Billy Idol with Joan Jett opening. Dickies Arena, May 7, 2025.
If you have to go to a big arena to see a show, Dickies isn’t a bad one. It’s fairly new and the seats are big and comfortable. Plus even at the back end of the house, where we usually sit, the view of both the stage and the screens is good.
Joan Jett opened, doing a good job, though the covers and hits were clearly what the early-arriving fans wanted. She’s still engaged with the music, but the Blackhearts are a bar band, which limits what they can do for an arena show. The Dallas Observer review of her part of the show was a little unkind, but for all that she got the crowd warmed up and told some great stories, she was clearly the lesser of the two, which pains my feminist heart. I loved her songs back in the day, and she’s still putting out good music, but it’s very similar to the old stuff.
Billy is pushing 70, but he’s still stomping and snarling and waving his chains and tearing off his shirt just like he did when he was in his 20s. His voice was a little rough in places but he really held the audience with both his stories and his songs. Steve Stevens, his guitarist, did a fantastic job with the guitar on Flesh for Fantasy, which happens to be my favorite Billy Idol song. I was delighted to hear some brand new music; I haven’t followed him closely but I knew he was still releasing EPs and collaborating with other artists. His set was broad, with all the hits, and deep, with some new, some old, and some covers: he did a great Gimme Shelter with one of his singers, which is almost tailor-made for his snarl. By the end he had us really riled up for Rebel Yell, and then went into a four-song encore that included Hot in the City, Dancing With Myself, a new song, and White Wedding.
We danced out of the arena and went back to our hotel, still singing.