It can’t be said any more plainly than this:  Billy Idol is back

With a New York Times best selling autobiography, “Dancing With Myself” (released October 7, 2014) and his first album in nearly 10 years , “Kings & Queens of the Underground” (released October 21, 2014)  Billy Idol is showing the world that he can still rock.

Billy has been making the media rounds and I was lucky enough to attend a taping of his appearance at the world famous Troubadour on October 22nd for a taping of Sirius XM’s Artist Confidential, hosted by 80’s on 8 DJ and original MTV VJ, Mark Goodman.

The SiriusXM “Artist Confidential” format provides an inmate live performance interspersed with candid interview questions.  The Troubador is very small and the audience was likely less than 100 people so shots like the following were possible (there would have been more but my phone started to die):

Mark Goodman, original MTV VJ and current 80’s on 8 Sirius XM host

Snarl up close (with someone else taking a photo too)

Steve Stevens and Billy Idol

Not too many people can carry off the same punk rock clothes and hair for 30 years but William Michael Albert Broad not only looks fantastic (he’s aged very well – perhaps all the drugs he did in the past have pickled him) but he might even sound better than he looks.  The English accent coupled with the raspy growl in both the speaking and singing voices were undeniably sexy.  Let’s be clear though, Simon Le Bon still rules my world (but I can see why Billy rules the world for others).

It was fabulous to see Billy perform with long time collaborator and guitarist extraordinaire, Steve Stevens and one time member of The Cult, Billy Morrison. The set included 6 songs set list with 4 well-known hits and 2 new songs (very Idol-esque – hard but melodically danceable):

SPOILER ALERT – SPOILER ALERT – SPOILER ALERT

“Postcards From The Past“

“Dancing With Myself“

“Can’t Break Me Down“

“White Wedding“

“Eyes Without A Face“

“Rebel Yell“

The set was short but great.  The band was played well together and looked like they were all having fun.  Billy Idol is an exceptionally charismatic performer and yes, he does the fist pump and lip snarl just as well as he did in the 80’s.

In between each song, Mark Goodman asked questions about Billy’s early background including being in on the beginning of punk music, his childhood and musical influences.  The audience also got a glimpse into what the writing process with long time collaborator, the extraordinary guitar player, Brooklyn born Steve Stevens is like.  Mark even got Billy to tell the true story about how “Rebel Yell” got it’s name (it did come from the Bourbon bottle below but to find out who was drinking it, you’ll have to listen to the Artist Confidential broadcast).

RebelYellBourbon.com

During the interview questions,  Mark highlighted some stories from Billy’s autobiography “Dancing With Myself” and also mentioned his own book , MTV: The Unplugged Adventures of MTV’s First Wave (for my review of this book, click here).  I was a big dork and brought both of these books with me to the show.  Billy not only signed his autobiography for me but he also signed the MTV book too.  Mark was also nice enough to sign his book and take this photo with Josie (who brought me to the event as her +1) and me:

Josie, Mark Goodman (who looks great after his liver transplant in May 2014) and me.

We also got to meet Steve Stevens (and his lovely wife, also named Josie – not pictured):

Billy Idol was one of the artists that I’d never seen live and now I’m seriously contemplating going to see him in on his upcoming tour when he hits LA in February.  There were quite a few songs that I wanted to hear (especially “Blue Highway”, “Hot in the City”, “To Be A Lover” and “Catch My Fall”, to name a few) that didn’t make it into this mini set.  If

If you want to listen to the performance and interview, catch Billy Idol Artist Confidential on SiriusXM Radio (on 80’s on 8):

• Premiere Date: Tue Oct 28 8:00 pm ET
• Rebroadcast: Tue Oct 28 11:00 pm ET,  Wed Oct 29 12:00 pm ET,  Fri Oct 31 1:00 am ET and  Fri Oct 31 4:00 pm ET.

To find out more about Billy Idol:

• Check out BillyIdol.net where you can find information about the new album, “Kings & Queens of the Underground” (including a new song and a behind the scenes look), tour dates or his autobiography, “Dancing With Myself“.

Disclosure:  My friend won tickets to this exclusive Sirius XM event and took me as her +1.  I am not meeting any obligation by writing about this event and all opinions expressed are absolutely my own.  Post does include affiliate links.

What is your favorite Billy Idol song?  Is it one of the popular ones I didn’t mention in my wish list?  Let me know.