Blondie, Garbage, Exene Cervenka and John Doe of X Bring Substance & Style to Santa Barbara (SHOW REVIEW)

During one of the more vital performances of live music in Santa Barbara this summer, three innovative groups of musicians brought their immense talents to the Santa Barbara Bowl on July 7th.

The show began early with an acoustic set by Exene Cervenka and John Doe of X. As an acoustic duo all dressed in black, the pair took on a broad range of musical genres. Doe strummed a guitar, and the two sang haunting duets, including some of the brilliant songs that the two wrote for X.  While most Los Angeles punk bands that were the peers of X, engaged in basic primordial lyrics, Doe and Cervenka wrote increasingly poetic and introspective songs mostly about life in the inner city. The brilliant lyrics were on display at the Bowl show as the band played a set sprinkled with X classics, as well as a nod to Americana, with a George Jones cover and other folksy gems. The band is now in the midst of their 40th-anniversary tour with dates across the country through the end of September.

By the time the band Garbage sauntered onto the stage, most of the audience had finally arrived. Fans of the edgy band from Madison Wisconsin rushed to the front of the stage, ignoring the usual stodgy crowd at the upscale venue, who regularly chastise enthusiastic music fans to sit in their seats. Shirley Manson, in a shimmering silver dress, broke into her first song of the set as the band opened with a new song, “No Horses,” but quickly segued into a song from their self-titled, entitled, “Queer.” The band tore through that hit song, as well as all the most popular songs from that debut album during the 15 song set. As the veteran rockers played their intricate tunes, Manson worked the crowd repeatedly reaching out to the adulate fans. The engaging singer gave repeated homage to openers Excene and John Doe and idolizing headliner Blondie in acknowledgements to the headliners.  As evening fell, the band seemed to become larger than life with sound levels increasing to allow for a more intense rock experience. By the time the band played their final song, the crowd in the nearly full venue were mostly on their feet in full dance mode.

As evening fell temperatures finally began to moderate and many in the sweaty crowd headed to the bar. But as Blondie, the legendary punk rock band from New York took the stage, the large crowd rushed back into the venue to swarm the stage. While X was helping to establish the forefront of the punk music explosion on the West Coast, Blondie had already experimented in the genre on the West Coast. By the spring of 1975, singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein had established Blondie as a regular fixture at the CBGB nightclub in New York. Stein and Harry added drummer Clem Burke and bass player Gary Valentine. This new Rage and Raptures tour featured three of those original members, Harry, Stein, and Burke. Many other veteran musicians have come and gone from the band in it’s later years, but the current tour adds Bassist Leigh Foxx who has played with the group since 1997, Matt Katz-Bohen on keyboards, and young guitar master Tommy Kessler.

The band opened with a raucous version of one of their biggest hits “One Way” or Another from their 1978 album Parallel Lines. The band rocked in from of a large LED screen looking a bit like the old Outer Limits television show with a snowy static looking screen. Harry, the iconic lead singer, appeared onstage sporting a giant bumble bee hat, bumble bee shirt, and bumble bee pendant, and launched into crisp, clear vocals instantly. The singer’s strikingly good looks remain intact, and the blonde sex symbol of the 70’s could pass for a woman half of her 72 plus years or even younger.

Her irreverent wit and spirit also seemed to remain intact, sporting a cape that read “Stop Fucking The Planet.” The band tore through some of their biggest hit songs in a 13 song set, with visuals ranging from vintage footage of the band to spacey graphics more associated with an EDM concert. Kessler added a fresh layer of explosive guitar playing including acrobatic antics that included an old Hendrix trick of playing the instrument behind the head. He meshed well with the original band who laid down the time-tested rhythms perfectly. The only sour note of the four-hour evening of great music was when an obviously miffed Harry emerged from behind the stage at the end of the set. She used some expletives to describe the silly 10 PM curfew at the Santa Barbara Bowl and then proceeded to launch into the last two songs of the set, including a powerful version of “Heart of Glass.” It seemed that the dreaded curfew cost the fans at the Santa Barbara venue a two song encore which would have included the gems, “Maria” and “Dreaming.” But at the end of night and three acts, tough to complain about. 

Related Content

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

New to Glide

Keep up-to-date with Glide

Twitter