Rockin' With The Rodfather

Jaded Insider just rode the subway into work with Ryan Adams, but that pales in comparison to the spectacle of seeing Rod Stewart live last night (Feb. 8) at New York's Madison Square Garden, surrounded by more grandmas than the giant fireplace at Cracker Barrel.

The self-proclaimed Rodfather, who turned 62 (!!) last month, had the overwhelmingly female crowd all hot and bothered from minute one, emerging from beneath the "in the round" stage in a black, sequin-y blazer and pants for "Tonight I'm Yours." And oh how he was. The video screens made sure to zoom in on his perfectly crafted pants bulge and admirably tight rear-end, presumably to inspire the audience to purchase such items as a Rod Stewart thong ($20) or an ever-so-weathered Rod Stewart night shirt, with a rendering of Rod circa '78 on the front ($45).

The music itself was often secondary to the genuine joy radiating out from the room. Women screamed, oohed and aahed and ran up to the front of the stage every time Rod got near. We even saw them re-applying their makeup and perfume in the hallway during intermission (best fan outfit: a 40-something woman with a T-shirt bearing a photo of herself, with Rod, on the front).

Stewart changed outfits five times, trotting out everything from a blue leather coat/red T-shirt/stonewashed jeans combo to some kind of red jacket that made him look like a Buckingham Palace guard. We don't have much nice to say about the getups the musicians were made to wear; during the first part of the show, the men had green plaid jackets on that appeared swiped from a Holiday Inn bellboy. For the encore, they came out in "stylish" sleeveless shirts, so as to rock even harder.

So what did he play? Well, you could probably guess. There was "You Wear It Well," "Lost in You," "Reason to Believe," "Infatuation" (J.I.'s favorite Rod song ever) and "(I Know) I'm Losing You" to start, then a cover of Cat Stevens' "Father and Son" (cue crowd sing-a-long on "Look at me / I am old, but I'm happy"). Before the encore, he dusted off "Every Picture Tells a Story" and even played acoustic guitar on "Dirty Old Town."

The second set was chock full of hits, from "The First Cut Is the Deepest," "Tonight's the Night," "Forever Young" and "Downtown Train" to "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy," which apparently Rod does not play every night (maybe only the nights he feels REALLY sexy). "Young Turks" still jolts us right back to the early glory days of watching MTV on the living room floor, and who among us does not enjoy a nice airing of "Maggie May?" Rod enjoyed it by lying on his back on the stage while one of the backing musicians stood over him and strummed out the famous mandolin lick near the end.

As the mock movie preview reminded at the outset, Rod had to "choose between kicking balls or kicking ass" as a soccer-obsessed youth in London. We think he made the right choice. And clearly, so do millions of music-loving grandmas all over the world.