We thought it would most likely be a scam. Tickets to see Rod Stewart and Jules Holland at Prism in Kingston. As avid Rod fans, none of us could quite believe it when a friend said she’d manage to pick up some £35 tickets to see the actual Man in the flesh. Apparently Rod Stewart and Jules Holland pop up’s were happening here and there. Prism was the nightclub of choice when my kids were teenagers and it was slightly every parents nightmare because there would inevitably be a drama. Some sort of fight or incident. So we simply could not believe that one of our musical hero’s was going to perform a small pop up gig for a select few. The venue is tiny – the stage minuscule – especially when you’re trying to squeeze on a whole swing band of over 15 people.
But. IT ACTUALLY HAPPENED! Last night at 6pm after standing at the front of the tiny stage for 45 minutes, there he was! We got a bird’s eye view. Of course he wasn’t singing Maggie May or The First Cut Is The Deepest or Sailing, but he did do a cover of Van Morrison’s Have I Told You Lately That I Love You….together with lots of other well known hits from back in the day. I wasn’t aware of his new album with Jools Holland – set to make an impression in the charts any minute and called “Swing Fever.” They did a variety of songs, all fairly ad lib and answered a lot of questions from the audience. Rod had obviously put together his dream team for his next project – which is in keeping with his voice, his age and his background. They were all having so much fun on stage and Rod and Jools seem to have a huge amount of respect for each other (and they both own MASSIVE train sets) so it was all a joy to behold.
One of the women who barged her way to the front had been to see him play 671 times. He introduced her to the crowd and we all cheered her commitment to the cause. They were both great and the bit I thought was impressive, given the size of the stage was that when other band members were doing their saxophone or guitar or piano thing, Rod would draw back into the shadows so as to let them have their moment of fame. Given all eyes were on him, I thought that was great.
We had the most wonderful time – it was only an hour long show, but we will remember it forever.
Obviously you are now going to get a photo dump. ENJOY!
He claimed to be nervous when he arrived on stage and that he’d never performed the songs live before…but I don’t believe it for a minute – as ever he was the perfect performer:-
