Garbage, Blondie

We saw Garbage and Blondie last weekend.

Can't say I know anything about Garbage except the hits that saturated radio at just about the time I stopped listening to music on the radio. But, I know Butch Vig, who produced Nevermind is a member. For some reason I thought he played guitar. Nope, drums.

They were good - much better than I thought they'd be, even. The band is very slick and polished, just like they sound on the radio. But it at least looked like they were actually playing it all. And their singer, Shirley Manson, is a lot of fun to watch. They played a bunch of songs I didn't know, and ended with a few that I did know. All of their songs sounded exactly like distilled 1990s.

Blondie did all their hits, and quite a few new songs (a couple of which sounded like old songs reworked just a bit). By comparison to Garbage, they sounded much less polished and sculpted. Not sloppy, just less fussed-over. Punk rock, I guess. Also, Debbie Harry is now 72 and doesn't have the voice she did 35 years ago - or even six years ago. But, she's still Debbie Harry. Original drummer, Clem Burke, is still amazing. They saved it for last, but my favorite Blondie song is "Dreaming", and I've always loved the tornado of rolls that he does all throughout it.

Blondie - Dreaming (Official Music Video)

And he can still do it.

As far as I can tell, they didn't use any backing tracks. I find it so shitty that this is even something that I find myself looking for, every show I see anymore.

Next month, Green Day.

One thought on “Garbage, Blondie

  1. russell

    so cool that clem burke is still on the gig. hope i’m still out there doing it when i’m 72!

    and yeah, the guys in garbage are stone cold pros. studio rats. like a 90’s wrecking crew.

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