Billy Idol (with support from Toyah and Killing Joke) – Resorts World Arena, Birmingham

The Roadside Tour – 23rd Oct 2022

Having been a solo performer for over 40 years, after fronting punk band Generation X, Billy has gone on to release a number of very successful albums and singles and if tonight was anything to go by, no shortage of loving fans !!!

The last but one gig of his 2022 UK tour, we had support from the eternal pop princess Toyah and (replacing Televison) Killing Joke – who’ve been around since the late 70s and currently hosting the original line-up !!

The Resorts World Arena (or whatever the fuck it’s called these days) is a mighty venue indeed, even if they charge £13 for parking !!! Came in part way thru Toyah’s set and I have to say, at the ripe old age of 64, shows no sign of slowing down and looks bloody amazing tbh. With only a 30 minute set, difficult to put over a cross-section of her back catalogue, but we had a few hits that everyone knew and sang along with, finishing with the uplifting “I Want To Be Free” and as she’s a Birmingham lass, very much back on her home turf, long may she reign and with a recent resurgence of interest due to her Sunday Lunch outrageous performances with hubby Robert Fripp, this is one girl who is very obviously enjoying herself, so grateful to be here and totally gets the evening off to a lively start.

Next up, after a brief equipment swap over, we had UK band Killing Joke who, as previously stated, are currently hosting their original line-up and like Billy have been on the scene for over 40 years now, so true Brit legends. I have tbh, not overly familiar with their back catalogue, but at times they reminded me of a number of bands including Hawkwind. A very powerful drum sound from Paul Ferguson, that really powered their set along and with Jaz Coleman on vocals, parading around the stage like a demented zombie, this was a powerful set, totally pushing everything to 11 and beyond. We were sat on the side, hate to think what the people on the front row were feeling, a total WALL OF SOUND. Taking the place of Television, who were the original second support, I could see a number of fans in the audience who were very obviously digging the music, but most were either bemused or bedazzled by the audio onslaught – Obviously awaiting the arrival of the main man himself and so once again, we had an equipment change over and interestingly, we had “HalloGallo” from German legends Neu pounding out over the PA on the build-up to the band’s arrival on-stage….loved it.

Interesting that the band came on to a Generation X song – “Dancing With Myself” with Billy taking full advantage of the walkway at the back of the stage. Over the ensuing set, we had all the hits including Rebel Yell (with plenty of interaction from the audience), Eyes Without A Face, Flesh For Fantasy, Mony Mony and White Wedding in the encore, to name but a few…. We even had the video from Cage running on the huge screen at the back of the stage during the live version, although I do feel this could have been used more effectively, a wasted resource to be sure……….

This is a man who knows who to have join him on stage, a very competent backing band that propelled the music along at a pace and with guitar legend Steve Stevens leading the assault, we were in good hands (although he did admit to shitting himself because Robert Fripp was watching the set from the wings LOL!!!). Part way thru, Steve dazzled us with an incredible guitar solo, just time for Billy to nip off stage for yet another clothing change.

Overall, looking bloody good for a man of legal UK retirement age, so good to have him back after his decades of decadence and with a healthy percentage of the audience of the female persuasion, still a sexy bastard……………

His first live dates in the UK for a while, the man did not disappoint. By now the UK section of the tour is over, you really don’t know what you’ve missed. A memorable evening on so many levels.

Steve Gould