‘Right place … right time’

Between 1975 and 1980, Blondie successfully mixed elements of disco and reggae into an avant-garde brand of punk rock. The band went from being part of the New York club circuit, alongside such fellow punk and new wave acts as the Ramones and the Talking Heads, to superstardom and album sales that to this day have eclipsed 30 million.

Led by the still-scintillating Deborah Harry, Blondie has aged gracefully. And at a sold-out show at Feather Falls Casino in Oroville last Friday, the seminal punk-pop band proved that it also still kicks ass.

The evening’s spotlight fell flatteringly on the 63-year-old Harry. Exuding a sensuous elegance, and sporting a blonde bob and a zebra-striped, form-fitting dress that matched the band’s backdrop, Harry delivered vocals on each of the show’s 18 songs with strength and clarity.

With a spirited mix of flirtatiousness, sophistication and rock energy, Harry constantly swayed and moved about the stage with creative (if age-appropriate) dance steps. Though she didn’t violently thrash about a la 1977, Harry has taken the lessons that the road and her personal life have taught and still wears them on her sleeve and in her performances. As Emmylou Harris has grown into the queen of country, Harry is now the quintessential mature queen of punk.

The show began with three selections from the career-defining 1978 record, Parallel Lines—“Hanging on the Telephone,” “Will Anything Happen?” and “Pretty Baby”—and carried on with a mix of classic Blondie songs and recent Harry solo material. Harry also indicated that a new Blondie album is in the works.

Halfway through the set, crowd pleasers came hard and heavy, as the pit of dancers up front grew to the live jukebox that delivered “Dreamin’,” “Maria,” “Call Me,” “The Tide Is High,” “Rapture” (which some consider to be the first No. 1 rap song) and set-ender “One Way or Another.” The triple encore consisted of “Heart of Glass,” “My Heart Will Go On” (the Celine Dion hit from Titanic) and the Beatles’ timeless “Please Please Me.”

Two of the band’s founding players—the now silver-haired guitarist Chris Stein, and drummer Clem Burke, who provided a constant assault of rhythmic energy—were clearly critical ingredients to the collective aura. But, naturally, Harry set the tone and carried the show. She also toyed with the crowd, at one point telling a man down front who was being frisky, “You know you can be arrested for that behavior; fortunately you’re in the right place at the right time.”