Record Mirror

14th October 1989

Deborah Harry
Borderline,
London

[Photo by Susan Moore]

Move over you bleached imposters your time is up. The queen of peroxide pop has returned to reclaim her crown. Debbie Harry, the owner of the finest cheekbones and the most seductive mouth to ever tease a mic, had come to remind us of what a star really looks like.

The tiny Borderline was crammed full of ageing romantics who came out of curiosity and nostalgia to remind themselves of their rebellious past. They’d come to gaze in wonderment at the Dorian Gray figure on stage in figure hugging leopard skin and kid themselves they’d aged as well as her.

Sadly precious few had come to bathe in Debbie’s new musical delights, but had come in hope that her past incarnation as Blondie would be resurrected. They were not disappointed. With Chris Stein and assorted rock clichés backing her she gritted her teeth and snarled her way through ‘Dreaming’ and ‘Rapture’.

With that wicked smile and that mischievous look in her eye she flirted with everyone and her past as she rattled off ‘The Tide Is High’ and ‘Heart Of Glass’.

Sometimes your memory can play cruel tricks but Debbie was and is the closest thing to heaven.

Every generation will have their own Debbie Harry, though we can content ourselves in the knowledge that at least we had the real things.

Kevin Murphy