All the old punks were out in south London on Saturday, tens of thousands of late middle-aged men and women in black, with flashes of tartan and day glo trimmings to signify lost youth. Not a lot of spiky hair in evidence, but then, to be fair, not a lot of hair.
The big screen at the back of the Dog Day Afternoon stage in Crystal Palace Park flashed footage from the summer of 1977, iconic imagery of rebellious fierceness and perfect skin contrasting with the dissolute old rockers on stage rehashing past glories. Billy Idol, looking like a disintegrating Chucky doll, led a band made up of members of The Sex Pistols and Generation X through punk karaoke singalongs. “No future! No future!” the crowd cheerily chanted from the comfortable vantage point of their own futures. Nostalgia can be a complicated business. Much fun was had by all.
The timeless Blondie showed how it could be done. The crowd sang Happy Birthday to Debbie Harry, who turned 78 on Saturday, even older than headliner Iggy Pop (76) who had effectively kick started this musical revolt with The Stooges in Detroit in 1967, a decade before Blondie released a single. “I’m having a good time,” Harry beamed. “Maybe too good a time. So let’s f___ it up!”
Whatever cosmetic magic she has employed over the decades, the septuagenarian frontwoman looks immaculately glamorous, executes the same eccentric bad dancing and still glides through a tightly drilled punk disco sound with an effortless blend of sweet and sour. Driven by 68-year-old Clem Burke’s pounding drums, new wave’s sleekest combo offered an uplifting demonstration of how pop can age gracefully, putting spirit into a crowd-pleasing set: all killer, no (Botox) filler.
And then came Iggy. The man who started it all seems determined to push it as far as it can go, performing with a full-blooded commitment that does not so much defy as brutally confront the march of time. Once a muscular, athletic imp, the aging Pop star divested his flimsy waistcoat to reveal his current form in all its shameless glory.
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