Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Pretenders Rule

Saw Chrissie Hynde and company (original drummer Martin Chambers plus some kids, all excellent) last night at the Highline Ballroom in NYC. The short version: Totally awesome. Chrissie looked incredible -- tight red t-shirt, jeans, and her 1978 hairdo -- and as usual just dripped sex appeal and charisma. She was also in great voice (so what else is new?) and the couple of songs they did from the new album (which I haven't heard yet) were every bit as involving as the old stuff, including blistering versions of "Message of Love" and "The Wait."



If there's a new video I couldn't find it, but I love the "Talk of the Town" above, and not just because it's a great song. True story: The white Gibson SG Chrissie is playing in the clip was purchased, not too long after, by a friend of mine who leant it to me for a demo session I played on at the old CBS studios. The producer of the date was Paul Atkinson, guitarist for the Zombies.

Okay, I'm namedropping, but at least it's B-list namedropping.



Incidentally, the divine watertiger took a bunch of photos during the show, but this one -- of one of a bunch of guys who were sitting in front of us -- was all that came out. As you can see, certain elements of the crowd tended toward the overweight; at times, I felt like I was trapped in a reunion of the 70s classified ad staff of The Aquarian.

16 comments:

Sal Nunziato said...

Yo bud,
For a slightly different take on last night's show, check out the second best blog on the net.

S

Wendy said...

You forgot to mention her high-heeled boots and her dancing.

The first, and still greatest, Rock and Roll Chick. And I don't think she would mind being called that.

steve simels said...

Sal's too shy to post the link to his take on the show, so I will.

http://www.burnwoodtonite.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

the Aquarian ??
lol

Anonymous said...

Because it's always worth a read...

http://www.pretenders.org/adviceto.gif

ms. rosa said...

STOKED! my (record) dealer called me yesterday to tell me that the double-LP was just WAITING there helplessly for me to pick it up! straight to heavy rotation...

grgny said...

i ave a video posted here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBREDPH8K_Y

TJWood said...

They were good on David Letterman the other night, as well. As for the new album, I've listened to it a couple of times and have read Sal's take, and will agree with him to an extent. The addition of the new pedal steel player (Eric Heywood) definitely adds a welcome rockabilly flavor to the sound, and it definitely helps on the (perhaps too many) mid-tempo ballads on the album. The tracks that are keepers, IMHO, are "Boots of Chinese Plastic" (the single), "Love's a Mystery", "Rosalee", and "Don't Cut Your Hair". The rest is pleasant and by no means bad, but ultimately not essential in the context of this band's best work. Overall, not a great Pretenders album, but a pretty good one--and, let's face it, Chrissie was never going to top that first album, probably even if the original lineup had remained intact.

Principessa of Cervesa said...

Looks like the plumbers convention

MBowen said...

Back in '81, I stood for seven-and-a-half hours in the Ithaca cold and snow to be the first in line at a general admission Pretenders show. Even though I didn't get front & center - they decided they wanted to inspect my bag - it was still worth it.

I'm still convinced that James Honeyman-Scott's death is one to rival Jimi Hendrix' in the loss-to-the-future category. BTW, can anyone ID the guitar he's playing in this video?

Anonymous said...

which vid?
the grlaw video?

steve simels said...

mbowen:

It's a Gibson of some sort. Beyond that, I dunno....

steve simels said...

mbowen:

I stand corrected. My friend billyb informs me "The guitar in question is a Zemaitis.

Ronny Wood played one in the Faces."

Anonymous said...

Akron's Finest! (Well, Devo and The Black Keys ain't bad either!) Wow-- I know I remember this vid from back in the day, but I don't ever remember her playing an SG-- I thought she always played teles. And how 'bout all that leather?

Speaking of Devo, they're throwing down for Barack and the Dems at Akron's beautiful Civic Theater next week: http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003871358

Noam Sane said...

Mike, I've never seen that - hilarious. Thanks.

You can grab mp3s of their Live Aid set here.

Simply one of the all-time great rock songwriters.

Noam Sane said...

Sorry, Farm Aid, not Live. A week or so back.

They sound in great form.