Rod Stewart - Friday 25th November - O2 Arena

Brief review:  Top tier curtained off for this one, perhaps due to a clash with England's World Cup snore-draw with the USA. Bizarrely, it appeared that many of the (not too young) audience were absolutely hammered. Lots of people in the wrong seats, scuffles breaking out around us (some wanting to stand, others not) and the bizarre O2 policy of routing people with floor tickets to walk down staircases blocking the view of those seated in tier one. And lots of pressure on the young stewards getting in the neck from other punters with not too much support to help them.

It would have been easy to be distracted by that (and we were for the first 4-5 songs), but afterwards Rod delivered a decent show. The vocals may be a bit hit and miss these days (mainly "hit"), but the songs themselves bring a smile to most. 

Venue and View:  Lower tier, 2/3 of the way back on the right. Just the correct side of the World's busiest staircase to and from the floor.

Setlist
Addicted to Love
You Wear It Well
Ooh La La
Having a Party
Some Guys Have All the Luck
This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)
Forever Young
The First Cut Is the Deepest
Maggie May
I'd Rather Go Blind
Young Turks
Rhythm of My Heart
Hot Stuff [Backing Singers]
The Killing of Georgie, Part I [Acoustic]
People Get Ready [Acoustic]
I Don't Want to Talk About It [Acoustic]
Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright) [Acoustic]
You're in My Heart (The Final Acclaim) [Acoustic]
Have I Told You Lately [Acoustic]
Lady Marmalade [Backing Singers]
Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?
Baby Jane
Sailing
+
Stay With Me

Rod Stewart - Tuesday 17th December - O2 Arena

Brief review: A decent set from Rod. The voice is still there, even if a touch of energy has gone as he moves into his mid-seventies. Very enjoyable, although wish we could have afforded floor seats.

Setlist
Some Guys Have All the Luck
Having a Party 
It Takes Two 
Rhythm of My Heart 
Forever Young
The Killing of Georgie (Part I and II)
Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)
+
Maggie May
Downtown Train 
Dirty Old Town 
The First Cut Is the Deepest 
I Don't Want to Talk About It 
Gasoline Alley
Every Beat of My Heart
Stay With Me 
Handbags and Gladrags 
You're in My Heart (The Final Acclaim)
Grace 
Have I Told You Lately 
Go Your Own Way (band only)
Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?
+
Sailing 

Cregan & Co - Friday 25th May - Boom Boom Club, Sutton

The excellent Jim Cregan and his band are back in Sutton for a fun packed evening of Rod Stewart classics and a couple of other surprises including a random Beatles cover! Still including Thunder's Harry James on drums and Ben Mills on vocals, a packed house enjoyed a raucous sing-a-long on most numbers!

Setlist
Baby Jane
Forever Young
Hot Legs
The First Cut Is The Deepest
Tonight’s The Night (It’s Gonna Be Alright)
Wild Side of Life
Downtown Train
Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)
I Saw Her Standing There
I Was Only Joking
Passion
Blondes Have More Fun
I Don’t Want To Talk About It
Young Turks
Maggie May
+
Sailing
My Way (snippet)
Twisting The Night Away (partial Harry James vocal)
Sweet Little Rock and Roller

Rod Stewart - Saturday 15th August - Colliseum, Caesars Palace, Las Vegas

Las Vegas, Nevada and Rod Stewart is on the second from last night of his residency at Caesars Palace. It would seem rude not to see such a Rock and Roll icon in such surroundings and we had nabbed presale front row balcony seats a few months previously which seemed better value than the large scale arena prices to see Rod in the UK. Caesars must make up for this with their drinks prices - little change from $50 for 2 alcoholic and 2 soft drinks!

One of the things I like about Rod is that he does change the setlist around slightly from show to show. The slight downside of that was we got off to a slow start here. To my ears, "Infatuation" wouldn't squeeze into my top 250 Rod Stewart songs! And a song I do normally like, "Twistin' The Night Away" was a little pedestrian. Thereafter, things improved and it was a great night. You forget that Rod is just about 70, so we can forgive him for the couple of breaks he took during the show, although a lesser kind hearted soul than I could argue that we paid to see him and not his daughter Ruby + partner or the backing singers entertain us as they tried to for 2 songs mid-set.

Revitalised after the breaks, Rod went walking around the audience during "Sweet Little Rock & Roller" and kicked autographed footballs into the crowd during "Stay With Me". One even reached our level - sadly 20 yards or so to our left.

All in all, fantastic fun - even our kids who had been dragged along under duress admitted that it had been "better than expected"! High praise indeed.

Setlist
Infatuation
Twistin' The Night Away 
(I Know) I'm Losing You 
You Wear It Well
Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)
Can't Stop Me Now
Rhythm of My Heart
Forever Young
Gasoline Alley
The First Cut Is the Deepest 
Have I Told You Lately
Sweet Little Rock & Roller 
You're in My Heart (The Final Acclaim)
Stay With Me 
Maggie May
+
Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?

Rod Stewart - Friday 20th September - O2 Arena, London

H'mm - not a great start to the evening. We'd taken a flyer earlier on in the day and purchased 2 below face value tickets from one of those "authorised secondary ticket sites" - you know the sort I mean. All comes with a guarantee and you print your own ticket etc. All good and feeling quite pleased with things until we get to the gate. Tickets rejected! No definitive reason given, but probably sold multiple times and used by someone else. This had happened to "loads of tickets" that night according to the gate security.

With the company representative missing, we faffed around for quite a while before 'sourcing alternative tickets' for ourselves. This meant we had missed a good 40 minutes of the set, but at least we were in eventually to see just over an hour. And what a good 70 mins or so it was - Rod's voice sounded good, the setlist was pure sing-a-long and I think everyone would have left having enjoyed the show.

PostScript: ticket money refunded without question, however no explanation given. Any of the readers have good or bad experiences with these secondary ticket resellers - not the likes of ebay, but the semi-official authorised ones?

Setlist

This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)

You Wear It Well

Tonight's the Night

Havin' a Party

Rhythm of My Heart

Chain of Fools 

Forever Young

The First Cut Is the Deepest 

Have I Told You Lately

I Don't Want to Talk About It 

Brighton Beach

Can't Stop Me Now

She Makes Me Happy

Maggie May

I'd Rather Go Blind

Soul Man  (Sung by backup singers; sung as "Soul Girl") 

You're in My Heart (The Final Acclaim)

Sailing

Hot Legs

Baby Jane

+

Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?