With Rod Stewart hinting this may be his last major tour performing some of his classic songs and that a move to playing swing music and songs from the great American songbook was a possibility, last weekend’s show at Newcastle’s Utilita Arena provided a suitably satisfying career retrospective for his fans.

Stewart, 77, still looks much younger and fitter than he has any right to and retains that unique, raspy voice which makes songs like ‘Maggie May’, ‘You Wear It Well’, and older Faces tunes like ‘Ooh La La’ sound timeless. It also allows him to put his own distinctive hallmark on other artist’s classic tunes.

The Northern Echo:

The aforementioned songs were all performed as were an extensive number of cover versions. Indeed, close to half the set were covers of other artist’s songs and he boldly chose to open with one, Robert Palmer’s ‘Addicted To Love’. While Stewart sang five glamorous backing singers swayed, strummed their instruments and vamped it up by his side in homage to the original infamous video.

Stewart stormed through a first half of the show mixing solo hits like ‘Young Turks’, ‘Forever Young’ and ‘Maggie May’ - complete with a beautifully done slower first verse - with covers of ‘Twistin’ The Night Away’, ‘This Old Heart of Mine’ and ‘The First Cut Is The Deepest’.

There was a heartfelt version of ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’ with Stewart lit by a lone spotlight which he dedicated to the late Christine McVie, who’d originally had a hit with the song way back in 1969 with her band Chicken Shack and, after a quick wardrobe change into a patriotic blue shirt and yellow jacket, he dedicated ‘Rhythm of My Heart’ to the people of Ukraine, ending with a salute to President Zelenskyy, and acclaiming “What a guy!”

An acoustic section had the singer and band sat together in a long line as they performed ‘Tonight’s The Night’, ‘Have I Told You Lately’, ‘I Don’t Want To Talk About It’ and ‘You’re In My Heart’, the latter performed to a backdrop of Celtic FC footage.

The Northern Echo:

A couple of covers were handled by the band - Blondie’s ‘Call Me’ and the Labelle hit ‘Lady Marmalade’ – giving Stewart the opportunity to nip off for wardrobe changes. We didn’t feel short changed by this as it gave his talented band and singers all chance to shine, and throughout the evening Stewart ensured everyone had their share of the spotlight.

After a final change and a long chuckle at an old photo of himself on the screen in his spandex finery it was disco time for ‘Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?’ and ‘Baby Jane’ before a mass singalong to ‘Sailing’.

Stewart can always be relied upon to deliver a satisfying performance and like the true pro he is, do it with panache, a sense of fun and with a twinkle in his eyes. If it transpires to be the last occasion that we hear some of these songs he certainly left us on a high.