THE PRETENDERS
BLONDIE
LITTLE RED
ADALITA

Thursday 25th November 2010
An Evening On The Green, Kings Park, Perth, Western Australia

The lucky country? Damn tootin’ right – beautiful weather, sun shining, an idyllic grassy setting, and a bevy of legendary femme fatales on stage for a fantastic evening of pop rock.

Adalita (Srnsen, of almost-legendary indie rockers Magic Dirt) kicked off in the sunlight with ‘Full Of Rope’ - just her, a dirty guitar, and an occasional tape of an extra guitar track. *Twang* - “I never break a fucking string, but I have to break one today” she huffed, quickly restringing her instrument and playing several tracks from her forthcoming solo record like ‘Perfection’.

Large sections of the crowd seemed indifferent - indulging in their wine and cheese hampers - but we who know only respect a true artist like Adalita more after such a brave, naked performance.

Next up was Little Red and their brand of radio programmer-wet dream-inducing commercial pop-rock. Too self-knowingly cool for older classic rockers like us, their sixties and modern influences are all jumbled up and confused. One minute they’re a poppy Dylan, the next trying to be The Strokes – it’s all over the place and their lack of identity and derivative nature isn’t nearly as cool as they seem to think.

Shane Pinnegar

Then it was climax time…the divine Ms Harry, Chris Stein, Clem Burke and co sauntered onto a stage draped in white voile and played a selection of songs from their forthcoming album “Panic Of The Girls” before a cavalcade of the classic oldies everyone was dying to jump around to.

Looking like a 50’s rock chick in net powderblue petticoat, mohair cardie, leather jacket, platinum blonde wig and ray bans, her ferocious voice was the opposite of her demure exterior.

The balmy spring Evening on the Green grass of Kings Park was pierced by the stunning, age-defying voice of the stunning, age-defying Ms Harry – a real blast back to the days singing into my hairbrush to “Parallel Lines” in my bedroom in 1978.

Deborah rocked her butt off to Rapture, mixing rock and rap like the pioneer she always was, tonight letting the song evolve with a punk/street reprise. ‘Call Me’ sees the keyboard player front of stage with a keytar and shiny pants, one leg black, one white – he’d look great on the cover of “Parallel Lines”!

They throw in a smashing version of ‘One Way Or Another’, before dedicating the Johnny Thunders song ‘You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory’ to “a fellow New Yorker who’s no longer with us”.

Finally, for ‘Heart of Glass’, Ms Harry drops her 50’s high school skirt and revealed a hot hot hot black shorts and tights – no rock n’ roll grandma in sight here!

When Chrissie Hynde struts onstage and announces “I told you we’d be back”, it’s clear she too has defied age, clad in a military style jacket, skinny jeans, choppy hair and her signature long bangs, while original Pretender Martin Chambers and his drumkit are ensconced back of stage in what looks like a perspex cage for reasons unexplained.

Despite Hynde’s reputation for curtness, something seemed off-par tonight – ‘Gotta Stop Sobbing’ was restarted, lyrics to ‘Don’t Get Me Wrong’ were forgotten, as was the setlist.

Her voice remains powerful and quite stunning though, but tonight’s bouncing between the classics, her country and western noodlings, and some lesser known songs from 2009’s “Break Up The Concrete”, meant the Rock Queen’s crown went to Debbie and Blondie on the night.

Trulie Jackson

Setlist – Blondie

D-Day
Hanging on the Telephone
The Hardest Part
Love Doesn’t frighten me
Maria
What I heard
11:59
Atomic
Tide is High
Rapture
Mother (In the Night)
Call Me
One Way Or Another
You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory
Heart Of Glass

Setlist – The Pretenders

Kid
Message of Love
Love’s a Mystery
Stop your Sobbing
Talk Of The Town
Don’t get Me Wrong
Hymn to Her
??
Back On The Chain Gang
Rosalea
??
??
Night In My Veins
Middle of The Road

I’ll Stand By You
2000 Miles
Brass In Pocket