Rod Stewart openes Glasgow’s SSE Hydro in spectacular fashion

Rod Stewart opened Glasgow’s SSE Hydro in spectacular fashion last night, performing to a sell out crowd at the spectacular new music venue.

Welcoming 13,000 music fans to the first of 7 events to be held in the venue in this opening week, Rod became the first act to headline the new Glasgow arena, thrilling the sell-out crowd with a hit-filled set in his first of 4 performances at the brand new venue this week.

Rod was full of praise for the Scottish crowd, telling them from that it was “humbling” to play the very first concert in the new venue before kicking signed footballs out into to the ecstatic audience.

The SSE Hydro’s spectacular façade lit up the Glasgow skyline with a blue and green glow, as it opened its doors to the public for the very first time.

Designed by world-renowned architects Foster and Partners, The SSE Hydro has a seated capacity of 12,000, rising to 13,000 with a seated and standing configuration.

Around one million people are expected to attend approximately 140 music, sport and comedy events at The SSE Hydro each year, placing it alongside the likes of the O2 and Madison Square Garden as one of the busiest venues of its kind in the world.

“It’s great to see The SSE Hydro open its doors, it’s a phenomenal building which lit up the Glasgow skyline tonight,” said SEC Ltd Chief Executive Officer, John Sharkey.

“Everything about this building is world class. The engineering is fantastic, the architecture is outstanding, the acoustics tremendous.”

“We have a host of large scale and high profile events planned, such as the World Gymnastics Championships, to the opening ceremony of the Ryder Cup where we will be looking forward to welcoming around 1 million people per year to The SSE Hydro, from the World.”

“It’s great to finally be here to celebrate the opening of this phenomenal venue tonight, we have been working with our fantastic partners at the SECC for a few years now and it’s great to see all the amazing work they have put in come to fruition,” added Jonny Petrie, SSE Director of Commonwealth Games and Sponsorship.