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Review: Billy Idol turns back clock - and takes off shirt - for Charlotte fans
from: charlotteobserver.com
By Courtney Devores, Correspondent
Eighties nostalgia was in full swing Friday night as Billy Idol and JOAN JETT lured multiple generations of fans to PNC Music Pavilion with promises of "White Wedding" and "Crimson and Clover."
Jett, at 66, wears the same black shag haircut and skintight leather vest and pants she's sported for most of her career. At 69, Idol is still peeling off his shirt for crowds of shrieking women and both are still delivering vocally. That longevity isn't something I anticipated the first time I saw either of them live.
I saw Idol at The Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas in 2001. Back then, he was experiencing a resurgence thanks to VH1's "Behind the Music" and "Storytellers" episodes. It was one of the best concert experiences of my life. With an outdoor stage connected to the hotel's man-made beach, it helped that we were standing ankle deep in the pool despite the desert heat. I was under the impression that Idol was getting up there in years then (although he was younger than I am now). I never imagined I'd get to see him play live again, let alone three more times during the next 25 years. But here we are.
If Friday was the last time, I'm so glad I had the chance to see him on a full-scale, headlining amphitheater tour with a proper light show and a wall of LEDs creating an ever-changing backdrop of cityscapes, videos, and animation. His last Charlotte show was part of Carolina Rebellion, which only allowed for a shorter daylight set.
With only one gate open at the entrance, an unusually long line was still snaking in circles outside of it when Jett took the stage. I think she even went on five minutes late so more folks could file in. While Jett had a shorter time slot than Idol, she managed to cram 15 songs into her hour-long set.
She not only looked much the same as she always has, but her voice is as strong as it was when I saw her at the Sternwheel Regatta in Charleston, W.V., in the early '90s. Thankfully, live sound technology has improved greatly since then. Neither band faced much of a hiccup in that department.
Jett focused on lesser-known material midway through her set, with 1981's "Fake Friends," 1991's "Lie to Me" and "If You're Blue" from 2023's "Mindsets." She made a subtle political statement covering the Replacements' "Androgynous" and Sly and the Family Stone's equality anthem "Everyday People." The latter was a minor hit for Jett, too, and a fun inclusion. From there she closed with hit after hit - "I Love Rock n' Roll," "Crimson and Clover," "I Hate Myself for Loving You" and "Bad Reputation."
Idol's silhouette lit up the backdrop to signal his arrival a few minutes after 9 p.m. The show morphed into his full image as he and his seven-piece band (sometimes eight with a third guitar jumping in occasionally) kicked their set off with "Still Dancing," a new song from Idol's just-released album "Dream Into It." While it may seem a bit of a risk to start with a new song, Idol still has an impressive knack for releasing banging anthems with each album. As with the singles "Scream" (from 2005's "Devil's Playground") and "Can't Break Me Down" (from 2014's "Kings and Queens of the Underground"), "Still Dancing" indicates that his rock chops aren't rusting.
The reverb was nearly palpable as longtime guitarist Stevens signaled the start of "Cradle of Love." It was the only time the effects on Idol's vocals were distracting or even noticeable. Despite the song's dated ode to jailbait, its performance was spot-on to the original. "Flesh for Fantasy," on the other hand, got a looser arrangement, with Steve Stevens stretching out his guitar solos. It's worth noting that the songs were played in their original keys throughout the show.
Idol said the Charlotte show was a special one because his family was in attendance, including his son's children. He later dedicated "77" - a new single featuring Avril Lavigne - to his 5-year old-granddaughter McKenzie. A tongue-in-cheek "Teen Titans"-style animation of Idol, Lavigne and Stevens rolled on screen above the band as Idol lyrically revisited his wild youth.
That theme carried through "Too Much Fun," another new song he said was inspired by bikers he and bassist Stephen McGrath met at Sturgis Annual Motorcycle Rally, where they were apparently "grandfathered" into the club.
Stevens worked his signature flamenco guitar work into the intro for "Eyes Without a Face." The two backing vocalists helped carry that song's chorus (where Idol originally handled both parts). Their parts were even more important later on "Hot in the City" and "Mony Mony." One of them, Jessica Childress, even dueted with Idol on a rousing version of the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter."
Idol and the band took a breather while Stevens flitted through a Flamenco-laden solo that included Led Zeppelin's "Over the Hills and Far Away," "Stairway to Heaven" (albeit briefly), and "Eruption" by Van Halen. He even hit on the opening riff of T-Rex's "20th Century Boy," which quickly segued into "Mony Mony."
After sharing the backstory of the first song his band Generation X wrote 49 years ago, the group launched into the punk classic "Ready Steady Go." Old punks in the crowd were pumping fists in approval. The road anthem "Blue Highway" (a song I first heard at that Vegas show) raced to a "Top Gun"-theme outro.
As Idol's early MTV video scrolled on stacks of televisions onscreen above him, "Rebel Yell" ended the set with a bang with Idol peeling off his shirt and throwing it into the crowd.
He and the band capped the night with a four-song encore that included "Dancing With Myself" and "White Wedding." But it was the story of why he wrote "Hot in the City" (due to his first humid summer in NYC) and the late-set inclusion of yet another new song ("People I Love") that made it more than a hits rehash.
The latter chronicled the many mistakes he's made. Like "Kings and Queens," "Dream Into It" apparently finds Idol looking back with eyes wide, examining regrets, and acknowledging his past, warts and all. Somehow that reflection makes his umpteenth comeback more endearing than bashing out hits into his 70s. |
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