By Dave Miller

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Debbie Harry was feeling it during “Rapture.” “Don’t stop,” she sang, “Do the punk rock!” Then she turned her head and spit for emphasis.

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Like all of the best performers in rock history, Harry performed in the moment during Wednesday’s concert at House of Blues. Sure, the band’s heyday was in the 1970s and early ‘80s, but there was nothing retro about the show (except if you want to count the keytar onstage). Harry delivered the songs with a freshness that hid their age while singing a half dozen new ones that held their own with the classics. It was a treat to hear the band with original drummer Clem Burke and guitarist Chris Stein, though hired gun Tommy Kessler did much of the heavy lifting on guitar. Thankfully, Burke was in prime thumping form. He’s always provided a rock kick to the band’s New Wave surfings.

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Harry just may be the coolest performer in rock history. I’ll argue that any contender who comes to mind tries harder than her. An iconic cover girl blonde and the bridge between Marilyn Monroe and Madonna, Harry exudes an effortless cool that no one else has exhibited to such a degree. She can still sing with a seductive detachedness made famous by the “Call Me” video. Yet at the same time she worked up a sweat while working the stage and carrying the show. She made a ton of eye contact with various members of the audience, seemingly for her benefit as much as theirs. At times Harry would be singing and dancing in place and then the music would hit her in the right place and she’d start dancing in double time. Other times she sold the song with her expressions and movements like a performance artist. She was captivating.

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The House of Blues floor began to bounce with the audience on the second song as soon as the band started “Dreaming.” Blondie played many of their hits, included the underrated “Maria” from 1999, and those were most of the biggest highlights, though “What I Heard” and “Horizontal Twist” from their just-released Panic of Girls album were particularly strong new offerings. “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory,” a cover of a Johnny Thunders ballad, was a nice surprise in choice and execution to start the encore.

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It’s been awhile, going on three decades now, since Blondie was at its peak commercially, so it’s easy to forget how the band adventurously incorporated an eclectic mix of styles including pop, disco, reggae and rap into its New Wave rock. Harry name checked Fab Five Freddy and rapped in “Rapture” – released in 1981, five years before Aerosmith and Run-D.M.C. jammed on “Walk This Way.” After Harry spit following her “punk rock” exclamation in the middle of “Rapture” at House of Blues, she and the band segued into the Beastie Boys’ “Fight for Your Right.” It showed that, even at a hard-to-believe 66, Harry and Blondie are still keeping it real.

Blondie

September 7, 2011 @ House of Blues

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