The Pretenders make believers of Washington, DC in a stunning triple-bill evening

August 14, 2009, at the Warner Theatre

By Gina Vivinetto
Published: August 17th, 2009 | 2:45pm

There was a moment during the Pretenders' set at the Warner Theatre where one was grateful for rocknroll veterans. Chrissie Hynde, now 57 and vibrant as ever, was smiling as she sang the band's bouncy hit "Don't Get Me Wrong." After the unevenness of the night's two big name openers, it was a joy watching someone so comfortable onstage.

The triple bill of the Pretenders, Juliette Lewis, and Cat Power sounded intriguing, but came off as a weirdly bipolar night of rocknroll. The evening kicked off early with Hollywood actress-turned-rocker Lewis, costumed in a Mad Max meets Michael Jackson ensemble of feather shoulder pads and Thriller-era sequined black pants. Lewis performed a manic set filled with so much posturing, preening, sashaying, and strutting — she pretty much summed up the last 40 years of rock in a half hour.

During Lewis' set there were glimpses of Mick, Iggy, Tina, even Janis Joplin as the singer and her band went from punk to blues to rock on songs such as "Sticky Honey," "Purgatory Blues," and the new track "Hard Lovin’ Woman" from the upcoming Terra Incognita (The End). Naysayers like to grouse about Lewis' "day job,” questioning the sincerity of her music career and opining that rock star is just another role for the 36-year-old. Whatever her motivation, Lewis gave her all onstage, breathlessly kicking, shimmying, bending she proved she at least knows all the moves.

Cat Power, the night's second performer, was Lewis' polar opposite onstage. Nine years ago at the famed Ladyfest in Olympia, Washington — Ms. Marshall, who was famously struggling stage fright (and a drinking problem, she later confessed), fumbled through one or two songs, burst into tears, mumbled something about having her period, and then rushed offstage. In contrast, her Warner Theatre set was a success in that Ms. Marshall got through it.

However, some of the crowd unfamiliar with the indie rock chanteuse's odd tics were perplexed as to why we were all sitting in the dark and Ms. Marshall was onstage singing with no spotlight on her, a fitting way to enforce a no photos rule. As she opened with a pulse-slowing rendition of "House Of The Rising Sun," Marshall croaked out the song and was kept steady by longtime drummer Jim White's slow seductive brush taps on his snare. Next came a virtually unrecognizable cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams." Again, slow as syrup. This was followed by even more downtempo torch songs arranged with oh-so-spare accompaniment by Marshall's backing Dirty Delta Blues Band.

The singer's stage presence — what you could see of it — was an unsettling mixture of child's play and Rain Main as she swayed side-to-side, knocked her knees with her fist, and snapped her fingers. Fortunately for fans, her voice was in rare form, filled with rough ache on a powerful version of the Janis Joplin tune "A Woman Left Lonely," more urgent on James Brown's "Lost Someone," and playfully indolent on The Rolling Stones’ "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." The singer also included a handful of originals such as "The Greatest" and "Song For Bobby." Just when you thought the stage might swallow the shy Marshall whole — she jumped down to the ground, wandered up the aisles, and kissed the cheeks of several friends in the audience.

Finally it was time for the Pretenders to balance things out with a good old-fashioned set of raucous rock. The new incarnation of the 30-year-old band included virtuoso guitarist James Walbourne and pedal steel guitarist Eric Heywood. The Pretenders meets pedal steel? Yes and it sounded fabulous! Still in the fold was powerhouse drummer Martin Chambers who has been the backbone of the band on and off (mostly on) since its inception.

All five walked onstage to a standing ovation and quickly launched into the peppy title song of last year's Break Up The Concrete (Shangri-La Music). Hynde, dressed in a long tuxedo coat, shook maracas on the first number but then stripped the coat and strapped on the Telecaster to sear through "Message Of Love." Next came "Kid," which was dedicated to the band's original guitarist and bassist, James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon respectively, who both died of drug overdoses in the early 1980s. The hits kept coming with "Back On The Chain Gang," "Night In My Veins," and "Talk Of The Town,” before the band dipped heavily into the new album. Most notable were the twangy "Love's a Mystery," “The Nothing Maker,” an acoustic ode to a deadbeat boyfriend, and the brilliantly Dylanesque "Boots Of Chinese Plastic."

Hynde and Chambers fell into their famous stage banter as the singer thumbed behind her and boasted, "Thirty years I've been with him." To which the drummer quipped that it felt like longer. The crowd got three explosive encores: "Stop Your Sobbing" (a Kinks cover written by Hynde's ex-beau Ray Davies), "Up the Neck," and "Middle of The Road," which inspired fans to sing along as Hynde whipped out a harmonica from her back pocket and blasted through that song's famous solo — the icing on the cake of a perfect set.

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For more photos from this show visit Venus Zine’s Flickr page

The Pretenders Myspace page

Cat Power Myspace page

Juliette Lewis Myspace page

The End Records

Shangri-La Music