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Sorry for the delay, the Dust Devil has experienced a hell of a week folks. Here is a concert review of The Pretenders at Dodge Theatre, Wednesday, March 4!

March 12th, 2009 Posted by: Dust Devil

Hello my friends!

No joke, I have tried to write this up for five days now, but as always life seems to get in the way!

But hey, The Pretenders are a band worth the effort. It is hard to believe this band has been around for over thirty years and that I was only ten when their self-titled debut was released. I have fond memories of tracks such as Message of Love, Precious, Pack It Up, Tattooed Love Boys and Bad Boys Get Spanked growing up.

I had the pleasure of seeing The Pretenders at Cricket Pavilion July 28, 1998 (I still have the ticket stub!) opening for the B-52’s, whom they blew off the stage on that evening. I never had a chance to see the classic line-up from the first two albums and EP, Pretenders, Extended Play and Pretenders II. Nevertheless, Chrissie Hynde and drummer Martin Chambers were still a part of the line-up in 1998, and for this tour were together again.

Let’s get the unpleasantries out of the way. BOO to the Dodge Theatre for their “customer service”, or lack there-of on this evening. The show did not sell well, which is unfortunate for such a legendary band, so people that bought tickets in the balcony or club level were moved down to the main floor. Whether it was the band that asked for the change or the Dodge itself that made the decision is irrelevant. What does matter is the poor handling of those with tickets being moved downstairs. To enter the venue and be told to go stand in a line for an “upgrade” on your ticket as they called it is inexcusable. The woman who would take your ticket and hand you a new one obviously had never received any customer service training, for her attitude with the patrons in line was horrendous. I am sorry, but if Dodge Theatre and Live Nation give you an option when purchasing online to pick out precise seats when ordering, that is the ticket you should sit in, particularly if someone (like I did) picks out two seats specifically on an aisle of the row, and on the aisle closest to the center section of the club level! Eventually I received two tickets that met that desciption.

Next, I figured out midway through their set that I had seen the opening band before. How American Bang landed slots opening for two Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members, The Pretenders this year and ZZ Top a few years ago is beyond me. A terrible Black Crowes imitation.

Thankfully The Pretenders saved the evening! Wow, Chrissie Hynde STILL is a domineering presence onstage and still possesses a dynamite voice. Martin Chambers plays the drums with such power and precision, and as one of my friends commented, plays in a very unique manner. It works though! The rest of the band consists of James Walbourne on guitar, pedal steel player Eric Heywood and on the bass is Nick Wilkinson.

I had read that this would not be a “greatest hits” tour, that Hynde wanted to focus on the band’s current work, Break Up The Concrete. The album broke into the U.S. Top 40 which had not happened in over 20 years for the band. The new material was absolutely oustanding and showcased a bit of a rockabilly influence in the music. I was pretty impressed by the three new members, particularly the guitar work of Walbourne.

The real test would be how the newer members would respond on the classic Hynde/James Honeyman-Scott/Pete Farndon/Chambers era material. Was I ever happy that the old-school material was outstanding live all these years later!

Brass in Pocket, The Pretenders first big hit, is today a tune Hynde has publicly declared she would rather not play, but in her own words, “the customer is always right”. Her apathy toward the track was obvious when she introduced it by stating, “Well, let’s get rid of this one!” Nevertheless, the song sounded great as Hynde pranced around the stage in her classic smart-ass way when singing the track. She truly is “special”!

What really surprised me was how many old tracks were played, which I was not expecting. Kid was dedicated to Homeyman-Scott and Farndon, and it was very touching when Hynde declared The Pretenders would not have been the band they are without the two of them. Stop You Sobbing, the great Kinks cover the band does from Pretenders, sounded as good as ever. Message of Love, Day After Day and Talk of the Town sounded outstanding, three great tracks from my personal favorite album of theirs, Pretenders II. I do wish the guitar would have been cranked a little harder on Message of Love, that guitar lick absolutely smokes on the studio version.

How times have changed! I was never a fan of Back on the Chain Gang when it came out in 1982, but as I have grown older I have become very fond of the track. James Honeyman-Scott was a great guitarist, and for the music world to have lost him to drugs at the age of 25 remains a tragic part of music history. It is great to see The Pretenders still playing this important song from their catalog. No Middle of the Road or My City Was Gone, which was a bit of a bummer!

The highlight of the set had to be a blistering version of the lead track from Pretenders, the phenomenal Precious. The song was the second track of their first encore and absolutely set the appreciative crowd on fire. I can remember how upset my Mom was when she head this song coming out of my stereo when I first bought the album, and years later the song is still absolutely intense. If you are ever lucky enough to find their Extended Play EP, buy it just for the live version of this song at Central Park in 1980.

Great, great show! Folks, where in the heck were you? This venue should have been at capacity when a legend like this comes to town. Unfortunately, that is the sorry state of popular music today. I am sure the Jonas Brothers at Jobing.com Arena will sell out …

Thank you to The Pretenders for proving once again that great bands never die. Here’s to 30 more years!

Cheers!
The Dust Devil

Filed under: Venue News & Reviews, My Take, Event Reviews