If your mom lives in Huntsville, now you know what to get her for Christmas. Rod Stewart, one of rock’s greatest singers/frontmen and pretend boyfriend to millions of women of a certain age, has announced a 2025 concert at Orion Amphitheater.
Known for his raspy soulful vocals, hits like “Maggie May” and “Hot Legs,” and a way with super-hot blondes, Stewart last performed in Huntsville in 2001, at the Von Braun Center.
Stewart is scheduled for April 17 – that’s a Friday – at Orion. Tickets go on sale to the general public 10 a.m. November 14 via theorionhuntsville.com. Info on presales at axs.com.
Ticket prices range from $59.50 to $199.50 plus fees, according to a rep from concert promoter Live Nation. Howard Jones, whose hits like “Things Can Only Get Better” helped define ‘80s synth-pop, is the support act.
Now 80, this year Stewart proved he still has it during his excellent show at Birmingham’s Coca-Cola Amphitheater. The British musician first gained notice singing with Jeff Beck Group, guitar legend Jeff Beck’s late ‘60s blues-rock band, whose members also included future Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood on bass. Jeff Beck Group’s riffy swagger, as heard on Howlin’ Wolf cover “I Ain’t Superstitious,” preceded Led Zeppelin taking that recipe to megabucks.
In the early ‘70s, Stewart and Wood, spiky haired and proboscis brothers-from-other-mothers, formed another band. Called the Faces, they were also comprised of musicians formerly of mod stars Small Faces, after their frontman Steve Marriott quit and formed hard-rock band Humble Pie.
Faces’ sound ranged from booze-boogie, as on their signature track “Stay With Me,” to rogue balladry, like the Wood-sung “Oh La La.” Decades later, Atlanta band Black Crowes would Xerox the Faces’ sound for multi-platinum sales.
While still a member of Faces, Stewart launched a solo career. Leaning into his folk and R&B roots, this era produced classic albums like “Gasoline Alley,” “Every Picture Tells a Story” and “Never a Dull Moment.”
Stewart’s smash ‘70s songs range from “Maggie May” redux “You Wear It Well” to Cat Stevens cover “The First Cut Is the Deepest” to disco-rock gem “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?“.
In the ‘80s, Stewart savvily adapted to that decade’s neon aesthetics. This produced hits like “Young Turks,” “Infatuation” and “Some Guys Have All The Luck.”
As late ‘80s turned to early ‘90s, Stewart continued to scale the charts. See, Tom Waits adaptation “Downtown Train,” Tina Turner duet “It Takes Two” and Sting/Bryan Adams collabo “All for Love.”
In the aughts, after an album of covers of artists he’d influenced, including a rollicking take on Oasis’ “Cigarettes & Alcohol,” Stewart rebranded as a standards crooner. A “Great American Songbook” series showed his rakish vocals malleable in surprising new ways.
Stewart has been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice. As a solo artist in 1993 and with Faces in 2012.
In recent years, there’ve been reports of Stewart and Wood working on new Faces material. Or at least repurposing previously unreleased Faces tunes. But so far, classic rock fans are still waiting with fingers crossed.
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