La Roux Debut Rolling Stones Cover in New York

When La Roux frontwoman Elly Jackson announced Thursday night at New York City's Webster Hall that she and her band would cover a song they'd never played live before, the capacity crowd could only imagine what was to follow.

A Michael Jackson track would have made sense, especially since the redheaded Londoner had just sung 'Tigerlily,' a tune whose spoken-word breakdown is a virtual rewrite of Vincent Price's 'Thriller' rap. La Roux might have also been fixing to honor Erasure, Yaz, the Human League or one of the other '80s synth-pop groups to which it's often compared and obviously indebted.

Instead, it was 'Under My Thumb,' a Rolling Stones classic Jackson sang without swapping "boy" for "girl" or switching any of the gender pronouns. "We don't care if you don't like it," Jackson said afterward, a cheeky grin on her face. "I love it."

La Roux certainly did right by the song, its synth-drum blasts and understated keyboard throb reducing the tune to a chilly sketch. Rocking skinny jeans, loafers and her trademark Tilda Swinton-meets-Morrissey pompadour, Jackson recited Mick Jagger's misogynistic boasts without a trace of hesitation.

Unflinching as her delivery was, the 21-year-old budding style icon may have meant to recast the song as a sort of ironic female-empowerment anthem. Then again, Jackson -- more wide-eyed than calculating -- may have simply been echoing Jagger's original sentiment and bragging about putting a once-domineering girlfriend in her place.

With Jackson, it's hard to say. The willfully androgynous singer was simultaneously masculine and feminine throughout Thursday's performance. She wore Elvis' gold lamé jacket but danced like Molly Ringwald in 'The Breakfast Club,' giving visual spark to such '80s-style gems as 'In for the Kill' and 'I'm Not Your Toy.'

On the latter, she sang, "This is not another girl-meets-boy," and indeed, La Roux's story isn't so simple. The band represents a partnership between Jackson and Ben Langmaid, the multi-instrumentalist and producer who masterminds the music but sits out the live shows, outsourcing his job to a trio of back-up players.

Thursday night, Jackson and said sidemen made it through the bulk of La Roux's excellent self-titled debut, an album she and Langmaid crafted with equal parts nostalgia and care. The set-closing 'Fascination' harked back to Animotion's 'Obsession,' while encore 'Bulletproof' found Jackson asserting her romantic invincibility -- a good thing to have, what with Valentine's Day just around the corner.

'Bulletproof' proved as infectious as Depeche Mode's 'Just Can't Get Enough,' a tune fans might have left whistling, having just seen a 45-minute set that left them wanting more.