Tonight’s the Night: Rod Stewart tribute to perform at the aquatorium

Local favorite Six Gun Sally will open for the main band.

Tonight’s the Night, a Rod Stewart tribute with some of the original members, will play with opener Six Gun Sally at the Monongahela Aquatorium this Saturday evening, as part of the Rockin’ on the Mon summer concert series.

Gates open for the show at 6 p.m., and tickets cost $10 per person. The venue will feature vendors for food and other items. Rockin’ on the Mon concludes the following weekend with beloved Pittsburgh band The Clarks, opened by Jacian Blaze.

Tonight’s the Night, a callback to the hit song of the same name, features singer Rob Caudill in addition to Carmine Appice, who previously drummed for Stewart, and Katja Rieckermann, who played saxophone with the original group. It began in January of this year and has been netting more gigs ever since. Appice said he loves playing with the other band members, including Caudill, who plays the part of Stewart.

Appice, originally drummer of the iconic heavy metal rock group Vanilla Fudge, was later a close collaborator with Rod Stewart writing, recording and touring with him all over the globe for over seven years. Appice was right by Stewart’s side during those years helping to write some of his biggest hits like “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy” and “Young Turks,” according to the band’s web page.

“I feel like I’m back with Rod,” Appice said. “His hair looks exactly like Rod’s. It’s definitely not a wig, I can guarantee you that. And he sings and runs around, he has the energy of Rod when I was with him.”

Shows last about two hours and contain all well-known hits, Appice said. Stewart’s music has remained universally-known over the years.

“Everybody knows these songs,” Appice said. “I’m not saying they know all of them, but they know some of them. They’ve been around and played on the radio, they were played on TV, played in commercials, played in movies, you know? Everybody knows something about Rod Stewart.”

The band will be opened by local favorite Six Gun Sally, who headlined at the aquatorium in late July. At that show, Artimus Pyle, previously of Lynyrd Skynyrd, joined Six Gun Sally, along with opener Bo Bice of early “American Idol” fame.

“Phenomenal,” Barbe said with a laugh as he recalled that show. “It was great.”

As per usual, Six Gun Sally will play a mix of covers and original music, including its latest track, “Fast Train,” which will be featured on an upcoming new album.

Barbe looks forward to playing the same night as Tonight’s the Night, he said.

“Carmine was one of my heroes from my old days when I was growing up on drums. I patterned a lot of my playing after him,” Barbe said. “It should be a great show.”