It may have taken them 30-something years, but legendary glam/trash rockers The New York Dolls finally landed in New Zealand, March 24 and man, were they loud - my ears rang most of Saturday night and Sunday.

The Dolls are one of the icons of pre-punk rock, and their imprint can be seen everywhere from The Ramones to The Smiths to Guns & Roses. But it came at a cost - the Dolls flamed out faster than most bands, having recorded one unarguably classic, self-titled album in 1973. (Their second was fittingly called Too Much, Too Soon.)

Three of the five founding members are now dead, but survivors David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain came back together in 2004 when huge fan Morrissey sought them out for a benefit. (The fantastic 2005 documentary New York Doll, which I reviewed a while back, tells of the Dolls' rise and fall and rise again in fascinating fashion.)

So anyway, most bands that are only two-fifths of the original lineup might seem rather counterfeit, but hell, the Dolls rocked Auckland pretty well anyway, in my humble opinion. Johansen, who looks kinda like Mick Jagger run over by a garbage truck, is a wiry, propulsive lead singer, equal parts preacher and prostitute. In his fifties, he's a lean and strutting frontman (and if you've never heard of the Dolls, you probably still know Johansen from his wacky novelty hit in the 1980s as Buster Poindexter, "Hot Hot Hot").

At the show, the diminutive Sylvain - who looks like a cross between AC/DC's Angus Young and Danny DeVito - also threw out some fiery guitar lines. The other guys, Hanoi Rocks' Sami Yaffa, Brian Delaney, Steve Conte and Brian Koonin, weren't bad either - that stage nearly combusted with some of the three-guitar attacks they launched.

Highlights for me included their epic, jam-filled takes on classics "Trash" and "Jet Boy," a sly "Private World," and some of the excellent newer songs like "Dance Like A Monkey" and "We're All In Love."

A lot of the audience - the vast majority of which were barely born when the Dolls had their first run - was lukewarm at first to the newer stuff, but the Dolls' comeback disc, the superbly titled One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This, is a suitably crunchy and taut return to form for the band. The Dolls thrashed so hard on some of the newer tunes I think even the poseurs were won over. One bummer - no "Frankenstein"!

For a band that put out their seminal work 30-plus years ago, there's still an edge to the Dolls. Their glam-rock stomp is no longer quite so threatening, but it's got a seen-it-all raffish charm. They're still authentic rock 'n' roll, not just a tribute act.

SET LIST :
Looking For A Kiss / Puss'n'Boots / We're All In Love / Piece Of My Heart / Private World / Dancing On The Lip Of A Volcano / Rainbow Store / Fishnets & Cigarettes / Plenty Of Music / Punishing World / Take A Good Look At My Good Looks / Pills / You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory/Lonely Planet Boy / Gimme Luv & Turn On The Light / Dance Like A Monkey / Trash / Jet Boy // Personality Crisis // Gotta Get Away From Tommy