The Casino File
Recently, British classic-rock god Rod Stewart announced that his upcoming world tour (which, shockingly, doesn’t include Atlantic City — nor New York, Philly, Las Vegas or any other major U.S. city) would be his last due to what has been reported as heart-related issues.
“Ladies and gentlemen, after much deliberation and sadness, I have to announce that next year will be my last tour ever, ever,” Stewart said in a statement. “I’m not retiring, but this will be the last rock ‘n’ roll tour. So, I want to thank you for everything you’ve given me and hopefully I’ve given you something in return.”
When I read it, my thoughts went to the life Rod the Mod (or Sir Rod as the Brits know him) and I have shared the past 50-plus years.
I don’t mean in the sense of shared together. I mean that when I was in high school, Rod was one of the deities of rock ‘n’ roll awesomeness at whose altar I worshipped.
I’m going to skip putting on my critic’s chapeau and enumerating the reasons for my Rod fandom; suffice it to say he was a cherished part of my formative years, musically speaking.
Instead, let’s take a quick look back at Stewart’s local history. According to online research, he has performed here six times. The most historically significant gig was his Aug. 3, 1989 performance at the Grandstand Under the Stars, the al fresco concert venue erected by what was then Bally’s Grand Hotel & Casino on a lot across Boston Avenue from the gambling hall.
For two summers, (’88 and ’89) the Grandstand, which held 4,000 people, yanked the local gaming industry into the classic-rock era once and for all. To be sure, other casinos had occasionally booked those types of acts, but with some notable exceptions (e.g. Diana Ross, Frank Sinatra), rock music of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s ruled at the Grandstand.
Among the artists who made their local debuts there were Bob Dylan (in what would be the first of several local-casino gigs); Jackson Browne (who was memorably joined onstage by his buddy Bruce Springsteen, who, when he heard Browne was in Atlantic City, jumped into his vintage Corvette, headed south on the Garden State Parkway and joined him for a few tunes); the first (and very best) iteration of Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band and Neil Young. And Stewart was part of that little piece of show biz history in Our Town.
Of the shows Stewart subsequently did here, the one that sticks most prominently in my mind is the Aug. 22, 2008 show at Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa. The gig itself, if memory serves, was vintage Rod, part sweaty rock ‘n’ roll workout, part glitzy show-biz extravaganza and part house party. And that made it, as always, a lot of fun. But not for Rod:
Late into his set (can’t recall the exact song), Stewart abruptly cut the piece, motioned to the band to stop playing and then angrily started cursing at some unidentified audience members. A minute or three later, the house lights went up, and with no explanation, the program was finished.
But a source who witnessed the entire episode up-close told me a little later that evening that Stewart had taken offense to some high-rollers sitting close to the stage who were apparently more interested in what each other had to say than in what the star of the show had to sing. To him, it was a brazen display of rudeness and disrespect, and he felt he didn’t have to put up with it.
His most recent local address has been Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City, where he’s performed three times (most recently on March 7). I saw him there on Feb. 22, 2025 and am happy to say he was every bit as cool, entertaining and downright fun as he was at Philly’s old Spectrum more than a half-century ago.
Bottom line: Rod Stewart was a popular and dependable act who did exactly what he was hired to do: Bring well-heeled baby boomers through the doors of our casinos and entertain them. He unfailingly did it with style and panache — and a trunk-full of beloved songs — and he’ll be missed going forward.
For Woodside it’s Westward ho!
In a slightly related note, the guy who brought Stewart to Hard Rock the past few years has left the building — and the rest of New Jersey.
First as vice-president of marketing at Borgata and then as entertainment vice-president at the Rock, Michael Woodside was one of Our Town’s best and brightest. Throughout his tenure, he brought to his respective properties an inordinate number of top-shelf acts, from the classic (Santana, Tom Jones) to the soon-to-be-superstars (Sebastian Maniscalco and the bluegrass wizard Billy Strings).
Beyond his job, Mike has always been what they used to call a “class act” and, on a personal note, someone who was always willing to accommodate this pain-in-the-posterior columnist when such accommodation was required on his part.
To answer your next question, Mike’s headed to the Nevada desert to join the executive team that will open Hard Rock’s outpost on the Las Vegas strip next summer. There, he’ll reunite with Joe Lupo, under whom he worked at both Atlantic City properties.
To say we wish Mike (and Joe) the best of everything would be a most-extreme understatement.
Chuck Darrow has spent more than 40 years writing about Atlantic City casinos.
