Billy Idol lights up Las Vegas on opening night

Opening night has an electricity all of its own, and Billy Idol plugged straight into it as he launched his new residency at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas. The crowd was with him from the very first note, and the energy only kept building, wave after wave, right through to the encore.

From the moment Steve Stevens walked out, I knew we were in for something special. As a musician myself, I could have watched him all night and been perfectly happy. His guitars were gorgeous things, all shimmer and swagger, built to catch the Vegas lights, and what he coaxed out of them was better still. His solo spot mid-set pulled flamenco flourishes and pure rock filth out of the same run of notes. To watch a player of that calibre work a room the size of the Fontainebleau theatre and still make it feel intimate is a rare treat.

Billy himself was in superb form. He opened with a cheeky nod to the city itself, a swaggering run through Elvis‘s ‘Viva Las Vegas’ that set the tone before the band tore into ‘Still Dancing’. His voice has lost none of its bite, and that snarl was all over ‘Flesh For Fantasy’ and ‘Eyes Without a Face’, the crowd in the palm of his hand from the first song to the last. He held the pace beautifully too, knowing exactly when to let the band stretch out and when to rein it back to a pure pop hook.

And it wouldn’t be a Billy Idol show without the shirt coming off. Bare-chested and clearly loving every second of it, he still has every one of those cheeky mannerisms fully intact: the sneer, the fist pump, that knowing wink to the crowd. The ladies down the front were absolutely lapping it up. Decades on, he’s still got the same mischievous swagger that made him a star in the first place.

He was wonderfully present between the songs, too. He talked warmly about the early days: the punk clubs, the scrappy beginnings of Generation X, the long road that led him here, and about how privileged he feels to still be doing this, decades on and still selling out rooms. He meant every word, and you could feel the crowd meet him with real affection for it.

‘Rebel Yell’ landed exactly as it should, a full-throated singalong that shook the room, and by the time the encore rolled around with ‘Dancing With Myself’, ‘Hot in the City’ and a euphoric ‘White Wedding’ to close, the night had become a full-blown celebration: of the songs, the city, and a partnership between Billy and Steve that’s now spanned over four decades and still sounds hungry.

If this opening night is anything to go by, the Fontainebleau has landed itself a brilliant residency. It was an amazing night, and I can’t wait to see where Billy takes it from here.

Setlist: Billy Idol, Fontainebleau Las Vegas, 28th August 2026

1. Viva Las Vegas (Elvis Presley cover)
2. Still Dancing
3. Cradle Of Love
4. Flesh For Fantasy
5. 77
6. Love Unchained
7. Eyes Without a Face
8. Steve Stevens Guitar Solo
9. Mony Mony (Tommy James & the Shondells cover)
10. Trouble With the Sweet Stuff
11. Ready Steady Go (Generation X song)
12. Blue Highway / Top Gun Anthem
13. Rebel Yell
    Encore:
14. Dancing With Myself (Generation X song)
15. Hot in the City
16. White Wedding