The Pretenders rocked last night (December 4, 2010) at A Day On The Green in the Yarra Valley. The last few times I have seen The Pretenders they sounded like a Pretenders covers band but Chrissie Hynde has obviously rediscovered who she used to be.
Unlike Blondie who played before The Pretenders, Chrissie kept the setlist to the songs people at an event would expect … the hits. And for the first time is ages, I watched her crank up that guitar.
Remember the debut album from The Pretenders in 1980? It challenged the music of the day. Those first two Pretenders albums are now musical documents of their day. ‘Learning To Crawl’ maintained some of the rage but ‘Get Close’ totally sold out to US commercial radio.
I don’t think Chrissie cares about the fame anymore. It sounds like she is back to the music, with original member Martin Chambers there to keep the band in check.
Everything about the songs The Pretenders played last night reminded me of how great a band this was (now sadly minus founders, the late James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon.
For me, The Pretenders iconic song is ‘Precious’, the first song from the first album. “not me baby I’m too precious, fuck off”. Now that was The Pretenders with attitude. Chrissie was 29 when they was first released. She’s 59 now and sounds just as angry. It made the setlist.
Chrissie delivered two songs from The Kinks, written by her ex-husband Ray Davies, during this show. When they played ‘I Go To Sleep’, it was introduced as “from one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Ray Davies”, not from “my ex-husband”. The Pretenders also performed ‘Stop Your Sobbing’, also written by Davies and first recorded by The Kinks.
How is this for a list of classic hits … ‘Kid’, ‘Message of Love’, ‘Talk Of The Town’, Hymn To Her’, ‘Don’t Get Me Wrong’, ‘Back On The Chain Gang’, ‘Middle Of The Road’, ‘I’ll Stand By You’, ‘2000 Miles’, ‘Brass In Pocket’. The Pretenders played them all.
Well done, Ms Hynde. If last night was a Blondie vs The Pretenders fight, you win.
VIDEO: Hoodoo Gurus were doing some amazing rock in the 80s as well. Check out their Undercover video interview here:
