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| Photo by Ned Austin Brooks |
CONCERT REVIEW: Rod Stewart, Stevie Nicks show heart and soul at KeyArena
By Gene Stout
April 25, 2011
Rod Stewart may not be “Forever Young,” as one of his more famous songs suggests, but he could have fooled me.
At 66, the veteran rocker appeared trim, handsome and athletic Saturday night at KeyArena, kicking soccer balls into the crowd with the precision of a seasoned player and gliding effortlessly across a sprawling stage that looked like the set for a stylish, ’60s musical variety show.
The concert was part of the “Heart & Soul Tour” with Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac. The two rock stars performed a three-hour concert packed with classic hits, good vibes and plenty of nostalgia.
Nicks, also looking far more youthful than her 62 years, opened the show with “Stand Back.” The set included such favorites as “Dreams,” “Sorcerer,” “Gold Dust Woman” and “Rhiannon,” but “Landslide” was the most moving of her classic songs. Accompanying the beloved hit were photos of her childhood as well as images of her parents that certainly resonated with the middle-aged fans who filled most of the seats at KeyArena.
Before singing “Secret Love,” from her upcoming solo album “In Your Dreams,” Nicks talked about her latest connection to Seattle, via a niece who works here in radio. She called Seattle the “city of my heart.”
Dressed head-to-toe in black, Nicks closed her set with “Edge of Seventeen” and a touching version of the seldom-heard ballad, “Love Is.”
Nicks returned later for a couple of duets with Stewart, who opened his set with the O’Jays classic, “Love Train,” followed by “Tonight’s the Night” (which prompted an audience sing-along) and the rambunctious Sam Cooke hit, “Having a Party.”
Performing on a stylish, sumptuously appointed stage, Stewart defied age and gravity to put on a colorful, energetic and highly entertaining show, even if his voice was raspier than usual. Among those on stage were a bevy of women singer-musicians in red dresses. They recalled the fashion models in Robert Palmer’s 1980s “Addicted of Love” video.
The hits were delivered rapid-fire: “You Wear It Well,” “The First Cut Is the Deepest” (Cat Stevens), “Some Guys Have All the Luck” and “You’re in My Heart.” Stewart also performed such R&B, soul and rock ‘n’ roll favorites as Cooke’s “Twistin’ the Night Away,” Chuck Berry’s “Sweet Little Rock and Roller” and Eddie Floyd’s “Knock on Wood,” featuring his backup singers.
Stewart, who recently celebrated the birth of his eighth child, Aiden, showed photos of his beloved Celtic Football Club and displayed the team’s green-and-white logo. Stewart also saluted the 70th anniversary of the Dunkirk evacuation with a moving “Rhythm of My Heart.”
Stewart closed his colorful show with the big hits “Hot Legs” and “Maggie May,” followed by an encore of “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy,” his signature song.
By Gene Stout
April 25, 2011
Rod Stewart may not be “Forever Young,” as one of his more famous songs suggests, but he could have fooled me.
At 66, the veteran rocker appeared trim, handsome and athletic Saturday night at KeyArena, kicking soccer balls into the crowd with the precision of a seasoned player and gliding effortlessly across a sprawling stage that looked like the set for a stylish, ’60s musical variety show.
The concert was part of the “Heart & Soul Tour” with Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac. The two rock stars performed a three-hour concert packed with classic hits, good vibes and plenty of nostalgia.
Nicks, also looking far more youthful than her 62 years, opened the show with “Stand Back.” The set included such favorites as “Dreams,” “Sorcerer,” “Gold Dust Woman” and “Rhiannon,” but “Landslide” was the most moving of her classic songs. Accompanying the beloved hit were photos of her childhood as well as images of her parents that certainly resonated with the middle-aged fans who filled most of the seats at KeyArena.
Before singing “Secret Love,” from her upcoming solo album “In Your Dreams,” Nicks talked about her latest connection to Seattle, via a niece who works here in radio. She called Seattle the “city of my heart.”
Dressed head-to-toe in black, Nicks closed her set with “Edge of Seventeen” and a touching version of the seldom-heard ballad, “Love Is.”
Nicks returned later for a couple of duets with Stewart, who opened his set with the O’Jays classic, “Love Train,” followed by “Tonight’s the Night” (which prompted an audience sing-along) and the rambunctious Sam Cooke hit, “Having a Party.”
Performing on a stylish, sumptuously appointed stage, Stewart defied age and gravity to put on a colorful, energetic and highly entertaining show, even if his voice was raspier than usual. Among those on stage were a bevy of women singer-musicians in red dresses. They recalled the fashion models in Robert Palmer’s 1980s “Addicted of Love” video.
The hits were delivered rapid-fire: “You Wear It Well,” “The First Cut Is the Deepest” (Cat Stevens), “Some Guys Have All the Luck” and “You’re in My Heart.” Stewart also performed such R&B, soul and rock ‘n’ roll favorites as Cooke’s “Twistin’ the Night Away,” Chuck Berry’s “Sweet Little Rock and Roller” and Eddie Floyd’s “Knock on Wood,” featuring his backup singers.
Stewart, who recently celebrated the birth of his eighth child, Aiden, showed photos of his beloved Celtic Football Club and displayed the team’s green-and-white logo. Stewart also saluted the 70th anniversary of the Dunkirk evacuation with a moving “Rhythm of My Heart.”
Stewart closed his colorful show with the big hits “Hot Legs” and “Maggie May,” followed by an encore of “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy,” his signature song.
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| Photos by Ned Austin Brooks - 14 Photos on Facebook HERE |
Full Review at genestout.com
Sorry, but they sound horrible together. You'd think they could harmonize better on the chorus of the song. Glad I didn't waste my money on Stevie Nicks, the opening act. What a crock, she obviously doesn't need the money, so why did she do this tour. Most of the revies across the country have given Rod a better notices than Stevie. And still no video for Secret Love? WTF ?
ReplyDelete^^ You need to keep up!... The video for Secret Love will be released May 3rd - itunes Delux Package... Look to your right and read.
ReplyDeleteThe video should have been out months ago when the single was released. The song Secret Love is already dead in the water at radio. You only have a short time to hit with a song, and dj's have already passed, another huge mistake by Stevie and Warner Bros. I really think she sabatoges her own records these days. So sad.
ReplyDeleteThey screwed up Planets of the Universe by making a video for Everyday instead. Big mistake.
ReplyDeleteThey never even made a video for the song Say You Will, Big mistake.
And once again, supidity rules !
There were performance videos made for both Peacekeeper and Say You Will
ReplyDeleteSay You Will
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOCPNZ2NvI8
Peacekeeper
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b9pxPkLhrI&feature=related
Once again, concert reviews for Stevie are much more favorable on the west coast than the east coast. Happens every tour--Canadian and Midwest reviews are always more favorable as well. East coast cynicism and patent condencension of her persona and performances drip off every "enlightened" and intellectually superior reviewers words. How they can look themselves in the mirror after lauding Rod's Vegas style glitz and no substance show, perplexes me.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see her on May 13th in Indio, Ca. Hopefully a set full of new tracks!! I too, have been clamoring for the video, and not just for my own gratification. Secret Love can't crack the Top 20, and the vid coulda helped. Love Chesper than Free, but it's not helping Secret Love, only distracting from it. I agree with the previous post, that TISL and S Y W were horribly handled and I pray IYD will not follow suit.
I think the reviewers favored Rod because everything about his show was so much more "showy" than stevie's, including his stage and his enthusiasm to get the audience involved. Rod is the ultimate showman, stevie the ultimate, if somewhat brooding, gypsy "girl". 2 totally different audiences. It really didn't make any sense, except monetarily, for these two 2 be paired. But let's face it, at this point of their lives, it's all about collectin' the check. Hell, Stevie doesn't even do any newer or deep album cuts in her sets, always the same ole songs year after year, tour after tour. Hopefully she'll change it up a bit once she hits solo this summer.
ReplyDeleteYes cheesy live vids were made for Peacekeeper and Say You Will, but they were just rehearsal vids with lots of editing. And VH1 played Peacekeeper for about a week. After the live success of The Dance videos of Silver Springs and Landslide they were (and the fans) expecting beautiful videos shot on soundstages shot like professional videos for SYW. And the Say You Will vid never even got played on TV at all, since the album was their first studio release after TD.
ReplyDeleteBesides, since we now know Dave Stewart shot all this beautiful footage there is no reason the Secret Love video shouldn't have come out in Feb. when the song was released. Well, no logical reason that is.
Yes and they ruined the chance of the song Say You Will making it on radio by putting out Peacekeeper as the first single. I understand why that was planned as the first single. But releasing it at exactly the moment the US went to war with Iraq was really stupid. It didn't matter that Lindsey's song was not really even about war, with a title like Peacekeeper, it was dead at radio and therefore by the time the song Say You Will was released, the album was also dead on arrival. And the song Say You Will was definintely a commerical song, could have been an AC hit.
ReplyDeletee would have enjoyed the show a lot more if it wouldn't have been for the drunken idiot who spilled his beer down the back of my companion's dress near the end of Stevie's set. And this was while sitting in the wheelchair area right in front of the stage. Some security! Then during the first Rod & Stevie duet this same moron tripped and fell on top of her. Talk about an encore! Well you a-hole, if you are reading this be glad you didn't get kicked out or arrested, because you should have! Other than having our night ruined, the music was great!
ReplyDelete