I caught the Rock Hall - Three-For-All tour on August 23rd at it's L.A. stop at the Forum in Inglewood which features three legendary rock bands of the '70's, Cheap Trick, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts and Heart. Due to my late arrival, I didn't catch Cheap Trick (although I must admit I'm not really much of a fan) but two out of three ain't bad.
At fifty-seven, Jett is still in ass-kicking shape, decked out in a leather and sequins body-suit and combat boots, as she tore through a tight set of hard-driving rock & roll. With her long-time producer, Kenny Laguna playing on keyboards and percussion, she delivered the expected hits like "Bad Reputation" and "I Hate Myself for Loving You" along with her popular covers of Gary Glitter's "Do You Wanna Touch Me? (Oh Yeah)" and Tommy James and the Shondells' "Crimson and Clover".
Jett was only just inducted in to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame just two years ago which is shameful because she's been an important, long-time crusader of the music. As a teen, she was a part of the first all-female rock group, The Runaways and takes us back with a performance of their biggest single, "Cherry Bomb".
Jett also went back to her starring role in the family drama, "Light of Day", where she played the sister of Michael J. Fox (!) who both play in a local bar band seeking fame. The singer performed the title track, written by Bruce Springsteen, as images from the 1987 film played on the large screen behind the band. I had forgotten that Gena Rowlands was in it playing their mother (!!). The best was saved for last as Jett and The Blackhearts closed out their set with the smash 1982 number one hit, "I Love Rock & Roll" where the audience sang along, loudly confirming that phrase.
Heart was also only recently added to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and I hate to think that Ann and Nancy Wilson's gender played a role in the long delay but there were bands that are less influential and sold far fewer records that were quickly inducted in to the hall.
Anyway, on the road to promote their recently released record, "Beautiful Broken" which is made-up mostly of re-interpretations of music from their earlier albums, Heart blasted on to the stage with "Wild Child", a cut off their 1990 album, "Brigade". They followed that up with a string of some of their classic tunes, "Magic Man", "Even It Up", and "What About Love". Ann, whose gritty, soulful voice has lost none of it's power, surprised the audience by giving us a little James Brown and his "Get Up Offa That Thing" before launching in to a funky version of their song, "Straight On".
Taking center stage briefly, Nancy slowed things down by performing two ballads; Heart's number one smash from the '80's, "These Dreams" and one of the new tracks off the current album co-written by Ne-Yo, "Two".
The Wilson sisters have never made it a secret that Led Zeppelin were the inspiration that lead them to pursue music and Heart paid tribute to that iconic band during their encore by performing "Immigrant Song" and the song at the center of a recent lawsuit, "Stairway To Heaven". It was a perfect way to end a perfect evening of electrifying music.
If you missed the show, have a listen to the original recordings of some of my favorite tunes. It's not the same as hearing them performed live but it's the next best thing:
"Bad Reputation" (1980) - Joan Jett mp3
"Crimson and Clover" (1981) - Joan Jett & The Blackhearts mp3
"Barracuda" (1977) - Heart mp3
"Straight On" (1978) - Heart mp3
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