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Hagar defines party animal
from: lfpress.com
by JAMES REANEY, Free Press Arts & Entertainment Columnist
A true rock 'n' roll original roared and soared over Harris Park last night.
There are plenty of rockers who'll play London this year. There's only one JOAN JETT -- the terrific gender-bending U.S. rock star who can open a set with her own Bad Reputation and find her way into a sing-along version of glam rocker Gary Glitter's Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah) a few songs later.
"We're the BLACKHEARTS from New York City," Jett told the crowd on Day 2 of Rock the Park V in downtown London. "Don't be shy. We love the show-offs."
Jett isn't shy. She followed one of her new songs Naked, a "self-inquiry" anthem, with a blazing cover of Love is All Around, the cheerful theme from the old Mary Tyler Moore show.
"I am naked" in the new song led to the TV classic's message "you're going to make it after all."
Helping Jett make those transitions are the BLACKHEARTS, her fine spiky-haired band with one secret weapon, 1960s' popster KENNY LAGUNA who plays keyboards off in the background.
"Shaking tambourines and all kinds of things back there, that's KENNY LAGUNA," Jett told the crowd introducing the man who co-wrote many of her hits. Laguna joined her touring band about six years ago.
Last night, Lee Aaron and Skid Row played before Jett. U.S. rockers Sammy Hagar and the Wabos headlined and were loved by the crowd of about 9,000 fans. The classic rock fest continues today and winds up tomorrow.
Jett hit the stage in her trademark black. Her pants and sleeveless top are probably the tightest sported by any 1980s' era rocker. "I'm so concerned something is going to go flying out," she said. "It's Latex and it's rubber and it's wet and things move. You'll let me know, won't you?"
She followed Bad Reputation with a nod to her role in the 1970s' all-female band, the RUNAWAYS, by visiting their hit Cherry Bomb.
Laguna and Jett met in 1979. At the time, Jett was making noise with punk rockers. It might not help his Rock the Park credentials, but Laguna was also one of the original Shondells of Tommy James and the Shondells.
It was Jett's cover of the Shondells' Crimson and Clover, a 1982 hit for her, that provided the middle shot of the 1-2-3 knockout punch late in the set.
I Love Rock 'n' Roll started that run and I Hate Myself for Loving You finished the Jett trifecta.
The combination of Jett's punk attitude and sexy command of the rock basics with Laguna's pop smarts fuelled her career in the 1980s and last night it still worked.
Jett proved to be a Rock the Park rarity, a classic rocker with a bunch of new songs that say something about 2008.
One new song, Riddles, had the voices of U.S. government powers Donald Rumsfeld and George W. Bush as guests.
Riddles, Naked and other new songs including Change the World (more politics) and Androgynous (a celebration of Jett's sweet, tough self) were from her new album SINNER.
The crowd recognized Rumsfeld's mad riddling, just as it had cheered for the Mary Tyler Moore romp.
"After all these years, it's still a battle to get your songs played," said Laguna, who also is her record producer, in a U.S. interview. "She has had about 11 hits and it was a war to get every one of them."
Jett being Jett and because every song has a message she romped into a cover of Sly Stone's Everyday People for her finale. "Different strokes for different folks," you know.
That's a Jett message, too.
Every Hagar song had a message early in the headliner's set -- let's party.
Hagar has hobbit hair now, a change from the big 'do he sported as a hair metal star. He had visited songs from various stops in his career -- Three Lock Box, One Way to Rock, Why Can't This Be Love and I'll Love Again -- by mid-set.
These days, Hagar is a party animal. He has a tequila brand to pitch and his band's name, the Wabos, plays on it.
If the brand is not mentioned here, it is because Hagar told a polite fib about never drinking before shows because he loves to get "(intoxicated) up" on stage.
That was a cue for a scantily clad female to serve the star a drink -- and later for Hagar to muse that no such women could be found when a drink was needed because they had gone off "to pee together" -- in the way of their tribe.
Such comments and the drinking references and the careful name-dropping about U.S. country Kenny Chesney, who keeps Hagar busy on weekends with an arena tour, mean only one thing. The man is the new Dean Martin -- except That's Amore beats I'll Fall in Love Again every time.
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