Peta T. got a couple of comped tickets last night from work to go see the B-52s and Blondie at Merriweather Post. I like both bands, so off we went.
I’ve seen the B-52s once before, and they’re still putting on a pretty good show. All the big hits, plus a few cuts like “Mesopotamia” and “Is that you, Mo-Dee?” The only song they didn’t play that I like (and didn’t play last time I saw them, either) was “Legal Tender.” I suspect that it’s because Fred doesn’t perform on that song; he doesn’t perform on “Roam,” but it was a bigger hit, so they probably chose to do one or the other.
Kate Pierson is still looking damned good, though. She’s got a ton of energy, and her voice is just as powerful as it ever was. It doesn’t occur to you when you’re watching her perform that this woman is 54 years old! Damn. I don’t have that much energy now. Fred Schneider is extremely energetic, too, and Cindy Wilson, Bog love her, soldiers on after all these years and her brother’s death.
Blondie put on an interesting show. Debbie Harry is looking really good; she dropped quite a bit of the weight she put on a few years back, and looks really confident and hot. Clem Burke is just an amazing drummer, and Chris Stein is as aloof as ever. Probably just happy to be alive, all things considered. Suprisingly, they didn’t just do a “hits review.” Of their most famous songs, they did “Call Me,” “One Way Or Another,” “Hangin’ On The Telephone,” “Dreaming,” “Rapture” and “Heart of Glass.” The rest of the show was all either lesser-known album cuts like “Accidents Never Happen,” “Detroit 442” and “War Child,” or material from the latest album of a couple years ago.
All in all, a pretty good time, even if it did take two hours to get to Columbia from Arlington.
