Rod the Mod goes to Vegas and back to Newcastle.
I continue my search for the old Rod (the Mod) Stewart, as I have previously written about. Whatever twists and turns there have been in Rod’s career I know that deep inside of the guy there remains a 60s and 70s core that loves rock ‘n’ roll and soul music, and that his voice is still as gravelly, soulful and amazing as ever. And sometimes, in every concert I go to, that mod soul singer who loved Sam Cooke, the Isley Bros and football comes out, the years roll back, and all is good in the world again. I guess you realise by now that Rod is one of my heroes, and always will be. Period.
Well this time Rod has been showing off his wares in no other than Caesars Palace Las Vegas. I have spoken to two people who went to Vegas on holiday and went to see his show. One is a good friend and the other is one of my regular taxi drivers. They were both totally knocked out by the songs, his voice, the performance, the stage show, the band, the singers and the spectacle of it all.
And now Rod returns back to Newcastle, bringing some of Vegas with him. This is a big Vegas type show. The screens are massive, the videos superb, the backing band top notch and the girl singers range from rock through soul through gospel. This is a number 1 spectacle, with our number 1 hero out front. My carer Jackie loved it and we were both totally knocked out.
So Rod starts by taking us back to his roots with Sam Cooke’s “Having a Party”, followed by a few well-known hits performed in full Vegas style and then….Bam!….Its Faces time and “Stay with Me”, coming surprisingly early in the set, but very welcome nonetheless. A few more songs and another one I love “The Killing of Georgie”. A few more standards and then back to the roots we go again with Etta James, via Chicken Shack, and “I’d Rather Go Blind”. The old ones keep coming: “Reason to Believe” (bringing back memories of seeing Tim Harden so many years ago at Sunderland Empire), “Dirty Old Town” the Ewan MacColl classic. A few more songs and we are reaching the end. Rod leaves the stage while the band perform “She Works Hard for the Money”. Rod returns and sings “Baby Jane”, which I still love, “Sailing” (sorry Rod but I never did like this one), “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy” (do you really still have to sing this Rod?) And finally “Maggie May” and all is good again! I go home happy.
So once again Rod delivered. This time in true Las Vegas style. Until next time.
Setlist: Having a Party (Sam Cooke); Young Turks; Some Guys Have All the Luck; Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright); Stay With Me (Faces); Forever Young; Rhythm of My Heart; The Killing of Georgie; It Takes Two; Tonight I’m Yours (Don’t Hurt Me); I’d Rather Go Blind (Etta James); Rollin’ and Tumblin’; Going Home: Theme of the Local Hero (band only); Grace; Reason to Believe (Tim Hardin); Dirty Old Town (Ewan MacColl); I Don’t Want to Talk About It; Have I Told You Lately (Van Morrison); She Works Hard for the Money (Donna Summer; band only); Baby Jane; Sailing; Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?; Maggie May
‘Unter is back in town. The guy who has given me so many wonderful memories over the years. The guy who has rock and roll in his blood. Forgive me while I reminisce a little, but seeing 
Amazing. One of the best times I have seen him. The guy was pushing 80 at the time but still has more energy, passion and drive than many half his age. I bump into Pauline and Rob of Penetration, who are surprised to see me in my wheelchair and I explain my predicament. Another night of memories, to park in the Mott/Ian Hunter collection. Till the next time, Ian. Let’s hope it is soon.
The sixth formers would carry LPs under their arms to school. They played them in a little room upstairs in the dining hall at lunchtime. Sometimes, if I was lucky, they allowed me upstairs to their elite “Record Club” to listen to their new, magical, psychedelic sounds. The records they carried were badges of honour and included Frank Zappa’s Hot Rats, the Crazy World of Arthur Brown album, Cream’s Wheels of Fire, Tyrannosaurus Rex’s My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair, But Now They’re Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows, and 
Sure, Ian’s voice is not what it was and the old coat is gone, but the flute playing seems great and the songs remain as soulful, passionate, poignant and intriguing as ever. So we start at the very beginning (a very good place to start) with “My Sunday Feeling”; Track 1 Side 1 of This Was. This is followed by their first minor chart hit “Love Story”, followed by “A Song for Jeffrey” which is well known to all of us from the cheap compilation album You Can All Join In. Pure magic. The years disappear and the old songs flow over us all. These are followed by other classics from the first couple of albums. My favourites are the aforementioned “Living in the Past”, the magical flute solo which is “Bouree” and the spooky, almost scary “
“Don’t Get Me Wrong” was followed by “I’ll Stand by You” and then after a few more songs my mind was flashing back again to the first time I saw the band in the Mayfair with the Kinks classic “Stop Your Sobbing”. “Back on the Chain Gang” took us towards the end.
“And O how the sea she roars with laughter
On why he has decided to tour again, Harper said: “Partly because many of the things I wrote about in McGoohan’s Blues in 1968 are still very relevant 50 years later, and partly because my third record was a watershed moment in my recording life, it’s been long in my mind that I should dust it off and bring it on tour again.”
sing “I Hate the White Man” but, hey, you can’t always get what you want. Jackie my carer is now a Roy Harper convert, which is great. Me, I had a lovely evening, spent with an old friend.
The set comprises several blues standards, and songs from Mayall’s extensive back catalogue. The sound is somewhat laid-back, in the style of a Chicago blues combo with each excellent instrumentalist being given the chance to highlight their skill in an extended solo; including electric piano and harmonica solos by Mayall himself. That is the strength of Mayall. The man comes over as modest, happy and content to allow his band members to flourish, shine and excel and then move on to further their own successful careers; from Clapton onwards and Buddy Whittington himself being a recent example. There are quite a few songs I recognise and several I don’t; nonetheless I enjoyed the set, as did my carer Jackie, and continue to marvel at the legend that is John Mayall. His tiny guitar, which I have seen many times over the years, never ceases to fascinate me. Mayall finished the set with, what else but, his own standard “Room to Move” with much harmonica excellence on display. Long may he continue. Respect. Until the next time.
So many of my favourite bands are reaching their 50th anniversary now. It just shows how old I am. This was a night full of memories for me, taking me back to the early 70s. Andy Powell has continued to fly the Wishbone Ash flag high for all of those 50 years and arrived to a packed Hall 2 of the Sage, Gateshead and delighted the audience with two sets, spanning the entire Wishbone Ash catalogue.
old with my long hair blowing behind me and next to me is my sadly missed old mate Clive. The band may have changed over the years, but my memories remain, and to me the songs sound as glorious as they ever did. A few more great songs and the first set closes with another classic “The Way of the World”.
Jackie came along full of interest and left, a convert and a fan. I am having so much fun converting my carers into fans of classic rock bands! One omission: the epic “Phoenix”, but then you can’t have everything.
Setlist:
a kid, maybe 10 or 11, the public house over the road “The Colliery Inn” would sell off the jukebox copies of recent hit singles when they left the charts, or when the locals lost interest in them. My mates and I would regularly go to the side entrance of the bar, where there was a little hatch and ask the barmaid to look at the records. She would bring out a box of 45 rpm singles, each with their centres pushed out for operation in the jukebox. We would, with delight, look through the pile of records including The Rolling Stones, Small Faces, The Who and others. I can still smell the beer that wafted out of the bar; lovely! There were never many Beatles singles; someone must have held on to them. I remember buying copies of “19th Nervous Breakdown”, “Little Red Rooster”, “Have You Seen Your Mother Baby (Standing in the Shadow)” and “Paint It Black”. I had to buy plastic centres for the records in order to play them on my old record player. I would stack up the records and play them again and again; particularly “Paint It Black”. My lifelong obsession with the Rolling Stones began then.
A few years later, I was a young teenager sitting in awe in Newcastle City Hall in 1971, watching in disbelief at my hero Mick Jagger. I couldn’t believe that I was actually saying the Rolling Stones, in real life, in front of me! From then on, I have seen the Stones many times; joining 200,000 fans at Knebworth Park in 1976, many shows in football stadiums around the country, and more recently, concerts in London’s plush O2 arena and at the Glastonbury Festival.
Before my accident, buying tickets was very different, and much easier. I would go to my computer; a few clicks and I had my tickets! Ticket buying is very different now I need a wheelchair space. I need to locate the accessible phone line and phone that number, only to be put into a queue, listening to music until I finally got through to an operator. I am then allocated my spot in the stadium and a free ticket for my carer. Sometimes I could be in the queue for over one hour, hoping to get tickets. This is admittedly much easier than queueing for tickets which I did many times in the 1970s. I once queued 28 hours outside Newcastle City Hall to buy tickets for the Rolling Stones! The logistics of travelling to a major gig have changed since being in a wheelchair. I need to plan ahead carefully. I book an accessible taxi to the train station, accessible seats on the train and two hotel rooms (one disabled room for me, one twin room for my carers). I take two carers with me, for different shifts during the night. Booking the train involves phoning the accessible travel line and then another number to book train tickets. I need to arrive at the station early and look for the friendly guys with a ramp who assist me on to the train.
“Gimme Shelter “and (of course) “Satisfaction”.
Well it has been more than 30 years since The Maiden and I touched base. Too long. I have many happy memories of 
They enter the stage to the music of UFO’s “Doctor Doctor” (great choice and clearly setting out their influences) and then straight into a set which draws from their entire back catalogue, and heavily from their new album The Book of Souls. There are lots of songs that are new to me, but they all sound great and when they go back to the early days and “Iron Maiden” and the first encore “The Number of the Beast”, I am on familiar territory. I was expecting “Run To the Hills” and they don’t play it, but hey you can’t always have everything. They leave the stage to the music of Monty Python’s “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”, which about sums the evening and the whole experience for me. My carer, Alan, was a Maiden virgin but really enjoyed the whole thing. A great night with a great band. It was like meeting old friends again. I was back on the rock ‘n’ roll rollercoaster; in a wheelchair, but still rocking away. Happy days are here again.
So there I was, this time in the lovely surroundings of 
Is the Deepest” and then rolling back again to “Ooh La La”. After a few more songs, Rod took a break while the band and the great vocalists sang “River Deep Mountain High”. Then “Rod The Mod” was back to treat us to “Stay with Me”, his voice as strong as ever. Rod finished with the aforementioned “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” (do you really still have to sing this one Rod?), Followed by the crowdpleasing, singalong and lots of arm waving “Sailing”. Rod left the stage at this point and the band closed the show. Another great Rod experience, with glimpses of “Rod the Mod” still emerging now and then. My search goes on, and will continue to do so, as long as Rod continues to grace our stages.
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