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JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS keep the rock fires burning at Penn's Peak
from: Times News
For those who really love Rock'n'Roll, it's hard not to have a place in your heart for JOAN JETT.
Jett and her band, The BLACKHEARTS, are among the truest purveyors of rock these days, and their performance at Penn's Peak Saturday night demonstrated they intend to keep the fires burning.
Arriving on stage to the strains of The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again", Jett and company ripped through a 20 song set of her greatest hits, plus a surprise or two.
It's hard to believe it's been over two decades since "I Love Rock'n'Roll", Jett's signature song, topped the pop charts in 1982. She continues to dish out the same anthemic fare to this day.
]Joan now sports a short, punkish blonde hairdo compared to her black mane from the '80's, but the leather-clad rocker hasn't changed her plan of attack onstage, playing her white Gibson Melody Maker guitar and pumping her fist during favorites such as "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)".
While Jett had recorded some classic rock with The BLACKHEARTS, the band is even better live. The woman rock critic Dave Marsh once hailed as "the female Chuck Berry" is a commanding stage presence, and judging from Penn's Peak, her singing is better than ever.
The current version of The BLACKHEARTS is up to the task of keeping up with Joan's high energy performance, whether it's whipping through power chords or switching to punkier, uptempo numbers.
Spiked haired lead guitarist Dougie Nickels provided the punch, while the rhythm section of former Hanoi Rocks bassist Sammy Yaffa and long-time blackheart drummer THOMMY PRICE laid down a rock solid foundation.
KENNY LAGUNA, Jett's long-time musical partner, chipped in on keyboards and backing vocals. Laguna, incidentally, has a CD anthology out called ]Laguna Tunes] which features some of the artists he has worked with over his many years in the music business, including Darlene Love, Tony Orlando and Righteous Brother Bill Medley, as well as some lesser-known projects.
Jett's set opened like a house on fire, beginning with savage renditions of "Victim of Circumstance" and "Cherry Bomb", the best-known song from her days with the all female teen-band The RUNAWAYS in the '70's.
Joan has a penchant for cool cover versions, and that was showcased beginning with "Light of Day", the Bruce Springsteen-penned tune that was the title track from the 1987 movie in which she starred with Michael J. Fox.
Other notable covers were her hit versions of Tommy James and The Shondels' "Crimson and Clover and Sly and the Family Stone's "Everyday People", as well as The Modern Lovers' "Roadrunner"; and Iggy Pop's "Real Wild Child".
Joan also tossed in her rocking cover of "Love is All Around", the theme from the Mary Tyler Moore Show, and as an encore, added a fast paced reworking of "Science Fiction Double Feature" from ]The Rocky Horror Picture Show]; Joan played Columbia in a recent Broadway production of the long-running cult hit.
"The Sweet Life", a newer Jett/Laguna song that's the theme from an upcoming film, showed promise.
Jett also worked in "Love is Pain", "Rubber and Glue", "A Hundred Feet Away", "Long Time" and "Androgynous", as well as another one of her theme songs, "Bad Reputation."
Saving the biggest hits for last, The BLACKHEARTS bashed out "I Love Rock'n'Roll", "Crimson and Clover" and "I Hate Myself For Loving You", capping a performance that proved JOAN JETT's iconic appeal remains intact.
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