The Pretenders blow the doors off PBA
It took a couple songs for the sound engineer to get everything dialed in, but once that happened The Pretenders blew the doors off Pinnacle Bank Arena Monday night.
Given a generous hour by headliner Stevie Nicks, The Pretenders tore through a few songs from “Alone,” the new album Chrissie Hynde recorded with The Black Keys Dan Auerbach, and a whole bunch of their best tracks, bringing real rock ‘n’ roll to the stage.
That started with Hynde’s instantly identifiable riffs, built on the exuberant work of lead guitarist James Walbourne and the foundation of bassist Nick Wilkinson (whose sound overwhelmed the first two songs) and original Pretender Martin Chambers -- in Hynde’s words, “
the world’s greatest rock drummer.”
The fifth band member, Iowa-rooted pedal steel man Eric Heywood, provided the primary backing for “Hymn for Her,” the stunning ballad that showcased Hynde’s powerful, soaring contralto -- one of the great voices in rock.
At 65, she hasn’t lost a thing vocally and, as she demonstrated throughout Monday’s set, she remains a rocker to the core.
Early on in the set Hynde said something about being happy to be back in Lincoln. She may well have been here before -- for years downtown hotels have been overnight stops for tours with long drives between shows.
But, to my knowledge, Monday was the first time The Pretenders have performed here. And they were great. I’m a fanboy and have seen The Pretenders a handful of times. Monday’s show was one of the best if not the top performance I’ve seen by them -- and a lock to be on my best of 2016 list in a couple of weeks.
Hynde liked the show too, posting on The Pretenders’ Facebook page -- with a reference to a dancer she loved in the crowd::
“Nice one Nebraska!
Special thanks to Sally mcCan Can....
Xch”
A couple other thoughts about Monday’s concert:
The attendance of about 6,500 may have raised some eyebrows. But, in fact, that turnout is one of the best examples of how a show can be a success for all involved without selling out. The show, on a Monday night in December, was never planned as a sellout, or anything close to it.
There are reasons why tours enjoy coming to PBA -- like the fact that Monday the Nicks crew was able to complete the hanging of the light and sound system in just over 2 hours -- 15 minutes faster than at any previous tour stops, thanks to the excellent local rigging crew and the design of the arena.
http://journalstar.com/entertainment...d530eb4d9.html