Written by Dave Clements

I’m glad last night’s show wasn’t the night before as there was thunder & lightning in the air and lots of water falling from the sky, at least where I live.

Anyway, all that weather left the area of The Woodlands Pavilion the day of the show and was replaced by a beautiful cool Spring evening…one with a little crispness in the air and a lot of great music surrounding it!

And all that sound was from two artist that are from across the pond. The opener for the evening is from the UK and his name is Howard Jones.

I know the singer Tom Jones but didn’t know Howard Jones although I did remember a couple of his songs after his performance. His big hit was the early highlight of the evening for those that came in time to watch his performance!

No One Was To Blame could be heard echoing around the pavilion as it was being sung all around the nearly sold-out venue.

I must say that I found Jones very talented and engaging with the enthusiastic audience, many who were on their feet periodically during his set as well as Rod Stewart’s.

And speaking of Rod Stewart, actually Sir Rod Stewart, he put on quite a production and I make that statement with no consideration for the man’s age. Rod is 81 however based on what I observed he is a very young 81. He spent much of the evening on the move, back and forth across the stage with many dance steps in between and a twirl of the mic stand more than once.

I did notice that often during his time on stage he would turn his back on the audience. I don’t know the ‘why’ of this occurring but expect I will get the answer when I review the images I took of the show. (Let me speculate that it had something to do with the several young women who were part of the onstage production.)

Let me move on to his game plan for the evening. It goes something like this:

Have a great production that includes really nice lighting. Sing your many classic hits and add in some terrific covers. Wear really cool clothing that you would see if you performing in Las Vegas and have your ‘trade mark’ hair-do going on and it’s likely going to be a fun & entertaining night for the fans in attendance. That’s what we were dealing with this night. Did I mention it was a school night besides?  And bet there wasn’t a lot of concern being expressed about his age getting in the way of his performance.

In closing, Rod sang all my favorites including The First Cut, Forever Young, Tonight’s the Night & he covered The Temptations song Losing You…I am a big Temps fan!

In closing, the tour’s name is ‘One Last Time’ which would suggest the end is near. Nothing I saw on stage substantiated that idea. But if it’s true I am happy I got to experience Rod this night and photograph him as well! (Check my images out in the Photo Gallery)

Thanks for helping keep live music alive!

dwc