Billy Idol
Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 2:22 am
Had to try & wrangle the night off work but glad I did.
Had absolutely no interest in seeing The Angels minus Doc Neeson.
Was never into Cheap Trick, no matter how many guitars Rick Nelson owns.
So I was quite happy to show up late & have a quiet drink till Idol came on.
I gotta say, Billy Idol is still holding up well for a 60 year old.
Looked like he was having a blast, working the crowd & getting into it with the band.
Still has the pipes too, unlike a lot of guys that were huge in the 80's & are now working the comeback/reformation circuit.
Steve Stevens, he's the fuckin man
Had a huge sound, interspersed with flaminco playing.
Unashamedly still dressed like the rock star he is.
Gear.
Steve Stevens:
: His signature red Knaggs single cut seemed to be his #1, as it got the most use.
: Black Knaggs single cut.
: Black Godin for some flamingco stuff & Flesh for Fantasy cleans.
: Suhr Modern (Josie)
: Another black super strat (possibly Suhr) with blue LED fret markers.
: Silverburst Les Paul with silver flakes.
: Some kind of acoustic, Ovation perhaps.
Couldn't make out exactly the amp, as I was staring at the back of his rig but there were 4 heads in one road case, mostly likely his sig Friedman's.
The second road case looked to have his rack effects.
Two 4x12's facing backwards, so I'm guessing he was running a wet/dry set up.
Rhythm guitar player
Mostly Les Paul's
Couple of Gretcsh's
Some acoustic
Couldn't make out his rig, on the other side of the stage & too dark.
Looked like mostly rack gear, possibly Axe Fx.....dunno.
Lefty bass player seemed to have a natural finish Spector.
Keyboard player pulled guitar duty on a couple of songs with a LP thru an AC15 combo.
Billy Idol
Some accoustic for Sweet Sixteen
A Strat thru a Blackface combo with Idol spray painted across the grille cloth.
Steve Stevens had my attention probably 90% of the time as he was the main reason for going.
Great show with good vibes & energy.
Pleasingly no fuckwit factor to be had, just a high concentration of 40-50 year olds which probably explains it.
Might have been a different story in the 80's tho.
The poor house wife next to me might have had too many wines, as she fell asleep halfway thru.
When the show ended her friend asked "how'd you like it?" To which she replied "oh yeah, it was amazing"
I left wondering if Idol could keep touring like Springsteen or the Stones.
He certainly looked well enough in shape & still had the vocal range.
Bring on Kiss in Oct.
Had absolutely no interest in seeing The Angels minus Doc Neeson.
Was never into Cheap Trick, no matter how many guitars Rick Nelson owns.
So I was quite happy to show up late & have a quiet drink till Idol came on.
I gotta say, Billy Idol is still holding up well for a 60 year old.
Looked like he was having a blast, working the crowd & getting into it with the band.
Still has the pipes too, unlike a lot of guys that were huge in the 80's & are now working the comeback/reformation circuit.
Steve Stevens, he's the fuckin man
Had a huge sound, interspersed with flaminco playing.
Unashamedly still dressed like the rock star he is.
Gear.
Steve Stevens:
: His signature red Knaggs single cut seemed to be his #1, as it got the most use.
: Black Knaggs single cut.
: Black Godin for some flamingco stuff & Flesh for Fantasy cleans.
: Suhr Modern (Josie)
: Another black super strat (possibly Suhr) with blue LED fret markers.
: Silverburst Les Paul with silver flakes.
: Some kind of acoustic, Ovation perhaps.
Couldn't make out exactly the amp, as I was staring at the back of his rig but there were 4 heads in one road case, mostly likely his sig Friedman's.
The second road case looked to have his rack effects.
Two 4x12's facing backwards, so I'm guessing he was running a wet/dry set up.
Rhythm guitar player
Mostly Les Paul's
Couple of Gretcsh's
Some acoustic
Couldn't make out his rig, on the other side of the stage & too dark.
Looked like mostly rack gear, possibly Axe Fx.....dunno.
Lefty bass player seemed to have a natural finish Spector.
Keyboard player pulled guitar duty on a couple of songs with a LP thru an AC15 combo.
Billy Idol
Some accoustic for Sweet Sixteen
A Strat thru a Blackface combo with Idol spray painted across the grille cloth.
Steve Stevens had my attention probably 90% of the time as he was the main reason for going.
Great show with good vibes & energy.
Pleasingly no fuckwit factor to be had, just a high concentration of 40-50 year olds which probably explains it.
Might have been a different story in the 80's tho.
The poor house wife next to me might have had too many wines, as she fell asleep halfway thru.
When the show ended her friend asked "how'd you like it?" To which she replied "oh yeah, it was amazing"
I left wondering if Idol could keep touring like Springsteen or the Stones.
He certainly looked well enough in shape & still had the vocal range.
Bring on Kiss in Oct.
