Review: Rod Stewart at RAC Arena

Rod Stewart at RAC Arena
w/ Cyndi Lauper, Jon Stevens
Saturday, March 11, 2023

Sir Roderick David Stewart is oddly underrated both as a songwriter and for his influence on rock and roll’s 70s heyday. His latter-day reputation as a crooning balladeer belies just how cool the former Faces frontman once was.

His close lineage with the Rolling Stones, and particularly Ronnie Wood with whom he co-wrote much of his best material prior to Wood joining the Stones in ’75, cannot be underestimated. Rod Stewart‘s influence on rock is up there with the greats.

Which made the funny old setlist he brought to RAC Arena for the opening night of perhaps his final Australian tour, all the more baffling. Where were the rockers that challenged the Stones for the 70s’ best swagger? Stay With Me, Hot Legs, Every Picture Tells a Story? The tender, lyrical ballads he staked his credibility on such as the ahead-of-its-time hate crime tale The Killing of Georgie or epic coming of age story I Was Only Joking?

Yes he’s 78-years old, and no one expects him to have the moves like Jagger, but Sir Mick’s Stones never disappoint in terms of playing their best tunes.

Putting aside the number of covers that most in attendance could've taken or left (Lady Marmalade? Really?), in fairness, Rod the Mod's always been fond of reinterpreting the songs of others. His The First Cut is the Deepest is more signature than the Cat Stevens' original. “You'll love this one,” he jested to the crowd just before he played it, and it was undoubtedly a standout.

But his own Maggie May up next was even better. The mind-blowing stage set up came to life with lyrics flashing across what must have been 20 screens to ensure one of the night's biggest singalongs. Stewart's voice was in agelessly fine form. It was the only song lifted from his 1971 album Every Picture Tells a Story, also his best record.

Originals such as this were few and far between but invariably they went down a treat. You Wear it Well from 1972 kickstarted the show properly after an odd homage to Robert Palmer's Addicted to Love opened the night, complete with dancing girls miming on guitars.

(This showmanship walked a fine line between kitsch and exploitative all night as Stewart's love of talented, much younger women was never in question… half of the 12-member strong backing band were virtuoso singers, strings and harp players who also just happened to be extremely attractive, very young women. What else would you expect from Sir Rod?)

Another Stewart composition, You're in My Heart (The Final Acclaim), garnered perhaps the loudest singalong of the night.

These moments where the crowd got involved worked best. Tonight's the Night sat nicely alongside his well-known interpretations of I Don't Want to Talk About It and Have I Told You Lately, in an acoustic section that made up some of the night's best moments.

His other highlights mostly came via political dedications to civil rights activism, and notably his tribute to Ukraine in support of their President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was pictured on-screen alongside his war-torn country during an epic Rhythm of My Heart. It was a special moment, and in one of his several costume changes, Stewart even performed in the blue and yellow of Ukraine's flag.

The finale of Da Ya Think I'm Sexy? and Sailing featured some impressive visuals and brought the Vegas like-spectacle to a fitting conclusion. But it wasn't the first time we'd heard Sailing that night.

The first came as a brief interlude during Cyndi Lauper's inspiring support set. As moving as it was full of spunk, Lauper's punk spirit shone through in a tartan suit and the best dance moves of the night (at 69, she's still got the “she bop”).

All the hits were there from I Drove All Night to Time After Time to True Colours, but it was the reappropriation of her biggest hit into Girls Just Want to Have Fundamental Rights that really stole the show.

Part of an pro-choice trilogy that also included Sailing and Sally's Pigeons, footage of pro-choice rallies were littered across the screen turning an 80s feel-good number into the political statement it always was deep down. This reviewer was admittedly left teary by its power and timeliness in light of Roe v. Wade.

Jon Stevens made it a trifecta of great acts with huge Vegas-like production, smashing out the hits of Noiseworks and INXS to an ample early turn out (the Arena was as packed as we've seen it since prior to Covid). His tenure in INXS may have been brief, but his version of Never Tear Us Apart was simply electric as he called out “God bless you Michael!” at the song's conclusion.

A festival for adults that featured excellent lights and visuals all night, and no acts getting the “support band treatment,” it was a raging success by any measure. If it is the last time we see Sir Rod sailing to our shores, we'll remember him, appropriately, as one of the great showmen.

HARVEY RAE

Photos by Linda Dunjey