For four decades, Rod Stewart has shown himself to be an artist guided by a reckless spirit, a man who shares his talent and personality without putting boundaries on his music-making – or his behavior.
As he demonstrated in a nearly sold-out performance at the Office Depot Center on Friday night, the kickoff to his latest U.S. tour, such an approach can serve him well. Over a two-hour-plus period, Stewart, who lives part of the year in Palm Beach County, didn’t stint on the fan favorites — no small feat when you consider he’s got a solid double-album’s worth of greatest hits, from the folksy Maggie May to the disco-era Do Ya Think I’m Sexy. His voice was raspy but assured — in other words, quintessential Stewart.
And he offered the music in his usual stylish, buoyant manner, kicking soccer balls into the crowd and changing outfits at will. He started out as Mod Rod, sporting an orange jacket. But by the second half of the show, he had transformed into Dapper Rod, dressed in a tux.
The latter incarnation was part of a much-larger presentation — replete with a small string orchestra — intended to play off of Stewart’s newfound success as a singer of standards. Yes, Rod has gone Broadway.
Stewart seems sincere in his appreciation for the music. And he doesn’t butcher it. Songs such as As Time Goes By and I’m in the Mood for Love were treated with respect and nostalgic affection.
But that’s the problem.
What Stewart does with his rock canon is throw out the rule book. He’s not singing the songs the way they’re meant to be heard, but the way he hears them. The difference is what makes him arguably the greatest interpretive singer of the modern pop era.
And it’s why Stewart’s take on The First Cut Is the Deepest, included in the first half, is so much more definitive than Sheryl Crow’s recent one.
But Stewart’s deal is that he’s never going to stop himself from doing what he wants. And if he wants to sing Gershwin, he’ll sing Gershwin. Then again, if he wasn’t permitted such self-indulgences, he wouldn’t be Rod Stewart.
And that would truly be our loss.
Courtesy Charles Passy, The Palm Beach Post
