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Pakistan Super League
Previous winners
2016 Islamabad United
2017 Peshawar Zalmi
2018 Islamabad United
2019 Quetta Gladiators
Most runs Kamran Akmal – 1,286
Most wickets Wahab Riaz –65
Rashid & Rajab
Director: Mohammed Saeed Harib
Stars: Shadi Alfons, Marwan Abdullah, Doaa Mostafa Ragab
Two stars out of five
Business Insights
- Canada and Mexico are significant energy suppliers to the US, providing the majority of oil and natural gas imports
- The introduction of tariffs could hinder the US's clean energy initiatives by raising input costs for materials like nickel
- US domestic suppliers might benefit from higher prices, but overall oil consumption is expected to decrease due to elevated costs
Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: 2.5/5
City's slump
L - Juventus, 2-0
D - C Palace, 2-2
W - N Forest, 3-0
L - Liverpool, 2-0
D - Feyenoord, 3-3
L - Tottenham, 4-0
L - Brighton, 2-1
L - Sporting, 4-1
L - Bournemouth, 2-1
L - Tottenham, 2-1
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
RESULTS
Catchweight 82kg
Piotr Kuberski (POL) beat Ahmed Saeb (IRQ) by decision.
Women’s bantamweight
Corinne Laframboise (CAN) beat Cornelia Holm (SWE) by unanimous decision.
Welterweight
Omar Hussein (PAL) beat Vitalii Stoian (UKR) by unanimous decision.
Welterweight
Josh Togo (LEB) beat Ali Dyusenov (UZB) by unanimous decision.
Flyweight
Isaac Pimentel (BRA) beat Delfin Nawen (PHI) TKO round-3.
Catchweight 80kg
Seb Eubank (GBR) beat Emad Hanbali (SYR) KO round 1.
Lightweight
Mohammad Yahya (UAE) beat Ramadan Noaman (EGY) TKO round 2.
Lightweight
Alan Omer (GER) beat Reydon Romero (PHI) submission 1.
Welterweight
Juho Valamaa (FIN) beat Ahmed Labban (LEB) by unanimous decision.
Featherweight
Elias Boudegzdame (ALG) beat Austin Arnett (USA) by unanimous decision.
Super heavyweight
Maciej Sosnowski (POL) beat Ibrahim El Sawi (EGY) by submission round 1.
'Jurassic%20World%20Dominion'
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Profile of Bitex UAE
Date of launch: November 2018
Founder: Monark Modi
Based: Business Bay, Dubai
Sector: Financial services
Size: Eight employees
Investors: Self-funded to date with $1m of personal savings
ETFs explained
Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.
ETFs have zero upfront fees and annual charges as low as 0.07 per cent a year, which means you get to keep more of your returns, as actively managed funds can charge as much as 1.5 per cent a year.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Day 4, Abu Dhabi Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Not much was expected – on Sunday or ever – of Hasan Ali as a batsman. And yet he lit up the late overs of the Pakistan innings with a happy cameo of 29 from 25 balls. The highlight was when he launched a six right on top of the netting above the Pakistan players’ viewing area. He was out next ball.
Stat of the day – 1,358 There were 1,358 days between Haris Sohail’s previous first-class match and his Test debut for Pakistan. The lack of practice in the multi-day format did not show, though, as the left-hander made an assured half-century to guide his side through a potentially damaging collapse.
The verdict As is the fashion of Test matches in this country, the draw feels like a dead-cert, before a clatter of wickets on the fourth afternoon puts either side on red alert. With Yasir Shah finding prodigious turn now, Pakistan will be confident of bowling Sri Lanka out. Whether they have enough time to do so and chase the runs required remains to be seen.
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
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The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Abramovich London
A Kensington Palace Gardens house with 15 bedrooms is valued at more than £150 million.
A three-storey penthouse at Chelsea Waterfront bought for £22 million.
Steel company Evraz drops more than 10 per cent in trading after UK officials said it was potentially supplying the Russian military.
Sale of Chelsea Football Club is now impossible.
The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
Torque: 605Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
On sale: Now
A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
- 2018: Formal work begins
- November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
- November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
- October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
- November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
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More on animal trafficking
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Naga
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The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
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Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
The biog
Occupation: Key marker and auto electrician
Hometown: Ghazala, Syria
Date of arrival in Abu Dhabi: May 15, 1978
Family: 11 siblings, a wife, three sons and one daughter
Favourite place in UAE: Abu Dhabi
Favourite hobby: I like to do a mix of things, like listening to poetry for example.
Favourite Syrian artist: Sabah Fakhri, a tenor from Aleppo
Favourite food: fresh fish
