Akron-native Chrissie Hynde is in the twilight of a remarkable 30-plus year career as one of rock and roll’s premiere front women. Over two nights, back to Ohio, she gave her fans what they came to hear with stops in Akron and Cleveland. She brought a rock and roll performance for the adult set and with it her new band. The tour stops which were numbers 20 and 21 of 38 seemingly put a bounce back in the Rubber City gal’s step. Her male muse and co-frontman, 31-year-old singer-guitarist JP Jones and the Fairground Boys, performed in a way that rewards Hynde for all her years as the main anchor of The Pretenders. The quartet more than carried the sound which allowed her to enjoy playing rhythm guitar, singing and acting out on stage with Jones. At a very cozy Tangier’s Cabaret last Sunday, following the powerfully raw acoustic sounds of opener Amy Correia, Hynde and mates Jones, lead guitarist Patrick Murdoch, bass player Vezio Bacci and drummer Jeff Holroyde hit the stage and played their entire 2010 debut album Fidelity. The new digs have reawakened Hynde’s fervor for good songwriting and performing. And Jones, who more than held his own, was an immediate hit with the crowd as he led the band through the group’s new single “If You Let Me” on both nights’ with the second number. Both nights that moment seemed to really get the evening off on running. During the 75 minute shows, the band played tight sets that kept them on the album’s fairground theme. During the three-song encore in Akron, Terry Hynde, Chrissie’s brother and long-time horn player for The Numbers Band, saxed things up with a decidedly upbeat, somewhat raucous take on Moby Grape’s “Murder In My Heart For the Judge.” On Night Two at Cleveland Height’s Grog Shop, it was much the same, as Chrissie and the boys stuck to the same set list. Being that the set up of the Grog ‘s stage is at crowd-eye level, Hynde vehemently shied away from flashing cell phone and photographer snaps but, like an old punk trooper,she  played on. Again, Hynde bantered playful back and forth with Jones, while Murdoch stole the show with amazing hooks, riffs and guitar licks. Throughout both sets, the chemistry of the romance between Hynde and Jones actually played a second fiddle to the sheer poppy ebb and flow of tenderness of performance by the two on heartfelt songs like the title track “Fidelity”, the hazy “Misty Valley” and reflective “Meanwhile”. The Grog Shop encore performance was topped off by “Christmas Soon” (not on the US version of Fidelity) which continues to show a brief glimpse of Hynde’s affinity for the December holiday. The raw, unadulterated punk attitude has faded, and it has been replaced by a more mature presence. And, while that more melodic sound is not for everyone, it proves that to her diehard fans, Hynde, once more precious from a distance, has maybe shortened that gap as she brought the new boyfriend home.