The Pretenders tore through Ohio this week with two headlining shows in Chrissie Hynde’s hometown and an opening set in front of a baseball stadium full of Foo Fighters fans.
The trip began with a return to Akron for two sold-out nights at the Goodyear Theater. As you can see below, Hynde posted a photo of herself in front of her childhood home on social media Tuesday morning, the day of the first show.
With help from the Pretenders’ razor-sharp current lineup, each night Hynde treated the ecstatic crowd to 27-song sets that focused on their two most recent albums – 2023’s Relentless and 2020’s Hate for Sale – as much as it did on songs from their beloved 1980 self-titled debut. Guitarist James Walbourne was particularly impressive, adding muscle, depth and texture to each song.
“This is a song about my beautiful hometown,” Hynde said over the opening of “My City Was Gone,” explaining how she wrote it after revisiting Akron in 1975 and seeing that her beloved downtown was about to be replaced with parking lots and corporate offices. “They thought I wrote it because I didn’t love Akron anymore,” she scoffed at the end of the song.
Although it didn’t show at all during her performance, Hynde admitted to having more nerves than usual at the show, saying it felt like “a class reunion” at one point: “I’m a little nervous in front of all my friends.” She also pulled off the near-miracle of getting almost the entire crowd to put away their cellphones with a handful of well-placed barbs: “Is that phone really more interesting than I am?”
Watch Pretenders Perform ‘My City Was Gone’
The Pretenders’ second Goodyear Theater show the next night found them switching out a trio of songs, adding ’80s gems “Talk of the Town,” “Thumbelina” and “Tattooed Love Boys” Keeping true to her 2022 promise to back off from playing her biggest hits, there was no “Brass in Pocket” or “Middle of the Road” to be found either night, and nobody in the crowd seemed the least bit concerned about that.
Thursday night found the Pretenders three and a half hours away in Cincinnati, opening for the Foo Fighters on a bill that also featured Mammoth WVH, who performed their own fantastic headline set halfway between Akron and Cleveland Wednesday night. Hynde and company understandably went a little bit heavier on the band’s best-known songs, even breaking out “Middle of the Road” for the set-closer, but still kept one-third of the set focused on their most recent albums.
Watch Pretenders Perform ‘Don’t Get Me Wrong’
Pretenders at Goodyear Theater, Akron Ohio July 23, 2024 Set List1. “Losing My Sense of Taste” (From 2023’s Relentless)2. “A Love” (From 2023’s Relentless)3. “Turf Accountant Daddy” (From 2020’s Hate for Sale)4. “Hate for Sale” (From 2020’s Hate for Sale)5. “Kid” (From 1980’s Pretenders)6. “Precious” (From 1980’s Pretenders)7. “The Buzz” (From 2020’s Hate for Sale)8. “My City Was Gone” (From 1984’s Learning to Crawl)9. “You Can’t Hurt a Fool” (From 2020’s Hate for Sale)10. “Don’t Cut Your Hair” (From 2008’s Break Up the Concrete)11. “Domestic Silence” (From 2023’s Relentless)12. “Private Life” (From 1980’s Pretenders)13. “I Think About You Daily” (From 2023’s Relentless)14. “Biker” (From 1999’s !Viva El Amor!)15. “Vainglorious” (From 2023’s Relentless)16. “Time the Avenger” (From 1984’s Learning to Crawl)17. “The Wait” (From 1980’s Pretenders)18. “Boots of Chinese Plastic” (From 2008’s Break Up the Concrete)19. “The Phone Call” (From 1980’s Pretenders)20. “Merry Widow” (From 2023’s Relentless)21. “Pack It Up” (From 1981’s Pretenders II)
Encore:22. “Stop Your Sobbing” ((Kinks cover, from 1980’s Pretenders)23. “Let the Sun Come In” (From 2023’s Relentless)24. “Back on the Chain Gang” (From 1984’s Learning to Crawl)
Encore 2:25. “Don’t Get Me Wrong” (From 1986’s Get Close)26. “Mystery Achievement” (From 1980’s Pretenders)27. “I’ll Stand By You” (From 1994’s Last of the Independents)
Pretenders at Goodyear Theater, Akron Ohio July 24, 2024 Set List1. “Losing My Sense of Taste”2. “A Love”3. “Turf Accountant Daddy”4. “Hate for Sale”5. “Talk of the Town” (From 1981’s Pretenders II)6. “Precious”7. “The Buzz”8. “My City Was Gone”9. “Thumbelina” (From 1984’s Learning to Crawl)10. “You Can’t Hurt a Fool”11. “Don’t Cut Your Hair”12. “Domestic Silence”13. “Private Life”14. “I Think About You Daily”15. “Biker”16. “Vainglorious”17. “The Wait”18. “Boots of Chinese Plastic”19. “The Phone Call”20. “Time the Avenger”21. “Merry Widow”22. “Let the Sun Come In”
Encore:23. “Don’t Get Me Wrong”24. “The Wait”25. “Tattooed Love Boys” (From 1980’s Pretenders)26. “Back on the Chain Gang”27. “Mystery Achievement”
Pretenders at Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati Ohio July 25, 2024 Set List1. “Let the Sun Come In”2. “Hate for Sale”3. “Turf Accountant Daddy”4. “Kid”5. “My City Was Gone”6. “Vainglorious”7. “Junkie Walk”8. “Stop Your Sobbing”9. “Back on the Chain Gang”10. “Don’t Get Me Wrong”11. “Tattooed Love Boys”12. “Bad Boys Get Spanked” (From 1981’s Pretenders II)13. “I’ll Stand By You”14. “Middle of the Road” (From 1984’s Learning to Crawl)
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Gallery Credit: UCR Staff
