Rod Stewart embroiled in feud with Plymouth's Lord Mayor after concert shut down

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A city's Lord Mayor has become embroiled in a bizarre row with Rod Stewart after he was wrongly accused by the star of shutting his concert down early.The 78-year-old had been performing at Plymouth's Home Park on Saturday evening but left before he could perform his much-loved song 'Sailing' in tribute to the city's historic naval status.Gig-goers said just after 10.30pm the stage was plunged into darkness when a "man in black" walked onto the stage to speak to Rod - at which point the singer left and the lights came up.Rod reportedly had told the crowd "the Lord Mayor had put a stop to it" despite the stadium having a licence until 11pm.The early finish left fans disappointed and some took out their anger on Lord Mayor of Plymouth, Councillor Mark Shayer, who has firmly denied any involvement.And speaking about the incident, Cllr Shayer said he has since faced a barrage of abuse from livid fans of the Scottish-rocker - despite not even being there.He says he's been 'sworn at' in his local shop, and claims to have received calls and messages abusing him.

The Mayor also claimed the first he knew of the controversy was on Sunday morning when he started receiving messages asking what happened.He said: "I'm horrified to be implicated.

To say I stopped Rod Stewart singing what is one of my favourite songs, on Armed Forces Day, it's ridiculous. I'm livid."He described 'Sailing' as one of his favourite tunes and said he did not even attend the concert due to a clash with Armed Forces Day events.

One concert goer says the rumours of the Lord Mayor's responsibility were sparked by Rod himself.They said: "I was there - Rod Stewart said the Lord Mayor instructed the show to stop, thanks for turning up and he was gone.