MUSIC REVIEW : Stewart Gives S.D. Crowd a Sampling of His Whole Career : Concert: Showmanship, versatility mark long-lived rocker’s ‘Vagabond Heart Tour’ stop at San Diego Sports Arena.

SAN DIEGO —  For the sake of accuracy, the “Vagabond Heart Tour” that brought Rod Stewart to town over the weekend should be renamed the “Storyteller Tour,” after 1990’s four-CD career retrospective. At least in his San Diego show, Stewart barely acknowledged his latest album, “Vagabond Heart,” instead hop-scotching through a catalogue of familiar hits and older album tracks that gave an enthusiastic Sports Arena crowd of several thousand their $25 worth.

The Scot-Brit rocker, who gained fame in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s by building a rock ‘n’ roll bridge between Sam Cooke and the “Highland Fling,” was backed Friday night by an 11-piece band that included a violinist-mandolinist, three horns and two singer-dancers. True to his eclectic nature, Stewart performed a two-hour show that was as generous in its variety as in its length. Love ballads, vintage electric blues, soul classics, trendy pop, saloon rockers, disco--Stewart mixed them together like a shrewd deejay aiming to push all buttons in a cross-generational crowd.

Stewart has always been more showman than shaman, and this extravaganza popped its cork in a fashion that demonstrated he has lost none of his renowned sense of fun. Prior to concert time, a bagpipe and drum corps serenaded the gathering from the arena floor before disappearing behind the billowing red, white and blue vertically striped curtains hiding the stage.

While the house lights dimmed to a recording of Monty Python-ish marching band music, the curtain rose on a stark, white stage (complete with white instruments and microphone stands), and an invisible emcee announced Stewart’s arrival in the manner of a circus barker. Dressed in a silver lame dinner jacket and black tie, the rockin’ soccer aficionado observed a personal tradition--dating back to his early ‘70s gigs fronting the Faces--by kicking a ball into the cheering crowd.

Stewart foreshadowed the tenor of the evening by opening with a slightly updated version of his most famous tune, “Maggie May,” thus instantaneously creating a bond with the throng that never loosened. This was followed in quick succession by fervid renditions of the new album’s “Rhythm of My Heart,” 1974’s “Sweet Little Rock ‘n’ Roller,” 1984’s “Some Guys Have All the Luck,” and Tom Waits’s “Downtown Train.”

Early on, the singer seized tight control of the concert’s execution and pacing. A few bars into “Some Guys Have All the Luck,” he waved the band quiet and said, “I’d like to start that one again, ‘cause we (screwed) up.” Minutes later, Stewart raised the possibility that Friday’s set list deviated from others on this tour by announcing that he was changing the order of the songs. I’m not sure if anything was eliminated outright, but of the show’s 22 tunes, only three were from “Vagabond Heart,” and one of these was saved for the second encore.

Judging from their response, the audience was perfectly happy to hear the old warhorses. They leaped to their feet for the lusty crunch of “Hot Legs” and sang along on 1976’s medium-tempo ballad, “Tonight’s the Night,” which Stewart introduced with a confession.

“You know, I now regard the ‘Tonight’s the Night’ video as one of the worst pieces of . . . I’ve ever seen,” he said, laughing. “Funny how time catches up to you.”

It sure does. While Stewart remains a magnetic performer, at 46 (he’ll turn 47 on Jan. 10), he’s less given to the frenetic, boozy theatricality of his days with the Faces. Stewart stands in place more, and where he once prowled the stage like an alley cat in heat, he now meanders with the languid grace of one of Siegfried and Roy’s geriatric tigers.

For the Stewart of the ‘90s, show-biz flash is limited to costume changes, which had the singer slipping offstage during instrumental solos to don suits of hot pink, canary yellow, black with white polka dots, and one abstract-expressionist ensemble. The upshot of this decrease in manic shenanigans is that Stewart has more time for music, and the program he assembled for this tour took full advantage of it.

After strong performances of the 1988 rocker “Lost in You” and two mood-changers--Curtis Mayfield’s hymn-like “People Get Ready” and his own poignant “Forever Young”--Stewart introduced “an homage to some of the greatest soul singers of the ‘60s.” While video screens on either side of the stage flashed images of James Brown, Otis Redding and others, Stewart and band ripped through a medley that included Arthur Conley’s “Sweet Soul Music,” Wilson Pickett’s “In the Midnight Hour” and the Bar-Kays’ 1967 instrumental, “Soul Finger.”

That might have proven the highlight of the evening, if it weren’t for the segment that followed. An upright piano was rolled out, and Stewart and band sat in a row of chairs facing the audience. Semi-acoustic readings of the medium-tempo ballads “You’re in My Heart” and Cat Stevens’s “The First Cut is the Deepest” led to a rock ‘n’ rollicking interpretation of an early Muddy Waters tune. Then, Stewart and the fiddler were left alone with the pianist for a lush, hushed cover of the late Tim Hardin’s elegant ballad, “Reason to Believe.”

After that, almost anything would have seemed a letdown, and unfortunately Stewart made that a reality with his 1978 nod to disco, “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” By performing this odorous ode, which should have been deep-sixed years ago, Stewart underscored just how determined he is to deliver a comprehensive career anthology on this tour.

Thankfully, spirited versions of the Isley Brothers’ 1966 hit, “This Old Heart of Mine” and his new album’s tribute to that sound--”The Motown Song”--restored the show’s integrity, and an encore featuring Cooke’s “Twistin’ the Night Away” and “Broken Arrow,” also from the new album, sent fans home satisfied.