Now You May Say It’s A Funny Old World ….

In a year which begun in hope that the worst was behind us, many factors have arisen to snuff out the optimism that we were all slowly getting back on track.

Music wise, personally, I finally got to see Liam Gallagher plus The Rolling Stones (again), even without dearly departed Charlie, both were brilliant, but the silver lining of course was I had our prized tickets to see Rod again purchased back in October 2021 as soon as the tour was announced.

However, that prize, to me, was drawing ever increasing pessimism having seen Rod’s poor performance at the Platinum Jubilee plus the rather failed Tears Of Hercules album, along with scaling down his performances rumoured.

I must say though, a brilliant Smiler party by the seaside at the weekend leading up to our visit to The O2 laid a foundation of hope, plus the joy of meeting up again with so many great people that have entered my life, simply through all our love for Rod and The Faces music.

The big fiasco for us was the ticket situation, whilst I had paid “top dollar” for our Tuesday visit and peanuts for our Friday tickets, only “The cheap seats” had found their way onto the mobile app. Having messaged Ticketmaster’s robot twice, they quoted differing timelines of when I might see my mobile tickets appear. In the end, they didn’t, but in truth, a visit to the box office as soon as we got there meant I actually got “cherished” paper tickets “old school”, were things looking up?

As we all gathered at the All Bar One just inside the O2 arena, discussions of Rod’s highly acclaimed performances in Nottingham and Dublin by those that had attended certainly was sounding promising, the vibes were already tingling with the thought, this could be a good night after all.

My wife wanted to get in the arena early, so by 7:15 we had located our seats and were more than happy with where they were. For me, as anticipated, Johnny Mac and the Faithful don’t exactly hit the spot, but that is my opinion. The main event was really my sole reason for being here.

After several thanks from Johnny to Rod for having him support his tour, plus also accompanying him on two tracks of his album, he said “this is our last song, are you ready for Rod?” which of course raised a big cheer and as they departed, the large curtain with the image from the Blood Red Rose album cover dropped over the stage.

I must commend how quickly the stage is transformed from one artist to the next these days, in years gone by it seemed to require a minimum of half an hour, but in less than half that time the build up was set by the sound of Scotland The Brave as the curtain was raised to the band walking on and Rod almost skipping on stage to launch into Robert Palmers Addicted To Love.

At this point, I will stress the set list is written below, my review at this point tries to focus on the quotations I can remember Rod himself made, although I can’t guarantee a hundred percent accuracy.

His second song was You Wear It Well – possibly his best ever single, Rod would then address his audience by saying “A lot has happened in the 3 years since I was last here back in 2019, I’d like to thank you all for coming out tonight in these difficult times. Do you know, it’s 57 years now that I’ve been in this business, who stays in the same job that long? And at times I’ve got away with murder. We have 2 hours of entertainment for you tonight that will include 24 songs and 4 changes of clothing, so sit back and enjoy yourselves”.

Sometimes in London you feel the audience absorbs the music perhaps more than celebrates it, Rod questioned as he walked off towards the end of an early song “Have you all gone asleep?” and as he left the stage for the back singer girls to come back on he said “See if you can wake them up?”. This maybe because of the size of the arena, but all the time the ticket sales click up, smaller venues I guess will not be part of the plan. But those of us lucky enough to see him in Southend in 2019 will know how precious small venues can be.

Maggie May though will always wake any crowd up, the slow build up into the song gets you ready to yell out at the top of your voice every word. Rod’s song that made him, and everyone that surely attends his concerts, all be it as a one of to add to their bucket list, must know it word for word. So by now the audience was fully engaged.

His apt dress code of yellow jacket and blue shirt for Rhythm of My Heart to the back drop of pictures from war torn Ukraine was somewhat moving and his salute to the picture of President Zelenskyy at the end of it simply highlighted even more how times have changed since 2019 and the impact it has to all of us.

At this point Rod would say “Here’s our acoustic section, I know you have paid a lot of money to come along tonight, so please sit back and enjoy this part of the show”. Rod was very good (accuracy wise) in quoting the dates of when his songs were released. “This one is from 1969, I told you I’ve been in the business for over 50 years, a great song by Mike d’Abo that was also done brilliantly by The Stereophonics and the Welsh team did alright last night didn’t they”. There was a reference to Scotland’s absence and a “We love the English really” tongue in cheek comment.

For me, and many others I spoken to since, the magic of the concert was perhaps when he introduced the fantastic People Get Ready “Here’s a song by Curtis Mayfield which I had the pleasure of recording with one, if not the, finest guitarists in the world. I don’t think I’ve ever played this one in London before, so here we go”.

The set list Rod chose for the night, given the fact he cannot leave many of the classics out, was near perfect for me. Including Infatuation was a great choice of an upbeat hit. The inclusion of I’d Rather Go Blind, I Don’t Want to Talk About It, Have I Told You Lately and of course hearing People Get Ready are such moving songs.

As he started Da Ya Think I’m Sexy, Rod said “I think it’s time for the footballs” – he had said earlier he can’t kick them out anymore because he’s not insured, so the girls will throw them out. But as no footballs appeared he shouted “Where are the fucking footballs” twice, then in frustration he said “Fuck it, I’ll go get them myself” – they duly arrived and he still couldn’t resist kicking one into the audience.

One point of note, and again it’s a personal view, every song he sang, and his voice was spot on all night, was from his 20th. century collection which is for me, his much better era music wise. Okay he may have rumoured he’s slowing it all down, maybe flicking to jazz, but god willing, I see no reason why we won’t be seeing Rod do a Platinum year concert himself, because 57 years on, he can still perform and make me dance, sing or write anything.

And to think tomorrow I get to do it all again with a trip up to Birmingham in December to cherish as well – let’s hope my bit of Lady Luck keeps rolling – sure is a funny, but exciting old world, anyone would think it’s Christmas every day!

Set list 22nd November 2022

“Scotland The Brave”, Addicted To Love, You Wear It Well, Ooh La La, Some Guys Have All The Luck, Infatuation, It Takes Two, Forever Young, The First Cut Is The Deepest, Maggie May, I’d Rather Go Blind, Young Turks, Rhythm Of My Heart, “Call Me – backing singers”, Handbags And Gladrags, I Don’t Want To Talk About It, Tonight’s The Night, You’re In My Heart, People Get Ready, Have I Told You Lately, “Lady Marmalade – backing singers”, Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?, Baby Jane, Sailing (encore).

Photos Yve Paige