Rod Stewart Veteran rocker Rod Stewart performed in front of thousands of loyal fans at the Blenheim Music Festival over the weekend.

Blenheim's Great Court was packed almost to capacity with nearly 10,000 revellers for Saturday night's concert.

The show clashed with the televised Live 8 concert in London's Hyde Park, but that did not deter fans of the former Faces front man.

Audience members told the Oxford Mail the concert was "brilliant" as Rod wowed the crowd with some of his biggest hits.

Geoff Simpson, who was among a group of eight who went to the concert from Long Hanborough, said: "It was top-notch. Rod was on stage from about 7.45pm and took a 20-minute break, before coming back on until 10.30pm.

"He did all the classics and people were singing along, then he did some jazz stuff. It really catered for everyone."

The 60-year-old Scottish singer, who launched his recording career 42 years ago, played rock hits like Maggie May from the 1970s before introducing slow numbers from his third collection of classics, Stardust . . .The Great American Songbook Volume III. The album clinched the singer a Grammy award in February and gave him his first chart-topping album in America for 25 years.

On Friday, Motown legend Diana Ross opened the two-day festival, with songs such as Upside Down and Chain Reaction.

The festival was due to run from Thursday until yesterday, with performances from Italian singer Patrizio Buanne, mezzosoprano Katherine Jenkins, and tenor Jose Carreras, but poor ticket sales forced organisers to cancel the shows.