Rod Stewart, Dublin, review: He rolled out the hits and even some politics
A recent picture of Rod Stewart, who played 3Arena in Dublin on Friday. (Picture: Jason Kempin/Getty)
★★★★☆
Post-pandemic pick-me-ups don’t come more potent than Rod Stewart bashing out the hits. He last played Ireland in late 2019, mere months before the world closed down. Three years later, the now 77-year-old was back and remarkably sprightly as he hopscotched through decades worth of risqué rompers, all delivered with a wink and a nod by classic rock’s bad boy in chief.
“They say I go back stage for a rest,” he said, having dashed off to change into leopard-skin trousers midway through the first of two Dublin shows. “I’m not having a rest – I’m changing costume! I’m putting on a show.”
He was right about that. Surrounded by a quintet of statuesque backing musicians with uniform shoulder-length blonde hair – they could have called themselves the Stepford Jives – he kicked off with an impish cover of Robert Palmer’s 'Addicted To Love' (a song perfect absurd even without Rod’s rollicking rasp driving it on).
The mood from there was celebratory and bantering as Stewart cantered through 'Maggie May', his backing band reimagining the tune as a bluesy bop.
There were ballads, too. Stewart, now dressed in resplendent red, perched on a stool as he negotiated Mike d’Abo’s 'Handbags and Glad Rags' (he thinks his version is better than the Stereophonics) and Van Morrison’s 'Have I Told You Lately?'
There was the odd bit of politics. He saluted an image of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy during 'Rhythm Of My Heart'. 'Sailing' featured a tribute on the video screen to the late Queen Elizabeth II. The briny ballad was reportedly a favourite of the late monarch.
Stewart is a showman and raconteur and not averse to the odd helping of cheese. It was slathered on with gusto as the stools vanished and he and his backing singers stomped through the Las Vegas bop of 'Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?', the crowd singing along to its zinging synth line.
Though born and raised in London, Stewart is of Scottish extraction and a proud Celt. He revealed that he recently purchased a flat in Ballsbridge and later performed Frank and Seán O'Meara’s 1985 trad ballad 'Grace', about Grace Gifford who married 1916 Rising rebel Joseph Plunkett hours before his execution. Celtic wistfulness proved to be one more thing at which Stewart excels and he amped up the ennui when returning for the encore to bash out the aforementioned 'Sailing'.
“This is the last big tour for me,” Stewart told the Irish Examiner recently. Rock stars make those sorts of pronouncements all the time. But if it was the final curtain then this rakish victory lap was a send-off to remember.
