{"id":3963,"date":"2019-05-29T11:35:28","date_gmt":"2019-05-29T11:35:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/?p=3963"},"modified":"2019-05-30T12:07:59","modified_gmt":"2019-05-30T12:07:59","slug":"rod-stewart-nottingham-arena-28-5-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davidbelbin.com\/blog\/2019\/05\/rod-stewart-nottingham-arena-28-5-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Rod Stewart, Nottingham Arena 28.5.19"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Sir Rod likes Nottingham Arena. He visited\ntwice<\/em> in 2016. Tonight\u2019s a one-off indoor show warming up for a massive stadium\ntour. This might not be the 250 capacity Boat Club he started out at, but the\narena\u2019s the most intimate space you\u2019re likely to see him in this century. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You know what to expect with Rod, who\nalways plays his biggest songs, but there are often surprises. This is \u2018his\nbiggest ever UK tour\u2019 (19 shows as compared to 16 when I first saw him with The\nFaces, in 1973, albeit spread over two sections) How many acts do that at the\nage of 74?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opener, minor hit Infatuation,\nis an odd choice, but gets the groove going. Young Turks takes things up a\nnotch. He hits his first killer punch with his second number one, You Wear It\nWell. He\u2019s in his stride, in front of a superb stage set whose multiple\nbackdrops include a gigantic video carousel above the stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rod, red scarf poking out of tight\nbullfighter\u2019s trousers, tells us to forget Brexit, Trump and the EU because\n\u2018we\u2019re here to enjoy ourselves\u2019. Then it\u2019s Tonight\u2019s the Night, which goes down\na treat. The lyric might sound odd coming from a 74 year old, but Stewart is\nnever lascivious, joking at one point that his latest wife was born the year he\nwrote the next song ( a rousing Maggie May). Hit follows hit, including a moving\nKilling of Georgie. Tonight\u2019s highlights also include a cracking I\u2019d Rather Go\nBlind, the only song from his Faces days, a very rocky Tonight I\u2019m Yours and a\nwonderful, poignant I Don\u2019t Want To Talk About It. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He tore a ligament at his Cork show the other night, he explains, \u2018doing a dance a man of my age shouldn\u2019t do\u2019, then sits down for the acoustic set. There\u2019ll be no footballs kicked into the audience tonight, but we do get the big balloons. He feels his thigh, then throws himself into show closer Da Ya Think I\u2019m Sexy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stewart is always generous to his musicians, who each get solo spots (theme to Local Hero anyone? The backing singers did a good job on Womack and Womack’s Teardrops), full introductions and plenty of opportunity to dance, sing or anything (now there\u2019s a song I\u2019d like to hear him do again). This was the fourth time I\u2019ve seen him at the Arena, and he\u2019s never sung better. The two hour show concludes with a single, snappy encore of Baby Jane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018It\nwas good, wasn\u2019t it?\u2019 he says, before the curtains close a second time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Yes, Rod, it was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is an extended version of my review in the Nottingham Post. Here’s The Faces song I mentioned earlier, <\/em>You Can Make Me Dance, Sing or Anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n