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lehighvalleylive.com
from: lehighvalleylive.com
by ADAM RICHTER, The Express-Times
BETHLEHEM | Everyone loves her because she loves rock 'n' roll, but JOAN JETT is so much more than an '80s throwback singer.
Jett, with her band the BLACKHEARTS, proved Wednesday night at Musikfest's RiverPlace that she is as potent a force in rock today as she was 34 years ago, when she founded The RUNAWAYS. (Thirty-four years to the day, she told the crowd.)
Though she delivered powerful versions of her well-known hits "I Love Rock 'N' Roll," "Bad Reputation" and "I Hate Myself For Loving You," Jett's concert stood out because of the lesser hits. "You Drive Me Wild," a RUNAWAYS number from the 1970s, was the first song Jett ever wrote, she said.
The band played a variety of RUNAWAYS songs, but the 65-minute set also included newer songs that the audience liked, if they didn't recognize. "Change The World," "Naked" and the Paul Westerberg-penned "Androgynous" shows how much a rock 'n' roll pro like Jett can do with simple chords, fast tempo and the volume cranked to 11.
Jett, clad in a gray "RUNAWAYS" T-shirt, leather pants and a studded belt, sounded just as gruff and aggressive as she ever has. Her song, "Fetish," from the 2006 album "SINNER," has almost no re-printable lyrics but it still had people dancing in the aisles.
Four decades ago, Jett was a revolutionary. She's older now, but Wednesday's show proved she's anything but an elder stateswoman.
The B52s followed with a set that was literally flashier. The headlining act had a psychedelic backdrop with colorful spinning lights. Kate Pierson wore a short '60s-patterned dress while Cindy Wilson donned a blue evening gown and Fred Schneider wore a tight black-and-white checkered T-shirt.
The first five songs, including "Mesopotamia" and "Private Idaho," had the crowd at RiverPlace on its feet, but the three singers seemed to do more dancing onstage than any spectator was doing in the aisles.
But this was party rock and it's refreshing to see a band that's been around as long as the B52s show off their infectious sense of fun.
Only about three of the band's songs have hit the mainstream over their career -- "Roam," "Rock Lobster" and "Love Shack." But the crowd was instead treated to lesser-known numbers like "Strobe Light" and "Funplex" early in the evening.
Schneider ad-libbed a little tribute to the festival atmosphere in the former song when he sang, "Let me kiss your deep-fried Twinkie."
As much as the opening act was refreshing in its raw energy, the B52s provided a complementary experience with over-the-top, well, everything.
I'm sure most people took the double bill of the BLACKHEARTS/B52s as a sonic stroll down memory lane, but both bands were only too happy to oblige.
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