Blonde Blast from the Past

Long before I'd ever even heard of Justin Bond, I used to stalk a little known blonde songstress by the name of Deborah Harry.

I credit Blondie for releasing me from geekdom when I was a mere 13 or 14 years old. I was a shy, awkward teenager who was obsessed with Abba. Thankfully, one of the older kids at school took to playing Parallel Lines and Plastic Letters in the rec room and I was suddenly transported to the world of "hip".

It wasn't until 1989 that I finally got to see Debbie live, it was at the Town and Country Club. I remember that for the first couple of minutes I could hear her but couldn't see through the crowd. Then I finally elbowed my way to the front and YEOWW, she was absolutely blummin gorgeous!

That marked the start of a 12 year infatuation that took me all over the country and even to the USA to see gigs. I even have a dodgy tattoo on my shoulder that features her name. I plan to get rid of it soon - believe me, it really is dodgy!

Last night, dosed up on Advil and with a pleasing Jack Daniels anesthetic (supplied by the aforementioned Mr Bond), I trotted off to see Blondie at the Royal Albert Hall. I can't say I was especially excited, I was expecting a greatest hits package and I'm bored to death with all those songs. Thankfully, it seems, so are they!

Instead we got lots of stuff from Parallel Lines, a surprisingly fab version of Good Boys and just a few of the obvious hits. I always enjoy Rapture live, I don't care how naff it is!

Sadly they also threw in a cover of Roxy Music's More Than This. God knows who thought that was good idea, I haven't been so embarrassed since they covered Heroes!

Still, it was a nice trip down memory lane. Tall Paul is off to see them at Shepherds Bush next month too, but I've decided to give that one a miss. Time to move on ...