The Great Pretender

Last month I ventured out to see the Pretenders, or more specifically Chrissy Hynde, since the bass and guitar players are fairly new and seem to be part of a rotating cast of bandmates for her. Nonetheless, I consider her one of the coolest chicks around (along with Crystal Bernard, of course) and never had a chance to see her before. And unlike some other old-school acts that are on the road, I was actually digging some of the tunes on the latest record. I mean, when is the last time you got excited about a new Rolling Stones release? (I’ll say 1981 – Tattoo You, but I’m no Lester Bangs.) And I digress.

Chrissy is 57 but I couldn’t tell. Mostly because I was up in the balcony, but she still shimmied, kicked, stretched and kicked like Sally O’Malley. She also added a steel guitar player to this record and tour and it gave an alt-country feel to some of the new tunes like Rosalee, as well as some older tunes like Thumbelina. In fact, I can say I easily enjoyed guitarist James Walbourne’s work on those two tunes more than anything I saw at the Buddy Guy show the previous month. Hey, the prettiest girl ain’t necessarily the best in the sack.

Bottom line, Chrissy still rocks, can still write good tunes, has assembled yet another solid lineup, and is definitely worth the ticket if she comes to your neighborhood.