Rod Stewart = Legend
By Rodney Edwards
Veteran Rock Legend Rod Stewart lit up Belfast at the weekend, with all the flair you’d expect from a legendary performer.
Sitting at the side of the stage with a tumbler of fizzy pop and a packet of fruit pastles; I was ready for a bit of a toe-tap to the old boy’s plethora of toptastic tunes. And the minute he played something rubbish I was ready to lob a sugar coated sweet at his mullet wearing head.
But there was no need for such aggravation, for the Scottish megastar was extraordinary good. And I mean really good.He didn’t have a support act; instead video screens heralded his arrival with a mock cinema trailer for an imaginary feature film called ‘The Rodfather’, complete with a booming voiceover.
Then the predominantly older crowd chose to squeal and cheer from their seats rather than get up – a bit like me then, but I only sat there because I was too comfortable to move.
And strutting onto the tartan covered stage, twirling his microphone stand to ‘You Where it Well’ was the man himself. Thankfully, he was wearing a socially acceptable black suit and not the leopard skin clobber from his youth or it could have been rather nasty.
Weighing through his back-catalogue of songs, Stewart bellowed out a boastful selection of 28 tracks in the two hour set, all performed with sincere soul and vigour. Singing ‘Father and Son’ a poignant video with photographs of his father and son played in the background - a touching moment indeed.
More of his harmonious brilliance included; ‘First Cut is the Deepest’ ‘Handbags and Gladrags’ and my favourite; ‘Maggie May’ – sang after the interval and his third costume change.
It seems to have become the norm that any gig I go to will be interrupted by a continuous intoxicated screech from a member of the audience. In this case, an aggravating female inflammation of the human race decided to throw some unbalanced shapes – complete with a frightful interpretation of Rod Stewart’s classic ‘Do You Think I’m Sexy?’ Dream on love, now sit down because you’re blocking my bloomin’ view.
Rod Stewart is the king of rock, no question about it. He’s sold over 250 million records, had six consecutive No 1 albums and a total of 62 hit singles - and for a man in his sixties; he certainly knows how to move. He spent the entire concert stamping his feet, twisting his hips and kicking the air.
And the footie man star even kicked about 20 footballs out to the audience. Why? I don’t really know. But it was fairly amusing to see the audience ducking and diving to catch the ball.
Rod ended the show with the sing-along classic ‘Sailing’, much to the delight of the heaving Odyssey Arena. There was an encore but I didn’t see it because I had to catch a taxi, not like Rod though, I hear he jumped into a helicopter and flew to Dublin for a good night’s rest before his second Belfast date.
Lifestyles of the rich and famous, eh? Makes him even more of a legend.
