The band are only allowed to support the hit maker on tour if they follow his strict rules

SIR Rod Stewart’s daughter has revealed her old man runs a tight ship on tour — and that being sensible has replaced any wild rock ’n roll antics.

Ruby is currently making waves with pal Alyssa Bonagura as country rock duo The Sisterhood.

They’re on the road with Sir Rod as the Maggie May star’s opening act.

Ruby, 29, said: “One of the things on tour is that you can feel like you’re a little bit rundown or you’re losing your voice.

“He has trained me to think that’s only a mental thing and you can jump that hurdle.

“And he also trained me to treat yourself like an athlete and think of your voice as a muscle.

“You need to warm up, drink a lot of water, don’t drink too much alcohol, as that dries you out — and take moments of silence on show days.”

The Sisterhood only got asked to join Rod after following his rules. Ruby, whose mum is American model Kelly Emberg, explained: “We’re always on our best behaviour.

“That’s why he hired us again. It was so funny, he sent an email saying we were really well-behaved on tour, so we’ll have you back.

“But we used to play a lot of jokes. We’d put peanuts in the band’s shoes.

“At one point my dad put chickens in their room, that was hilarious.

“But we don’t do that any more. Me and Alyssa thought about bringing all that back, but we don’t want to screw things up and lose our slot.”

Rod, 71, and The Sisterhood hit Glasgow’s SSE Hydro on December 13 — and the girls also have a gig at the city’s Oran Mor two days later.

Rod and Ruby played The Hydro’s stage on its opening night in 2013.

Ruby said: “I came on and sang one of my own songs Just One More Day, and then I sang Forever Young with him.

“I remember being backstage and they were still building it.

“All the dressing rooms didn’t have ceilings. We were the first ones there.

“And we’re excited to be coming back, then we’re doing Oran Mor in Glasgow too.

“So hopefully people see us with dad and then come to our own show.

“I’ve been doing it so long, singing with him.

“He’s always pulled me up there and made me a part of it. It doesn’t feel strange to me — it’s such an honour.

“Besides being my dad, he’s a great musician to open for.”

Ruby has also got Alyssa into Celtic, and the pair went on a behind-the-scenes tour at Parkhead earlier this year.

Alyssa said: “It was cool to go there, we sang The Fields of Athenry.

“I’d never been to a football stadium, that was really cool for me.

“Then we went to Stirling Castle. My mum’s family name is Baillie and there we figured out the Stewarts and the Baillies were together in the family tree and they went to war together.

“So it’s like we’re old souls, old friends — and we’ve come back around. We could have known each other 300 years ago.”

It’s been a rapid rise for the duo and their self-titled EP is out now.

But it’s not all been plain sailing — the musicians had to blag things when they began playing together about a year ago.

Alyssa, 28, admitted: “We’re really pleased how things are coming along, we’re just going with it.

“Our first show was when we got a call to play in Milan.

“Then we got booked a few months ago at a Country Music Festival on the main stage in Australia — and we only had five songs then.

“They said, you’ve got to play for an hour, so we were like, ‘Yep, we’ll do that’.

“It was Rod’s idea for us to do this and he gave us the confidence by giving us our start, and doing gigs of our own.

“We were hanging out with him backstage in Vegas at Caesars Palace and we were playing Joni Mitchell songs on guitar.

“He looked at us and said, ‘You guys are really great together, you should start a band.’ He’s really inspiring to watch.

“It gives us more courage to see how he commands the stage and the audience.

“We love his advice, he’s got so much to tell us.”

The girls are going back into the studio in January with their debut album set to follow — they record at Alyssa’s family home in Tennessee.

And they’re relishing working together, with their connection feeling almost telepathic.

Ruby added: “When I’m thinking of something, Alyssa reads my mind and does it without me saying anything.

“It’s like she’s from another planet and I do the same thing for her. The best thing for us to do is build our audience.

“So if there’s 50 people at the gig at Oran Mor next month, then hopefully when we come back next time, there’s 100 people — and we’ll keep building it from there.”

For tour tickets and more info go to: thesisterhoodband.com

RUBY reckons her dad will be making more costume changes than normal at The Hydro next month.

On December 13, his beloved Celtic are playing Hamilton just a few miles away from the venue in a Premiership match, meaning he’ll want to keep up to date with what’s happening on the pitch.

She said: “Dad will probably have a television on stage as he’s playing that night — or he’ll be sneaking backstage to get another jacket.

“Another thing he does is ask someone to write the score down and hold it up on a piece of paper.”

Rod Stewart Reschedules O2 Arena London Date

Rod Stewart has rescheduled his November 22 show at London's O2 Arena due to a throat infection.

The legendary singer-songwriter has moved the performance to December 12 after doctors advised rest before resuming the tour on Friday November 25. All tickets for tomorrow’s show remain valid for the rescheduled date.

Rod Stewart delights in Dublin

Rod Stewart – SSE Arena, Belfast

Siobhán Murphy Writer for Gigging NI.

Between wishing I had some form of Celtic memorabilia to chuck at Rod Stewart and wondering if I should don a silver glitter dinner jacket teamed with a tartan scarf in homage to the King that was Rod Stewart I decided nothing could prepare me for this night.

Opening to the jam packed and eagerly awaiting crowd which filled the SSE Arena were Ruby Stewart and Alyssa Bonagura of The Sisterhood. After being encouraged by band member Ruby’s father Rod to start a band, the duo have quickly been captivating attention all across the globe. The two girls preformed their first EP that they have written and recorded and it became easy whilst listening to the duo to forget that we were in fact there to see Rod. From the girls dreamy vocals to their floaty glitter outfits (inspiration taken from Rod I’m assuming) it would have been hard to find a better act to open for the night ahead of us.

As a black and white curtain descended around the stage the anticipation grew and then it was time. There it was. The gold harp, the Celtic badge drums, the gold sparkly Gatsby dresses on the backing singers. Then at last, the gold jacket. The gold jacket draped around one of the kings of music that is Sir Rod Stewart. It was at exactly this moment that I questioned if I was ever going to be able to breathe properly again.

Opening with “Soul Finger” I couldn’t decide what I was enjoying more, the song or everyone throwing their arms about at ten past eight on a Monday night.

Every time those hips shook and that gold jacket sparkled it took all my might not to push my way out of row P and throw myself over the barrier and up onto the stage to ask Rod to swing me about up there with him.

Taking time to speak to his adoring fans Rod gives a quick itinerary of the night; “About two hours to give everything and I know it’s a Monday night but let’s pretend it’s a Saturday night.” With that said no more instructions were needed to be given to the crowd, who seemed all too ready to pretend that it was a Saturday night.

Beginning the concert with a flurry of classics including “Forever Young” and “Handbags and Gladrags” Rod explained to the cheering crowd that any missed notes were due to the shouting he was doing the previous day whilst watching his son play football. Before throwing himself into “Can’t Stop Me Now” he took time to dedicate it to his old man, who always told him to keep going when he was rejected by everyone when he first started. This piece of information shared with the audience made it clear that his father’s encouragement has transpired through Rod in encouraging his own children now to keep going with their music and football aspirations.

Any time Rod left the stage (because what’s a Rod Stewart concert without a few flashy outfit changes) as much as I sat in anticipation for his return the rest of the stage did a good job maintaining the atmosphere that Rod had created. The backing signers launched themselves into a cover of Tina Turner’s “I Had A Ragdoll” whilst Rod took himself off stage and they fairly kept the crowd going which was a good job because when Rod made his return on stage he had an announcement to make; “We’re going to have some fun now.”

This was it. It was time. All the ones I, like many others had been dreaming off. It was time for the real classics. I never understood how people cried at concerts and never thought I would but when I looked ahead and seen 71 year old Rod Stewart swinging himself about the stage singing “Maggie May”, a girl no more than 8 waving a giant foam finger about her head and several grown men standing alone hurling their arms around their heads I now understood.

Next up was “Sailing” and whilst Rod launched through the classics he decided what’s a Rod Stewart concert without a few footballs kicked out to the crowd. This was it – this was my time. Row P was the perfect position for this and I took to my feet to wave my hands and get his attention (yes I really thought this would distinguish me from the crowd). It must have worked because Rod was singing; a football left his foot and was coming straight at me. This was it. It was happening. I was going to catch the ball that Sir Rod Stewart had touched. It was as if time stood still in those few precious seconds when I thought my whole life was falling together, the ball was touching my hand, I was going to catch it! Or so I thought until it kept brushing past my hand and was grabbed by the woman two seats beside me… never mind, I touched a football Rod Stewart kicked out, I now had a connection with him.

Of course, what’s a Rod Stewart concert without ending the night with “Do You Think I’m Sexy” and “Enjoy Yourself” with hundreds of balloons dropping from the roof enveloping all of the tartan wearing super fans of the night. Not wanting to accept that the night was over I sat firmly on my seat whilst everyone around me clutched onto their concert memorabilia of footballs and balloons. After ten minutes of the people sitting around me having to squeeze past my stubborn body I had to accept that the night was over and my time was Rod had came to a close.

Celtic superfans Jay Beatty and Rod Stewart meet after singer's Belfast gig

The Irish news

CELTIC superfans Jay Beatty and Rod Stewart have enjoyed a special meeting at a gig by the Scottish rocker in Belfast.

The Co Armagh pupil and his family were guests of the legendary musician at the first of two concerts at the SSE arena on Monday night. 

Both die-hard Bhoys supporters, the pair shared a few laughs after the 71-year-old dedicated his hit You're In My Heart to Jay.

Jay's mother Aine said the singer also invited Jay and his father Martin to lunch with his sons before the Scottish league cup final in Glasgow on November 27.

The meeting came just weeks after the Lurgan lad enjoyed a sing-song with Scottish singer Paolo Nutini.

"Paolo's management must have got in contact with Rod and then we got an email last week, which said he was really looking to meeting Jay and there would be four concert tickets for the family," Aine said.

"There's one of his songs You're In My Heart where Rod mentions Celtic in it and Jay sings that all the time. So of course there's has to be a Celtic connection.

"He's been so excited. He's been saying three more sleeps, two more sleeps and he is now calling today Rod Day."

Jay, who has Downs syndrome, first came to the public’s attention when former Celtic player Georgios Samaras plucked him from the crowd at Celtic Park and manager Neil Lennon donated his league winners’ medal in 2014.

Since then he has become one of the club’s best known fans.

The 12-year-old started mainstream secondary school at St Ronan's College in September and Aine is happy to report Jay is "doing great".

"He just got his report and he did fantastically well. He even got an A star in Spanish - I don't know whether it's to do with Barcelona coming over this month, but he got an A star," she said.

"He looks forward to going in every day."

Rod Stewart thrills fans at Belfast's SSE Arena

Rod Stewart at Liverpool ECHO arena

Liverpool Echo

It’s been three years since Rod Stewart last came to Liverpool - and he’s come back with a new title.

The legendary crooner is now a Sir, but becoming a knight of the realm hasn’t dampened his rock’n’roll spirit, as he’s still doing what he does best - performing to sell-out crowds like this one at the ECHO arena.

He'd promised he was going to “pull out all the stops” for his latest tour, a sentiment that's evident before you've even entered the arena and you're greeted with warnings about an “interactive element where footballs are kicked into the crowd”.

If you didn't know, Rod Stewart is big into football. More specifically, Celtic. If it wasn't evident by the Celtic badges on the drum kits or the scattering of Celtic shirts in the crowd, it was hammered home when the big screen showed highlights of Celtic’s recent 4-1 win over their bitter rivals Rangers.

There was even time for a rant against FIFA, who Rod labels “the most corrupt organisation on earth”.

From Gasoline Alley to Another Country is a blistering journey through five decades’ worth of Rod Stewart classics, with a setlist that delighted his long-standing fanbase.

Before the main event there's a set from The Sisterhood, a duo that includes Rod’s daughter Ruby and LIPA graduate Melissa. They're a decent warm-up once you've figured out their opening number isn't actually The Chain by Fleetwood Mac.

After opening with a cover of Sam Cooke’s Having a Party, it’s hit after hit after hit, from You Wear It Well and Downtown Train to Baby Jane and Forever Young, and of course, Maggie May - a classic that is said to take its title from that of an old Scouse folk song.

Rod slows the pace a little with an acoustic section halfway through proceedings, which includes The First Cut is the Deepest, You’re in My Heart and I Don’t Want to Talk About It.

There’s even a nod to his days as frontman of mod icons Faces, as he gets the crowd on its feet with Ooh La La and arguably their biggest hit, Stay With Me.

But of course, Sir Rod had time for one more song.

Not many 71-year-olds could get away with bouncing around on stage singing Do Ya Think I’m Sexy - but then not many people are Rod Stewart.

The Rodfather, as his daughter labelled him, had a sold-out Liverpool crowd eating out of the palm of his hand, to the point that it left him speechless. He's as good at 71 as he was at 31. The only difference is he's seemingly swapped the leopard print for a zebra one.

Didn’t manage to get tickets for last night? Don’t panic, as you haven’t quite missed out just yet. As well as opening the UK leg of his tour here, Rod will be coming back to Liverpool to close it on Sunday 18 December. Just in time to make someone’s Christmas.

Rod Stewart's rave proved a tonic in troubled times - Echo Arena, Liverpool

The Telegraph