Dave Battah’s Rod Stewart tribute is known as the best in the business – “downright scary” and “uncannily like the real Rod Stewart”, says the Blacktown Sun, an Australian newspaper from where Dave was touring, last summer.
“I’ve been performing all my life,” says Dave. “In 1990, I took my girlfriend to see Rod Stewart at the Bamboo Club in Toronto and I was invited backstage to meet the band because they noticed the close resemblance that I had to Rod Stewart. Back then, it was the tribute acts that were getting all the work, and my idea was to begin a Rod Stewart act to help finance my other music, working with ‘original’ bands. I put the act together with Toronto musicians and immediately we were off touring – right off the top. And with the success that I had with the show, it just ‘took over’ other things”
Dave’s taken his Rod Stewart show all over the world – Canada, the U.S., Australia, the Middle East and Asia. He's played Las Vegas and has played for the military in Egypt, Israel, Cyprus, Bosnia, Haiti, the North Pole and Afghanistan. “At night, in Kandahar, we’d play in front of 3,000 troops every night for three nights in a row. They’d ship them in from all the outposts and we’d have a new crowd every night. I remember the sand there was so much like dust, it made our light show look great,” he said, with a laugh.
Dave uses a number of musicians for his shows in various parts of the world. Since Dave and Carlo from Powerhouse are close friends, it was suggested in the spring of 2003 that Powerhouse learn his show and back him up whenever possible. The band had been doing their Chicago tribute show for many years now, and since they write all
SONGLIST
Maggie May – 1971
This Old Heart of Mine – 1975
Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright) – 1976
Hot Legs – 1977
You're in my heart – 1977
So Ya Think I’m Sexy? – 1978
Young Turks – 1981
All Right Now – 1984
Infatuation – 1984
Some Guys Have All the Luck – 1984
Forever Young – 1988
Dynamite – 1988
Have I Told You Lately – 1991
Sweet Soul Music – 1991
Having a party – 1993
Having a party – 1993
I Only Have Eyes For You – 2003
Don't Get Around Much Anymore – 2003
... and many more
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their own arrangements, within a month, the band had added a Rod Stewart Tribute act to their repertoire.
In the time that Dave has toured with Powerhouse/Chicago Transit, they’ve performed to the east as far as the Gananoque Festival and Kawartha Downs in Peterborough, locally at Roy Thomson Hall and the Riverrun Theatre in Guelph, Fort Erie Racetrack, to the east in Windsor at the Capitol Theatre, the Lobster Fest and the Dragon Boat Races and as far north as the Bay Mills Casino and Resort on the southern shore of Lake Superior in Michigan, U.S.A.
“Playing with the Powerhouse show at any outside festival – like when we played the Festival of the Islands in Gananoque in front of 10,000 people – it’s very powerful (no pun intended). And each show is ‘untoppable’. I always think that the next show is going to be such a drag because we’ll never do better than that – and every time, we do.”
“It’s really great to do this character because of the wide variety of styles [in his music]. In the early days it was mostly rock, but now the show is a variation of ballads, R’n’B and various other elements. I try to give the audience the effect that they’re at a Rod Stewart show in the late 70’s, early 80’s.” And with the 8-piece Powerhouse band behind him, that’s exactly what he does.
You can find write-ups of the band’s travels with Dave at these locations on this website:
** We suggest that you turn off the video above, first (if it's still going) as each of these pages also has music. **
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The ROD STEWART SHOW Stage Plot and Input List (above and below) are also available in improved resolution, downloadable ppt (Microsoft Powerpoint) and pdf (Adobe compatible) versions by clicking HERE or by contacting the band at cdn_musicman@hotmail.com
