CONCERT REVIEW: ROD STEWART, W. SPECIAL GUEST CYNDI LAUPER
AUGUST 10, 2018, TORONTO
I’ve been a Rod Stewart fan since his early days with Jeff Beck in the late ‘60s. We didn’t have much chance to attend concerts in those days, but from the late ‘80s to late ‘00s, we made it an annual tradition to see Rod, who came to Toronto every year, sometimes twice.
It’s been five years between shows this time and I missed him, so, off we went to the Budweiser Stage on August 10.
Cyndi Lauper was the featured special guest and she opened the show with great gusto. Her penchant for wandering into the audience at regular intervals delighted the crowd.
After a brief intermission, Rod came out to wild applause. Unfortunately, I was stuck in the bathroom and missed the visuals (damn those long lineups!) but I could hear the enthusiastic response.
First five songs:
INFATUATION, THIS OLD HEART OF MINE, HAVING A PARTY,
RHYTHM OF MY HEART, SOME GUYS HAVE ALL THE LUCK
At this point, Cyndi joined him onstage for a duet of IT TAKES TWO.
Every bit as good as the Rod & Tina (Turner) version!
Next eight songs; a “Greatest Hits” showcase:
YOU WEAR IT WELL, FOREVER YOUNG, SWEET LITTLE ROCK’N’ROLLER,
TONIGHT’S THE NIGHT, MAGGIE MAY, DOWNTOWN TRAIN,
YOU’RE IN MY HEART, THE FIRST CUT IS THE DEEPEST
This is like visiting an old friend and catching up!
Then came something completely unexpected and incredibly moving! It’s a cover of an old Celtic Irish rebellion song, GRACE, from the upcoming Blood Red Roses album. Rod explains the story: (filmed in Las Vegas)
This was followed by the equally touching HAVE I TOLD YOU LATELY?, the hard-rockin’ STAY WITH ME, a sizzling rendition of Etta James’ I’D RATHER GO BLIND and, of course, DO YOU THINK I’M SEXY? (Hell yeah, even at 73!)
WHEW!
On to the encore……First, let me state that SAILING is my favourite Rod Stewart song overall. In the 30 years we’ve been attending his concerts, I have NEVER had the pleasure of watching him perform it live. (Apparently, he doesn’t often include it for North American tours because it wasn’t a hit over here.)
Well, my dream finally came true this night! I could hardly believe it and was literally moved to tears! Yes, I turned into a blubbering idiot and hubby thought I’d gone completely bonkers. Even worse, the video I was filming picked up these histrionics and I’ve yet to figure out a way to edit them out. Just a little embarrassing…
Posted by Musical Musings on Friday, 10 August 2018
In conclusion, between Cyndi Lauper’s excellent performance, Rod’s kick-ass band with equally talented backup singers and the ageless wonder himself (not to mention the unexpected encore), this concert gets an A+ and a big, fat 5-star rating from me!
Long live Sir Roderick!
Have you been to any good concerts lately?
Check out the August 15th Battle of the Bands where Rod goes up against himself!
This review has now been published on SMILER,
the official Rod Stewart fan club website.
Click HERE to view.
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Dog Mom and (retired) Canine Innkeeper in suburban Toronto, Canada, known as The Doglady. Former corporate workaholic. Writer, photographer, digital creator. Animal lover, music fanatic, inveterate traveller. Eternal hippie/rockchick. History, literature and cinema buff. Hockey and soccer fan. Dedicated night owl. German/Canadian binational, multilingual. Let me entertain you!
23 thoughts on “ROD DOES IT AGAIN, AND AGAIN, AND AGAIN!”
Debbie,
Looks like an amazing concert to see! Furtastic photos, too!!
I love Rod Stewart. Thanks for this brilliant post, Debbie. So glad you enjoyed this – and I could do so vicariously! 🙂
Hi Corinne; It was a special night indeed. Thanks for checking it out. Rod is ageless! ♥
Oh I love Rod Steward – in all his different styles and reinventions. You are so lucky to have seen him (and I quite like Cindi too so it would have been a great night!) Love his sparkly sneakers btw 🙂
Hi Leanne; We have seen Rod many times over the years, but, this concert was super-special for me, thanks to the encore. ♥ He always was a sharp dresser! 😀 Thanks for dropping in.
Wow! Those are amazing photos. Were you sitting right in front? If not you must have had a great zoom lens. I can never get concerts in focus because everyone is moving so fast. I love Cyndi and Rod. that must have been fun.
Hi Rebecca; I’m glad you enjoyed the photos! 🙂 We were in the section right behind the floors, at centre stage. All photos were taken with a Canon Powershot SX600 and yes, I used the zoom lens for those close-ups. Better results than a smartphone. Thanks for coming by!
I loved your post about Rod Stewart. I’ve never seen him perform. You feel about him like I do about the Stones. I’ve seen them almost every time since their second US performance in 1964. Last year I went… by myself… to Italy to see them in the little town of Lucca. So happy you went and filmed this! Brenda
Hi Brenda; I love the Stones too and envy your attendance record at their concerts. That one in Italy, especially, must have been fantastic! We finally went to their 50th Anniversary concert in 2013 and I loved every minute of it, even though our seats were far away.
I’m glad you enjoyed the concert review. Thanks for coming by!
PS: I didn’t even mention Cyndi Lauper! How cool was that seeing her along with Rod?! I was just talking about her a few weeks back, saying how I hadn’t heard anything about her in recent years and now I only see her on that commercial for some skin condition treatment…
I came back to leave this PS and am not seeing my comment that I just published. I hope it went through. Do you have Comment Moderation on? If my comment didn’t come through, let me know and I’ll try to rewrite it…
thanks!
Cyndi Lauper is so talented! I love her ballads, especially, and her voice is still strong. I see both comments here and don’t know why they’re not showing up for you. Must be a weird technical glitch. Arlee had a similar issue a while back. The site has been a little buggy lately. Sorry you got caught up in that! Comment moderation is only on for first-time commenters and that definitely isn’t the case, here. Thanks for your patience!
Sooooo coool!!! Oh I love Rod Stewart! I can’t believe you’ve seen him sooo many times! But yet that really doesn’t surprise me. You are a rock-chick after all…
You had good seats and got some fabulous shots! He had quite a few costume changes! I like all his clothes. Loved his suit during “Grace”. I’m glad you recorded him telling the story in the song introduction. Very moving!
I think my favorite Rod song is “The First Cut is the Deepest”. I can’t even remember what year that is from. But I could listen to that every day of my life!
Do you remember Rod reality show he had a few years back, with his ex wives and his entire extended families? I caught a few episodes and enjoyed what I saw. It must not have done well in the ratings because I don’t think it stayed on air very long. I can’t even remember the name of it.
Thanks for sharing your wonderful concert experience. Heading over to your battle now and looking forward to it!
Michele at Angels Bark
Hi Michele; I’m glad you enjoyed the post. Rod is one of my all-time faves, for sure. 😀 That video of Grace was a Youtube find and not actually mine. I chose it because he was telling the story behind the song. Isn’t it beautiful? ♥ Yeah, “The First Cut Is The Deepest” is also a beautiful song, from 1976. I remember that reality show, called “The Stewarts and the Hamiltons”. It starred Rod’s ex-wife and her (other) ex-husband, George Hamilton. Rod never made an appearance. Thanks for coming over! See you at the Battle.
We’ve seen Rod a couple of times now, the last one being the Heart and Soul Tour with Stevie Nicks a few years ago. He is coming to our area but the tickets were a little more than I wanted to spend right now. I have to have those up close ones, you know. He does look great for his age and puts on an excellent show. Thanks for sharing!
We missed the tour with Stevie Nicks. Last concert before this one was 5 years ago when his daughter was touring with him. She’s a real “chip off the old block” and has a good voice. I know what you mean about ticket prices! We like the close seats as well and they are getting really steep now. 🙁 Rod definitely doesn’t look 73! Thanks for coming by, Janet.
It’s great that you can see someone who is a real ENTERTAINER, not just a singer. Rod’s one of those guys for me you never realize how much you like him until you run down the list. I have heard Sailing a grand total of once ere now. A local station would play Girls Just Want To Have Fun’s
video every night at 10 PM like clockwork when she was just starting to drum up business.
Hi Chris; I definitely agree that Rod is a master entertainer. 😀 “Sailing” never made it as a single here, apparently, but it’s on the 1975 album, “Atlantic Crossing”. Cyndi Lauper has some beautiful ballads and can really belt them out!
Haven’t been to a concert in ages. Years ago I saw Cher and Cindy Lauper was the opening act if memory serves me.
Cher and Cyndi would be a great pairing! I’ve seen Cher several times over the years, but this was my first experience with Ms. Lauper. She was impressive! 🙂 Thanks for dropping in, Denise.