Download Festival 2005: Billy Idol - 10th June 2005
Setlist: Super Overdrive / Dancin' With Myself / Flesh For Fantasy / Body Snatcher / White Wedding / Scream / Eyes Without A Face / Rat Race / World Coming Down / Ready Steady Go / Jump // Rebel Yell / Who Are You // Mony
The last time I saw Billy Idol live was 23 years ago. We were both a lot younger and, in truth, I have to admit that, in spite of his years of well-publicised excesses, he has worn a whole lot better than I have. Bastard!
Billy Idol has always possessed an air of coolness that 99.9% of us will never achieve, no matter what we do with our dull, meaningless existences. What is more, he still has it, in spades. He is a legend. Bastard!
The last time I saw Billy Idol live was 23 years ago. We were both a lot younger and, in truth, I have to admit that, in spite of his years of well-publicised excesses, he has worn a whole lot better than I have. Bastard!
Billy Idol has always possessed an air of coolness that 99.9% of us will never achieve, no matter what we do with our dull, meaningless existences. What is more, he still has it, in spades. He is a legend. Bastard!
After a 12 year absence from the UK stage, the punk icon returned at Donington to headline the first night on the Snickers stage. It could easily have gone either way. Part of me wanted his performance to be a load of shite, just so I could write that he has lost his voice, can’t perform, and is old, fat and bald. You know, like David Lee Roth. But, as much as it irks me, I just can’t do that. Billy is a true star with so much on-stage personality and charisma that you have to suspect he has, at some point in the past, had a midnight rendezvous down at the crossroads, and I’m not talking about the motel, either. And, if you understood that last reference, you are old too! Even as a man, I have to say that he is bloody sexy too. His entire persona, his well-maintained body and his voice, which is still as strong as ever, all ooze sexiness, which the ladies in the audience obviously appreciated in no uncertain terms.
The setlist (as far as I can remember) seamlessly covered the last two-and-a-bit decades with apparent ease, including his hits Rebel Yell and White Wedding, much to the delight of the enthusiastic audience, along with a rousing rendition of his Gen X anthem, Ready Steady Go. Some very nice new songs from his latest CD slotted in well, along with two astonishing covers, Van Halen’s Jump and the Who’s, Who Are You? By the time he brought the evening to an end with a storming Mony Mony, it was clear that Billy had rocked Donington, plain and simple. It was a triumphant return that surprised many, I am sure, and pleased so many more. This was definitely the unexpected bonus of the weekend and I’m just glad I was there to see it.
Although it was only 10PM as we filed out, I was absolutely shattered. The heat, the hike with all the camping gear, and the excitement of seeing Fozzy, Megadeth and Billy Idol, meant I was ready for bed. It was only when we got back to our tent that I remembered that I still had to blow up our air mattresses. Once I had figured out that the blowy-up thing actually had an inflate and deflate hole, I managed to put air into them quite quickly. I had been prepared to get quite smashed on the Volvic bottles of red wine that I had brought with me but, I was so knackered that I lay down on my bouncy bed and rapidly became unconscious, without even so much as a mouthful of sleep juice.
At the end of the first day, the God of Thunder fell into a fitful sleep.
Mark L. Potts
The God of Thunder
14th June 2005
Although it was only 10PM as we filed out, I was absolutely shattered. The heat, the hike with all the camping gear, and the excitement of seeing Fozzy, Megadeth and Billy Idol, meant I was ready for bed. It was only when we got back to our tent that I remembered that I still had to blow up our air mattresses. Once I had figured out that the blowy-up thing actually had an inflate and deflate hole, I managed to put air into them quite quickly. I had been prepared to get quite smashed on the Volvic bottles of red wine that I had brought with me but, I was so knackered that I lay down on my bouncy bed and rapidly became unconscious, without even so much as a mouthful of sleep juice.
At the end of the first day, the God of Thunder fell into a fitful sleep.
Mark L. Potts
The God of Thunder
14th June 2005