Billy Idol and Joan Jett have never toured together until this year, which is surprising given their many common threads.
Both emanate from the late 1970s punk world on different sides of the ocean.
Idol was lead singer of the British punk rock band Generation X before going solo in 1981.
Credit: RODNEY HO
Credit: RODNEY HO
Jett co-founded the all-female teen punk band the Runaways in Los Angeles before starting a band with her namesake Joan Jett and the Blackhearts in 1979.
They each found a comfortable home on MTV, which launched in 1981, appealing to the Gen X audience entranced by their telegenic, rebellious, screw you aesthetics.
At the same time, their hit songs were melodic enough to give top 40 radio license to play them ad nauseam throughout the decade. They both landed big hits by covering tunes by 1960s group Tommy James and the Shondells.
And over the decades, neither has strayed from their 1980s imagery and sound, sticking to what brought them fame and fortune.
To this day, they remain true road warriors, touring frequently with no signs of slowing down. This is Jett’s ninth concert stop in metro Atlanta since 2015, while Idol has come by six times.
Credit: RODNEY HO?rho@
Credit: RODNEY HO?rho@
At a largely full Ameris Bank Amphitheatre in Alpharetta on Friday night, 69-year-old Idol and 66-year-old Jett fended off the ravages of time for an evening of throwbacks and a handful of more recent cuts that didn’t feel out of place.
Jett came out first, gamely playing supporting act to what is effectively an Idol headlining tour.
She raced through 15 songs in a tight hour, dressed in signature leather, her tough gal scowl permanently etched on her face. She threw in two Runaways favorites (“Cherry Bomb,” “You Drive Me Wild”), a recent song about being an outsider dubbed “Different” and an homage to the Replacements (“Androgynous”).
But what got the crowd going, of course, were the hits and she pumped out all of them: a rousing “Do You Wanna Touch,” a crowd-swaying “Crimson and Clover” and the song that was licensed into a longtime NFL theme song “I Hate Myself for Loving You.” (Her lone No. 1 song, “I Love Rock and Roll,” felt oddly perfunctory.)
She concluded with “Bad Reputation,” her insanely catchy 1981 release which never actually charted on the Billboard Hot 100 but has become her signature song, a basic middle finger to any of her haters in a rock world still dominated by men.
Credit: RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.
Credit: RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.
Idol opened with what one could call a mission statement: a new song dubbed “Still Dancing.”
“I’m still dancing/But now I ain’t alone/I got everything I need next to me/Right here in my bones.”
During his 17-song, 100-minute set, Idol plucked five songs from his new album “Dream Into It,” which came out April 25. He proudly noted that the album was No. 7 on the album sales chart in the United States and No. 9 in the U.K., which he noted sardonically is “great for me,” considering he has performed better on the charts stateside over the years than in his home country.
A highlight of the night was his rollicking rendition of his Generation X song “Ready Steady Go,” which he said was a celebration of 1960s music he grew up with and co-wrote nearly five decades ago.
Although Idol has a limited array of stage moves, most involving variants of fist pumping, his charismatic energy was undeniable. He was clearly in his element on stage whether it was singing directly to his bandmates during “Cradle of Love” or grinding with backup singer Kitten Kuroi during a cover of “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore,” a song he almost recorded for the “Rebel Yell” album until he found out Madonna had nabbed it first for her “Like a Virgin” album.
Credit: RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com
Credit: RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com
Vocally, Idol sounded fierce, occasionally pulling off his grinding howl. He didn’t stray far from the recorded versions of his big hits, cheerfully giving the crowd a chance to do callbacks on songs like “Rebel Yell,” the underrated earworm “Hot in the City” and his only No. 1 hit “Mony Mony.”
Credit: RODNEY HO/rho@a
Credit: RODNEY HO/rho@a
Nothing he did felt forced or inauthentic. He even got away with wearing a T-shirt with his own image on it for several songs. And near the end of the concert, he slipped off his shirt and shamelessly showed off his abs, a move not typically done by his less chiseled peers.
And while Idol clearly loves Idol, he gave plenty of respect and space to his longtime guitarist Steve Stevens, who at one point joyfully riffed through bits of Led Zeppelin and Van Halen on an acoustic guitar, resplendent in leopard skin, leather pants and big hair.
Credit: RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com
Credit: RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com
Image became king in the 1980s, and Jett and Idol were well aware of the impact music videos had on their careers. In fact, their multimedia teams created almost identical video backdrops during their sets: cathode-ray tube-era TVs stacked on top of each other showing videos from their MTV heyday. (Think of MTV’s game show “Remote Control.”)
Credit: RODNEY HO/rho@aj
Credit: RODNEY HO/rho@aj
Credit: RODNEY HO
Credit: RODNEY HO
The only disappointment was Idol and Jett choosing not to share the stage or collaborate. (His new album even has a duet with Jett called “Wildside.”)
But their booking agents should be thrilled by bringing these two together: a satisfying nostalgia trip from two pros who have not lost a step.
Credit: RODNEY Y
Credit: RODNEY Y
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