Hollywood Revive (LA Express LAX-001/2)
Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, CA – August 30th, 2004
Disc 1 (74:58): Scottish introduction, Forever Young, This Old Heart Of Mine, Some Guys Have All The Luck, Addicted To Love, Young Turks, Rhythm Of My Heart, The First Cut Is The Deepest, Downtown Train, Betty Davis Eyes (Ruby Stewart), Brass In Pocket (Ruby Stewart), Stay With Me (Ronnie Wood), Every Picture Tells A Story (Ronnie Wood), You Wear It Well (Ronnie Wood), I’m Losing You (Ronnie Wood), I’d Rather Go Blind (Ronnie Wood), Proud May (the band only)
Disc 2 (71:36): Hot Legs, It Takes Two, Reason To Believe, You’re In My Heart, introduction, As Time Goes By, They Can’t Take That Away From Me, The Nearness Of You, Bewitched Bothered Bewildered, Tonight’s The Night, Have I Told You Lately, The Way You Look Tonight, Pennies From Heaven / On The Sunnyside Of The Street (band only), Maggie May / Gasoline Alley (Ronnie Wood, Ian McLagan), Having A Party (Ronnie Wood, Ian McLagan), Twistin’ The Night Away (Ruby Stewart on vocal, Ronnie Wood, Ian McLagan), Ooh La La (Ronnie Wood)
Whereas some artists shy away from the obvious hits, Rod Stewart loves them as much as his fans and embraces them. The set for the 2004 tour is an extravaganza featuring his solo hits, tunes from his recently released American Songbook CDs, his daughter Ruby singing a few tunes and, in Los Angeles, a semi-Faces reunion with Ron Wood and Ian McLagan.
Hollywood Revive is a one-off release for LA Express featuring an excellent stereo DAT recording of the entire concert. It was issued soon after the actual concert to capitalize on the rare Faces appearance, but serves as an excellent compendium of Stewart’s career and 2004 tour.
The show begins with pre-taped Scottish bagpipe music used to set the mood before “Forever Young,” serving as Stewart’s mission statement. After “This Old Heart Of Mine” Stewart tells the audience that “we have somewhat of a extended show. Almost one and a half shows. So I hope you brought your sleeping bags. It’s gonna be a long show so enjoy.”
Stewart dedicates “Some Guys Have All The Luck” to Robert Palmer, who passed away September 2003. This song segues into Palmer’s 1986 hit “Addicted To Love.” After “Downtown Train” Stewart introduces his seventeen year old daughter Ruby for covers of “Bette Davis Eyes” and “Brass In Pocket.” The latter is a horrible song but the which was a modest hit for The Pretenders. It’s a horrible song, but they do interesting things in the arrangement. “I’m very proud of that girl, as I am for all of my five children” Stewart boats before introducing “my best mate and my younger brother, Ron Wood. We’re gonna do a few things from the past. Right Ron?”
They play a little Faces set starting with “Stay With Me.” Wood screws up the guitar horribly. The song is lackluster but Stewart describes it as “pure magic” afterwards. “Every Picture Tells A Story” fares much better and afterwards Stewart jokes that “I think the two of us have had the same haircut for forty years.” A raucous version of “I’m Losing You” closes out the first “Faces” mini set.
Esther Nickelson sings a powerful version of “Proud Mary” to Stewart’s praises of her talent. The first half of the show closes with a series of solo hits concluding with “You’re In My Heart.”
After a fifteen minute break the show starts up again with four songs from the American songbook: “As Time Goes By,” “They Can’t Take That Away From Me,” Hoagie Carmicheal’s “The Nearness Of You” and “Bewitched Bothered And Bewildered.” He follows with an original song “Tonight’s The Night” and his cover of Van Morrison’s “Have I Told You Lately” which was a hit for him in 1993. “The Way You Look Tonight” and “Pennies From Heaven” with Nickelson again on vocals close out the “songbook” set.
Ron Wood and Ian McLagan come back on stage for the second “Faces” set starting with a medley of “Maggie May” with “Gasoline Alley.” The latter, even though it’s taken from Stewart’s second solo album in 1970 was co-written with Wood.
The show comes to an end with several party inspired tunes “Having A Party,” “Twistin’ The Night Away” with Ruby on vocals, and Wood singing “Ohh La La.” It’s a fitting end to what is a unique show. It’s one of the few brushes we’ve come to having a Faces reunion and, since the full blow reunion that was expected in 2009 never panned out, makes this tape all the more valuable and worth having.
