More than twenty years have passed since the first time the Cap Roig Festival filled this bucolic corner of the Costa Brava with music, which last night seemed free from all problems, including the heat, as it prepared to open a new edition with Sir Rod Stewart as Master of Ceremonies. The British artist arrived at a space that he already knew from his performance in 2016, and he did it with charged batteries after summoning 12,000 people in Madrid, within a tour briefly called The hits.
At 78 years old, and with the half-made decision to step away from the stage to dedicate himself to jazz and swing, Stewart is not here to beat around the bush or do experiments. That is why he appeared before the more than 2,000 people who filled the bucolic stage of Cap Roig (all sold out, like this Sunday with Sebastián Yatra) as only the author of Young Turks or Maggie May can do, a quarter of an hour late and wearing a glittering leopard print jacket as he surrounded himself with five showgirls, all pretty, in stockings and heels. The quintet played the bass, the guitar and the eighties keytar while Robert Palmer’s Addicted to love sounded, the first of many versions that played this Friday in a display of good form by Stewart.
It is not that the veteran rocker remains the same as in his younger years, obviously. Like other artists of his generation such as Bruce Springsteen, Elton John or Paul McCartney, Stewart adapts his performance to the passage of time, limiting his movements and giving more prominence to the band, which sometimes takes command while the protagonist of the evening changes costumes. Despite everything, he maintains that air of an undaunted flirt, cocky pose, blond hair thrown up, unbuttoned shirt sporting a Celtic gold pendant and tight jeans, a dress that would put any 70-year-old man in trouble, unless he knew getting on stage to interpret Oh La La with that torn voice that he still preserves, together with the sense of humor that keeps him from being ridiculous.
The Cap Roig audience believed so, applauding all the songs he performed accompanied by a band of 11 members, the men dressed in black with a white jacket, the women with polka-dot skirts, white blouses and shiny heels. Stewart gave away rock moments like Sweet little rock’n’roller, or an appropriate Forever young, well stocked with Scottish bagpipes and a choral dance by the female group while the protagonist changed his shirt. There was also room for ballads, which he performed sitting next to the band, all on stools at the edge of the stage. They played songs like Tonight I’m yours, The first cut is the deepest, or Tonight’s the night, chanted by the public. Although none was as heartfelt as People Get Ready, the piece he composed with the late Jeff Beck, a reminder that was played with Stewart sitting on the edge of the stage.
The attendees, aged from the middle of the table up, remained attentive although without making a big fuss about a performance that could well be the last meeting with their long-standing travel companion who reserved a finale of a pyrotechnic party started by the band playing Lady Marmalade with female voices to continue with the Baby Jane scene, which got the entire audience on their feet to continue with the ineffable Do ya think I’m sexy, with balls being thrown and Stewart swaying (which gives her body) and moving her butt facing the public. All that remained was to say goodbye in the best way, with the sailor cap on and sailing towards the nearby –and calm last night– Mediterranean Sea with Sailing.
