STONE PONY REVIEW!

[rocketmaster]

http://www.njcoast.com/news2001/nov_...tml#shoreworld

SATURDAY NIGHT I THREW MY CHERRY BOMB
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And it landed right in the middle of what I could only call "Pop Anthem Night" at the fabled Stone Pony, where we caught a deftly packaged, era-spanning show from prime members of 70's Supergroups The Bay City Rollers and The Runaways..
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The Sunday night show had an unusual aspect to it, one that was more commonplace in 'the old days', namely both Headliners shared the same local backing band, except for the drummer.
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Singing as if he'd just stepped off a Rollers' tour in 79, first act was Ian Mitchell and back-up band{featuring Sean Mars on guitar,backing vocals, Mike Jaffe, guitar Keith Roth, bass/backing vocals, Mike Jaffe, guitars and Clint Gascoyne (from Frankenstein 3000} on drums..
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First song? "Money Honey" rolled out in passionate angry form at this Sunday night concert, as Mitchell & the band ripped into the 70's hit with a hard rock spin, putting a jaunty vibe on this breakfast-in-bed classic as the band delivered a tight hard rock edge behind Ian's still-in-good form vocals..
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Veering into the Dusty Springfield hit chestnut "I only wanna be with you", Roth and Mars bopped in form like born rockstars as Mitchell belted out the Dusty hit with its pop-orchestral arrangement intact. Images of the Rollers's legendary mob scene hysteria still vivid, the band lashed into 'Yesterday's Hero', a Pop anthem if ever there was earmarked w/the Bay City signature sound; Like Slade and Sweet before them, these guys might've been scorned in certain musical circles, and tho the Rollers ruled the magazine covers as reigning teenybop pop princes, they could deliver Pop-Rock anthems with lasting visceral crunch that came easily? across w/songs like "Hero.."
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Ian bantered with the audience a bit, and G man had the smoke machine crankin' full blast as the band rolled out the classic 'Rock n roll love letter', seguing next into 'She Put? the Light On' from Mitchell's 1st solo LP, about, hey what else, but 'she put the light ONN!".
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The rousing Monster Rollers Hit "Saturday Night" got the crowd waving fists in air, singing along to the 'Aiyiyiyi" chorus. They whipped out? T Rex;s old "Telegram Sam"(Sean Mars' signature song, BTW}for an edgey set-closing rave-up, as Mitchell and Mars shared mikes and traded lyrics while the band torqued on..
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A few minutes later, the same back-up band plus Sandy West, legendary Runaways drummer came back out with former Runaways Frontchick Cherie Currie: The small crowd whistled and clapped as Currie dedicated the show 'To My family, all of you here tonight' as she and the boys roared into a nicely hard-ass opening blast of "Queens of Noise", followed by the more ominously riffed 'California Paradise" w/her impassioned pipes warming up our rock hearts in simmering stride...

Then a little mid-set goofiness, courtesy of Sean Mars' Ziggy Stardust moment, and as Weird n' Gilly moved on, Sandy's drums imploded a big tribal buildup to "Come On" while the former "Foxes" co-star's vocals stung you as clear as a bumble bell, as she exhorted the crowd and the pop-goddess animus inside herself to Come ONN..
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From there, Sandy took her turn at the mike for a slashing, wrenching version of "Wild Thing". Another highlight came in the surprise appearance of legendary Joan Jett producer Kenny Laguna, offering his own earnest pipes backing Cherie on the pop-metal tearjerker "Love Hurts"..With the passion at critical mass, the boys launched into a gutty bang-up of Lou Reed's "Rock n' Roll", as Cherie swung and fed the mike into the crowd to sing along with a renewed frenzy, as she'd done on previous tunes:

Like her ex-bandmate Joan Jett, Currie never fails to put on the quintessential balls-out show, but I couldn't' help feeling this night had a "New Oldies' vibe about it, but all thought and analysis was blasted and erased by Cherie's set closing trademark "Cherry Bomb"..God-Damn she's STILL a Wild Girl, as her able Shore-based backing gang gave new urgency to "THE Anthem" of a billion lost little girls and boys, while Currie spat out and caressed the Ch-ch-cherrry" lyrics like, yes, she was singing it for the first time. With her centerfold looks glistening through the smoke under the lights, the still-legendary Currie {and Mitchell} showed they'll never sit for just being tagged former superstars..
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Watch for the Any-Day release of a new live album 'Cherrybomb 2001' featuring a classic duet between Curry and Joan Jett on the 2001 remake of 'Cherry Bomb", along with a host of the girls' hits in concert..

[This message has been edited by rocketmaster (edited November 06, 2001).]

[DeeJay]

ooohhh a live CD. Where is this gonna be available at Rocketmaster? On here? Tell us more about it instead of dangling the carrot.

Nice review above by the way.

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[metalcurrie]

Nice review of the show. Shame that whomever wrote the captions under the pix on the njcoast webpage couldn't spell anyone's name
correctly.


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[rocketmaster]

metalcurrie! There were pix on that site? Where?

And DeeJay, honestly, this is the first I've heard of a live CD. Not a bad idea tho...

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[metalcurrie]

Hey Rocketmaster (Hi Joe)!

If you click on the link you supplied, on page 17 there is a pic of Ian, on page 18 another pic of Ian and on page 19 there are
2 pix of Cherie (one w/Kenny Laguna.

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