The voice may have been a deeper, richer, and more buttery version than what it used to be, but at 60, Billy Idol can still let out a rebel yell, and he showed his army of long-time fans he’s still the sprite and sneering delinquent of rock ’n roll. From the fiery angst of his early punk rock days as a young teen in his then band Generation X, he moved onto a solo career where he harnessed the energy and thunder of punk, and joined it with techno flavours of danceable rock.
The massive crowd poured onto the Lebreton Flats lawn in front of Bluesfest’s City Stage on opening night to cry “More, More, More!”, and from what I could see, the age demographic broke the seams to include our youth of today, who could also identify, as we did, with the energy and fervour his music continues to deliver. He played a one and a half hour set of songs plucked from his several studio albums, as far back as his smash hit, “White Wedding”, from his 1982 debut self-titled album, all the way to “Can’t Break Me Down”, from his current 2014 full-studio effort, Kings & Queens of the Underground, which was mostly co-written with his musical partner of over 30 years, Steve Stevens, who joins Idol on this current tour.
The crowd began cheering the moment Idol boarded the stage, in all his bare-chested glory and iconic platinum spiked locks, draped in black leather. His voice hung in his smooth lower register for the first few songs, “Shock To The System”, “Dancing With Myself” (Generation X), and “Flesh For Fantasy”, but progressively warmed up into the more razor edginess flavours of his voice, especially in the rock heavy, “Pumping Like Steel“. By the time “Rebel Yell” came around near the end of the show, the energy level had revved up as the roar and chants from the crowd grew stronger.
Standing out like the guitar rock god that he is, Steve Stevens all but stole the show with his array of impressive guitar stylings ranging from his fierce rock solos showcased intensely in “Flesh For Fantasy”, “Rebel Yell”, and others he lent a hair-raising, welcoming interruption to. His introductory flamenco shredding on the 12-string for “Eyes Without A Face” was jaw-dropping, as was his solo performance which included a variety of cover vignettes from “Roundabout” (Yes) to “Over The Hills And Far Away” (Led Zeppelin). He added the muscular colour to all the material, backed by the driving force of Idol’s long-time band of four: Stephen McGrath (bass), Billy Morrison (guitar), Paul Trudeau (keys), and Erik Eldenius (drums).
At the seemingly end of the performance, the crowd screamed for an encore, to which Idol and the band returned to feed them “White Wedding”, where he let the audience take over the chorus. He left them with his showstopper, “Mony Mony”, a song he revived into a cult classic from the Tommy James and the Shondells original. Billy Idol and his band, along with Steve Stevens, delivered a rush of heavy duty rock that covered the current and nostalgic wave of his one-of-a-kind and timeless material.
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