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By Troy L. Smith, Northeast Ohio Media Group
CLEVELAND, Ohio - It's only fitting that Jett should be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next month when the ceremony takes place at Cleveland's Public Hall.
The female rock icon's legendary career has featured numerous performances in Northeast Ohio right from the very beginning.
Jett's first show in Cleveland came as a member of The RUNAWAYS. The all-female band played The Agora on July 19, 1976. It was one of The Runaway's earliest performances and one of its most talked about in fan message boards.
Here's a setlist for the show:
California Paradise
Cherry Bomb
Take It or Leave It
Secrets
You Drive Me Wild
C'mon
Blackmail
Wild Thing
Don't Abuse Me
Rock 'n' Roll
Is It Day or Night?
Johnny Guitar
Dead End Justice
Because the show is such a favorite amongst fans, there are several recordings of it floating around the Internet. In the first clip, the band kicks things off with a performance of "California Paradise."
You can hear a young Jett (she wasn't even 18 yet) introducing the band's song "Secrets."
Here's a clip from the same show of The RUNAWAYS doing a cover of Lou Reed's "Rock 'n' Roll." If you listen closely, you can even here the band mention that the show is being recorded upstairs.
The RUNAWAYS would return to The Agora a few times over the next year, including a show on March 10, 1977. The band had just released its breakthrough album, "Queens of Noise," in January and "Cherry Bomb" was getting decent radio airplay. The opening act for the March 10th show was an up and coming named called Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
The RUNAWAYS performed in Cleveland throughout the late 1970s, including back-to-back nights at the Agora in January 1978. The band played its final gig before breaking up in San Francisco the following New Year's Eve.
Jett took off with JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS in the 1980s. The band toured with artists like Cheap Trick, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and The Police. On Oct. 23, 1988, Jett and the BLACKHEARTS opened for Robert Plant at the Richfield Coliseum.
Jett hasn't slowed down in terms of Cleveland-area shows. She helped open the Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park in December 2013. She performed at Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica in May 2014.
Jett received a lifetime achievement award at last year's inaugural AP Music Awards at Voinovich Park. She also performed songs like "Cherry Bomb" and "Bad Reputation" with guests like Slash and Laura Jane Grace.
You can watch the entire performance from last July below:
CLEVELAND, Ohio - It's only fitting that Jett should be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next month when the ceremony takes place at Cleveland's Public Hall.