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.
