SINGER ROLLS OUT HIT AFTER HIT AFTER HIT… Rod Stewart Nottingham Arena. Hot Rod turns back the years!
Lean and spiky with the rasping voice of a true blues man … that’s the Rod Stewart I remember. More than 30 years ago, Rod cut his musical teeth playing with the likes of Jeff Beck when he was a regular visitor to the Trentside boat clubs. But those days are long gone. Now he makes more headlines off stage than on and his material is no longer from the delta or the back streets of Chicago.
So I was prepared to be disappointed when I joined the faithful with their tartan scarves and Celtic shirts on Saturday.
Well, I have to admit was I wrong.
I should have realised that you don’t spend the best part of four decades on stages around the world without learning how to deliver a performance, how to work an audience and how to squeeze every last ounce of emotion out of songs, some of which, in other hands, might veer towards the bland.
Rod proved as much with a stunning show: more than two hours of wall-to-wall hits.
From the moment he walked on stage to an ear-splitting roar, milking every moment of the acclaim, he never let the pace drop.
This was a celebration of every solo hit record he has had … and a couple of Faces’ classics thrown in for good measure. Handbags and Gladrags was the opener and already the crowd were in fine voice. A bluesy First Cut Is The Deepest, Rhythm of the Heart, Someone Like You and, harking back to his first timeless solo album, Every Picture Tells A Story, quickly followed.
The Faces’ rocker Stay With Me gave his backing band, which included a string quartet dressed up as St Trinian’s girls, the chance to show off their musical dexterity while Rod displayed some neat soccer skills, hammering around two dozen signed footballs into the audience.
The high point came with Maggie May when Rod walked away from the mike and allowed Nottingham to sing solo. Around 9,000 word-perfect voices in something like harmony tends to create a very special atmosphere.
For an encore he chose Sailing. The audience, to a man and woman, raised their arms and tried to raise the roof.
It was all over too soon. “I”m playing football at 10.30 in the morning,” he said. And with a wave he was gone. Still one of the lads is Rod.
(courtesy Nottingham Post)