Rod Stewart/James Reyne

07.04.2015 Brisbane Entertainment Centre

This is a show of two halves. Rod Stewart is the big name on the marquee. James Reyne is the ‘support’ act. Reyne has been under going something of a renaissance of late. It’s strange, because he had been playing killer gigs with his band prior: but now people are paying more attention. Consequently, the venue is 90% full by the time Reyne hits the stage a little after 8pm. Black sheets are draped over Rod Stewart’s gear. The sparse back drop recreates the look of the ‘Fall Of Rome’ video clip by default.

Reyne kicks into his first ‘solo’ hit, the aforementioned, ‘Fall Of Rome’. The band are already at full tilt. Reyne is flanked by guitarists Brett Kingman and Phil Ceberano. Australian Crawl alumni John Watson pounds the skins and Andy McIvor on bass rounds out the rhythm section. ‘Slave’ is next and it’s obvious that Reyne isn’t here to play B-sides and album tracks. He’s got forty-five minutes, a full PA at his disposal and a killer set list. He doesn’t disappoint.

‘Beautiful People’ is three songs in and it’s like ‘are you kidding? … this is sublime’. Reyne has impressed a lot of people with his stripped down acoustic sets: but it doesn’t touch what he can do here with a full band playing the guitar parts that are now almost imbedded in our shared experience. ‘A song about a shark’ (‘Hammerhead’) follows. Then it’s an acoustic ‘Downhearted’ that blows out into a full band affair. ‘Reckless (Don’t Be So)’ is terrific. Kingman plays Simon Binks’ original guitar part to perfection. It’s one more ‘solo’ hit, ‘Motor’s Too Fast’, before a quartet of Australian Crawl classics. ‘Errol’, ‘Oh No Not You Again’ and a barnstorming ‘Things Don’t Seem’ lead into the unofficial encore, ‘The Boys Light Up’.

Reyne’s band were screwed on the lights, but the sound was top notch. With the ‘box’ for a good night out already ticked, ten minutes later the lights drop and ‘The Theme From The Magnificent Seven’ blasts out. Rod the Mod has arrived. It’s a party. It’s a party with a lot of nostalgia, and before he’s finished his first tune, you’re already thinking ‘how does he look and sound so bloody good at that age?’ Rod’s obviously got a portrait that does the ageing for him in his loft and maybe a deal was done at the crossroads, and he’s still in fine voice. The misery of ‘The Great American Songbook’ is forgiven. Rod is here to play ‘The Hits’.

‘Having A Party’ opens the set. The staging is big and bold. Large screens are used throughout. This is a set that razzles and dazzles with a phalanx of lights, costume changes and very pretty people playing all manner of instruments. To his credit, Stewart doesn’t scrimp on musicians. Bonnie Tyler’s ‘It’s A Heartache’ is appropriated with a certain glee, and then there’s his own masterworks ‘You Wear It Well’ and ‘Tonight’s The Night (Gonna Be Alright)’. Rod has been swapping tunes here and there to keep the set fresh. Brisbane misses out on ‘Young Turks’, but we do get a rather perfect cover of the Faces’ ‘Ooh La La’.

At one point Rod thinks he’s in Adelaide, but that’s kind of cool and a very rock and roll thing to do. Stewart has the rare ability to keep his audience in the moment with the power of his performance and then call on nostalgia to heighten the impact of the material. An acoustic set takes place at the foot of the stage and Stewart lets us know that there’s no miming or fakery here.

Some of his late period FM staples don’t resonate well with this writer, but it’s hard not to be seduced by the likes of Cat Steven’s ‘First Cut Is The Deepest’ and ‘You’re In My Heart’. By the final furlong Rod is kicking soccer balls far and wide – occupational health and safety be damned! The Faces ‘Stay With Me’ gets an outing followed by the mighty ‘Maggie May’. His take on the Sutherland Brother’s ‘Sailing’ brings the night almost to an end. The curtain dropped, and then it rises quickly to reveal the full ensemble, all front and centre, with Rod in a leather hat about to belt out his disco classic ‘Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?’ Before he starts there’s a Rolling Stone (magazine) cover shot from back in the day on the screens with a quote where Rod admits that singing such a song at ’50’ would be ridiculous. He’s had the last laugh.

Sean Sennett