Lita Ford is one of those wonderful entertainers who seems to have been going forever. From the days back in the Runaways to going solo in the ’80s, she has produced a plethora of fantastic material and performances over the years. Lita was at Indigo at The O2 two nights before her appearance at Steelhouse festival, after which she flies off to Wacken for an afternoon slot tomorrow.
Lita Ford
Indigo At The O2 – 24 July 2025
Words: Adrian Stonley
Photography: Manuela Langotsch
Lita Ford hit the stage in a red leather catsuit, with her familiar red and black guitar. A larger-than-life character, she is an artist who can still weave magical musical spells.
The set starts well with Gotta Let Go into Larger Than Life and Relentless. The band are fired up and Lita is clearly enjoying herself.
The heavy bass intro to Hungry continues the blitzkrieg, before a heavy and clearly rocked-up cover of Elton John’s The Bitch Is Back gets everyone singing and playing air guitar.
Unsurprisingly, matters have to calm down from the frenetic start, and Playin’ With Fire did just that as the sultry ballad gave everyone a few minutes’ breather before the band kicked back in for a full-on fired-up finish.
Back To The Cave provided a slow groove and was where Lita allowed the band the opportunity to show off their own individual skills. This was a song full of solos, from bass, guitar, through to drums, and a tongue-in-cheek shout from Lita of More Cowbell (IYKYK).
This began to drag the song out, and perhaps it began to lose its way. The solos just were not particularly exciting, and it was noticeable that the bar began to fill up at this point.
Can’t Catch Me contained a further drum solo from Bobby Rock. I can understand that Lita probably needs some breaks from the stage now, but this did seem to reduce the tempo of the set and create a drop in energy.
Thankfully, the energy and vigour returned as Lita’s band departed the stage to be replaced by Vixen and Bobby Dazzle for a vibrant and extended Cherry Bomb, and it was clear that all the girls were having one helluva time on stage.
Who said girls can’t rock? I think Lita was making a point here. Take note!
With a couple of covers to follow, The Sex Pistols’ Black Leather, followed by the Alice Cooper ballad, Only Women Bleed, a powerful piece about a woman in an abusive marriage.
Close My Eyes Forever was dedicated to Ozzy and saw the room lit up by the torches from a multitude of phones before the set closed out with mega hit Love Me Deadly.
My only concern towards the end was that Lita’s voice seemed to be wavering. Whether there was a technical problem or she needed a rest, the vocal strength seemed to drop out. Hopefully, she was back on fire for Steelhouse at the weekend.
There was no encore, and I wonder if that was reflective of the vocal issue. However, Lita is still vibrant and relevant and knows how to give an audience a good workout.
