Live Review: Rod Stewart, James Reyne

To state the obvious, James Reyne is no stranger to the stage. Reyne has been constantly performing, touring and creating music in a 40-year career. We were treated to part of a catalogue of well-known solo and Australian Crawl numbers that have crawled into your brain and never left, like the indecipherable Hammerhead, Downhearted, Errol and Reckless. The ‘Crawl’ classic, The Boys Light Up provided a suitable finale to an excellent set.

There’s a certain charm about Rod Stewart. He’s no pin-up boy, but his history with the ladies is infamous. Although no Sinatra, he boasts a unique raspy tone that has aged well compared to some of his counterparts, especially when one considers he lost his voice for nine months after treatment for throat cancer in 2001.

Stewart declares that he’s in a good mood tonight and dives into It’s A Heartache, one of more than half a dozen covers from the evening. He boldly declares his version of I Don’t Want To Talk About It is the best and he’s probably right.

It’s his swagger and smooth talk that attracts not only the ladies but the men who sing every word of classics like Forever Young and Rhythm Of My Heart. His ‘Faces’ hit, Stay With Me, came with a bevy of soccer balls, kicked into the crowd by Stewart, who still has a decent boot on him.

On a ‘Hits’ tour such as this, there are always song casualties. No Handbags & Gladrags, no Young Turks, but Stewart is unapologetic, declaring he can’t play everything every night. He did have time, however, for obscure YouTube clips, but we forgave him when his heir apparent, four year-old son Aiden, joined him on stage during Baby Jane for a little boogie.

Tonight, at the ripe age of 70, Rod Stewart proved that music truly is the elixir of life as he continues his eight-date tour of the country.