Live music events are nothing unusual in the Texan capital Austin, as the US metropolis of just under one million inhabitants has always been one of the hotspots for live music events, especially when it comes to country, blues and rock.
However, when a superstar like Sir Rod Stewart pays his respects to the city, it is something very special, even for Austin, which is well versed in live music. And the 80-year-old did not disappoint his fans at the sold-out Moody Centre. Rod and his band presented hit after hit for around two hours and took the 15,000 visitors on a musical journey through six decades.
The evening began - in this writer's opinion - with the best concert opener of all time: ‘Tonight I'm Yours’. The song was already part of the programme when it was released in 1981 and has lost nothing, absolutely nothing, of it to this day.
Musically hooked in this way, the fans in Austin were there from the very first second. They danced, sang along at the top of their voices and, of course, this spilled over onto the stage, where Sir Rod and his excellent band threw a big party. The second song ‘Havin’ A Party’ naturally fit like a glove.
‘Have You Ever Seen The Rain’, “Young Turks” and “Rolling & Tumblin” - in the first part of the show, the Brit really didn't give his audience a break. Only then did Sir Rod slow down the tempo a little with ‘The First Cut Is The Deepest’ and ‘Tonight's The Night’, before announcing a guest: ‘Ruby Stewart, my daughter.’ And the 37-year-old then took over the stage and presented the audience with a cover of Tom Petty's ‘Free Fallin’’, before performing the classic “Forever Young” together with her father.
Rod then let out his ‘Maggie May’ and immediately followed it up with the next 70s hits: ‘You Wear It Well’ and ‘I'd Rather Go Blind’. The cover version of the Etta James classic ‘I'd Rather Go Blind’ in particular is interpreted by Rod Stewart again and again in a very impressive way, demonstrating exactly what powerful singing the music legend is still capable of even in old age.
With ‘Da Ya Think I'm Sexy’ and ‘Downtown Train’, the band went into a short break before performing ‘I'm So Excited’ by the Pointer Sisters. Sir Rod returned to the stage in his new outfit and inserted a short, quieter part, which in Austin also included ‘If You Don't Know Me By Now’ and ‘Mandolin Wind’.
The band then rang in the final phase with ‘Proud Mary’, in which Sir Rod rummaged through his box of hits again and pulled out the 80s song ‘Some Guys Have All The Luck’, ‘It Takes Two’ and ‘You're In My Heart’.
The singer then said goodbye to his fans with ‘Hot Legs’: ‘Good night everybody’, Stewart called out to the enthusiastic audience and left the stage with a wave to the crowd.
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