Joan Jett & The Blackhearts

It says a lot about Joan Jett’s standing that she was one of four singers invited to play with Nirvana on their induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame earlier this year; relative to the other three performers, it was obvious which role she was filling. Lorde’s selection spoke to the band’s pop sensibilities, St. Vincent’s to their eccentricity and creative potency. Kim Gordon, having toured with Nirvana many a time in the early nineties, was the alternative icon amongst the four, but Joan Jett? She was the good, old-fashioned, no-strings-attached rock icon; that’s how the music world views her these days. She’s showing no signs of slowing down, either, continuing to tour with the Blackhearts as her backing band. She plays as mean a guitar as ever, but perhaps the most impressive aspect of her sheer endurance is that her voice, if anything, sounds better than it ever did; more than you can say for many of her contemporaries. Set-wise, the classics are all present and correct - ‘Cherry Bomb’, ‘Bad Reputation’ and ‘I Love Rock and Roll’ included - and a hefty selection of covers are currently making the cut, too, from the obscure - their current closing number is a take on Sly and the Family Stone’s ‘Everyday People’ - to the possibly ill-advised - Gary Glitter’s ‘Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)’.

In a musical climate where it can often feel as if it’s a race to the bottom in terms of who can come up with the silliest band name, it’s refreshing to cast your mind back to a time where the likes of X were happy to go minimalist on that front, and let their music do the talking for them. Forming in 1977 - the same year that punk was born - you can argue that the LA group are among the forefathers of the genre, with their first two albums ranked amongst the greatest 500 ever by Rolling Stone back in 2003. Their heady reputation is down in no small part to their live shows, which continue to this day; there’s little in the way of rock and roll fireworks t the light show or the stage set, but they don’t really need it when they have a stage presence as commanding as that exuded by frontwoman Exene Cervenka. Her health problems in recent years have forced less touring, but both her voice and her sheer aura remain as potent as ever when they do play; this is a band sure to go down as icons of their genre in years to come.