Steve Stevens…Billy Idol

welshboyo

Just seen him with Billy Idol in Cardiff- what a player, what a sound. OK, Billy himself has lost his voice a bit (he’s 67 so fair play) but still got it really - in command of the audience and the stage - the whole band were on fire.

SS was spellbinding though, nylon acoustic, electric (a bit of a Knaggfest) whatever he touched tonight was pure class - unbelievable actually and I’d go far as saying surpassed Lukather for me (and those who know me will know that’s a big statement!!)

Toyah supported and it was nice to see her and the kids on stage(!!)she was great actually.

Killing joke though…fuck me…probably the best description is to drop the word Killing from their name - probably the worst dirgy muffled sounding shite I’ve heard in a long time - massive disappointment..

Switch625

I remember watching Billy Idol on VH1’s Storytellers back in the day and being really impressed by Steve Stevens, particularly the acoustic renditions of Rebel Yell and White Wedding. 

Danny1969

SS is great, writes such great guitar parts. 
I teach the intro to Rebel Yell to my students as a guitar part that forces you to do 2 parts at once, they are always quite taken with it. 
Billy's songs stand up much better than a lot of the stuff from that period of time in LA, some are very well written. 

rpr

Not much of a fan, but quite enjoyed this last year 

EricTheWeary

As per the previous recent Discussion about Billy his ticket sales have been poor. I’ve been offered a staff ticket to see him in Brum but £17 for parking. I was tempted by Killing Joke more but the above review isn’t firing me up with enthusiasm. 

Whitecat

Steve's a killer player and probably super underrated in the grand scheme of rock guitar history. I saw him do a "solo" show in London a few years ago (by "solo" I mean it was his name on the band, no Billy Idol)... he played everything from Rebel Yell to the Top Gun Anthem...

By all accounts he's a pretty chill dude too, ego-free... (like Luke in that sense!)

axisus

Steve is a great player. I was always put off by the 'Big hair' look that all those guitarists went for back in the day, but I have a podcast interview somewhere and he comes across as a really decent guy. He plays one of my all time fave solos on Billy's Man for all Seasons. It's superb!

welshboyo

EricTheWeary said:

As per the previous recent Discussion about Billy his ticket sales have been poor. I’ve been offered a staff ticket to see him in Brum but £17 for parking. I was tempted by Killing Joke more but the above review isn’t firing me up with enthusiasm. 

I wouldn't go to just catch KJ...they were crap IMO, didn't even play Love Like Blood ( I think!! and I lost interest - it really was that bad, its the sound they had as a band....not the poor soundman - who was also struggling with them...just waves of over flanged feedback and grunts over the top of it)

I have always been a massive SS fan - another one of my influences really, played the early Idol albums with him to death as teenager - seeing him last night has just propelled him right up there for me

hollywoodrox

Steve stevens is freakin ace & Billys cool  awesome band 

LastMantra

I thought Billy idol just had a couple of hits back in the 80s.

axisus

LastMantra said:

I thought Billy idol just had a couple of hits back in the 80s.

My sister bought his King Rocker single, late 70s!

Edit: my bad, he was with Generation X then! Quite a fun record!

Kittyfrisk

Whitecat said:

Steve's a killer player and probably super underrated in the grand scheme of rock guitar history. I saw him do a "solo" show in London a few years ago (by "solo" I mean it was his name on the band, no Billy Idol)... he played everything from Rebel Yell to the Top Gun Anthem...

By all accounts he's a pretty chill dude too, ego-free... (like Luke in that sense!)

Someone else thinks quite highly of him too 
https://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/pickup/humbucker/rebel-yell

Whitecat

Kittyfrisk said:

Whitecat said:

Steve's a killer player and probably super underrated in the grand scheme of rock guitar history. I saw him do a "solo" show in London a few years ago (by "solo" I mean it was his name on the band, no Billy Idol)... he played everything from Rebel Yell to the Top Gun Anthem...

By all accounts he's a pretty chill dude too, ego-free... (like Luke in that sense!)

Someone else thinks quite highly of him too 
https://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/pickup/humbucker/rebel-yell

BKP also winds a custom Steve Stevens pickup for his signature Knaggs... different from the Rebel Yell, apparently based off a Mule but tweaked. I wonder if BKP would secretly do it if you ordered it in hushed language like I think they do for the Johnny Marr Jag pickups...

LastMantra

axisus said:

LastMantra said:

I thought Billy idol just had a couple of hits back in the 80s.

My sister bought his King Rocker single, late 70s!

Edit: my bad, he was with Generation X then! Quite a fun record!

I was born in '76 so my memory is a bit blurry 

Hattigol

SS is a fabulous guitarist. But he does look like Elvis ate Diana Ross and had an adverse reaction...