Blondie @ Rama last night

[GuitarsCanada]

We took in the Blondie show last night at Casino Rama. Was a pretty good show but, as mentioned by the band they were celebrating their 30th anniversary of the release of their first album. So in tribute, they played the entire album. The rest of the show consisted of a large number of "b" sides and older material. This would be cool if they were playing at CBGB's with die hard fans but to play that set-list for a casino crowd I thought was bizarre. I would guess that many of the sold out crowd had never even heard 85% of those tunes. Another bizarre twist was the first encore song was a rendition of the big hit Celine Dion had from Titanic, whatever the hell the name of that song is.

I seen them about 6-7 years ago at Massey Hall and it was like a greatest hits album. Much better show in terms of set-list.

[Paul]

Huge Blondie fan here.....the first album "Blondie" was released in '76. This year is the 30th of the breakthrough album "Parallel Lines". Blondie playing "Parallel Lines" complete is like Rush playing 2112 in it's entirety for a Rush fan.

"Plastic Letters" is a great record that gets overlooked by "Parallel Lines", "Eat to the Beat" and "Autoamerican".

Wish I hadda been there.

[GuitarsCanada]

Huge Blondie fan here.....the first album "Blondie" was released in '76. This year is the 30th of the breakthrough album "Parallel Lines". Blondie playing "Parallel Lines" complete is like Rush playing 2112 in it's entirety for a Rush fan.

"Plastic Letters" is a great record that gets overlooked by "Parallel Lines", "Eat to the Beat" and "Autoamerican".

Wish I hadda been there.

I stand corrected, Paul. You are right. It was the Parallel Lines album, right down to the stage set-up and attire. The album did contain two singles if I am not mistaken. Again, the show was top notch in terms of sound, production and musicians. Debbie was great too. As you say, for a true fan it was euphoria. But for your basic music fan you would have been looking for those hits. They play again tonight if you can make it.

[GuitarsCanada]

I guess I should have paid more attention. I just checked the Blondie website and it is actually billed as the Blondie 30th anniversary parallel lines tour. So it's clearly spelled out. I enjoyed it myself, Marnie had never seen them before and she was hoping to hear all the radio hits.

[Paul]

Parallel Lines had 5 charting singles...with 5 b-sides, that's 10 of the 12 songs out there without having to buy the album.

It really is a very good album, and it holds up well today.

I have a hard time criticizing well written, well crafted pop songs. There isn't a lot of high art in the Blondie catalogue, but you don't sell 60 million records without reaching somebody in the audience.