![]() ![]() The concert was being filmed - beware of swinging camera booms - so the band went to extra lengths to really shake things up, without being overtly political or nasty. In constant interaction with her band - Adam Seymour on lead guitar, Andy Hobson on bass, the original longtimer Martin Chambers on drums and Zeb Jameson on keyboards and assorted percussion - Chrissie wowed the packed house with a whole lotta old and a whole lotta new. You have to love the fact that Chrissie is over fifty and still carries herself like a bedraggled, unflappable rock star. Considering the obstacles of multiple band member fatalities and desertions, along with a changing tide of styles, causes and concerns, Chrissie has always done a respectable job of keeping it real, imbibing a gasp of genuine street smarts ingrained into her soul since, with pen in hand, she so angrily slagged it out with the late 70s punks of London. If only because the Pretenders are one of the few bands of the last 25 years whose continued existence still makes perfect sense. The wayward fan should have been commended, not scolded but rules are rules, and so forth and so on. Seconds later, a hapless security goon chased him off and into the crowd. At one point, late into the Wiltern show, a gentlemen, dressed considerably better than your local stage diving dope, leapt up onto stage right, dropped to his knees, and repeatedly bowed before the band. Beneath her sometimes harsh and hard exterior, Chrissie has this soft and feminine quality that enables her to write and perform a rich and vibrant catalog of timeless tunes. She’s still sexy in a seminally classic sense - a rock personality to behold and cheer on. Even Joan Jett isn’t quite as interesting as she once was.įor her part, Chrissie does her thing amazingly well. Some of those girls (and I’m not naming names) have succumb to cushier roles, unable to sustain that stiff upper lip gloss with any form of dignity. The problem with the girls who try to be like Chrissie Hynde is simply a matter of endurance. Referring to Chrissie, I say “almost incomparable” in that there have been a lot of girls who have tried to emulate that tough veneer, seasoned over with sultry sassiness (not to mention the whole similarity-to-Elvira-without-the-cleavage thing she’s got going on…creepy, huh?). The fact that they are lead by a consummate pro and unique stylist worthy of more praise than she has enjoyed of late - the lovely, almost incomparable Chrissie Hynde - is merely a nice coincidence. What I witnessed was an electrifying performance by a truly Vintage Rock band. I actually went to the concert as a casual fan who had seen them once before in the mid 80s. I had no intention of writing about the Pretenders until I heard the comment that began this article. ![]() I even think Shakira and No Doubt (yeah, I’ve become that flexible) are tolerable. Lately, Tori Amos, Kate Bush, Fiona Apple, Shelby Lynne, Norah Jones, Diana Krall, Bjork and Aimee Mann have all been making the rounds on the old CD player. Actually, I’ve been listening to a lot of music by women. Unfortunately, there are simply not enough women who play the kind of music I listen to, which isn’t to say that’s good or bad or indifferent…it has to do with numbers and odds and statistics. In my column on, I’ve written about Joni Mitchell, Janis Joplin, Bonnie Raitt, Heart, Jefferson Airplane and Fleetwood Mac, so it’s not like I’ve totally ignored the female segment of popular music. ![]() The truth of the matter is I just haven’t gotten around to flapping my wings for the ladies of music until now. Ok, let me see - I’m not, as far as I know, a chauvinist. night to go see the Pretenders at the Wiltern Theatre. “The thing with your website is that there are no articles about chick rockers and that might make the reader think that you are…chauvinistic…” And so said my female companion for the evening as we ventured forth into the misty L.A.
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