BACK in his youth Rod Stewart told Rolling Stone magazine he didn’t intend to become a parody of himself by singing Do Ya Think I’m Sexy at the age of 50.
Well, the old rocker is 68 now, still singing his anthem and still very much the real deal.
He rolled back the years with a set of more than 20 songs, some new, mostly not, that confirm there is rocking life in the old dog yet. The pencil-thin frame has filled out a bit and the moves are just a mite slower, but the cheeky chappy from the days of The Faces is still very much alive and kicking.
The smile rarely left his face as he clearly revelled in his return to the arena stage on the first night of his European tour. Nottingham, which remembers Rod from Boat Club gigs in the Sixties, gave him the perfect send-off.
Being the rock millionaire he is, Rod can have the pick of everything, and that includes the very best musicians. His awesome band features a mix of multi-talented leggy blondes and brunettes, and Rod uses them to work his audience in a style few of his peers can better.
The opening song was Can’t Stop Me Now from his self-penned number one album Time. An appropriate title because there was no stopping the Rodster as he charged through Wear It Well, Having A Party and Some Guys Have All The Luck before a poignant moment, dedicating Rhythm of My Heart to military veterans, his song enhanced by an HD video projection of the D-Day landings and newspaper headlines, including a 1945 Nottingham Evening Post, celebrating VE Day.
Later in the show, the audience responded with prolonged applause as patriotic Rod sang in front of a huge portrait of Drummer Lee Rigby, the soldier murdered in London just over a week ago.
It was unexpected, but served only to heighten the intense relationship between Rod and his fans as they helped him belt out the lines of Maggie, You’re In My Heart and Sailing, with arms aloft and scarves swaying.
Hot Legs gave the die-hard Celtic fan the chance to indulge in his other great passion in life — football — as he hoofed dozens of balls into the grasping crowd before the curtain, and thousands of balloons, came down at the end of an unforgettable show.
Reproduced with thanks to Andy Smart and the Nottingham Post
https://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/Review-Rod-Stewart-Capital-FM-Arena/story-19162574-detail/story.html#axzz2UyupkAcf?748696795&redirected=true
Photo by Dave Edwards