Toyah Willcox is in the middle of a tour. Her third tour this year. The ever-busy punk icon is commemorating the 40th anniversary of her breakthrough album Anthem. Albeit more than 41 years after its release, owing to the pandemic.

Yesterday’s show in London couldn’t have fallen on a more unfortunate day, plagued by strikes and disruptions on both rail and tube networks. Yet Toyah fans beat the transport challenges and the 229 club near Regent’s Park was filled to near-capacity.

Rather than playing Anthem in its entirety, eight out of its eleven songs were scattered around the two-act show. Apart from trademark hits “It’s a Mystery” and “I Want to Be Free”, it featured such deep cuts as “Jungles of Jupiter”, “Obsolete” and “We Are”. Toyah still regrets not releasing the latter as a single back in the day.

The show was interspersed with candid anecdotes. Toyah reminisced on her early morning tube commutes in the 70s which inspired “Neon Womb”, and shared how her husband Robert Fripp came about with the hilarious dance routine for the “Space Dance” video. She admitted the pressure that followed her big break in 1981, but looked back on 1983 as one of the happiest years of her life.

Willcox hasn’t lost her edge, making a reference to cannabis, throwing the F word at least three times, and reflecting on the early days of her marriage, when she “was doing a lot of screwing”. The singer also showed some self-deprecating humour, making fun of her age, nonetheless looking gorgeous at 64!

Act two leaned more towards recent material and covers. It opened with Martha and the Muffins’ “Echo Beach”, and naturally couldn’t miss Grace Jones’ “Slave to the Rhythm”, which Toyah released as a single in the summer. A nice surprise was her take on Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell”. It wasn’t a random addition – Toyah will be supporting him on his UK tour later this month. “Take Me Home” from the new album Posh Pop ended the show on a touching note, before Toyah and the band bowed their goodbyes.

Left to right: Dave Keech, Nat Martin, Emily Francis, Toyah, Mike Nichols, Manolo Polidario

“You couldn’t have been born when this song came out!”, a really nice lady said to me as “It’s a Mystery” was blaring around the venue. It’s an admirable feat to have your original die-hard followers still sticking around, whilst winning new fans among the younger generation. This was only my second time seeing Toyah live, but surely not the last!

Toyah sang: “Thunder in the Mountains”, “Good Morning Universe”, “We Are”, “Obsolete”, “Neon Womb”, “Rebel Run”, “Pop Star”, “Jungles of Jupiter”, “Demolition Men”, “It’s a Mystery”, “Echo Beach”, “Dance in the Hurricane”, “Space Dance”, “Marionette”, “Rebel Yell”, “Rhythm in My House”, “Danced”, “Slave to the Rhythm”, “I Want to Be Free”, “Ieya”, “Take Me Home”

Click here to check where Toyah is playing next!