Rod Stewart
Aug. 27, 2008
Verizon Wireless

When 97.1 The River first told me I'd be going to review Rod Stewart, I thought it was a joke. Actually, I PRAYED it was a joke. Then, I tried to convince myself it was a joke. It wasn't a joke. As you can tell by my pictures, I do not happen to be a middle-aged woman, so one can obviously assume I am not a fan of Rod Stewart. In other words, I do not want his body OR think he's sexy.

So there I was at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater on August 27th. The concert did make me feel special, though, since my girlfriend (who I lured to Rod Stewart) and I happened to be the only teenagers. The opening act was pretty cool, though I didn't catch the name of the band. When they finished and Rod's stuff was set up, the lights went off and the cheesiness began.

A video intro in the form of a sci-fi movie trailer played on the big screen. It painted a scene of a world with no entertainment that could only be saved by a robot called THE RODINATOR! After the video, the band took the stage, followed by Rod Stewart dancing onstage. Behind him were some dancing back-up singers. "Some Guys Have All The Luck" opened the show, and Rod danced around throughout the song in a silver blazer. Yes, I said a silver blazer. Next was a Bonnie Tyler song, "It's A Heartache", followed by "The First Cut Is The Deepest". This song was complemented by an animation…showing Rod cutting himself with a razor?

After the interesting animations of "The First Cut is the Deepest", his popular ballad (like he has any songs that aren't popular ballads) "Forever Young" was played, showing us that, at age 63, Rod can still go on stage like the rest of the young folk and sing songs not enjoyed by the majority of the population. I feel I've been a little harsh on 'The Rodinator', so I'll give him some credit for "Reason To Believe". It was a pretty cool song, and was performed well. However, it ended and was followed by another cheesy song, and then "Downtown Train" before he introduced his huge band. A couple more songs passed by before one of his most famous hits, "You're In My Heart". During the song, several close-ups were shown of the drummer's bass head sporting a "Celtic Football Club" logo. This is a team in Glasgow that Rod fervently supports - he is even guaranteed a seat, any time, at any home game. The Club is famously referenced in the song's lyrics, and game highlights were shown during each chorus.

The fans in the crowd were really pumped up after this hit, and he followed it with a less famous one, "The Motown Song", complete with animations of Motown artists and such. These animations were 'special' though ...considering, like the rest of his animations, they were cheesy and could have been made years ago. Sometimes the fewer animations, the better, and I'll give him that. Rod is known for his numerous cover albums, and at this concert he covered a CCR classic, "Have You Ever Seen The Rain", which I actually enjoyed. Now, what I haven't talked about, yet, is how good Rod's back-up singers are. I'm not usually a fan of back-up singers, unless they happen to be in Pink Floyd, but one of them did a duet with 'The Rodinator' on "It Takes Two" and it was good. This woman could definitely sing, and she and the rest of the back-ups showed their voices off on the next cover song, "Love Shack", which was soon followed by a picture of Rod in drag. Don't bother to look back over what you just read, because I did, indeed, say there was a picture of Rod Stewart in drag on the big screen - I continue to have nightmares about it to this day. Following this picture, and some humorous comments about it, the band kicked into "Hot Legs". In the middle of the song, Rod, a big soccer fan, started kicking soccer balls into the audience.

One song that followed "Hot Legs" was the soothing, "Have I Told You Lately". I'm still trying to figure out how I knew this song, by the way. The crowd began to cheer as one of the back-up musicians came out with a mandolin, which is extensively used in the classic, "Maggie May". The song was performed energetically, and Rod and everyone but the stationary musicians walked from one side of the stage to the other, in a pack, for dramatic effect during the song. He also began to kick more soccer balls into the crowd. The lights went off after the song, but the crowd had not yet experienced the greatest moment of the night.

No one could ever even try to produce a song cheesier than the encore. For years it has held this position, with few competitors, although any song by Nickelback comes close (oooooh I went there). The encore was, of course, "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" and the band succeeded in getting the song stuck in my head for the next three days. Do you know how weird of a mood you get in when "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" is stuck in your head? The fans seemed very pleased by the show, and seemed to go home happy, while I went home scarred. Really, though, it wasn't that bad, and eventually that song left my head.

-JJ