I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: July 28, 2017] Blondie

When I saw that Blondie and Garbage were touring together (“The Rage and Rapture Tour”) I casually asked Sarah if she wanted to go.  It’s possible that Sarah was a bigger Blondie fan that I realized.

I’ve never been a huge fan of Blondie (I didn’t even realize that she grew up n the same town as I did!).  But I love The Best of Blondie and “Atomic” is one of my favorite songs from the era.  I believe that I even stood behind her at a Ramones concert in 1989, but alas I will never know for sure.  Retroactively I’ve realized just how important she was/is and I was pretty excited to see her live.

I knew that Shirley Manson loved Blondie but I didn’t realize he admiration was reciprocated.  I just read that Debbie Harry and Blondie asked Manson to deliver their induction speech upon entering the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a little over a decade ago.

So Debbie has settled down in Red Bank, NJ, where this venue is located.  I thought we might get an extra song but we didn’t and that’s okay.  Because she did what a number of other older bands have been doing lately: play a few brand new songs (which were quite good) and then pepper the rest of the show with hits.  So, some nostalgia, but also some fresh meat (or pollen in this case).

Her new album is called Pollinator and Debbie told us that she has recently started raising bees (something else we sort of have in common–I used to raise them until they died).  Inspired by this album title, Debbie came out wearing a kind of gold bejeweled bee mask with a floral headband thing and a cape that said Stop Fucking The Planet (never managed to get a picture of that).

While the Garbage show was full of lights, the Blondie show was full of screens.  Three screens behind the band played various videos and were a cool combination of message, nostalgia and cool visuals.

The band came out and it was interesting to see the mix of the old and the new.  Debbie is 72 (!!!!) and sounds great.  She may not hit all the high notes, but she has adapted and so she never sounds like she missed any notes.  Accompanying her were Blondie co-founder Chris Stein on guitar and drummer Clem Burke who’s been in the group for all but its first few formative months more than 40 years ago.  Stein stood there, silver-haired and still, playing riff after riff.  But it was Burke who was really celebrated.

He played a number of extended intros and even had a drum solo near the end.  I really enjoyed that the video screens showed looped clips of him when he was much younger banging the hell out of the drums.  Although I was amused that the very first time he threw  his stick in the air he missed it when it came down (he caught all the other ones, though).  The rest of the band included players who have been around for much of Blondie phase 2: keyboardist Matt Katz-Bohen (since 2008) bassist Leigh Foxx and guitarist Tommy Kessler (both since 2010).

Sarah and I were delighted that Katz-Bohen looked like he dropped right out of the 70s/80s with long hair and a mustache–he even played a keytar!

Garbage played for about 70 minutes and so did Blondie.  Blondie managed 13 songs (Garbage had 15), and I think those fewer songs were because of the various solos–the drum solo, Katz-Bohen’s awesome keytar solo and Kessler’s wild, youthful guitar solo (including playing behind his head).  Much like when I saw Jefferson Starship and they had a young fella playing a wild solo, Kessler was way over the top–wild wailing, bouncing around just showing off everything he had.   This was in stark contrast to Stein who just stood there and showed everyone what was what.

They opened with two old favorites that got everyone up and moving around: “One Way Or Another” and “Hanging On The Telephone” (which was introduced with a ringing phone so I wasn’t sure if it was “Call Me” or “Hanging.”

Then they played a new song, “Fun” (written by the guys from TV on the Radio) which fit in perfectly with the other songs.  Then for those of us thinking about “Call Me,” they played that next.

The next new song, “My Monster” was written by Johnny Marr.  I was a little disappointed because Marr’s songs are usually fantastic and this one was fine.  It fit in well with the other songs but didn’t blow me away.  And then she busted out “Rapture.”  Like everyone else, I know this rap inside and out, but I wasn’t sure how it would translate live–it’s a pretty dated sounding song.  They updated it really well, with some great sounding backing music in the verses, and she didn’t “rap” the rap exactly, but she more recited it, which worked rather well.  It was fun to hear it live.

At some point around here she removed the cape and was wearing a bee dress, which was quite fun and thematically cool.  Speaking of thematically cool, the merch that I got for Sarah was a Blondie hairpin–something I’ve never seen anyone else sell and a cool novel item.

The biggest surprise came when she started singing a song (in Blondie style) that I knew but didn’t recognize at first.  It wasn’t until a few lines in that I realized it was Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35.”  We all sang “everybody must get stoned” and I wondered if this was something she was known for.  But I quickly stopped thinking that because the next song began.

The next song started out rather slowly, a piano ballad.  Everybody sat down (except for the [by now really drunk] people in front of me).  This was fine because I wasn’t ready to sit down yet.  The song was new, called “Fragments” and it was awesome– easily one of my favorite songs of the night.  It built slowly and Debbie gave an amazing performance of it.  It runs about 7 minutes and after 2 or so, the whole band kicks in and the song totally rips.  It turns out it’s a cover of a song by the band An Unkindness–and I’ve since listened to their version but Debbie’s is better.  When it was over, she said she really loved playing that song (shame on those who sat down).

Next up was “Too Much” a new song with a bridge that sounds just like an old Blondie song and then “Long Time” another new one.  This was the only new song I’d really heard and I thought it was also great–really sounded like classic Blondie–a great new song.

From then on it was all old songs.  A ripping version of “Atomic” followed by a great version of “Heart of Glass” (see glass heart to the right).

They left for the encore break and I genuinely didn’t know what she’d do for an encore.  We assumed the “Tide is High” (as song that neither Sarah nor I like all that much).  And that’s what she opened with.  But, this version was very different from the recorded version–which is kinda cheesy).  This one was much louder and while it still held the same vibe, it rocked a lot more.

The final song was “Dreaming,” a song I’d forgotten about and a great way to end the show–by then I’d wandered down the aisle for some closer photos.

It was a great night, three generations of rocking women and a whole night of fantastic music.

I see that on recent shows she has replaced “Long Time” with Celine Dion;s “My Heart will Go On.”  I don’t know what her version of that song is like, but I’m gad we got “Long Time” which is such a good new song.