Rod Stewart Newcastle Arena 7th Dec 2005 The Great American Songbook tour
By 2000 Rod Stewart was a massive world wide star, having sold over 100 million records worldwide. In 2002 his career took a change in direction as he began to record 1930s and 1940s pop standards from the “Great American Songbook”, written by songwriters such as Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and George and Ira Gershwin. Although this met with great popular success, giving Rod the same level of album sales as he enjoyed during the 1970s, it was also met with disappointment and dismay by those of us who still held memories of Rod the Mod and Rod the Rocker, and of those great Faces concerts. So when I decided to go along to see Rod perform some of these classics in 2005, I feared the worst. The first half of the concert was a standard Rod set (good 🙂 ), with the Great American Songbook” reserved for the latter part of the evening. So in the first part of the show we got Rod, complete with his band, playing his normal sort of stuff. There was then an interval and for the second part of the show Rod donned his tux and was accompanied by a “Palm Court” type orchestra. The show was slick, and yes I had to admit that the songs are classics and that Rod delivered them well, but it still didn’t feel right. 
However the “Songbook” part of the show was, in the event, only five or so songs, and it was then back to more traditional Rod (relief), some (I think) with the orchestra, and the later songs (Maggie May, Baby Jane) with the band. I spent the second part of the evening wandering around the rear of the arena, viewing the show from different vantage points. For me this was a strange event, which I still have mixed feelings about it. I enjoyed it in parts, but there were other times during the night where it just didn’t feel right.
The setlist will have been something like this (Rod varied the set from night to night)
First set: You Wear It Well; This Old Heart of Mine; Young Turks; Sweet Little Rock & Roller; Every Beat of My Heart; Tonight I’m Yours; Downtown Train; The First Cut Is the Deepest; Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright); Reason to Believe; Hot Legs; What Am I Gonna Do (I’m So in Love With You); I’m So Excited; Have I Told You Lately; You’re in My Heart.
Second set: I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm (Irving Berlin); They Can’t Take That Away From Me (Gershwin); Blue Moon (Rodgers & Hart); As Time Goes By (Herman Hupfeld); A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (Maschwitz & Sherwin); Pennies From Heaven (Johnson & Burke); I Don’t Want to Talk About It; It Takes Two; Twistin’ the Night Away; Having a Party; Rhythm of My Heart; Sailing; Maggie May / Gasoline Alley; Baby Jane
10 Jul
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