Sept. 27, 2019: Rod Stewart, Jeff Beck Concert Reunion
by Best Classic Bands Staff
Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart had an on stage reunion for their first concert in over 35 years, when they performed together on September 27, 2019, at the Hollywood Bowl. Stewart was a member of the Jeff Beck Group in the late ’60s until leaving in 1969.
For the celebratory event, billed as “Two Legends – One Night,” Stewart was dressed in an elegant evening jacket. The classic rock pair performed five songs together including such favorites as “People Get Ready” and “I Ain’t Superstitious,” which they recorded in 1968 with the Jeff Beck Group.
Watch several clips from the Friday night performance below.
Stewart, a two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductee, had revealed just weeks earlier that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2016 but is “in the clear now.” He had been on tour for much of 2019 and released You’re in My Heart with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, which arrived on Nov. 22.
Before he was joined on stage by Beck, Stewart did a 17-song set with his band.
Watch “Stay With Me”
“Put your hands together for one of the greatest… Jeff Beck!”
Watch “I Ain’t Superstitious,” which the pair have performed together many times, plus “Morning Dew”
Watch them perform Curtis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready”
Stewart apparently has another reunion in the works, with his former Faces mates, Ronnie Wood and Kenney Jones. In a 2021 interview, Jones says they’ve recorded songs and have plans to do some big concerts.
Beck is also a two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductee. He did five solo dates leading up the Hollywood Bowl event, and also appeared at Eric Clapton’s recent 2019 Crossroads Guitar Festival in Dallas, Tex. He was known to be working on new music which ultimately became 2022’s 18, a collaboration with Johnny Depp.
Related: Our Album Rewind of Beck’s Truth
Beck and Stewart performing “I Ain’t Superstitious” at the Hollywood Bowl on September 27, 2019
Beck released a 2016 Hollywood Bowl concert in 2018. Perhaps this reunion was also recorded.
Related: Our feature on 10 great Rod Stewart collaborations
The Jeff Beck Group made their American debut in 1968 opening for the Grateful Dead at the Fillmore East. That performance earned them a career-making review from Robert Shelton of the New York Times, saying: “The group’s principal format is the interaction of Mr. Beck’s wild and visionary guitar against the hoarse and insistent shouting of Rod Stewart… Their dialogues were lean and laconic, the verbal Ping-Pong of a musical Pinter play. The climaxes were primal, bringing the ‘big beat’ of the English rock school forward… (with) whimsy and invention and modernist games thrown in.”
Watch Stewart and Beck perform 1968’s “Blues Deluxe”
Beck died on Jan. 10, 2023. Several months later, on May 22-23, Stewart was among the many stars who performed at a pair of tribute concerts for the legendary guitarist.
Stewart continues to tour. Tickets are available here and here.
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3 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationShame there wasn’t Ron Wood on bass and without those cheap looking backing singers and percussionist!
Hang on. I was there, less than 35 years ago, when Rod joined Jeff onstage at the intimate El Rey in LA for a rather transcendent “People Get Ready.” So was Randy from the LA Times to confirm my recollection: https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/04/the-last-time-onetime-band-mates-rod-stewart-and-jeff-beck-appeared-together-on-stage-in-the-early-80s-after-their-elegant-c.html
First concert in over 35 years, Brad. Not just one song.