2023-10-05 06:16:00
Rod Stewart shone on the GEBA stage (Photos: Gustavo Gavotti)
It’s been almost two hours of the show and song number 23 in the repertoire is ending. This was what Rod Stewart had announced a while before, through translator, before the audience that he filled with GEBA and that had been waiting for him five years ago. The chords and breakdowns of “Sailing” disappear like waves in the sea and the applause resonates eternally. As an improvised encore, its three choristers, stellar figures throughout the concert, sing an a cappella fragment of “Don’t cry for me, Argentina.” Rod’s back is turned, and when he turns around, his eyes full of tears anticipate a goodbye with the smell of farewell, following having traveled more than half a century of career and gone through all the moods.
On the third South American stop of his world tour, the Scotsman offered a comprehensive show, from the musical, the visual and the emotional. With a stage large enough to accommodate 14 musicians, the immense background screen constantly dialogued with the songs and from the theatrical beginning of “Addicted to love”, to the memory of the Faces with “Ooh la la” or the improvised disco of “Having a party”, each image had a meaning to be interspersed with what was happening in the barely cool night of Buenos Aires.
Rod Stewart sang and danced before a crowd
Entertaining like few others, seductive like almost no one, Rod deployed all his resources, in keeping with the times and his 78 years too well lived. Singer at times, decision-maker at others, he relied on experience and stage craft to please an audience that celebrates everything. There was no lack of his usual pouting, like his hands in his pockets, his waist breaks, his short tapping. And when he thought it was necessary, he made the people sing in the most tribune choruses, like “Have you ever seen the rain”, the first big explosion.
As part of the dynamic play of a repertoire full of classics, Rod appealed to the resource of nuanced each of the versions. Thus, “It’s a heartache” sounded more fiery and acoustic, “Forever Young” accentuating the midtempo and nuanced with a zap, “Downtown train” even more underground with the prominence of the sax and “The first cut is the deepest” gained in solemnity from the introduction on the harp.
Rod Stewart sang and charmed for two hours
That Rod Stewart is a football fan is nothing new. It was reflected in the green-and-white Celtic shirts and scarves, the club he loves, the usual release of balls from the stage into lucky hands and, above all, the emotional performance of “You’re in my heart.” Here the singer congratulated us on the world championship and praised Lionel Messi, “my friend.” During the song, the screens exchanged images of Celtic with Montiel’s decisive penalty and the crazy celebrations in Doha and Buenos Aires. To top it off, he showed an AFA pennant and once once more received the well-deserved applause.
In a show without intervals, Rod left the stage three times to change his costumes, while the band showed off their versatility. The three backup singers excelled as frontwomen in “Lady Marmalade” and “I’m so excited” and the multi-instrumentalists naturally moved from violin to percussion or keyboards. The rest of the band – two guitars, bass, drums, percussion, piano and sax – kept a lower profile from the second line, however, each musician had their moment and Stewart made sure that they had the corresponding recognition.
The staging for the Rod Stewart show (Gustavo Gavotti)
During the concert, the Scot remembered two great performers and traveling companions who left us recently. The great blues “I’d rather go blind,” by Etta James, was in memory of Christine McVie in a timely black and white display. Naturally more festive sounded “It takes two”, which he recorded with the unforgettable Tina Turner back in 1990.
For the finale there were two of their great classics, which summarized the climates through which the show took place. First, “Da ya think I’m ́sexy”, more funky than disco, and then “Sailing”, which he embodied as the veteran captain of the high seas who moors in each port carrying his songs, his loves and his charisma. Then came the tears, the applause and the wishes for one more return.
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