Billy Idol Punches in With Heat at Wolf Trap’s Filene Center

By: Rick Landers

Images: Craig Hunter Ross

Just when the night air began to chill, Billy Idol and his hard-hitting band punched in with some heat at the Filene Center, Vienna, Virginia, on June 20^th.

Kicking off the set with Generation X’s 1978 hit, “Ready, Steady, Go”, Idol launched the entire audience to its feet. Everyone was immediately in Billy’s grip. And wasn’t it fabulous?

With his heavy fueled line-up of world-class musicians, Idol crashed into the place with a rampage of hit songs, including, “Dancing with Myself”, “Flesh for Fantasy”, “Cradle of Love” and more.

But, Idol wasn’t running solo on this gig. Nearby with a shock of black hair, only grounded by his over-the-top black and white pinstriped pants, guitarist, Steve Stevens, seduced the crowd with classic Idol riffs, his glittery Knaggs axe and his stunning turbocharged solos. More than a few times, Idol backed off, allowing Stevens to take the spotlight, where he not only held his ground – he ruled!

Idol’s band never let up and kept shoving hit after hit at the fist-pumping crowd. Giving some backbone to the beat was Billy Morrison [The Cult, Circus Diablo, Camp Freddy] on rhythm guitar, keys pummeled by Derek Sherinean, the thumping basslines of Steven McGrath and the rattling of rafters by drummer, Erik Eldenius.

Still, it was Idol who ripped it up, spit it out and conquered. The guy’s become a part of rock culture since his early days of punk.  Billy’s sneer alone can stop us dead in our tracks. But, then he’s got the pipes to shout out rock anthems, mesmerize us with the haunting songs like “Eyes Without A Face” and even soften us up with love ballads.

Hits kept coming, as the band rolled out  “Rebel Yell”, “Flesh for Fantasy”, “Love Like Fire”, along with a couple of covers like the Doors’ “L.A. Woman” with a driving solo by Stevens.

For an encore, Idol pulled out his monster and kind of campy hit, “White Wedding”, along with a sure bet final cover of the ‘60s hit by Tommy James and The Shondells, “Mony Mony”…and the crowd loved it.

Wolf Trap crowds tend to be rather polite, calm, but tonight was a break out event and they just wouldn’t sit down. Thousands of pumping fists and crowd vocals filled the night air all the way to the end, as they headed toward and into the midnight hour…yeah, yeah, yeah.

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