By Joanie Cox-Henry
It has been 47 years since The Runaways dropped "Cherry Bomb" and Joan Jett snagged her spot as an electric guitar slinging bonafide rock goddess. When Jett took the stage March 9 at Seminole Casino Coconut Creek clad in her signature black body suit and strummed the opening notes to "Victim of Circumstance," it's clear her reign is still going strong. Joan Jett has been busting through barriers in the music world since the day she picked up her guitar at the age of 13. Even after five decades, the Rock And Roll Hall of Famer is still a trailblazer with an empowering message for fans of all ages.
"Go for your dreams," Jett said during an ABC News interview. "Everyone will tell you you're crazy and they mean well, but if you have a dream, no matter what it is, whether that's to be a neuroscientist or a guitar player, go for it! And don't let anyone else tell you what your life's gonna be because you've gotta live it."
"Joan was playing the electric guitar during a time when women didn't do that," Jett's long time manger and keyboardist Kenny Laguna said during their Coconut Creek performance. "When the labels wouldn't give her a chance, we printed up our own records and just started selling albums out of the trunk of our car."
The rest is basically rock and roll history or as Jett might say it— her story. Jett's setlist during her recent South Florida show was a mix of greatest hits such as "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah), "I Love Rock 'N' Roll," "Crimson And Clover," Bad Reputation," "You Drive Me Wild" and "I Hate Myself For Loving You." The ever-evolving rocker also sprinkled in a healthy mix of new tunes such as "Shooting Into Space" and "Before The Dawn" and broke out an acoustic guitar in a nod to her 2022 first ever acoustic album, Changeup.
"It's an approach that we have taken that's different than what we normally do," Jett said on Good Morning America. "It was something Initially we wanted to give to our fans as an extra bonus, but once we started recording the songs, we just kept going and recorded as many as we could."
Jett also spoke about the album at the show. "We did it just for the fun it and thought it would be really different and it was," Joan Jett said.
Jett performed a tender acoustic rendition of her 1984 tune "Long Time." Her cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Light of Day" was another crowd pleaser where Jett shared a moving back story of working with actor Michael J. Fox on the eponymous film the song was originally featured in.
Joan Jett & The Blackhearts closed the show with an acoustic song penned by her longtime lead guitarist Dougie Needles titled "Whiskey Goes Good." With the vibe of an Irish drinking ditty, it's a prime pick for the upcoming St. Patrick's Day holiday.
While Jett did encounter a few sound snafus during her performance including one point when she lost the connection to her guitar, she smiled through it like the pro she is and powered through the rest of the set without missing a beat.
"Being on stage is everything that's good about life," Jett said in Todd Oldman's biography about her. "I wasn't going to change just to get accepted."
And that is Joan Jett's true superpower. She still doesn't give a damn about her reputation as long she's out there doing it her way and it's something we can all learn from.
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