Sir Rod Stewart staged a lavish singing tour at the Bell Center on Thursday in front of 13,000 already conquered admirers who drank all his words.
Despite all the visual impact and quarter-turn staging, the 78-year-old British singer took the time to fiddle with the corner of a chorus to show the stage’s natural beast.
MARTIN ALARIE / THE MONTREAL JOURNAL
If before the evening we felt we were hearing a wedding singer more sophisticated – and more importantly richer – than the rest, we have to admit that Sir Rod is no match to get the party started.
From the opening notes of the bagpipes in the introduction, the Bell Center was delirious.
And it continued with his cover of Robert Palmer’s Addicted to Love, embellished with a staging somewhat reminiscent of the sexism of the original clip.
Stewart announced right at the beginning that he would offer us no less than 24 songs. The already feverish assistant suddenly became hysterical. For good reason.
MARTIN ALARIE / THE MONTREAL JOURNAL
At first during “Infatuation,” his swaying youth didn’t give him the look of a singer who doesn’t assume anything upon return. No, he was having fun. Quite easy.
Staying with the theme of youth as a state of mind that has inspired him throughout his career, he linked Young Turks and Forever Young. In both cases it was a success.
When Rod Stewart reworked Maggie May’s arrangements with an incredibly simple intro, it was done to better show off his original instrumentation of the mandolin before the chorus. He even allowed himself to narrate the context of the lyrics from 1961!
Before announcing that he would be singing the song “Downtown Train” adapted from Tom Waits, he cheered up the audience by saying that they thanked him for this recovery that enabled him to buy a swimming pool for his children…
In addition, Rod Stewart wanted to serve us some versions throughout the evening, immersing himself in the repertoire of the artists he admires.
Without forgetting of course his own hits like “Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)” and “Some Guys Have All the Luck” (which is still a Persuaders tune) and “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?”.
Cheap Trick doesn’t give 100%
Before Rod Stewart took the stage, we were cold to the veterans of American power pop/hard rock: Cheap Trick.
After polite applause from the audience waiting for his rod, Cheap Trick’s show began to pick up steam with The Flame, the great slow beater of the late ’80s.
Small problem: Robin Zanders, the singer-guitarist, got stuck in his arpeggio in the intro and distorted significantly just a few seconds before the rest of the group joined in. Ouch!
Luckily, the band got straight on with killers like “I Want You to Want Me,” “Dream Police,” and “Surrender.”
Even if their ballads hum perfectly, Cheap Trick better stay down in front of a wall of amps. The boys must have said to themselves after their performance: “It wasn’t our best…”