By Katharine Boyle
“Oh yeah.”
Legendary rocker Billy Idol and his illustrious band set Morristown ablaze for a two hour adrenaline-powered music experience at Mayo Performing Arts Center on Friday.
Idol has been around since the mid-1970’s punk scene and is just as hard-hitting today as he was back when he began. His 2014 book Dancing With Myself coincided with the new CD release Kings & Queens of the Underground, both works of art paying homage to his roots, graphically detailing the many pitfalls and highlights of his career.
Steve Stevens, longstanding lead guitarist for Idol, is the syncopated heartbeat of the band. Steve’s guitar exhibited a natural extension of his body, sending out intense rock chords to the awed audience. His extensive solo riffs had the fans’ undivided attention.
Photos by Katharine Boyle. Please click icon below for captions.
The band’s exuberance had fans singing and dancing throughout the show. Billy gave everyone a breather by slowing things down mid-concert, playing acoustic guitar to Sweet Sixteen, a mere pause within the overall high-energy band performance.
The set list catalogued Idol’s full career, spanning from his raw, gritty Generation X days, music covers, solo hits, all through to his latest finely-tuned album. And yes, Flesh for Fantasy lyrics of “Do you like good music…” was warmly received.
At age 59, bad boy Billy still has it — his infectious energy throughout the show was unstoppable.
His parting words were: “Thank you for making my life so —-ing great, Morristown… Morristown rules!”
And so do you, Billy!
Set list:
- Postcards from the Past
- Cradle of Love
- Can’t Break Me Down
- Dancing With Myself (Generation X)
- Flesh for Fantasy
- Save Me Now
- Ready Steady Go (Generation X)
- Sweet Sixteen
- Eyes Without a Face
- L.A. Woman (The Doors cover)
- Steve Stevens guitar solo
- Whiskey and Pills
- Blue Highway
- Rebel Yell
- White Wedding
- Erik Eldenius drum dolo
- Mony Mony (Tommy James & The Shondells cover)
The band:
Steve Stevens, lead guitar
Erik Eldenius, drums
Paul Trudeau, keyboards
Stephen McGrath, bass
Billy Morrison, guitar
No video; perhaps someone in the audience shot this?
Was there a video made as well? I was at this concert and Billy gave me the microphone and we spoke to each other during his show…Please let me know if there are any video or pics of the…Thanks