LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – It was just like old days — except for the absence of booze and cigarettes — as former Faces members Rod Stewart, Ron Wood and Ian McLagan reunited in a rare on-stage performance during Stewart’s concert at the Hollywood Bowl on Monday.
Wood, better known these days as guitarist with the Rolling Stones, accompanied Stewart mid-concert on five songs, including the Faces’ biggest hit “Stay With Me,” and returned at the finale to sing the band’s wistful 1973 ode “Ooh La La” as McLagan played organ.
Stewart, 59, described Wood, 57, as “my best mate and younger brother,” and the chummy chemistry between the similarly coiffed rabble-rousers of British rock thrilled the crowd.
Since Wood left the Faces to join the Rolling Stones on their 1975 tour, allowing Stewart to focus on his solo career, reunions between the two have been rare. The Bowl show marked their first extensive collaboration since Wood helped out Stewart at an MTV “Unplugged” taping in early 1993.
The Faces, famous for their alcohol-fueled camaraderie and sloppy playing, formed in 1969 when Jeff Beck Group alumni Stewart and Wood joined Small Faces members McLagan, drummer Kenney Jones and late bassist Ronnie Lane. The band never let work get in the way of having a good time, but managed to release four studio albums of raw bluesy rock.
Stewart apologetically warned the Bowl crowd that some of the tunes could be rough because of limited rehearsal time, but Wood summed up the Faces’ career by saying, “That’s what we’re about is f—ing up, baby.”
They also dusted off Faces covers of “(I Know) I’m Losing You” and “I’d Rather Go Blind,” featuring a lengthy Wood guitar solo, as well as Stewart’s own “Every Picture Tells a Story” and “You Wear It Well.”
Wood returned at the end to play along on “Maggie May” and Sam Cooke’s “Having a Party/Twistin’ the Night Away,” before Stewart generously gave him the spotlight for “Ooh La La.”
By Dean Goodman, Reuters
