Singer Rod Stewart twistin’ the night away for record Rio crowd

Rod Stewart has confessed he almost missed the biggest gig in the world – after he was struck with diarrhoea because of food poisoning.

Writing about the moments before singing in front of 3.5 million on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, in Rod: The Autobiography, Stewart, 67, said: “We were supposed to go on at midnight, and at 10:30pm I still couldn’t get out of bed.”

The English-born Scot said he remembers “very little” about performing to so many people at the 1994 concert because he felt “so groggy” because of his debilitating illness.

“But at least I didn’t cancel,” he added.