They wanted more, more, more at the Billy Idol concert Friday, closing the season at Mandalay Bay's Beach. And Idol delivered, with a hard rocking, high-energy performance.
It was everything an Idol fan could wish for, as the '80s MTV punk-poster boy ran through his top hits and showed off a body that looked 20 years too young for a man on the half-century cusp.
Idol's body is ripped but he was obviously taking care to make sure the same didn't happen to his vocal cords. Starting off with "Cradle of Love" and "Dancing With Myself," his voice sounded a little weak, and he was clearly playing it safe. Throughout the show, Idol took breaks, whether goofing around on the drums or giving long time partner and guitar god Steve Stevens time for extended solos (at one point, a 10-minute-long riff that was a mix of classical Spanish guitar and classic glam rock).
It's to Idol's credit, though, that the breaks were so well incorporated into the show that they were barely noticeable. His stage presence was powerful, making eye contact with individual fans the whole night, and outrageously flirting with one fan in particular, who was hidden by the crowd from this critic but apparently was blessed in the mammilary department.
The set list covered Idol's career, and then some. He did passably well with Eddie Cochran's '50s hit "Twenty Flight Rock," performed a well-received track of his upcoming album, "World Coming Down," and went way back to his Generation X days for "Ready Steady Go."
One three-song encore ended the night, with Idol on acoustic six-string performing "Hot in the City" (with lyrics changed to "hot in Las Vegas ..."), "Mony Mony" (with the famous "Hey, say what, get laid, get f--ked!") and ending with a fantastic rendition of the Doors' "LA Woman" (lyrics untouched out of respect for the Lizard King).
Though the show ended 15 minutes before Mandalay's cut off time of 11 p.m., Idol seemed sincere when he said to the capacity crowd of 6,000: "Thanks for making it fun." With that, he was off—likely to catch up with one particular fan.