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SLICK & SIZZLING BLONDIE GETS CROWD GROOVING
The New Paper
By Yeoh Wee Teck
After the Blondie press conference on Monday afternoon, Deborah Harry (right) was overheard asking for a doctor. It seemed she had a nasty cough. But that was hardly surprising, considering that the band had been touring since December and had just arrived in Singapore from a five-day Australian tour.
They perform in Bangkok tonight. Harry must have had a miracle doctor because there was no trace of any sort of illness when she took to the stage last night. Harry and her band members (including drummer extraordinaire Clem Burke and founding member/guitarist Chris Stein) treated 3,000 people to an evening of great music.
When Harry stepped onto the stage and immediately launched into the first notes of their hit song Atomic, it was all systems go. The hits - and they have plenty - kept flowing: Maria, The Tide Is High, Rapture, Call Me, One Way Or Another and Heart Of Glass. Her energy was on a constant high and her voice strong. Harry is 60 but she rocked with the intensity of someone half her age. While the air was still at Fort Canning Green and the humidity threatened to knock out a few people, all discomfort was forgotten when Blondie performed. Every moment, there was movement: Dancing, shuffling or arms swaying. The mostly-expat audience cheered with appreciation at all the right times.
At Monday's press conference, Harry joked that 'desperation' was what had kept the band touring as they're still waiting to receive royalty for their album sales. But it was experience, not desperation, which reigned last night. The band was slick and Blondie kept the pace taut. And that was thanks largely to the band's lead singer. A lady matches her bra with her shoes, and Harry was a lady. On her feet were sparkly orange clogs, and peeking from beneath her lacy white blouse was a bright orange bra. Her outfit looked like it was recycled from the '80s cult movie Xanadu and it made her waist look thicker than it really was. But Harry was every inch the sex symbol fans love and idolise. She smouldered sex appeal. Even after 90 minutes of performing with her trademark blonde tresses lank with sweat, she exuded class.
Harry didn't say too much but made up for it with body movement. Her nearly-bizarre dance moves were both fascinating and laughable. 'I love performing,' she declared at Monday's press conference. 'That's the best part about performing.' The worse? 'I hate the travelling on airplanes. It's a horrible experience because it messes up your body.' Well, I'm glad she chose to endure the discomfort. An act like Blondie makes standing around on a grass patch and suffering the heat more bearable.
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