Lita Ford has been playing a few headline dates in 2024 in select cities. Back on February 23rd, we were very excited to catch Lita at Newton Performing Arts Center in Newton, North Carolina. This was our first time getting the chance to visit Newton Performing Arts Center, but definitely won’t be the last. They have been hosting quite a few concerts recently and even with the sold-out crowd which Lita Ford brought that night, everyone had a great spot to enjoy the show. And what a great show it was!
NORM (aka Nature of Rebel Minds) would hit the stage first to help get the crowd warmed up. NORM is a hard rock band out of Winston-Salem, NC. The band actually hadn’t played live in a couple of years, but did one hell of a job on their first show back this year. Not only did they rock out with some long time fans, but made a bunch of new ones too.
Just after the opening band left the stage, the curtain behind them would drop to reveal the full stage ready for Lita Ford and her band to play. Including a huge back drop with “Lita Ford” spelled out in flames. This just got the audience more excited. Luckily it was only a short break before Lita Ford herself would hit the stage to perform for this sold-out crowd. She dove straight into “Gotta Let Go” off of 1984’s ‘Dancin’ on the Edge.’ Lita still looks and sounds amazing, even performing a song from almost 40 years ago. She played an incredible set that night, filling it up with album favorites, as well as covers. This was a seated theater and the crowd jumped to their feet as soon as Lita Ford hit the stage and never sat back down. When the band closed the show on “Kiss Me Deadly,” you would expect everyone to head off stage and fans to start heading to the doors. This didn’t happen. Actually, Lita Ford stayed just to greet fans and sign autographs for anyone that came up. That’s not something most performers will even do nowadays, so it was really great to see.
I’m Music Magazine Associate Editor/Photographer Daphne McKinney
Connect with Lita Ford: