Still Wild About Harry

Michael and I had the privilege of being front-row-left at Thursday night's Debbie Harry concert at the Fillmore at Irving Plaza, the opening night of her Necessary Evil tour. We were told there was no opening act so I made Mikey skip dinner so we could get there at 7:30 p.m. to secure a prime spot only to have there be both an opening act (some Swedish guy named Kristoffer Ragnstam) and a lengthy delay before her royal blondness came out (but it was worth the wait). Onetime "Kiss Me, Guido" hottie Nick Scotti was also there at 7:30 sharp standing right next to us, and I later found out is (also) an obsessed Debbie fan!

It's late and I don't feel like writing a lengthy review (what else can you say about an icon?), but I did want to do a quick post for anyone who's planning to see Deb this time around. As advertised, this was a Debbie Harry show -- not a Blondie show -- so I'm not really sure what Dan Aquilante of the New York Post was thinking when he let readers know that he doesn't think Debbie's solo material is nearly as good as old Blondie hits (way to go out on a limb, Dan. See his related review of how Paul McCartney's tour for "Memory Almost Full" isn't nearly as good as a Beatles concert). The guy seems to think the 18-year-old "Lovelight" is from her new album, so what can you expect? That said, longtime Debbie fans will get a real rush (rush) out of seeing her perform her greatest (shoulda been) solo hits, including "I Can See Clearly," "French Kissin'," "The Jam Was Moving" and "Rush Rush." And while it would have been nice for her to have done some of her other "famous" near-misses -- "Liar Liar," "Feel the Spin," "In Love With Love," and "Sweet and Low" come to mind, and Blondie even did "Chrome" on the Tracks Across America tour back in '82 -- you've gotta hand it to an old broad who wants to skip the nostalgia once in awhile and try something new. (She's been on the road with Blondie nonstop since 1999 and never once has she failed to do all of the band's hits so I think she's more than earned it.) Truth be told, other than the acoustic "Tide Is High"/"Heart of Glass" combo, the breezy new "Two Times Blue" (video) and the punk throwbacks "Whiteout" (video) and "You're Too Hot" (video) got the biggest crowd reaction by far.

If you wanna know more, my friend Matt has lots of photos, video (I snagged his clip of the heartwarming "Tide Is High" campfire singalong, below) and a song-by-song review of the show here.

Setlist: (opening) "Jen Jen" / "I Can See Clearly" / "Necessary Evil" / "The Jam Was Moving" / "Two Times Blue" / "If I Had You" / "French Kissin'" / "Rain" / "The Tide Is High" / "Heart of Glass" / "Lovelight" / "Heat of the Moment" w/Nomi / "School for Scandal" / "Rush Rush" / "Love With a Vengeance" / "What Is Love?" / "Whiteout" / "You're Too Hot" / "Charm Alarm" w/Miss Guy of the Toilet Boys