NEPA Scene Staff

Joan Jett & The Blackhearts will rock F.M. Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre on April 19

Joan Jett & The Blackhearts will rock F.M. Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre on April 19
Decrease Font Size Increase Font Size Text Size Print This Page

From a press release:

It was announced today that legendary Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Joan Jett & The Blackhearts will return to the F.M. Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre on Saturday, April 19.

Jett previously performed at the Kirby Center (71 Public Square, Wilkes-Barre) in 1989. Doors for this show open at 6 p.m., and the music starts at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets, which are $59.50, $79.50, $99.50, $109.50, and $149.50, plus applicable fees, go on sale this Friday, Feb. 7 at 10 a.m. at the Kirby Center box office during regular business hours (Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.), online at kirbycenter.org and ticketmaster.com, and by phone at 570-826-1100. An exclusive pre-sale for Kirby Members begins Wednesday, Feb. 5 at 10 a.m.

Having left an indelible stamp on rock ‘n’ roll forged by anthemic hits, thousands of live performances around the world, and a tireless belief in staying true to yourself, Joan Jett remains driven by the singular power of music. Born in 1958 in Wynnewood, a suburb of Philadelphia, she picked up her first guitar at 13 years old and started a career at 15, her unmatched perseverance and authenticity still resonating over five decades later.

Jett grew up during a time when rock ‘n’ roll was off limits to girls and women, but with her first band, The Runaways, in 1975, she promptly blew the door to the boys’ club off its hinges. It was the first of many iconoclastic moments in her life, including forming her own independent record label, Blackheart Records, after she was rejected by no less than 23 labels.

“You can’t let other people dictate your life to you,” she said. “Being told that girls can’t play rock ‘n’ roll – I mean, even as a kid, it was so illogical to me. It’s like, what do you mean? That girls can’t master the instruments?”

She continued, “Other people have called me a rebel, but I just feel like I’m living my life and doing what I want to do. If I listened to everybody who told me I couldn’t do it, then I wouldn’t be doing it.”

The music industry often had to catch up with Jett as she carved her own path to success. In their infancy, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts happily took on Los Angeles hot spot The Whisky’s slowest night, quickly building a following. The same thing happened on the East Coast after the band moved to New York, when 50 people at The Malibu in Long Island turned into throngs of fans that shut down local highways.

Jett formed a kismet collaboration of menace and pop sensibility when she met Kenny Laguna, her longtime producer, collaborator, and business partner. Together they pressed up their own records and sold them out of the back of his Cadillac at concerts, long before doing so was ever part of the music industry landscape. Blackheart was born in an era that did not see many artist-owned indie labels, and when mainstream radio wouldn’t play the band’s single “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll,” fans bombarded stations across the United States and helped turn it into an unstoppable hit that eventually spent seven weeks at No. 1. Jett has gone on to score eight platinum and gold records and nine Top 40 singles, proving time and again how audiences knew something about her that record companies didn’t.

“The way that Joan and Kenny had done things inspired people to make their own labels because people figured out that they don’t need a bunch of guys in suits and cigars and cash to start a label,” noted Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong. 40 years after its formation, Blackheart is a thriving entertainment company producing music, film, and television while continuing to champion emerging bands.

Jett remains one of the most beloved and influential artists in popular music, with a fan base that spans diehards who have been with her from the beginning to little kids who see her as a six-string-wielding superhero. Her influence, legacy, and inspiration for anyone struggling with industry stereotypes earned her a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Miley Cyrus, who inducted Jett at that ceremony, said, “She’s been the first to do many things, and not just as a woman, but just as a badass being on the planet. There isn’t one other person on this planet that’s been an inspiration to me like she has.”

Having celebrated the 40th anniversary of her seminal albums “Bad Reputation” and “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll,” Jett is still a cultural force. Dave Grohl, who along with the other surviving members of Nirvana chose Jett to sing “Smells Like Teen Spirit” at their own Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, said, “The roar of the crowd as she walked into the spotlight was a thunderous welcome – the kind that only legends receive. Watching her work, I could only imagine the incredible life she had lived, and I could sense her undying love of rock ‘n’ roll, which was as contagious as it was inspiring. In a world of Barbies, every girl needs a Joan Jett.” Apparently Mattel thought so too, as Jett had a Barbie made in her likeness.

Her habit of defying expectations and breaking new ground applies on and off stage. To some of her fans, she’s a feminist icon who has overseen albums by punk titans such as The Germs and Bikini Kill. To others, she’s a guitar idol with three of her own signature Gibson models and a more recent Epiphone model.

Following recent studio work, such as an album she produced for rockabilly legend Wanda Jackson, and “Jeepster,” her contribution to the Marc Bolan/T.Rex tribute collection “Angelheaded Hipster,” she also continues to release new music with the Blackhearts. Succeeding their 2022 album “Changeup,” their first-ever acoustic record, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts’ latest EP “Mindsets” is available to stream now and came out as a Record Store Day First vinyl release on Nov. 24, 2023. Featuring six brand new songs (and bonus live versions on the RSD vinyl piece), “Mindsets” serves as a reminder of what the band is all about – the perfect blend of punk and rock ‘n’ roll that feels timeless and immediate at once.

Jett’s music has been heard across blockbuster movies (“Ready Player One”), beloved cult TV shows (“Freaks and Geeks”), binge-worthy streaming hits (“Big Little Lies”), and the Marvel and DC universes. Since 2006, the theme song to NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” has been a reworked version of her chart-topping “I Hate Myself for Loving You.” Joan Jett & The Blackhearts also collaborated with Dolly Parton on a new version of “I Hate Myself for Loving You” for Dolly’s first-ever rock album “Rockstar,” which led the 2023 and 2024 album charts.

Jett is also no stranger to acting in movies, television, and theatre, notably “Light of Day” alongside Michael J. Fox and “The Rocky Horror Show” on Broadway, and she has lent her voice to animated characters (“Steven Universe,” “Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts”). In 2010, she served as an executive producer on “The Runaways,” a film about her first band starring Kristen Stewart as Jett and Dakota Fanning as Runaways vocalist Cherie Currie. “Bad Reputation,” a documentary about Jett’s life, premiered to critical acclaim at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and is now available for streaming.

Still relentless in their commitment to live performance, Jett & The Blackhearts continue touring the globe alongside fellow rock legends like The Who, Green Day, and Foo Fighters.

“To me, it’s really about connection – musician eyeballs to audience eyeballs,” Jett emphasized.

“You connect. You see each other. You recognize that vision. You smile. There’s contact. There’s understanding. I know what you’re talking about and you know what I’m talking about.”

Her band completed The Stadium Tour with Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe in 2022, the So Happy It Hurts Tour with Bryan Adams in 2023, and Alanis Morissette’s Triple Moon Tour in 2024. This year, they will join fellow rock legend Billy Idol on his upcoming tour, dubbed “It’s A Nice Day To… Tour Again!”

“We’ve become so conditioned to measuring our music’s impact in dollar signs that we can forget what it’s really about – the music,” the 66-year-old continued.

“Emotion. Expression. Giving a voice to those that aren’t satisfied fitting into whatever box they were given. I have lived this rock ‘n’ roll ethic my entire life, and I am thankful to all those people along the way that let me be me.”

The F.M. Kirby Center is a historic Art Deco/Moderne-style performing arts center located in downtown Wilkes-Barre. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.