BLONDIE, VENUS INFERS
DESERT DIAMOND CASINO’S DIAMOND CENTER
Tuesday, Sept. 1
Bridging punk and disco, hip hop and new wave, reggae and classic
pop-rock, Blondie was one of the most commercially successful acts to
spring from the legendary New York City punk movement in the late
1970s. And 30 years later, the band treated its fans to a terrific
almost-90-minute performance last week at the Desert Diamond
Casino.
The concert was far from an embarrassing sleepwalk through a few
hits, as is sometimes the case with past-their-prime touring bands.
This was a perfectly credible, often sizzling reinforcement of the
Blondie legacy.
After a forgettable set by openers Venus Infers, Blondie roared out,
immediately delighting the audience with the one-two punch of “Call Me”
and “Hanging on the Telephone,” the latter of which I’ve always
considered a near-perfect pop song. Invigorating versions of classic
material followed, such as “One Way or Another,” “The Tide Is High,”
“Maria,” “Rapture” and “Heart of Glass,” which segued seamlessly into
Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” which closed out
the evening.
And was that an unusually rockin’ cover of the Celine Dion hit “My
Heart Will Go On” from the Titanic soundtrack? Yep, think
so.
Iconic lead singer Deborah Harry still looks dazzling at 64 years
old. The ultimate new-wave diva, she wore straight platinum tresses, a
slinky red dress, a short black leather jacket, black sunglasses and
mismatched sneakers: one black, and one red. Her unusual beauty has not
faded.
Harry was joined by original band members Chris Stein and Clem
Burke. Stein showed off some guitar chops, tearing off hunks of melody
from the hook-heavy tunes, and transforming them into snarling, angular
leads and solos. Drummer Burke (wearing a CBGB’s T-shirt) proved why he
is the master of the tom-tom-centric big beat and a pioneer of
high-energy pop-rock. Three hired hands rounded out the lineup, and the
entire band played with a fiery quality that belied the fact that the
show was the finale of a long tour.
For close-ups, two huge video screens stood on both sides of the
stage, and a couple of flat-screen monitors hung above it.
Unfortunately, the camerawork and production quality were inferior even
to those found on subpar public-access TV programs; we much preferred
watching the band at a distance.
This article appears in Sep 10-16, 2009.
Venus Infers’ performance was only “forgettable” if you’re an old fogy named Gene Armstrong who writes for the Tucson Weekly. Yes, Blondie was amazing that night, and yes, Debbie Harry looked dazzling. But is it really necessary to trash one band in order to applaud another? My sister and I left the concert just as or more excited to discover the music of Venus Infers as we were to get to see Blondie perform.
Venus Infer’s set was hardly forgettable by any stretch of the imagination, in fact they were the exact opposite – I haven’t stopped listening to their music since the show. I can’t think of any band that could have opened for Blondie better than them. Venus Infers were gracious as well as charismatic, and something that should not go unnoticed is that their songs are INCREDIBLE! Blondie put on a fantastic show, and lived up every bit to their name, yet Venus Infers amazing performance also deserves mention. We came there to see one favorite band of ours – Blondie – and we left with another favorite band that we haven’t stopped listening to since.