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THE FREE LANCE-STAR
It's not every day that a rock star in his 40s can still pull off the snarl and swagger of his youth.
Meet the man with the Whiplash Smile.
Billy Idol's show at a packed 9:30 Club this week proved that Father Time needn't be an enemy to be feared. Idol looked and sounded fantastic and seemed as confident as he was in his heyday of '80s new wave hits.
"Do you feel all right?" he demanded of the delirious crowd. The crowd responded as one with the shouted response: "I feel all right!"
Idol's group--which included his brilliant longtime guitarist, Steve Stevens--launched immediately into a rendition of "Mony Mony."
All the hits were played with conviction, including "White Wedding," "Rebel Yell," "Blue Highway" and "Hot Summer Nights" (for this show, turned into "Hot D.C. Nights").
And happily, none of them seemed dated: If anything, they seemed all the stronger for standing on their own, timeless pop songs that still swing in a new millennium.
Seeing idols (pun intended) from the past carries with it a risk of shattered illusions for fans. This is particularly true for artists whose appeal was initially based in no small part on a particular look and challenge to authority.
Idol managed to pull it off in 2003 with the same sneering panache that he trademarked in 1979. The bleached hair, the spiky 'do, the open shirt with too many necklaces--for some reason it still works for Idol, who has not abandoned any of his early styles or "fist in the air" stage moves.
Perhaps it's because Billy Idol has always believed in himself. When Generation X released its legendary self-titled album in 1979, fans seized on the great singing, clever lyrics and melodies that stayed in your head for days.
Early critics, however, tended to dismiss Idol as being all looks and little substance. Idol ignored them and did his music, his way--and his bravado helped make him one of the few punks from the early wave to make a successful musical career.
One of the evening's most touching moments came when he played "Ready Steady Go" from that first Generation X album, a way, perhaps, of emphasizing that Billy Idol will always rock the cradle of love in his own inimitable style.