Lightning Rod brightens up the Marquee
While he had a full 12 piece band that brought so much vitality to his entire catalogue, maybe the most powerful accompaniment Rod had was the crowd, whose singing along to classics such as 'The First Cut Is The Deepest', 'Maggie May' and 'I Don't Want To Talk About It' were powerful throughout. Photo: PLAY Creative Agency
WITH very uncertain weather all day, there were quips of "needing lightning Rods" and "we'll be sailing… home" but when Rod Stewart took to the stage last night there was in fact a rainbow over The Marquee, a signal of the golden performance ahead of us.
The first of his two nights in Cork, the intro music as his band entered the stage was 'Just Can't Get Enough', perhaps a nod to his career of nearly 60 years.
While he had a full 12 piece band that brought so much vitality to his entire catalogue, maybe the most powerful accompaniment Rod had was the crowd, whose singing along to classics such as 'The First Cut Is The Deepest', 'Maggie May' and 'I Don't Want To Talk About It' were powerful throughout.
Arguably the most poignant moment of the evening was when a large portrait of Tina Turner was projected as he broke into their duet 'It Takes Two', a fitting tribute to her was that it took all three of Rod's backing singers to cover Tina's part of the song.
While the weather hasn't turned into a deluge, the hits did keep on pouring such as 'Downtown Train' and 'Baby Jane'. The people of Ukraine and President Zelenskyy were highlighted with a montage during 'Rhythm Of My Heart' and his rendition of 'People Get Ready' featured a a series of photos of Martin Luther King, John Lewis, other moving references to the African-American Civil Rights movement and also Jeff Beck - his old bandmate in The Jeff Beck Group - and with whom he recorded a version of the song in 1985.
His beloved Celtic FC made appearances throughout on screen, inserted in song lyrics and his talk in between songs.
When 'Grace' began, every second phone in the crowd seemed to go up in the air.
Indeed the crowd took over from Rod at this stage, and it was a moment that we would have all happily let linger.
A song so loaded with emotional weight is hard to follow, but Rod Stewart has one final ace in his pocket with 'Sailing', which ironically nearly burst the canvas of the Marquee with the crowd's reaction to it. As I walked back into the city, people were still singing it as we reached the docks.
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