Billy Idol - OVO Hydro 21/10/2022

The Rebel makes a triumphant return to Glasgows premier music venue.

It was a typical winters night in Scotland, very cold and wet, but after 2 years of waiting one of the legends of Rock n Roll was to take to the stage in Scotlands premier music venue, the OVO Hydro. The venue was very busy outside and everybody was looking forward to a great night.

2 supports were on the agenda on Friday, Toyah Wilcox, who recently performed at the same venue for Lets Rock Scotland 2019, turned back the clock delivering a perfect warm up for the early goers, with her hits like Good Morning Universe, Its a Mystery, I want to Be Free as well as a cover of Martha and the Muffins Echo Beach all played during the set.

Killing Joke were the 2nd support on the night, with frontman Jaz Coleman delivering that post-punk and darker sound compared to Toyahs set to the audience. The atmosphere in the venue matched their style with darker lighting and generally a more moodier feel.

The main event was next, Billy Idol came on to a rapturous welcome from the crowd and delivered many of his classics, a few Generation X songs as well as a few of his more modern songs. The likes of Dancing With Myself, Speed, Cradle Of Love, Blue Highway were all performed, lets not forget the amazing guitar solos from Steve Stevens, a personal highlight from the show.

Billy also opened up about his personal life to the crowd, especially during the pandemic where he couldnt even attend his mothers funeral as everybody was under lockdown. Songs like Bitter Taste was about his experience of a near fatal motorcycle accident, thinking I dont know where my future is, will I be able to ride a bike again?, will I be able to tour again?, Idol was originally set to play the Terminator 2 villain the T-1000, but the role was given to Robert Patrick after the accident. Other songs like Runnin From The Ghost was all about his struggles with drug addiction, which during his recovering he described as like being haunted by a ghost.

They continued the set with those awesome guitar riffs as well as the energy and adrenaline on show throughout the performance, with the likes of Mony Mony and One Hundred Punks being played, the latter being dedicated to a Scotland gig when Generation X were still a band, when a high number of punks rushed from a bus to see their show, Steve Stevens once again did a few more guitar solos, it was a sight to behold.

Before his signature song was played, he said Im going to say 2 beautiful words... REBEL YELL!, and the crowd was jumping during the entire song, the encore soon followed

Before the final song of the night was played, which was White Wedding, Billy thanked the crowd for making him feel so special during his many years playing in Scotland, he also thank Steve Stevens for making him special, because he was simply formidable that evening. White Wedding was played before the gig reached its conclusion.

It was a triumphant return for Billy Idol and one of the finest gigs the Hydro has offered in its near 10 year existence.

You can view a complete photo gallery of the gig via the link below.

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Review and Photography by Stewart Fullerton.

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