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Lita Ford

Live in Madison, Wisconsin, May 2016

Review by Eric Meli

Lita Ford started playing guitar at age eleven. By the time she was 16, she was in The Runaways. Her solo career started in the 80s and ran to the mid-90s. After that she took a break, but came back to the music world in 2009.

I finally got the chance to see Lita this year at the Brat Fest in Madison, Wisconsin, and she still rocks. Starting with “Gotta Let Go” she set the night on fire and kept burning on “Larger than Life.” The audience roared when she did her cover of Elton John's “Bitch is Back.” Next she did “Blueberry” from her 1988 album Lita.  Then she rocked through “Living Like A Runaway,” “Aces & Eights,” “Hungry” (the last two from her Stiletto album), “What Do You Know” and “Falling in and Out.”


Eric Meli
 
Eric Meli
 
Eric Meli

Then it was back to her Lita album for “Back to the Cave” and “Can’t Catch Me” (co-written by Lemmy Kilmister) which had a killer drum solo by Bobby Rock. I thought he was going to knock over his drums until I noticed they were chained together. Then Ford went all the way back to the title track of her debut solo album Out For Blood.


Eric Meli
 
Eric Meli
 
Eric Meli

Next Ford made her way back in time and put in an excellent performance of “Cherry Bomb” from her old band The Runaways. Ford and her band brought the excitement level even higher. Next up was the only slow song of the night "Close My Eyes," which had everybody’s phones in the air and was a big sing a long. Her guitarist Patrick Kennison (who provided some amazing guitar solos) did a great job on the male vocals. The climax of the night (appropriately) was the closing song “Kiss Me Deadly” which totally rocked the house and drove the audience nuts. Lita and her band definitely put on a great show. She knows how to work the crowd with stories from her past and excellent showmanship from her band.


Eric Meli
 
Eric Meli
 
Eric Meli
This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2016  Volume 4 at lulu.com/strangesound.
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