Still Precious: Chrissie Hynde at the Tower

At age 63, Chrissie Hynde is still a badass, still the reigning queen of cool.  So when our ticket taker at Upper Darby's Tower Theater informed us that Chrissie had requested we not take cell phone photos at her show, I wasn't about to risk pissing her off.

photo lifted from The Tower Theater Facebook page

Andre and I have been looking forward to seeing Chrissie and the Pretenders for a long time.  More years ago than I care to count, we saw them with a bunch of our college friends from the front few rows of the University of New Hampshire field house.

The band was incredible.  I was nineteen, surrounded by friends, seeing a band we all loved more or less from the front row.  The good vibes are basically all I remember.

Original lineup circa 1989 photo by Fin Costello

 Fast forward to 2014. The show began with new material--all of it top-notch--from Chrissie's Stockholm album.  

I'm happy to report that Chrissie Hynde still has one of the most distinctive and expressive voices in rock.  Not to mention her commanding stage presence.

But as great as the new material is, I'll confess my favorites were all the old punk standards I've loved since college: "Tattooed Love Boys," "My City Was Gone,"  "Talk of the Town," "Message of Love," and this gem:

Chrissie Hynde rocks as fiercely as ever.  That said, her performance and persona have gained a welcome dimension of warmth and humor I don't recall from the early years, though as we've already established, my  memory's not that sharp.  

I left the show determined to sign on for more concerts by Women of the Eighties Who Rock.  I hear Lena Lovich is staging a comeback tour.  

Who's in?