Billy Idol – In Super Overdrive Live [DVD]
Eagle Records / Fontana (11/17/09)
Unrated
70 minutes
“I’m on a bus on a psychedelic trip, reading murder books trying to stay hip…”
No, that’s not my current itinerary; just my favorite line from Billy Idol’s “Eyes Without a Face”, which appears on his new concert DVD, In Super Overdrive Live. Recorded in Chicago at the Congress Theater for the U.S. television series Soundstage, the concert was originally broadcast on PBS in July 2009.
For this concert, Billy is reunited with guitarist/co-writer Steve Stevens and a handful of other talented players, who team up to rock out material spanning from Idol’s early days in Generation X to the highly memorable ’80s smash hits and up to his most recent material (“The Devil’s playground”). All your favorites are on the set-list—Billy’s trademark scowl and peroxide hair included. While “Dancing With Myself”, “White Wedding” and “Rebel Yell” are the instantly recognizable rockers that you would expect to hear, “Ready Steady Go” from the early Gen X years comes as a pleasant surprise.
Billy’s band is tight and powerful live, giving Steve Stevens a prodigious platform to showcase his guitar talents. Idol is no slouch either. Not only does he deliver the right stuff on the up-tempo numbers, but he displays great vocal command and prowess on ballads such as “Flesh for Fantasy” and “Eyes Without a Face”. All that tight melody and growling from a rocker in his ’50s, along with a body in better shape than mine, must mean he’s eating his Cheerios. The concert is also available on Blu-Ray format and should be in every fan’s collection.
Tags: Billy Idol, Generation X
