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Many fans circled this event on their calendar because Billy Idol was celebrating 40 years or Rebel Yell. Surprisingly this concert was booked at the Bell Center and just like forty years ago, the Canadian band Platinum Blonde was the opening act for these Canadian dates.

There are a lot of people already in the Bell Centre when Platinum Blonde gets on stage and kicks things off with “Standing In The Dark”, one of their biggest hits. Even if the place is pretty packed, many fans are still getting to their seat as the band play their songs. The trio is very dynamic on stage but they don’t interact a lot with the fans during the first half of their set. The ‘80s vibe is definitely present tonight, not only with the music, but their light show is also reminiscent of what was done back in the days. 

The band did not use of the giant screen in the background or were denied its use by the main band, and that was really a shame. Their concert would have been a lot more entertaining if they used it more than to simply project their band name on it from time to time. After that first hit, the band played a succession of songs that kept the crowd attention, but rarely got any reaction from them. I would have thought that they their setlist would incorporate their other hits sooner in their set, but they chose to keep all of them for the end of their set.

Mark Holmes finally interacted with the crowd before the song “Hungry Eyes” when he told the fans that they were denied their five-time platinum plaque for their album Alien Shores a few days ago in their home town of Toronto because it was now certified platinum eight-times! The band then really kicked things into gear with the song “Situation Critical” and its memorable guitar melody. This immediately got the fans on their feet and got the party atmosphere going into every corner of the arena. But that was nothing compared to the reaction of the fans when they heard the first notes of “Crying Over You”. As we all know, a Platinum Blonde concert can’t end without hearing the song “Doesn't Really Matter” and that made the fans dance during the whole song.

The musicians were on fire, Mark’s vocals were top notch and the band really aged well. The only negative aspect of their show was that their lighting made me think the band was still stuck in the ‘80s.

The Bell Centre was now fully packed when Billy Idol started his show with “(Do Not) Stand in the Shadows”. The crowd went ballistic and you could feel that this was going to be a special night. They quickly followed with “Cradle Of Love”, one of his most recent hits, if not his most recent one. Billy uses the background screen to project images, and this really added to his performance. Steve Stevens is such an underrated guitar player, but you can really appreciate his talent when you see him on stage. Even if this song was a crowd pleaser, the show really started when the band played the iconic guitar riff of “Flesh For Fantasy”. Billy Idol is in great shape and is very intense on stage, but I must say that he did not seem as angry as before, maybe it is the sign of the times, or maybe he learned to channel his anger with time, but that does not change the fact that he can front a band like no other. 

This Rebel Yell celebration is, of course, focused on that album, but Billy included his new song “Cage”, where he reflects about his time during COVID. It is interesting that Billy explained that “Catch My Fall” was not played a lot back in the days because he could not hear his low vocals in the monitors at the time. He indicated that with the new technology it is now a lot easier for him to perform that song and it was a blast to witness how well it aged. “Eyes Without A Face” gave goosebumps to everyone and both backing signers (Kitten Kuroi and Maiya Sykes) did an outstanding job in creating that amazing atmosphere. 

Steve had his own time in the spotlight and once again he took fool advantage of that to showcase how talented of a flamenco guitar player he is, he even playfully played a few bars of Led Zeppelin’s “Over The Hills And Far Away”, “Stairway To Heaven” and Van Halen’s “Eruption”. 

Things got in second gear from there as the band came back on stage for “Mony Mony” and the crowd screamed the infamous extra phrase like there was no tomorrow. But this was nothing compared to the duet Billy did with Kitten Kuroi on his cover of “Love Don't Live Here Anymore”. I have to say that Kitten simply blew everyone off stage with her powerful voice during that song. The only thing that came to my mind during her performance is that she could sing Pink Floyd’s “Great Gig In The Sky” with her vocal folds tied behind her back… she is that great and worth the ticket price alone!

It was funny to see the reaction of the crowd during “Night Of The Cadillacs” (Generation X song), the fans we so stunned it was like a freight train had run them over. They quickly recovered when the band played “Blue Highway”, where Steve played a bit of his legendary Top Gun melody at the end of song.

The show was nearing its end and the band had still a lot of gas in the tank and they blew the roof off with “Rebel Yell”. With so many hits in his career, the set list is basically a succession of singles that get the crowd on their feet from start to finish. The traditional Olé, Olé, Olé started as soon as the band left the stage and that brought them back pretty quickly to play “Dancing With Myself”, “Hot In The City” and “White Wedding”.

The forty-year celebrations of the album Rebel Yell is a total success and fans will love every second of it, don’t miss it.