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JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS cap 'Ride for Life' fundraiser with bombastic set - REVIEW
from: lehighvalleylive.com
by Dustin Schoof | The Express-Times, Photo by Chris Post
JOAN JETT still loves rock 'n' roll.
The woman born Joan Larkin made that abundantly clear Saturday night during her return to Bethlehem with her band, the BLACKHEARTS, for the first time since rocking Musikfest in 2009.
Jett headlined the first night of the two-day Muscular Dystrophy Association's "Ride for Life" fundraiser event with a bombastic performance on the Levitt Pavilion stage at SteelStacks.
Still oozing the same cool and exuding the same feisty swagger she did when she was a teenager cranking out riffs as a member of The RUNAWAYS, Jett played to a packed Pavilion lawn, jammed with motorcyclists who participated in the day's ride to Bethlehem. (The Bacon Brothers performed in 2012.)
Wearing a hoodie and tight and shiny red pants, Jett -- introduced by 2013 MDA National Goodwill Ambassador, Bryson Foster, of Concord, N.C. -- and her band hit the crowd hard and fast with a three-peat of hits: the boisterous "Bad Reputation," followed by The RUNAWAYS' fiery punk rocker "Cherry Bomb" and then "Do You Wanna Touch Me."
Though Jett's voice, and for the most part, her music, have not changed much since her heyday in the early and mid-1980s, the new songs she unleashed did not sound dated; instead, coated in that same raw exuberance of her earlier material (a couple of power chords, some siren screeches and lots of distortion). New tunes such as "Make It Back," "Soulmates to Strangers" and the punchy, straightforward "T.M.I." could have easily been on any one of Jett's 80s efforts.
Jett took a moment to reflect on physically growing older and maturing but still having the mindset and spirit of a person in their 20s before launching into the song "Hard to Grow Up." She followed it up with spirited runs through "Fragile" and "Reality Mentality."
But it was the opening guitar crunch of "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" that sent the crowd into a cheering, sing-a-long frenzy, with Jett breaking out that familiar squealing guitar lead. She followed it with her borderline-ballad hit "Crimson and Clover," another crowd-pleaser, and the arena-tailored "I Hate Myself For Loving You."
Coming back on stage for her encore, Jett treated her fans to "A Hundred Feet Away" and a beefed-up cover of Sly and the Family Stone's "Everyday People" -- a fitting song to end a night that was not about missed chords or botched notes, but the strength to overcome.
Before the show, Bryson Foster, who suffers from Duchenne muscular dystrophy, said the event, MDA's 26th overall done in conjunction with Harley-Davidson's 110th anniversary celebration, was a good way to show MDA families that Harley-Davidson cares.
"It really is a great event for us to come out and see all the bikes and meet all really good people who are working for Harley-Davidson and get to see and meet who's putting this on," Foster said.
Foster, sitting in a customized Harley-Davidson wheelchair, said his favorite song is "I Love Rock 'n' Roll." "That's a good rock song, a good song when you're down in a slump or trying to get pumped up for something."
He continued, "I may not be able to a ride on a real Harley, I may not be able to drive a real Harley, but in my chair I'm in a Harley."
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