ROD Stewart, the raspy modfather who revitalized his career and won a Grammy singing “I’m in the Mood for Love,” has returned to his rock roots.
On the eve of his gig tonight at Madison Square Garden, dubbed “Rockin’ in the Round,” Stewart wonders out loud, “What do they see in me?”
“They” are the women who’ve helped him sell out nearly every date on his current tour. Fat ones, skinny ones, stunning models and housewives – all who answer “yes,” when he sings the question “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?”
Just a few weeks ago, at a Florida show, a stampede of women actually rushed the stage. “I haven’t seen anything like this since the ’70s,” Stewart muses. “It was really quite amazing.”
He adds, “I look at myself in the mirror first thing in the morning and last thing at night, and I don’t get it – but I’m glad they do.”
There was a time, Stewart recalls, when he would reciprocate his female fans’ attentions. “In the old days, I would’ve rampaged through the audience at each show to find my blonde for the evening – nowadays all that’s just water off my back.”
The reformed ladies man who still thrills girls lowers his voice for emphasis: “Just to let you know, I’m madly in love with Penny.”
And as if to prove it, Stewart is settling down again (for the third time) later this summer, with his fiancée, Penny Lancaster.
“My fiancée is such an understanding woman,” he explains. “She never gets jealous because she’s very secure and she understands that women are part of the business I’m in.”
Lancaster usually watches her man from the audience, but on this tour she’s recovering from surgery. “She’s in hospital in London. She’s just had a back operation,” Stewart says.
“I’m so nervous for her. I think she’s OK, but I’m not used to being without her,” Stewart says.
“I wanted to be at her side, but she insisted that I do all my scheduled shows. She said she didn’t want the fans to be disappointed.”
But after his Garden gigs (tonight and two more on Wednesday and Feb. 21), he’ll be heading straight back to the U.K.
“I’ve hired a private jet – at vast expense,” the otherwise frugal Scot says. “After the show, I’m taking off at midnight and flying straight to England to be at her side.
“This is also about our son,” he continues. “He’s just a baby, and he doesn’t have his dad, and his mum is in the hospital, and he’s panicking, feeling a little bit abandoned – he’s only a year old, and he doesn’t understand.”
At his New York shows, Stewart will highlight songs from his current album, “Still the Same . . . Great Rock Classics of Our Time,” but will include fan favorite “Maggie May.”
This, unfortunately, is his weak spot. “I can never get the words right,” he laments. “I don’t even try to anymore. I’ve sung it thousands of times, and the last line in each verse always gets messed up since they don’t rhyme.”
But he doesn’t really seem to mind. “I now sing what I want to, and nobody seems to notice.” Still the tune is magic. “What I love about that song is the audience reaction. To see how they enjoy it makes it all worthwhile. That’s what I get up onstage for.”
