Singing his heart out to an eighteen thousand strong crowd at Carrow Road in Norwich last night, Rod Stewart declared that after a writing drought for what seems decades, he is looking to write and record some of his own material. Stuck in a groove with the American Song Book collection and some other albums of covers, this news will come as a pleasant surprise to fans like myself who have been waiting a very long time for Rod to come up with some original material. I am sure we can all recall some of the classic Stewart penned songs such as ‘Maggie May’, ‘Stay with Me’ ( sharing the writing bill with old chum and partner in crime Ronnie Wood now with the Rolling Stones) and ‘You are in my Heart’.So how was the concert? Superb. Apart from some sound problems at the beginning which always seem to exist at his open air concerts, the gravel and soulful voice was both strong and elegant. Singing with as much passion as fans like me have come to expect I am sure after 2 hours of ‘hit after hit’ no one in the crowd was left disappointed. There were a few surprises. A cover of a blue’s track from a forthcoming but yet to be released album and also a rare outing of ‘Every Picture Tells a Story’ taken from the critically acclaimed album of the same name.
The man has soul and despite his ageing years, his enthusiasm and love for music and providing value for those finding the money to come and see him is unremitting. He left the Norwich crowd with smiles on their faces and no doubt a flood of many happy memories generated by his music which for many of his fans has become a soundtrack for their lives.
Rod’s next outing is at the end of June when he teams up with Stevie Nicks at the Hard Rock Concert In London - a taster I hope of what was on offer during his recent sell out tour in the USA.
