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TORONTO - Rod Stewart rarely had a dull moment Saturday night at the near-capacity Molson Amphitheatre, be they of the good or bad variety.
Stewart, now 63 and squeezing every last ounce out of his voice, had the generation-spanning crowd onside for most of the night with one loud singalong after another, at times letting them take the song over for him.
But even an 11-piece band was unable to hide some of the miscues that basically were the bookends to an otherwise very good 100-minute set.
Fortunately tossing aside the Great American Songbook idea that was a large part of his live shows for most of this decade, Stewart (known as The Rodminator in a small computer animated intro) opened with Some Guys Have All the Luck with the signature raspy pipes still present but far from pristine.
Telling the audience to sing, stand or dance in the aisles if they wanted to, Stewart continued with a cover of Bonnie Tyler's It's a Heartache. He also was dancing up a bit of a storm himself, stomping his foot or shaking his hips during the larger sounding Forever Young, which got the crowd far more enthused.
But early on he seemed to be fighting through some numbers, especially Downtown Train and First Cut Is the Deepest, which had him wiping his brow and that of his guitarist.
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The fact he can still perform, though, is surprising given how his voice was in peril after a cancerous growth was found on his thyroid gland back in 2000. That same voice isn't as powerful as yesteryear but his fine three female backing vocalists and the crowd helped him out repeatedly.
Following some feel-good tunes such as You Wear It Well and the Motown-leaning Having a Party, Stewart hit his stride with a cover of Cat Stevens' Father & Son, which is off Stewart's 2006 album Still the Same...Great Rock Classics of Our Time. He also nailed You're In My Heart with its sweet melody and timeless feel.
The one major hiccup was halfway through when Stewart, a bit gassed from the first half, left the stage for a quick breather while the supporting cast covered Love Shack by the B-52s. Nothing was added to the song which at its worst is nothing more than a '90s novelty tune.
Beginning the homestretch with Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright), Stewart then launched into the rowdy Hot Legs that managed to contain all the ragged, seedy feel of the original version of more than three decades ago. He also launched a number of soccer balls into the crowd as two female dancers appeared onstage.
It was after this that the show sputtered a bit during the fast-paced Young Turks. Starting out smoothly, Stewart stopped the song early on and seemed confused with his lead guitarist. It was either a case of the guitar solo going too long or the singer forgetting the lyrics, but either way it sadly sank despite starting back up again.
"Sorry ladies and gentlemen, we really f--ked that one up," Stewart said afterwards, clearly annoyed at what happened.
Nonetheless, Stewart had forgotten about it as did the crowd by the time the one-two combo of Maggie Mae and Da Ya Think I'm Sexy? rounded out the highlights.