Joan Jett Fights Tears at Agora Gig

When Joan Jett took the stage at the Agora Theatre Saturday night, the tougher-than-leather rock veteran looked uncharacteristically shaken. After a song, she told the crowd she'd just received bad news: Jett's Runaways co-founder, drummer Sandy West, had just died, succumbing to a long struggle with lung cancer. The show went on, but Jett and her crowd spent the night fighting tears. "I started the Runaways with Sandy West," Jett said in a statement. "We shared the dream of girls playing rock and roll. Sandy was an exuberant and powerful drummer. So underrated. She was the caliber of John Bonham. I am overcome from the loss of my friend. I always told her we changed the world." (Photos by Scene's Walter Novak.) -- D.X. Ferris