Rod Stewart: Still the Same

Thursday, March 22, 2007

My top two favorite male artists are Stevie Wonder and Rod Stewart. I was able to see Stevie in December during his Christmas charity event and one of the gifts under the tree this year for me were tickets to see Rod Stewart at the Staples Center last Tuesday night.  

Not only was it my first time seeing Rod in concert, but also my first time at the Staples Center which is way more posh than Madison Square Garden, but similar in it's arena feel. 

Simply put it was a really fun time. You could tell Rod was very passionate about his singing. The first half was more intimate with songs like "Reason to Believe" and "Have I Told You Lately" and photos of his family being shown on the jumbo-tron. The second half was more rock and roll with "Hot Legs," "If You Think I'm Sexy," "Have You Ever Seen The Rain," "Forever Young" and my dad's favorite, "Maggie May," which he did for an encore. There were lots more songs though like "First Cut Is the Deepest," and "You're in My Heart."

I was afraid he would just sing standards from his last two albums, which I enjoy but their not his classic raspy voice singing. Luckily this tour was for his newest album, Still The Same...Great Rock Classics Of Our Time. 'Still the same' is a great analogy for the Scotsmen, because he looks the same, even his hair and jean clad legs.  He kept moving his feet in quick steps, making fun moves, twirling the microphone stand and running about the stage, it was great, lots of personality for sure. His band also featured a female saxophonist and guitarist, which I thought was cool

The stage was in three rings with the main stage being the center, sort of like Celtic knots. Celtic was a theme for him since the stage had a banner saying Celtic football and the curtains hiding the stage before the performance was the traditional Stewart plaid. Cameras weren't allowed but I snagged the small side photo via a cell phone when he was wearing a military UK red coat.  Despite his homeland representing, he also showed an American flag on the screens for one song. 

The audience meanwhile was filled with lots of women getting tipsy with their girlfriends and going crazy whenever Rod shook his butt. It was fun to see them carry on. Their was an elderly woman at the end of our row with binoculars glued to her face as she bopped around to every song, it was cute.  There were a lot of guys there too though, in fact it was a full house and there's another showing tonight at the Staples Center too.