Up-Load UK, Gigs News & reviews Billy Idol Manchester

Welcome home Billy …..

The room was filled with a mixture of old and young fans who were all frantically talking about the show that they were expecting to see tonight. Suddenly a huge cheer erupted as the stage lights dimmed and Billy’s voice could be heard saying “You hear that “ then his figure slowly walked on to the stage and the crowd really went wild.

Without any further introductions he burst straight into ‘Super Overdrive’ from his latest album ‘Devils Playground’. He was jumping around on the stage just as he had nearly 30 years earlier and he had not lost any of his energy or enthusiasm, and by the looks of it he definitely hadn’t lost any of the love from his fans.

‘Dancin ’With Myself’ was his second track of the night and the fans were loving the mix of old and new songs that they were being treated to, they were dancing around the room and singing along . At this stage it was hard to tell who was enjoying the show more, Billy himself or his adoring fans. After a few friendly words from Billy he started to sing again, this time it was the sexy track ‘Flesh For Fantasy’. He was peeling off his clothes and dancing around the stage really strutting his stuff, much to the pleasure of the ladies (and some of the men , no doubt) in the audience. The next track was ‘ Body snatcher’ which was received with the same enthusiasm by the crowd. His stage presence was amazing and it was clear to see that Billy had been working out, not only was his body in perfect shape but his vocals were crisp and clear and absolutely perfect throughout.

It was now time for the audience to be introduced to the band, Billy wondered from one band member to the next and introduced Derek Sherinian on Keyboard, Stephen McGrath on Bass, Brian Tichy on Drums and last but not least the great Steve Stevens on Guitar. He then said “There ain’t no more singing the blues, we have just released a new album, it’s taken a long time but good things take a long time” and there wasn’t a single person in that room that didn’t agree with him 100%. With a cheeky look on his face he suddenly announced “ I think you are gonna know this song” and the intro from ‘White Wedding’ blasted out from the band and the crowd go wild again. Suddenly half way through the track the stage goes silent and all you can hear is the drums beating and the crowd singing along, it was soon evident, by the fact that Billy’s mouth was moving and no sound could be heard, that there was a major problem with the sound and all the electrics seemed to be dead.

Billy being Billy then stood on the front of the stage and encouraged the huge crowd to sing the song for him instead, what followed was a continual loop of “ It’s a nice day to start again, it’s a nice day for a white wedding, it’s a nice day to start again’. To keep the crowd amused while the electricians try to mend the sound, Billy teasingly lifts his shirt and the crowd start chanting “Off, Off” along with the cheer of “ Get your kit off for the girls” the atmosphere in the room was so happy and jovial even though it was over 15 minutes before a series of loud cracks bellowed out over the pa system, that sounded more liked a firework on bonfire night. Then we heard the words “1, 2 test” and the crowd were off screaming and cheering again.

The band sprang into life and started playing ‘White Wedding’ again, much to the crowds pleasure, and Billy said “Well that’s the best acoustic version I have ever seen” before he finished singing the song himself. Suddenly he shouted out “Do you want to scream ? everybody, do you want to scream?” and yes the crowd did want to ! The band started playing and Billy peeled off his top, and we were treated to the track ‘Scream’. The fans were trying to reach out to the stage from the barriers hoping for a touch from their hero and a few lucky people were justly rewarded.

Steve Stevens and the band played a mellow, chilled out instrumental that morphed straight into the classic ‘Eyes without a face’ and it is clear to see that the legend that is Billy Idol is loving it, stood in front of his adoring, screaming fans, young and old, all singing along with him. Standing at the front of the stage with his shirt open even the straight men in the audience were obviously thinking ‘ God that guy looks good’

The track that followed was another classic ‘ Sweet Sixteen’. Billy’s voice sounded so gravelly and sexy it was almost like he was that rugged looking 20 something that most of the older fans remember, and fell in love with, all those years ago.

‘To be a lover’ was the next song we were treated to before Billy said “ Right, now I am going to do a song for the ladies in the house, it’s a song off Devils Playground” and he started to sing the beautiful ‘Cherie’.

It was now time to move on to a more serious subject as Billy announced that he was going to perform his next song as a tribute to all the hurricane Katrina and Rita’s victims and then he sang Randy Newman's ‘Louisiana’. As the song finished it was time for Billy to take a back seat as Steve Stevens came to the front of the stage and played a beautiful ‘Spanish guitar’ piece that had the audience captivated. This showed his true talents as one of the best guitar players in the world today. It was absolutely faultless as the sounds floated around the auditorium and the crowd looked on in sheer appreciation of his skills.

After a long ovation from the crowd it was time for Billy to take over once again, and he sang the upbeat ‘ Rat Race’ as the crowd bounced up and down and sang along once more. This was closely followed by another classic ‘ L.A Woman’ and by this time the crowd had turned into a heaving mass, all swaying and waving their hands in the air.

Billy had been on stage for nearly two hours by this time, but there was still a lot more to come to please the fans as he started the next song , another track from Devils Playground, ‘World Coming Down’ .

The room was hot and the crowds were all squashing down the hall to try and get as close to the stage as they could. Several women were trying to sweet talk the security men into letting them go through the barrier gate so they could get on stage with Billy. One was more persistent than the rest, she was pushing and shoving and trying to climb over the gate, this in itself may not seem that funny until you realise that this woman is probably in her late 40’s and very large to say the least. Extra staff were brought down to try and keep her and the others in check but every time they pushed them back from the barrier they seemed to come straight back down to the front. Billy was stood on the stage laughing but it was not clear if he could actually see what was going on, or if he was just laughing due to enjoying the show so much.

He suddenly announced with a giggle “Many years ago I was in a band that some of you might remember and it’s now time to do a few Generation X songs” at this point the already near hysterical crowd still managed to find a few extra decibels to scream even louder as the first chords from ‘Ready, Steady, Go’ were played. It seemed like every person in the hall was singing along, word for word, with Billy. As the shirt comes off again to yet another cheer at the end of the track he jumps straight into another great classic ‘Rebel Yell’ and the fans definitely wanted ‘more, more, more, more, more more’.

As he stood on stage, smiling and posing with his lip curled up in the trademark ‘Billy sneer’ we were treated to another great sing along track ‘Hot In The City’ and finishing his Generation X section with the lesser known ‘Kiss Me Deadly’. The older fans in the venue were obviously very happy to be able to see Billy singing these old favourites and the younger fans were just happy to see Billy sing anything at all !

The night was brought to it’s conclusion with ‘Mony, Mony’ which seemed to have been extended tonight, but nobody was complaining. Towards the end of the track all of the band, including Billy, picked up guitars and made their way to the front of the stage, they stood in a lone and had a real ‘jamming’ session as they waved their guitars in the air and danced about . This was a truly amazing sight and is a vision that many of the fans will remember for a very long time.

Billy said his thanks to the crowd before thanking his band and introducing them to the crowd again, he finished with “And on the guitar is me, and my name is Billy Fucking Idol” This announcement nearly brought the roof down, loud cheers, clapping and screaming filled the air and many people were crying but they all had one thing in common – the huge smiles on their faces.

This was definitely one of the best concerts we have ever had the privilege to see , not many acts will go on stage and perform flat out for nearly two and a half hours but Billy filled every second of the night with so much energy and entertainment delivering everything that the crowd wanted and so much more.

The Punk king of the UK has finally come home to regain his crown, long live the king! “Billy ‘Fucking’ Idol”

NOTE....

Midway through the evening Nigel from the official Fan Club asked to use our camera to take some pictures (we were only allowed to take pictures for three songs) while he was in the ‘pit’ taking the photo’s Billy took the camera from him and took the following shots. All we can say is that we don’t think he was looking at what he was doing but as it was Billy who took the pictures we had to include them here.

Photographs by Kate James