Billy Idol has had quite an interesting career, the majority of which I am completely unfamiliar with. From his early days with Generation X to his solo heyday in the 1980s, to his fall from grace in the 1990s, he has been all over the place. Not to mention his near-death motorcycle accident. The man has shown incredible resiliency coming through it all with a sneer on his face and a fist in the air.
This concert shows the man doing what he knows, tearing the house down. I believe this was recorded in 2005 while touring behind his last album, Devil's Playground. It is a no frills concert and Blu-ray release, but it matters not as it so finely presented and just a blast to watch.
I like concert video releases. The good ones can make it feel like you are right there in the crowd experiencing what they are, in the moment. There is another reason I like concert videos, although much less common reason. I like it when a disk is released of a tour I have seen. This is the third time that I can recall off the top of my head where a band recorded a show on the same tour I saw them on. The other two are Megadeth's Rude Awakening and Insane Clown Posse's Bootlegged in LA (yes, I like a wide variety of music). In addition to putting me in the audience, it takes me back to my live experience that can add so much value to a concert video.
In this case, I saw Billy Idol in Poughkeepsie, NY in September of 2005. It was sort of sad as there was scarcely anyone there. If the concert hall was 25% filled that would have been a lot. Due to the small crowd, security allowed everyone to leave their ticketed seats and gather right up at the security railing. This sort of crowd could have led the artist to dog it, save energy for the bigger crowds, but not Billy. Billy, Steve Stevens, and the rest of the band played their hearts out. Ripping through new tunes, classic tunes, Generation X tunes, it did not matter what they played, it was incredible. Billy showed his true colors as a consummate entertainer. I swear, it did not look like he lost a step in all these years. He was up there singing, singing autographs, shaking hands, and never missed a beat.
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