REVIEW: Joan Jett & the Blackhearts | 8.25.24 @ The Ryman

Joan Jett & the Blackhearts
w/ Karley Scott Collins
The Ryman Auditorium; Nashville, TN
August 25, 2024

Whether you’ve seen her rocking arenas, stadiums, and amphitheaters in support of fellow legends like Motley Crue and Def Leppard, Journey, The Who, Bryan Adams, Heart, Styx, or, most recently, Alanis Morissette, across Nashville over the last decade, Joan Jett and her longtime band The Blackhearts, have certainly been no strangers to Music City. Active as she’s been, though, it’s rare to see Jett & co. play a headlining show, or a venue as intimate here as the famed Ryman Auditorium. The Ryman is, in fact, the only spot Joan has solely headlined in Nashville in the last decade; once in 2021, and again this week, on the heels of some festivals and one-offs, and just as her summer-long run with Alanis- which hit Bridgestone Arena back in June- came to a close. As longtime fans of the punk and hard rock legend, we’ll take a Joan Jett show anywhere we can get it, but seeing her play a career-spanning set at the Mother Church was something extra special.

Opening up the show was local country singer-songwriter Karley Scott Collins- not the obvious choice to pair with Jett, but a well-suited performer for the Ryman, who did an admirable job of warming up the crowd with a lot of energy and great backing back. Soon though, it was time for The Blackhearts to take the stage. It was a packed house, and a bit of an older audience than we expected (Jett has been a rock trailblazer since then ’70s, when she was a teen, so it’s not a total surprise that many fans have been following her for just as long), and, though enthusiastic, a fairly mellow crowd, opting mostly to stay seated throughout, at least in the balcony where we were situated. That let the music speak for itself though, and Joan and her band- guitarist Dougie Needles, bassist Hal Selzer, and drummer Michael McDermott- sounded amazing.

Unlike the Alanis tour, which hit arena stages and featured giant LED screens and more elaborate visuals, this show- again a one-off, and a more intimate one than the band usually play- the stage was a bit more minimalist, featuring a big backdrop of the group’s logo and dark, tasteful staging with vibey, well-suited lights. Though they kicked things off a new tune, “Shooting Into Space,” from last year’s most recent EP of new material, Mindsets, the vast majority of the show was, of course, classics and hits, featuring a couple of Runaways favorites but mostly pulling heavily from Jett’s 1980s heyday. The frontwoman, now in her mid-60s (and seemingly hasn’t aged in decades), was rocking her signature look of all-black rock and roll chic, with the same dark, shaggy haircut she’s had off and on since The Runaways days. Her band (all of whom joined between the late ’90s and mid 2010s; The Runaways have always been a revolving door), all matched her vibe perfectly, and were fantastic players, meticulously recreating Joan’s hits and signature covers.

After that new song opener, the group made a swift fan-service pivot to punk classic “Cherry Bomb,” and the crowd was immediately and palpably electrified, singing along and high on a nostalgia which would carry for the rest of the evening. From the chant-along primed “Do You Wanna Touch Me,” the heartland rocking “Light of Day,” Jett’s signature spin on Replacements’ progressive anthem “Androgynous,” to a handful of other newer cuts like the twangy “Whiskey Goes Good,” the legendary rocker showcased her signature dynamic control, flipping from ferocious, hard rocking growls to heartfelt crooning ballads, fist-pumping power riffs to folksy, moody anthems. Joan Jett is an impossibly cool figure and her influence on early punk and hard rock is immeasurable. The fact that many of her big hits are, in fact, covers, but many are more associated with her at this point that their original artists, is a testament to her unique talent and musical versatility, and her performance is still magnetic and exciting, honed from rocking stages across an impressive six decades at this point.

The final run of songs were, of course, some of the rocker’s biggest hits, with signature banger “I Love Rock ‘N Roll,” singalong earworm “Crimson and Clover,” and deliciously late ’80s hard rocking romp “I Hate Myself for Loving You” drawing some of the biggest crowd response of the night and finally getting folks on their feet, before Joan’s signature single “Bad Reputation,” closed out the show on a high note. Joan Jett is a legend like no other- one as cool and as exciting live as she’s ever been- and getting to see her in a room this size, with incredible sound and nothing but diehard fans, was the most special way to experience her career-spanning hits that we could’ve asked for.

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Setlist:

Shooting Into Space
Cherry Bomb
Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)
Victim of Circumstance
You Drive Me Wild
Light of Day
(Make the Music Go) Boom
Fake Friends
Androgynous
Different
Oh Woe Is Me
Love Is Pain
Whiskey Goes Good
Everyday People
If You’re Blue
I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll
Crimson & Clover
I Hate Myself for Loving You
Bad Reputation