JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS / THE MEFFS - O2 Academy, Glasgow 2 July 2026 Live review

At a time when so much of our activity is conducted online, it was good to see an old-fashioned (and long) queue of fans gathered early outside the O2 Academy in Glasgow in advance of ‘Doors Open’, eager to get a good spot in the venue to see tonight’s acts.

No playing it cool and turning up just as the bands hit the stage. For tonight we were here not just to see and pay homage to a singer, musician or band, but to a musical legend and icon who broke the mould, changed the face of rock and punk music forever and became a role model for women all over the world. How many can say that?

Sixteen years since their last headlining shows in the U.K., Joan Jett & the Blackhearts were playing the opening night of a 5-date U.K. tour in Glasgow and were also on the cover of the latest issue of the leading punk magazine Vive Le Rock.

THE MEFFS

Continuing the punk theme, support was provided by The Meffs who I hadn’t seen live before, but are developing a reputation as one of the most exciting U.K. punk bands in years and have been working with Frank Turner.

Opting for simplicity, The Meffs are a likeable, but ferocious two-piece formed of Lily on guitar and vocals and Lewis on drums. While some others have made a success of this or a similar format (The White Stripes, Royal Blood and The Courettes), it’s not without risk, as what can sound good in the studio can sometimes sound thin, and lacking depth, variety or other musicians when played live. As an old 1920’s Art Deco cinema with the seats stripped out of the stalls and a high ceiling, the O2 Academy can be a cavernous and unforgiving space. But, tonight The Meffs filled the stage and every inch of, and crevice within, the venue with their sound and own brand of socially-aware punk/noisecore.

Playing a 30-minute energetic set, including ‘Stamp It Up’, ‘Business’, a cover of The Prodigy’s ‘Firestarter’, ‘Clowns’ and ‘Broken Britain, Broken Brains’, The Meffs are fierce, intense and Glasgow took them to their hearts.

Speaking between songs, Lily mentioned how the south of England is a horrible place just now. Unlike the friendly playing off of one city’s or country’s audience against another which some bands can engage in, this felt different and due to the culture of hate being created by the far right, with The Meffs proudly declaring themselves both anti-war and anti-fascist, giving the audience even more reason to love them.

JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS

As the lights went up and the crew removed The Meffs’ equipment and prepared the stage for the main act, the feeling of excitement was thick in the air.

Looking around, I was also struck by how diverse tonight’s audience was beyond the mixed age ranges. Music in the U.K. was quite tribal in the 80’s, but where there once were tribes we now have communities and Scotland’s rock, punk and LGBTQ+ communities were all out in force tonight lending to one of the most inclusive gigs I’ve attended. More gigs should be like this.

At the risk of mansplaining, the significance of what Joan Jett did can’t be over-stated, but it does need repeated for younger music fans who might not be fully aware just how much she did or for some older male rock fans who may be reluctant to recognise this.

Billed as ‘25 years of Bad Reputation and I Love Rock’n’Roll’, the tour is in celebratory mode for two great albums. While the ‘I Love Rock’n’Roll’ album was released in late 1981, the single of the same name wasn’t released until 1982 where it spent 7 weeks at No. 1 in the US, selling over two million copies, and reached No. 4 here in the U.K. Since then, and at the time of writing this review, ‘I Love Rock’n’Roll’ has been streamed 692,576,020 times on Spotify. While not the highest streamed rock track, it is probably one of the most recognisable rock songs ever released.

Rock was still on the fringe of mainstream music in 1982. At the time, rock was dominated by Motörhead and AC/DC, Whitesnake were still a blues rock band, Iron Maiden’s breakthrough album ‘Number of the Beast’ was still to be released a couple of months later and this was years before rock music peaked with mainstream popularity in the late ‘80’s when Guns’n’Roses, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Whitesnake, Motley Crüe and others became massive.

Joan Jett took rock music mainstream.

She did this as a woman - at a time when the industry and many within the male-dominated rock scene (managers, bands and fans) didn’t think women could do this.

She did this with (punk) attitude.

And she re-wrote the rules, changing the lyrics of the Arrows’ ‘I Love Rock’n’Roll’ song released in the 70’s from being about a guy picking up a girl, to a girl picking up a guy. Come on, you know the words -

“I saw him dancin’ there by the record machine,
Knew he must’ve been about 17”.

This was about female empowerment and Joan Jett changed rock and punk music forever, encouraging and empowering women to play music.

Here endeth the history lesson and back to the gig.

The already packed stalls became more packed as stage time approached. A massive roar went up as the lights went down and the intro tape started. Longer than most intros, anticipation only increased, teasing us as shots of Joan and the band from throughout her career were projected on to a large screen filling the back of the stage as the band took their places and then opened their set with ‘Victim of Circumstance’, the first of six songs from the ‘I Love Rock’n’Roll’ album to be played over the course of the set.

Barely pausing for breath, the band launched into playing ‘Cherry Bomb’ and the audience erupted. Only two songs in and hearing The Runaways’ classic song would take some beating.

Originally released on ‘Bad Reputation’ in 1981, their cover of Gary Glitter’s ‘Do You Wanna Touch Me? (Oh Yeah)’ followed and was really well-received. Rock and punk music have regularly sought to provoke, be controversial or shock. It was unclear if this was the intent given developments in the years since then, if they were just playing it as they’ve done over the years or were aware of the latest charges coming through this week. Personal view - there are other songs from this album which could be played instead.

While weighted towards ‘I Love Rock’n’Roll’ and ‘Bad Reputation’, the 20-song set included songs from albums throughout her career along with the Springsteen-written ‘Light of Day’ from the soundtrack of the movie starring Michael J. Fox, and a powerful cover of The Replacements’ ‘Androgynous’ which Joan volunteered she liked playing as she could really relate to the words.

As with most touring US acts, the longer things continue with their current political administration, the more they feel the need to speak out and voice their concern about what is happening and being normalised in their country. As such, Joan paused between songs to read out a statement which she had prepared before playing ‘Change the World’.

The music continued with a couple of songs from her most recent studio release (the Mindsets EP (2023)) and another cover off of ‘Album’, Sly and the Family Stone’s ‘Everyday People’.

And then THAT riff and song started. As would be expected, ‘I Love Rock’n’Roll’ created bedlam. For many acts, the question might then be “how do you follow that?” But, when not played as an encore, set opener or set closer and sandwiched between other great songs, the Blackhearts just kept playing and followed it with a run of the sing-song rock’n’roll lullaby of ‘Crimson and Clover’ then the anthemic ‘I Hate Myself For Loving You’ and ‘Bad Reputation’ … reminding us, if it was needed, that as big a song ‘I Love Rock’n’Roll’ is, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts are much more than a one-hit wonder and have a large back catalogue of great material.

While we’re all getting older, and her vocals have changed a little, this was top-quality musical entertainment.

To some, their music may seem formulaic. But when that formula is gold plated, why change it? Iconic glam-influenced rock’n’roll with punk attitude, big guitars and even bigger choruses to sing along out loud to.

Another fantastic gig providing a rare chance to see a genuine rock and punk icon, supported by one of the most exciting emerging bands in U.K. punk.

SETLIST

Victim of Cirumstance
Cherry Bomb
Do You Wanna Touch Me? (Oh Yeah)
You Drive Me Wild
Change the World
(I’m Gonna) Run Away
Light of Day
(Make the Music Go) Boom
Fake Friends
Androgynous
Oh Woe Is Me
Lie to Me
Love Is Pain
Long Time
If You’re Blue
Everyday People
I Love Rock’n’Roll
Crimson and Clover
I Hate Myself for Loving You
Bad Reputation

GMcA