Opening a set with a cover is an unusual choice. Opening a set in 2022 with Robert Palmer’s 1986 hit Addicted to Love, in a delivery that embraces its dated production and sickly smooth sheen, is even odder. But in the world of Rod Stewart, it makes perfect sense. Aside from being perpetually locked into the 1980s – he emerges with trademark spiky blond hair, clad in a garish sparkly suit – the 77-year-old now has enjoyed a near 60-year career, the success of which is as much down to covers as it is originals. This is quickly hammered home by the fact that, four tracks in, Stewart covers Robert Palmer yet again, this time tackling the late singer’s take on the Persuaders’ Some Guys Have All the Luck.
Occasionally, he overlaps into pure magpie territory, as on Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?, a track Stewart has admitted involves “unconscious plagiarism” when it comes to lifting from the Jorge Ben track Taj Mahal, and which takes its synth hook directly from a Bobby Womack song. Naff lyrics and light plagiarism aside, the track as performed tonight is an undeniable disco stomper, with Stewart’s extensive band (which runs into double figures) locked into a taut, sultry groove.
Plenty of Stewart’s own tracks get an outing, such as the still-euphoric synth pop barnstormer Young Turks, but occasionally it becomes clear why he leans so heavily into others’ material. One More Time, taken from his most recent album, is an embodiment of where Stewart is in his career: its protagonist tries desperately to lure one last sexual encounter out of an ex in much the same way Stewart ploughs into his reserves to try and pump out one last late-career sex banger. It’s an undeniable stinker and low point of the evening.
Stewart has plenty of gold in his back catalogue to draw from, but it’s largely ignored tonight. Aside from Maggie May – a beautiful highlight – Stewart’s early folk influences remain buried under ballads, mid-tempo rock and sex pop. Stewart happily leans into the glossier, often cheesier and more commercially successful parts of his career, embracing his glitter-suited lounge act fresh back from Vegas vibe at the expense of his one-time earnest singer-songwriter.
Of course, he may be tiring of cranking out the hits. “I’m not retiring, but there comes a point where you need to change,” he said recently. “I don’t want to be singing Hot Legs and Tonight’s the Night when I’m 80. I’ve got something I want to move on to, something I’m passionate about – jazz.”
If this is the chance to hear Stewart’s gravelly, honey-coated voice belting out the hits then he makes some odd choices to depart on. The decision to have his backing singers perform even more covers – Donna Summer’s Hot Stuff and LaBelle’s Lady Marmalade – while Stewart changes into another gaudy outfit offstage feels simply overkill. But a stripped-back acoustic run of tracks that includes Handbags and Gladrags, Tonight’s the Night and I Don’t Want to Talk About It feels more like the emotive farewell you may expect.
That said, as much as Stewart says he might pivot to jazz, he also once claimed he was going to stop playing Hot Legs due to it being too inappropriate for modern audiences. But that gets an outing tonight – although cut short before the most problematic lyrics – so who knows if this really is goodbye. The inevitable closing song, Sailing, turns into a tribute to the late Queen and inspires the kind of mass singalong you’d expect. It’s a strangely fitting end to the evening – although undeniably distinct, hugely successful and occasionally truly singular, Stewart still chooses to exit under another figure’s shadow.
