“This is the smallest audience and the smallest stage I’ve played on in a long time…but my fee is still the same!” veteran British rock singer Rod Stewart joked at the onset of his Thursday night Tampa show. Performing for a capacity crowd of 1,500 concertgoers and appearing at the cozy, extremely intimate performance venue tucked inside the gargantuan Hard Rock Casino, this was clearly the tiniest hall Stewart has played in decades. A worldwide star who is used to playing arenas and stadiums, this night proved to be a rare treat in getting to see someone of Stewart’s magnitude in such a compact theater.
Kicking off not a minute after the advertised 8 p.m. start time, Rod the Mod gleefully sauntered onto the stage, donning a silver sequin blazer and shiny gold boots, amid a massive entourage of musicians. Starting on a high note, Stewart got the night started with his version “Having a Party,” a song originally recorded by his vocal idol, soul singer Sam Cooke. Slightly struggling to reach some notes and to wrap his vocals around each lyric like he’s been known for doing for the bulk of his career, the singer, who recently turned 78 years old, made up for his early vocal challenges by exuding his playfulness, sporting a beaming smile, and dancing and shaking at center stage. Met with raucous applause, Stewart, now a bit slower in his prancing and in showing off his moves, seemed right at home in front of the small but adoring audience.
Fronting a band made up of two drummers, three guitarists, a keyboardist, a sax player, and six gorgeous, statuesque female accompanists (backup singers and multi-instrumentalists) clad in sparkly, silver go-go dresses that matched the headliners threads, Stewart again joked that, with all these folks on this small a stage, an accident was bound to happen.
Plowing into a one-two punch of rockers from his vast 1980s catalog, Stewart followed the show’s opening number with crunchy versions of “Infatuation” and “Some Guys Have” All the Luck which pleased the sect of the audience who might have discovered the blonde (now graying), spikey-haired icon via his mass exposure on music video channel MTV in its heyday.
As the night wore on and his vocals warmed, Stewart’s performance gained steam and momentum. Sounding absolutely stunning and soulful for a sparse, unadorned version of one of his biggest ‘70s hits, “The First Cut is the Deepest,” Stewart was able to fully show off his trademark, raspy voice with only a violin, piano, and a harp accompanying him.
Plenty of mega-hits followed soon after; a gleeful version of his first worldwide smash, 1971’s Maggie May brought a huge portion of the crowd to its feet to sing along and sway in unison. In a tasteful nod to recently deceased Fleetwood Mac keyboardist Christine McVie, Stewart spoke lovingly about the late musician as a photo of her beamed on the large video screen at the rear of the stage. Recalling her previous role, pre-Mac, as a member of British blues band Chicken Shack, Stewart launched into a heartfelt reading of blues standard “I’d Rather Go Blind,” a song he covered in the early ‘70s and admitted to first hearing when McVie’s band covered it in the late 1960s.
Although that poignant moment was welcomed, it was curious that the same type of homage wasn’t paid to another recently deceased musical giant, Stewart’s own former bandmate, guitar wiz Jeff Beck. Instead, a brief nod was paid to Beck when Rod briefly mentioned him when recalling the fact that he’d covered Curtis Mayfield’s civil rights-era classic “People Get Ready” just before performing it.
Even more hits filled the evening’s setlist, which included an acoustic set that found the bulk of the large band seated at the lip of the small stage. Obvious selections made up that mini-set including seductive ‘70s hit “Tonight’s the Night” and the blockbuster cover of Van Morrison’s “Have I Told You Lately.” But, to Stewart’s credit and his ability to uncover deep cuts from time to time, the acoustic set’s obvious highlight (and the true showstopper of the evening) was an unexpected take on the melancholy 1975 single, “The Killing of Georgie,” a true-life tale of an old friend of Stewart’s, an openly gay man, who was murdered on the streets of New York City.
A few off-stage costume changes from the night’s star were filled in by his three leggy backup singers taking center stage to perform covers of Chaka Khan’s feminist anthem “I’m Every Woman” and Labelle’s sassy disco classic, “Lady Marmalade.”
The 95-minute performance ended with a single-song encore: a thumping version of the singer’s 1979 disco crossover hit, “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” which prompted more dancing from the audience and thrilled the mostly female patrons in the front row of the venue.
For many, including this writer, this was most definitely the smallest and most intimate Rod Stewart show ever witnessed. What’s still impressive about this musical veteran is that he can still entertain and thrill audiences, no matter the size of the hall, with his larger-than-life charisma and the infectious joy he regularly exhibits on stage. Preparing to embark on a stadium tour throughout Europe this summer, this night was truly a rare chance to see this legend in a club-like setting right here in our own backyard.