Celebrating rock’s pioneering women
Concert to honour ‘sisters doin’ it for themselves’
Wow! Have we got a show and a half for you — a show highlighting some of the best rock music on planet Earth and the pioneering women who brought it to us.
It’s time to celebrate the heroes who pioneered the ‘women in rock’ revolution — women who arrived on their own terms, with rebellion hardwired to their bones to ram raid the boys’ club of the 60s,‘70s and ‘ 80s and take no prisoners.
As the Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde said, “I didn’t have any role models that were women. My role models were musicians.”
Look out for music by iconic artists such as punk poet Patti Smith who gave us Dancing Barefoot, Dream Of Life, Gloria and Because The Night (cowritten with Bruce Springsteen).
Jefferson Airplane’s Grace Slick is in the mix with such great tunes as Somebody To Love, White Rabbit, Wooden Ships (co-written with Stephen Stills and David Crosby), Crown Of Creation, We Can Be Together and Mexico to name just a few.
Denim-rocker Joan Jett, who along with The Black Hearts (and before that The Runaways) forged paths and turned heads with the likes of I Love Rock ‘n' Roll, Bad Reputation, Crimson and Clover, I Hate Myself For Loving You, School Days, You Drive Me Wild and of course Cherry Bomb which was a massive hit in Japan.
And then there are the relentless pop hitmakers Debbie Harry, and her bandmates from Blondie, who pounded the airwaves with timeless beauties such as The Tide Is High, Heart Of Glass, One Way Or Another, Call Me, Dreaming and Atomic – aptly adopted as the name of the upcoming show, and Annie Lennox, who together with Dave Stewart were collectively known as The Eurythmics, with time defying classics such as When Tomorrow Comes, There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My heart), Thorn In My Side, Who’s That Girl, Missionary Man and the epic Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) – which at last count had chalked up over 849 million streams on Youtube. Incredible!
And who better to deliver these great songs than some of the greatest female entertainers New Zealand has on offer. Under the stewardship of musical director Julia Deans (Fur Patrol), expect to see her, Gin Wigmore, Dianne Swann, Gussie Larkin and Jazmine Mary deliver a celebration of the aforementioned artists like never before, all supported by an incredible group of musicians, Steph Brown (Lips) on keys, Mareea Paterson on bass, Karen Hu on drums and Rebel Reid (Valkyrie) on lead guitar.
Don’t miss these modern legends of the escalating femme insurrection paying it back to some of the greatest performers of our times: a hit list rooted in the glories of the past, recalled and refreshed for future generations.
As Debbie Harry said way back in the day, “the only place left for rock to go is toward more girl stars. There's nothing left for men to do.”
Or more succinctly – to quote another great Eurythmics song - Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves!