Review: Joan Jett
Posted: July 3, 2006
Even though she last topped the charts more than 20 years ago, Joan Jett has resisted the lure of pure nostalgia. Instead, she has embraced the punkier side of the poppy punk music she created in the early 1980s.

Headlining Sunday on the Mountain Dew Rock Stage, Jett and the Blackhearts pumped renewed vigor into old songs like "Bad Reputation" and "Cherry Bomb" and introduced the thrashing sounds of "Five" and the political leanings of "Change the World" from their new album, "Sinner."

At 46, Jett still has voice with more gritty power than most punk vocalists half her age. And while the tight performance of her four-piece band would have been more fun in a small, dark punk-rock club, Jett's bounding energy and persistent playing with the audience kept the front bleachers bouncing.

Erik Ernst, Special to the Journal Sentinel