Blondie at Brixton

Come Friday its my fourth gig of the week. And comfortably the most expensive at £75 a pop. Also for once seated since one of my companions didn't feel up to standing for a night. So we had seats up in the balcony.

And the subject of our attention at Brixton? Blondie of course. Didn't begrudge them the money. This is their pension after all. Debbie Harry is 72, which is quite old for a sex symbol. It is fair to say that we in the audience were creaking a bit too. Not too many of  us under 50 I guess. But we enjoyed it enormously.

Even at 72, Debbie has stage presence, and a very decent voice still too. She can't quite get the highest notes, but you only notice that on a few songs, like Picture This if one compares it to the sound on records. But that is carping. And anything lost in vocals is in my view made up for the accomplishment of the band. Chris Stein on guitar and Clem Burke on drums are as great and skilled as ever, and they can craft many of their old classics even better now, with long versions of songs like Atomic. They were also not above seguing into cover versions, like Beastie Boys' Fight for the Right to Party, and Donna Summer's I Feel Love.

A young friend of mine asked weren't Blondie originally punks who then sold out? Well, yes in a way, but another view is they simply adapted their music to follow popularity. And what's so wrong about becoming more appealing to a wider audience? They developed. Here we didn't get Denis, probably their one punk hit, but a lot from the classic Parallel Lines album. And a lot from their new album Pollinator which I have to say is quite decent. Most of their tracks from that were not too shabby in the company of their classic tunes.

 Minus side? Well they are starting to get a bit nutty. They have started a crusade in favour of bees, with Debbie coming on in a bee mask. And a jacket bearing the slogan "Stop fucking the planet". Which is all very well, but where do pop stars get off trying to pass on homilies to their audiences? Why don't they consider that we might be at least as well informed and intelligent as them? And few of the world's  major issues can be properly aired in two sentences between 80s pop ditties to an audience who have had a drink or two on a Friday night, So why bother? Stick to what you are good at.