Even though three of his first four songs had the words “young” or “old” in the title, age wasn’t an issue for Rod Stewart on Saturday.
The 59-year old may have a few more wrinkles and his hair has a few less spikes, but his raspy voice hasn’t changed and for more than two hours at the Mohegan Sun Arena Stewart acted young (including kicking soccer balls in the stands) and sang as well as he has in awhile.
Stewart brought his “From Maggie May To The Great American Songbook” tour to the casino and spent the first half of the show performing his popular hits from the past three decades. After a 15-minute break, he showcased the American standards that have helped him regain his popularity thanks to two multi-platinum albums where he covers those tunes.
What Stewart’s concert proved, however, was that his own material, like the standards, has withstood the test of time and sounds just as strong now as it did when he first released them.
Stewart also proved he knows how to pick a backup band and backup singers, which consisted of three women. Twice Stewart left the stage and allowed them to take over, including a pounding rendition of ‘Proud Mary.’
Dressed in a long coat and purple shirt, Stewart appropriately opened the night with ‘Forever Young.’ The first set included ‘Sailing,’ ‘Downtown Train’ and ‘First Cut Is The Deepest,’ which sounded better than the Sheryl Crow version that’s currently playing on the radio.
He ended the first set with ‘Stay With Me,’ a song he sang while a member of the Faces.
Stewart’s voice struggled a few times, most notably during ‘Young Turks’ when he was difficult to hear over the band. But those times were rare and didn’t deter from the evening.
After intermission, Stewart came out wearing a tux and his band was seated ala an orchestra would be back in the 30s and 40s when performing. Besides performing the standards like ‘As Time Goes By’ and ‘Someone To Watch Over Me,’ Stewart included a few of his songs into the second set including ‘Tonight’s The Night’ and ‘Have I Told You Lately.’
Stewart even took time to enjoy a martini during the set.
The highlight of the evening was ‘Maggie May,’ which Stewart performed toward the end of the show. It again demonstrated that his songs are classics as well.
He has said he’s thinking about making a third album covering the Great American Songbook. Maybe he should think about making a new album that would add to the Rod Stewart songbook.
Set list: Forever Young; Young Turks; Sailing; This Old Heart of Mine; Some Guys Have All The Luck; First Cut Is The Deepest; Downtown Train; Hot Legs; It Takes Two; Proud Mary; Ooh La La; You Wear It Well; Reason To Believe; You’re In My Heart (The Final Acclaim); Stay With Me; As Time Goes By; These Foolish Things; Someone To Watch Over Me; Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered; Tonight’s The Night; Have I Told You Lately; The Way You Look Tonight; Everytime It Rains; Maggie May; Do Ya Think I’m Sexy? Having A Party / Twistin’ The Night Away.
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