Billy Idol performs at the Roman Arenas tonight

Before the Bucharest concert, the artist prepared his fans for a true rock’n’ roll treatment.

published in issue 3718 page 16 at 2006-07-10

Bucharest - Beginning with 8 o’clock, Billy Idol fans will have the unique opportunity to watch one of the biggest rock artists of the last 30 years. Idol will be promoting in Bucharest his latest album, “Devil’s Playground.” The Event’s organizers have announced the 4,000 tickets have all been sold out, a supplement of about 1,000 is to be sold today at the last minute for prices ranging between RON 150 and 200 for the VIP seat area. They can be found online at www.rol.ro and at the Roman Arennas box-office.

For tonight’s concert, Billy Idol will be accompanied by well known guitar player Steve Stevens, who has been worked with him for 24 years. In the concert’s opening, the punk-rock group Zob will perform.

Idol did not hold a press conference before tonight’s event but he spoke to radio Europa FM in a live broadcast saying “ I consider myself a second age young man, at 50, I have been through a lot, but my rock’n roll appetite hasn’t left me,” adding that “I hope the Bucharest concert will be just fabulous.” Along with Duran Duran, Billy Idol is one the first pop/rock artists to achieve massive success in the early ‘80s .After only a year at Sussex University, William Michael Albert Broad (Billy Idol) becomes part of a group of teen punk rockers who befriended and followed the Sex Pistols, known as “the Bromley Contingent.” It wasn’t long before Broad realized that he too could be the front man of a punk band, and assumed the name Billy Idol shortly thereafter.

It wasn’t long before Broad realized that he too could be the front man of a punk band, and assumed the name Billy Idol shortly thereafter. After a quick time as a guitar player in a group called Chelsea, Idol picks up the microphone, and forms Generation X in 1976.

Disappointed by Generation X’s demise, Idol relocated to New York City, where he pursued a career as a solo artist.

In July, 1982, he issues a self-titled debut: a pair of eye-catching videos for the tracks “White Wedding” and “Dancing with Myself” scored major air time on MTV, with both clips focusing in on Idol’s spiky, peroxide blonde hair and Elvis-like sneer. The debut eventually obtained gold certification, and set the stage perfectly for Idol’s big commercial breakthrough, 1984’s Rebel Yell (double platinum, best-selling album of his career).

After taking himself out of the music business “to regenerate, get free of myself and make an album for the right reasons,” Billy Idol has completed his first album featuring new songs in over 10 years, DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND. “Enough!” he says, “2005 is the time for an original punk rocker to show his stuff.”