|
All news is attributed to the source from which it was received so that readers may judge the validity of the statements for themselves.
Have Joan Jett news to report? Email us at jettfc@aol.com, and please include the source of the information so it can be validated.
No Jett Sweat in AZ - Just Good Music
from: rawknroll.com
Photos by: Blaine Skender
Review by: Lisa Rodriguez
"One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain" – Bob Marley
There is undoubtedly an inherent, invisible power in music; you can’t touch it but you can feel it. Not only can it affect our emotional lives, in some belief systems, it can even affect the weather. And tonight in an obscure field in the middle of rural Phoenix, JOAN JETT and her BLACKHEARTS worked us over on all counts, bringing both the rain and emotional rawknroll into our lives.
Arizona hadn’t had a drop of rain in over 140 days; so for the local farming community, this was a good thing. For people like me in flip-flops and beach garb, well-it sucked completely because along with the rain, came the freezing cold; a disastrous combination for an outdoor show.
Make no doubt about it—this reviewer loves nothing more than to see Jett in the flesh, but along with that pleasure came a general sense of being uncomfortable. It wasn’t the music, like Stevie Ray Vaughn once sang; I just couldn’t stand the weather.
Another peculiar thing about this show was the nature and name of it-The Ostrich Festival, which is based around the rural ostrich farming community in Chandler, AZ. Basically, if you like to eat ostrich or use their body parts for practical reasons; this was the fest for you. For me, this was another potentially disastrous combination knowing beforehand that if I got anywhere near an Ostrich that was there to be eaten or plucked, I probably would have ended up taking it home as a pet.
But tonight there were all kinds of personalities in the wasteland and while some people I met were specifically there for Jett, others had driven all the way out from CA just for the ostrich. I mingled with both just the same. As for me, few artists could have lured me into a desert wasteland on a freezing cold night, with JOAN JETT being on the top of that short list of about three.
I'd arrived about 10 minutes into the show. It actually started on time. I think that was a first time for me to witness rawknroll as being punctual to the exact minute. It actually startled me to find the band three songs into their set at 8:10pm. "Light of Day" hit the ear canals like a long lost old friend. With a backdrop of lit-up carnival rides and ferris wheels, a 1000 or so people had huddled in front of the stage- a relatively passive crowd or perhaps one that was just too cold to move.
The band around Joan these days is a bit younger, at least up front on guitar and bass. Longtime musical partner, KENNY LAGUNA, sits near the back on keyboards lending a helping hand as the song warrants. I'm curious to know if it was Jett’s idea to add Laguna to the live show. Given their long history together, it was nice to see this duo together. Much as one reads of reunion tours with so few original members together, knowing that relationships in the business can last as long as this one is a refreshing thing to see.
Clad in her trademark black leather pants and a homeboy’s hoodie, Joan’s playfulness didn’t fall flat on the audience; they seemed to eat up every minute of it. At times, she looked more like a baseball player taking full leads off of first base, with her hands on her thighs bent over watching the audience as if they were about to throw the next pitch. She is definitely not a shoe-gazer; she’s highly animated and interactive with her audience. Everyone in her band is a seasoned pro who could probably perform just the same blind-folded.
Outwardly, Jett looks like an adorable tom-boy but only one who can kick your ass, if need be. I’ve heard people say, "Don’t fuck with JOAN JETT, she’ll confront your ass." And while there’s no doubt in my mind that Joan can hold her own and is not one to mince words, I suspect there’s much more to the dichotomy of Jett than her exterior toughness. When the layers are stripped, I can sense an incredibly soft and even vulnerable side to her. One moment she was singing about obsessive sexual desires and having rough sex and the next she was addressing inward introspection and about making herself vulnerable to another on Naked, the title track of a record that was released only as a Japanese Import "Every bit of truth that I let perish Every little bit of me is naked, I am naked now, I am naked now, I am naked now.."
I suspect Jett’s upcoming album, SINNER will introduce this side of her more in depth than any other recordings before it. She debuted a couple of songs from it; one song that stuck in my mind was AC/DC. Though I can’t remember the lyrics, the hook for me was a line where Joan accuses a lover of being in the arms of both sexes. Another one was Five, a song she co-wrote with Kathleen Hanna from Bikini Kill/Le Tigre. Both songs were radio friendly rawknroll and reflected that signature glam punk rock sound Jett can be counted on for.
As for the set list, all the standards were there except for a few twists and turns for what seemed to be like a lot of first time Blackheart viewers in the audience. I noticed this when one woman working in the beer garden mentioned that she wasn’t aware that Jett covered the Mary Tyler Moore theme song Love Is All Around. The band ended with a 3 song encore, including "I Hate Myself For Loving You" "Wild Child", and a rousing version of the Sly and the Family Stone classic, "Everyday People." There was an abrupt stop and re-start of I Love Rock N Roll, when Jett insisted they start over again about a minute into the song.
Although the freezing cold weather was a major distraction for me, I eventually stopped caring about it. "Shit--damn, I’m so effin cold" was probably the only thing that came out of my mouth for the first few minutes of the show. But once the music hit, there was no pain. Like a drug, it made it all disappear. I stopped noticing how cold it was as the band played on. They were the drug that I needed to be on.
JOAN JETT is a trooper for standing up there—of this I am convinced. Even though you could hear the cold affect her voice and knew her fingers were frozen, she was still ON.
I’ve seen Jett perform many times, in many different scenarios throughout my life; I’ve watched in shock as sold out stadium audiences went ballistic on her, trying to boo her off the stage. I’ve seen her command a packed sweaty club of about 500. I’ve seen her front for other bands. And I’ve even witnessed insanely aggressive fans going off on her and the one thing that remains consistent: she always brings her A game. Sweat or cold, fans or foes, someone else’s or her own - the woman is a pro.
Oh—and a very big High-Five to the organizers of The Ostrich Festival who had the presence of mind to bring real rawknroll to the desert. Even if you do wanna eat Big Bird, you know good music. And for that, we salute you!
To view the entire photo gallery of the click here .
|
| |
This Week:
No shows scheduled this week.
Click on the LIVE DATES link for upcoming shows |
Item Of The Month:
|
