Rod Stewart is a twice inducted member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (solo in 1994, with The Faces in 2012), he has sold millions of records, been knighted, and achieved everything a musician could. It would be natural to expect him to slow down a bit after recently turning 81, however he still keeps a robust touring schedule, sounds amazing on stage, and most importantly, he looks like he loves every minute of entertaining a crowd. Rod Stewart brought the latest leg of his One Last Time tour to Mohegan Sun, for the third year in a row, and as always, packed the house and left everyone smiling.
Please scroll below for the MisplacedStraws exclusive Rod Stewart live photos and review.
The 2026 version of One Last Time kicked off in late February. In the handful of shows so far, Stewart has made a few adjustments to the set list. This show kicked off with a cover of the Robert Palmer classic “Addicted to Love”. Stewart has always paid tribute to those who influenced him and to his friends in the business. The opening song saw his bevy of female backing musicians donning the attire from Palmer’s classic video while Palmer’s photo displayed prominently on the screen. After the opening cover, Stewart and his incredible band launched into two of his own classics, 1972’s “You Wear It Well” and, from the following year, The Faces’ “Ooh La La”.
Rod Stewart is one of the great interpreters of other people’s work. Many of his biggest hits over his career were written by other artists, and his live shows have always featured lots of classic covers that he also saw tremendous success with, such as “Having A Party” (Sam Cooke), “It’s A Heartache” (Bonnie Tyler), “I’d Rather Go Blind” (Etta James), and many others. Stewart has a talent for turning these songs into his own, most don’t realize they are covers because his versions saw so much success.
Stewart, at 81, builds in a few breaks over the course of the 2-hour show. His female backing vocalists get to shine on their takes of “I’m So Excited” (Pointer Sisters) and “Proud Mary” (Ike & Tina Turner via Creedence Clearwater Revival). These spots fill what traditionally were the guitar, drum, keyboard solos and give these talented women a chance to take center stage.
All of the hits are played, “Hot Legs”, “Tonight I’m Yours”, “Maggie May”, “Forever Young” and many more, including a rare outing of “Mandolin Wind”. In a tribute to his late bandmate Jeff Beck, the setlist also includes the pair’s cover of The Impressions civil rights classic “People Get Ready”. That song holds a special place for me; the Beck/Stewart version from Beck’s 1985 record Flash was one of the songs that cemented my love of music, Beck’s legendary solo was a life-changing moment that made him my favorite guitar player ever. While it was great to hear Rod’s voice on this song, it did feel a little empty without Beck’s signature tone.
The monster hit “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy” ended the main set and had everyone singing and dancing. The customary soccer balls were launched into the crowd before the 2-song encore. The first encore, a cover of the O’Jays “Love Train” saw the arena flooded with giant inflatable balls before settling down for the last song of the night, Stewart’s 1977 cover of Cat Stevens’ “The First Cut Is The Deepest”. Stewart then left the stage with a simple “I don’t know when I’ll see you again”. Could this be the last run of the One Last Time tour?
Rod Stewart has been many things over the years, the mod, the rocker, the crooner, the elder statesman. I first saw him in August of 1989 when his Out of Order record was ruling the charts and the airwaves. Every time I’ve seen him has been different both in terms of the style of the show and how he approached the performance. For the past few years, he seems to have settled in into a Vegas-style review. Not quite the rock shows of the past, but still with enough edge to remember that Rod Stewart is one of the truly great vocalists of the rock era.
