
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame performers Joan Jett & The Blackhearts will perform at the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, April 19, at 7:30 p.m.
Photo Credit — Submitted by F.M. Kirby Center
WILKES-BARRE– Rock & Roll Hall of Fame performers Joan Jett & The Blackhearts will perform at the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, April 19th, 2025, at 7:30 PM.
Ticket go on sale to the public on Friday, Feb. 7, on 10 a.m. while the Kirby Members’ pre-sale begins Wednesday, Feb. 5 at 10 a.m.
Purchase online at kirbycenter.org, ticketmaster.com, and slpconcerts.net or in-person at the the F.M. Kirby Center Box Office. The box office can also be reached by phone at 570-826-1100.
Having left an indelible stamp on rock ’n’ roll, Joan Jett remains driven by the singular power of music. Picking up her first guitar at 13 years old and starting a career at 15, her unmatched perseverance and authenticity still resonate five decades later.
Jett grew up during a time when rock ‘n’ roll was off limits to girls and women, but with her first band, The Runaways, in 1975, she promptly blew the door to the boys’ club off its hinges. Later she even formed her own independent record label, Blackheart Records, after being rejected by at least 23 different labels.
“You can’t let other people dictate your life to you,” Joan Jett said in a press release shared with The Weekender. “Being told that girls can’t play rock ‘n’ roll— I mean, even as a kid, it was so illogical to me. It’s like, what do you mean? That girls can’t master the instruments? Other people have called me a rebel, but I just feel like I’m living my life and doing what I want to do. If I listened to everybody who told me I couldn’t do it, then I wouldn’t be doing it.”

Blackheart was born in an era that did not see many artist-owned indie labels. Mainstream radio wouldn’t play the Blackhearts’ quintessential single “I Love Rock ’n’ Roll” until fans bombarded stations across the United States and turned her song into an unstoppable hit that eventually spent seven weeks at #1.
Jett has gone on to score eight platinum and gold records and nine Top 40 singles. She remains one of the most beloved and influential artists in popular musi. Her influence, legacy and inspiration for anyone struggling with industry stereotypes earned her a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
To some fans, she’s a feminist icon who has overseen albums by punk titans such as The Germs and Bikini Kill. To others, she’s a guitar hero with three of her own signature Gibson models and a recently released Epiphone model. Mattel even made a Barbie in her likeness!
Succeeding their 2022 album Changeup, their first-ever acoustic record, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts’ latest EP Mindsets came out as a Record Store Day First vinyl release on Nov. 24 in 2023. Mindsets serves as a reminder of what the band is all about — the perfect blend of punk and rock n’ roll that feels timeless and immediate at once. The band, led by Jett, continues touring around the world to this day.
In 2010, Jett served as an executive producer on “The Runaways,” a film about her first band starring Kristen Stewart as Jett and Dakota Fanning as Runaways vocalist Cherie Currie. ‘Bad Reputation,’ a documentary about Jett’s life, premiered to critical acclaim at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and is now available for streaming.
“To me, it’s really about connection: Musician eyeballs to audience eyeballs,” Jett said. “You connect. You see each other. You recognize that vision. You smile. There’s contact. There’s understanding. I know what you’re talking about and you know what I’m talking about.”
“We’ve become so conditioned to measuring our music’s impact in dollar signs that we can forget what it’s really about: the music,” she continues. “Emotion. Expression. Giving a voice to those that aren’t satisfied fitting into whatever box they were given. I have lived this rock ‘n’ roll ethic my entire life, and I am thankful to all those people along the way that let me be me.”