Rod Stewart

Although I do love music and I cannot imagine what life would be like without it, I am not one that goes to concerts often.  I never have been.  I will admit that I have gone to see the Beach Boys perform five times.  I have also seen Kenny Rogers in concert (way back in the 80’s when I really liked him).  Other than that  I cannot remember who else I may have seen in concert. 

Last year I really wanted to see Tom Jones in Las Vegas but it didn’t work out.  I used to love Tom Jones when he had his TV show back in the late 1960’s.  In fact, my very first record (yeah, we had records then, not CDs) was Tom Jones.  A couple of years after I got my record player, Tom Jones appeared in concert at the Cow Palace in San Francisco.  I lived in San Jose and the Cow Palace was definitely doable.  However, I had very strict parents and I didn’t drive.  I think I was about 14 or so.  The local radio station had a contest and I won two tickets to the Tom Jones show at the Cow Palace.  I told my dad and asked for permission to go.  He said no.  I already had the tickets.  I ended up giving them away.  The day before the concert, my dad changed his mind and said if one of my older brothers would drive me and stay with me, I could go.  The tickets had been given away to the friend of a friend’s sister or something like that.  So I didn’t go.  That’s why I have always had the desire to see him in concert, yet the opportunity has not arisen.

While I was out of town last December, my 22 year old daughter called me up to ask if I wanted to go see Rod Stewart with her because the tickets were going on sale the next day.  I have always loved Rod Stewart so I said yes.  I figured it was time to do something I would like to do and I had my daughter to go with me so I looked forward to it.  We got floor tickets for the San Jose show at the H-P Pavillion.  The show was on Thursday, March 15.  I had looked forward to it for all these months and we had planned to drive out early and stay in a hotel near the venue and take a cab to the show then come home the next day.  However, the week before the show, my daughter found out she had been scheduled to work on Friday morning and there was no one that could take that shift for her.  We ended up driving out there (2 ½ hours away), then driving home the same night. 

The show was great and the seats were even better.  We were about ten feet from the stage.  Rod did not disappoint.  He put on a wonderfully entertaining performance.  The show began with a group of bagpipers playing as the audience was being seated and before the curtain went up.  The we were treated to a short, humorous video called The Rodfather, which told the Rod Stewart story in the style of The Godfather.   Then… ROD!!!  And audience frenzy.  He put on two sets each a little over two hours.  The audience, probably fifty percent over 40, went crazy singing along and dancing in the aisles.  We heard all the favorites by Rod and some by his friends.  The two songs that hat the entire audience singing every word of the lyrics were Tonight's the Night (my personal favorite Rod Stewart song) and Maggie May (which was the song he sang for his encore).  I could not believe the energy Rod has, even into his 60's.  He kept moving all over the stage, playing to every part of the audience in the round.  He danced.  He teased.  He featured his musicians and his back up singers.  He was amazing.  The end came all too soon and no one wanted to leave, yet we had to.

I don’t know if I will ever catch Tom Jones in concert but at least I got to see Rod Stewart.  I don’t often have anyone to go to shows with so it was nice that my daughter wanted to go to see Rod, too.  I don’t know if anyone will want to see Tom with me if the opportunity comes up, but who knows?! 

If you get the opportunity, go see Rod.  He puts on a fabulous show.  I don’t think you will be disappointed.  He will touing in the U.S. for another two or three months then he goes overseas to continue the tour.