I scored excellent seats for the Rod Stewart show in the Key Arena in Seattle last night and got a close-up look and listen to one of the great rock voices of all time. While Rod has chased the music of the era running from white blues to disco to pop rock to standards, the texture of his voice has never changed. He was in good form last night through 5 outfit changes and a five gallon bucket of hair gel.

The good:
- Rod’s Voice. Strong, textured, pleading, raspy. Didn’t really belt it out, but sounded good.
- Song selection: Lots of old stuff like Maggie Mae (encore), Losing You and the first song he recorded a solo in 1969 - Dirty Town. Some fun 80’s and 90’s stuff like Hot Legs, Tonight’s the Night, Young Turks. Rock Covers: First Cut is the Deepest, CCR, Van Morrison.
- Rod’s Rap: Had some comments and stories to tell to make it interesting.
- Rod’s Hair: Still the same.
- Screens and Old Pictures: Lots of screens with pictures of Rod and family throughout the years. Very nice touch.
- The Outfits: Such a Brit.
- Back-up singers. Three,fun, female black singers who cruised the stage and danced and sang.
- Our seats: 1st row off the floor. Nice!
- Size of the band: 3 guitars, 2 drummers, 1 bass, 1 keyboard, 1 hot blonde playing sax, 1 fiddle/mandolin player, 1 steel guitar and other instruments.

Not So Good:
- Rod’s Dancing: Cheezy, ass slapping schmaltz. Mick has got him so beat in this department.
- The stage: From the good seats, couldn’t see the other side and the other members of the band.
- Lead Guitarist: Not impressed.

Overall a very enjoyable evening and as much if not more than I was hoping for.

4 out of 5 stars.