Joan Jett and The Blackhearts Preview – at Pacific Amphitheatre – Costa Mesa, CA – Aug 11, 2010

What were you doing when you were fifteen years old? Complaining about your parents? Skipping school and sneaking beers in the alley? If you were Joan Jett you were quietly changing the face of the entire music industry. Ok, so there’s never actually been anything quiet about anything Joan Jett has ever done, from the Runaways to the Blackhearts, to producing Bikini Kill, and more, but no one in 1975 guessed at the lasting impact that a petite shag-haired brunette would have on music, celebrity, and what it means to be an all-out girl playing in this boy’s world.

The recent release of The Runaways movie has maybe introduced you to where Joan Jett got her beginnings. Maybe you also remember hearing her version of "I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll" on radios and jukeboxes growing up. Maybe if you’re really lucky you’ve even seen her live, either on tour with the Ramones way back when, or more recently on one of her solo tours. The truth is that Joan Jett has been rocking full on for over 35 years now, and has lost none of her momentum.

This current tour, set to hit the Pacific Amphitheater in Costa Mesa on August 11, comes just after a month in Europe touring with Green Day. This is a show you need to see. Not just because it’s summer, and there’s time for shows. Not just because Joan Jett is one of only two women ever named to Rolling Stone’s list of 100 greatest guitarists of all time. Not even because she has worked tirelessly, launching countless new bands as a producer, and later on her very own label Blackheart Records, and churned out new music throughout the length of her career. Not just because she is a passionate, outspoken woman, who has always been her own definition of self, who has even gone so far as to institute "eco-friendly packaging" for her new releases, and who works closely with a variety of charities and rights organizations.

These are all good little reasons, but the crux of the matter is this: as anyone who has ever cranked "Cherry Bomb" as loud as it will go, and gunned the engine for the open road knows, there is no one on this earth, man woman, or other, who has the energy, passion, and heart of Joan Jett. All of which is only more obvious the second she comes on stage and unleashes the wall of sound that crashes over everything before it.

Tour dates can be found on her official website here: www.joanjett.com
or her MySpace: www.myspace.com/joanjettntheblackhearts

Don’t miss the show on Wednesday  August 11, 2010
at Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa, CA

-Jo Problems-
Big Wheel Music Scene Reporter