What's Happening, Vegas?: Rod Stewart and Bran Adams Concert MGM Las Vegas August 2,2008

Hello visitors to Las Vegas, Las Vegans and Rod Stewart fans!

I've seen Rod Stewart in concert twice in my life; once as a wild teenager in Michigan in 1984 and most recently as a middle age woman this past weekend in sin city. 24 years has passed since I last saw Rod. I'm 24 years older. Rod's 24 years older. His new wife isn't even 24 yet, or so we're lead to believe! Just kidding!
Rod's wife, Penny Lancaster,(model-photographer and mother to their son Alastair b.2005) is at least slightly older than two-and-a-half decades.:)

I think age is a somewhat justifiable topic to discuss since Rod Stewart's age gets mentioned practically every time he's mentioned. Yes, Rod's in his sixties. But he's as lively and as hot as ever! I enjoyed his performance slightly more than in the 1980's. Rod's had more material since then. Some people say "oh the new stuff is silly cover songs"

Well "Still the Same" has got some great covers of rock songs from the 70's that Rod has made his own. His "Great American Songbook" CD's have sold more than any other ongoing series of music. He's in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the US (1994) and in the UK(2006). He's got more confidence and there was more sentiment displayed with the visuals during some of the songs he performed than when I saw him in the 80's.

Despite throat problems a few years ago (thyroid cancer survivor since 2000) his voice is unaffected to my ears.

Despite his being in his sixth decade of life, I would compare his overall sexual energy to that of a man in his twenties. His persona comes across as a gentleman who is humble and appreciative of others.

I have loved Rod Stewart since I was a primary-school-age child. The very first 45 record I bought with my allowance was Rod Stewart's "Do You Think I'm Sexy?" My mother laughed and smirked at the idea that I purchased that sort of song with my allowance money. So when my friend and neighbor Francis called and said "I know it's last minute but I have an extra ticket for Rod Stewart tonight." It was off-to-the-closet-to-get-ready-in-a-hurry I went!

We arrived at MGM Grand arena about 8 PM, about half-way through the opening act.
Bryan Adams was the opening act and we were wishing we showed up on-time. The stadium was filled with fans enjoying what Bryan and the boys in the band were playing.

Our group managed to catch about 45 minutes of Bryan's performance and enjoyed it.
One of my best friends' wedding song is from Bryan Adams "Everything I do.. I do it for you." You might remember it from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves movie with Kevin Costner. Bryan Adams has that type of voice that contains just the right amount of gravel and raspiness but yet it's still clear enough that when he belts out the notes you can hear the words he's singing. His music is rough enough to be considered a rock but sexy enough that he's also considered romantic. His voice is still cracklin.

His show was great. Bryan Adams is an award winning photographer in addition to the Grammy and music nominations. We caught "Summer of 69", "Everything I Do", "The Only Thing that Looks Good On Me Is You," "Cuts Like a Knife," "Run To You,", "Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman," and "All For Love" a song Bryan did with Rod Stewart and Sting.

Bryan Adams has a new CD release "Bryan Adams 11." They performed a song from "Bryan Adams 11. I believe the song was titled "I thought I'd seen everything." See Bryan's web site for more info. about Bryan.

Bryan Adams will perform in New York's concert for Peace One on Sept. 9th and in London on Peace One day (Sept. 21st). Peace One day is officially on Sept. 21st. One of this year's Cannes Film Festival's film darlings "The Day After Peace" by film maker and Peace One Day founder Jeremy Gilley is a documentary about the day's events of Peace One Day. Jude Law, Kofi Annan, Annie Lennox, The Dali Lama, Angelina Jolie and Jonny Lee Miller are featured in the documentary film. The Peace One Day is an international day of cease fire with life saving workshops and other performances surrounding the idea of at least one day of peace can possibly lead to more days of peace. See the Peace One Day web site for more information.

Back to the show....well the show's review that is...

Review: Rod Stewart MGM Grand Sat. Aug. 2nd 2008

Rod Stewart draws ladies in the audience from all age ranges and the women drag the men to see Rod as well. The MGM Grand theatre was packed full. The audience was singing along in their seats to a library full of Rod's songs (in somewhat random order, this list may not be complete):

"Some Guys Have All the Luck," "Father & Son", "The Motown Song," "Young Turks," "The First Cut is The Deepest," "Maggie May," "You're in My Heart," "You're Still The Same," "It's A Heartache," "Loveshack- Rod's band and vocalists solo, "Forever Young," "Have I Told You Lately," "Downtown Train," "Hot Legs," "Do You Think I'm Sexy?", "Rhythm Of My Heart," and another one or two that I can't remember or verify.

At any rate the show was outstanding in-my-humble-opinion.

Some of the visuals were sweet, some funny and some sentimental.
During "Father and Son" there were sweet memories of Rod's late father Robert and photos of his three sons. During "Forever Young" his youngest son, Alastair was frolicking with a soccer(football). For "The First Cut Is The Deepest" there were some illustrations splashed on the screens. Rod mentioned that he didn't mind if people took photographs of him so why should the security be so upset. And that he's going to drop trou (trousers) later so get your cameras ready! LOL! Rod was also gracious enough to thank the audience for spending their hard earned money to come to see him perform during this economic recession. That type of humor and humbleness is extremely endearing.

Many people say Rod's music has digressed since his old rocker days. Maybe that is the perception since many of the cover tunes aren't strictly rock. Or perhaps it's because there are now four females in Rod's band. And there are three lovely female vocalists accompanying Rod these days. All I know is that since the beginning of Rod's career he's always had a fondness of covering songs. His first album featured a cover of The Rolling Stones. I can remember "You Keep Me Hanging On" back in the 70's. I'm sure if those critics gave it more thought they would agree that Rod's always had a way of covering other people's material out of admiration of their work and not as a gimmick or ploy to appease the masses.

While the crowd of an estimated 50,000 in Las Vegas this past Sat. night can't compete with the massive number of the world record of an estimated 3.5 million on New Year's Eve of 1994 on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janiero, Brazil that Rod Stewart performed to I must say that from what I witnessed Rod did make the majority of the crowd here stand up and applaud for someone who has earned their way into our rock n roll hall of fame's worth of performances. Rod kicked around the soccer (football) to the crowd during "You're in My Heart" and there were people in the crowd waving the flag for Celtic F.C (football club) since the club is mentioned in the lyrics. I was wondering if there was a minor conflict of interest between Rod and Bryan Adams since Bryan's song "We're gonna win" is dedicated to Chelsea's F.C. I'm sure those 'blokes' can put these trivial things behind them and manage to continue to tour together) Us fans need our raspy-throated fixes you know!

Rod Stewart continues to tour in the states until late August and ends this leg of his tour with a show in Puerto Rico.

Respect, Peace and Light
Xtine on the sin city scene