Holan, Dee and I went to the Rod Stewart/Santana concert at the Sprint Center. Before going to the Sprint Center we had dinner at The Flying Saucer. As usual all the restaurants were crowded before the concert. But we did get a nice table on the deck. The bus was parked outside of the Sprint Center as we arrived.

Santana opened the concert and played for 75 minutes. I think that it was about 60 minutes too long, but then that is just my taste in music. His band included six backup singers and a three-piece percussion section. Many in the crowd of about 9,000 were there to see Santana as much as Stewart. Most were on their feet, dancing, the whole time.

Stewart took the stage dressed in a sparkly aqua dinner jacket, and still bears his thick shaggy mane of hair.

Santana joined Stewart on stage for a cover of “I’d Rather Go Blind,” a song made famous by Etta James.

Stewart was supported by a large ensemble that included a five-piece band, three-singers and a three-piece horn section.For several songs, he enlisted a string section comprising seven local musicians. He left the stage a few times for wardrobe changes; during one of those, one of his singers capably performed “Proud Mary.” The stage had six video screens aligned along a larger, towering video screen. Throughout the concert, they broadcast archival images or videos of Stewart, including one of him playing soccer as a young adult.

For a guy who has been touring as long and as much as he has, Stewart, who will turn 70 in January, can still sing well enough. He can give a soccer ball a heavy boot, too, which he did more than a dozen times, launching them into the crowd as he sang “Hot Legs.”

He gave the crowd a chance to start “Maggie May” off, and the response was loud and emphatic. Like Stewart, that song has aged gracefully. The night ended with balloons falling from the ceiling as Stewart sang “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy.” Stewart sings it mostly tongue-in-cheek, although it was evident that some people think he’s still worth looking as well as listening to.