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I've only seen Billy in the context of another show - he was hired to play the role of the Ace Face when The Who toured with Quadrophenia in 1996. It's not a huge role - he only sings a few songs - but clearly he must have had nothing else going on at the time...
The first time I saw him, I was impressed. He truly embodied this character he was supposed to play, from the beginning when the Ace Face is a cool, macho character, to the end, when he is humiliated and reduced to nothing.
I saw the Quadrophenia show about 6 times, and after a few shows, he did less of the Ace Face thing and just became Billy Idol again - doing his trademark arm punches, giving the finger to the audience, yelling "fuck you" to people in the crowd. Roger Daltrey finally resorted to kicking him in the ass to get him off the stage, because he was hamming forever. They didn't re-hire him when they went back on the road in 1997.
What I took from the whole thing was the notion that Billy has a habit of taking what he has for granted. It's not 1983 anymore. Bullshit behavior and a pompous attitude are going to take you back to the bottom.
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You have to laugh at yourself...because you'd cry your eyes out if you didn't. - Emily Saliers
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