Billy Idol is a living legend. Evidently, he’s also a man of few words, as I recently discovered. See, when life gives you a punk rock icon served up on a platter (or stage, as it were) in your own back yard, you take it and say thank you. That’s exactly what I did this past weekend when I stood with my camera at the feet of Idol himself on the grounds of Silverado Resort at the end of 2018’s Safeway Open. Idol took the stage without much ado and began his set strong with “Cradle of Love.”
Before the end of his first song, Idol noticed a fan trying to get his attention by waving his autobiography at him. In order to sign it, however, he needed help reaching it. Because I happened to be standing between the two, I took the book and handed it to him. He promptly signed it, tossed it back to the happy fan in the front row, and began “Dancing With Myself,” followed by “Flesh for Fantasy.”
I left the photo pit during “L.A. Woman”, after which Idol began to address the crowd. I would never expect to write that a rock star like Idol was soft-spoken, but he was. It was nearly impossible for me to hear what he was saying when he spoke, which wasn’t very often. He has a raspy voice, he mumbles a bit, and the crowd was loud. I made out, “In Napa, yeah!” and something about “35 years later…” before he began “Catch My Fall.” I had no choice but to shrug it off: okay, so this will be one review where I can’t really tell you much about what was said. What I can tell you is that for the most part, Idol is still fantastic live. Of equal importance is the talent level of the members of his band, particularly the phenomenal Steve Stevens, who had ample time to shine throughout the night in excellent solo after excellent solo.
After “Eyes Without a Face,” Stevens had the stage to himself, holding the crowd’s attention for a 10-minute solo. Toward the end, Stevens rolled up his sleeves to really get into it as the audience watched in near-silence. When Idol returned to the stage, he sported a gorgeous black-and-white leather jacket, marking his second costume change of the evening (so far). After “Don’t Need a Gun” and “King Rocker,” Idol tossed a handful of white plastic Billy Idol-branded frisbees to the crowd, which was perhaps the least punk rock thing I’ve ever seen. This is not meant as a disparaging remark, by the way: I found it an adorable juxtaposition.
“Blue Highway” came next, after which the band broke into a fantastic little jam session, much to the delight of the crowd. Idol then spoke again to the crowd; this time I literally only caught him shouting the title of the next song, which was “REBEL YELL!” Near the end of the song, Idol got the crowd to chant “hey! hey! hey! hey!” with him before taking off his t-shirt, throwing it to the crowd, and leaving the stage.
Moments later, Idol returned in yet another costume to treat the crowd to “White Wedding,” which was awesome. As he began to thank the crowd and the ASL interpreter, I anticipated the end of his regular set, thinking he would come back to do “Mony Mony” as his encore. He went on to introduce the members of the band, ending with “…and my name is Billy fucking Idol!” which made me smile. When he said “you’ve been fantastic, thank you for a night, see you next time,” I was surprised to realize two things. First, that was the first time I understood what he said, and two, he was done. And so it was over as quickly as it’d begun. While I was disappointed that he didn’t do one of the songs to which I’d been looking forward, I left thrilled at having seen such an icon live. He’s still a great performer, and as long as you know that he doesn’t say much (and you might not hear what he does decide to say), I highly recommend you see him if you get the chance!
