Joan Jett And The Blackhearts Duluth, GA Review

Joan Jett opened for The Who in Duluth, GA last week - and man, did she bring the place down!  While I normally only write a blurb about the opening band (If there is an opening band) at a concert, Jett and The Blackhearts did so well that I felt they deserved their own review.

The Set List

Jett ripped through the hits plain and simple.  The core of the set consisted of:

Bad Reputation

Cherry Bomb

Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)

You Drive Me Wild

Light of Day

I Love Rock N Roll

Crimson And Clover

I Hate Myself

As An Opening Act

I’ve grown tired of opening acts not doing their job.  Sometimes a band/artist just takes the stage and plays and then leaves without much interaction with the crowd.  You get the feeling they don’t know their role in that moment.

The art of being a great opening act lies in the ability to get the crowd ready for the headliner…period.  If they happen to blow them off the stage, well it happens sometimes…but for all intents and purposes, their job is to be the rah-rah guy to bring the crowd in and grease them up.  It’s not an ego thing, we don’t care if you’ve headlined before, or if you’ll headline your own tour after this, just pump us up and be what you need to be for that moment, on that tour.

With that being said, Jett and The Blackhearts were one of the best opening acts I’ve ever seen.  She was awesome that night.  She led the crowd, getting out to the front of the stage and really engaging everyone.  By the third song she had really won the crowd over and it was a party from that moment on.  Even towards the end of the set she would interact with the crowd, “I can’t hear you” she yelled during the chorus of “Crimson And Clover”.  The crowd jumped in and started singing even louder with her.  Brilliantly done.  

As far as crowd interaction/leading the crowd/getting the crowd ready for The Who, she gets an A+.

Jett’s set didn’t go for too long, and it wasn’t too short either – she had enough time to suck the crowd in and pump them up, but not too much time to drain them for The Who.  By the end of her set she earned a well-deserved standing-o!  In that respect they were brilliant.  They created an electricity that would carry on into the evening.

The Band

These guys were tight all the way through – they sounded in sync the whole night…honestly…they were tighter than The Who.  Joan still has her voice, and that UNMISTAKEABLE “Ow” from “I Love Rock N Roll” sounds as good as ever. 

From the first song they were cookin’.  I’ve been to shows where it may have taken the band a song or two to warm up and find their groove – but Jett And The Blackhearts came out of the gate swinging.  I was completely blown away by these guys and I think the rest of the crowd was as well.  As I said before, once Jett went to the front of the stage and really engaged the crowd – it was a done deal.

Jett made a fan out of me that night and I will definitely catch a show of hers if she ever comes to town – no questions asked.

I suggest you do the same.

Thanks for reading


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