Blondie performing their Pollinator Tour at The Royal Concert Hall Nottingham on Tuesday 7th November 2017.


Images and Review by Kevin Cooper

Nobody knows who made Debbie Harry the saviour of our planet, but judging by the adoring crowd at a packed Royal Concert Hall last night, they would all be on the front line fighting with her if she asked.

Coming onto the stage wearing John Lennon sunglasses, a cape like jacket with the words, Stop Fucking The Planet emblazoned on the back and a couple of oversized bees on her head to rapturous applause as she and founder Blondie members, Clem Burke and Chris Stein launched into opener One Way Or Another, followed quickly by Hanging On The Telephone.

Putting together a perfect set list, they tested some new material from their album, Pollinator, whose message is that if the bees stop pollinating, the world will come to an end. There was Fun with its disco infused jam, My Monster written by Johnny Marr as well as Long Time which sounded as though it came straight out of their Parallel Lines era.

But it was the old songs that took this crowd back to a time when they had fallen hard for punk’s bleached blonde, mascara eyed pouting sex symbol, as Call Me had them singing the words back at her. Rapture saw her come to the front of the stage and engage the audience with a rap whilst Chris Stein was being brought into the spotlight with his subliminal guitar playing which brought everybody to their feet.

The three more recent recruits to Blondie’s line up had the look of rock and roll lifers as they played the likes of Bob Dylan’s Everybody Must Get Stoned with showboating vigour. Maria and Picture This went down a treat and with Clem Burke not missing a beat on drums, the home straight included highlight Atomic and their 1979 number one hit, Heart Of Glass.

Finishing with old favourites The Tide Is High and Dreaming, they showed that their music has aged as remarkably as Ms Harry has. Her voice may not be as strong as in her heyday, but this queen bee of punk hasn’t lost any of her rock and roll edge.

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