Deborah Harry of the band "Blondie" points to the crowd as she performs an acoustic set at the venue CBGB in New York City October 14, 2006.. Photo Credit: REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

By Christine Kearney

NEW YORK (Reuters) - In a vibrant farewell to the legendary punk-rock venue CBGB, Blondie singer Deborah Harry played a final show on Saturday in a tribute to the club that was a launching pad for her career, but is due to close at the end of the month.

Taking the tiny stage at the dank, crumbling club wearing red gloves and swaying her now strawberry blond hair, Harry sang many of the hits that made Blondie a wildly successful band in the 1970s and 80s.

She kicked off with "Hanging on the Telephone" and the 1980 hit "Call Me.

"This is a little weird, you know, but anything for old CB's," she told the capacity crowd that included young musicians, Blondie groupies and aging rock fans.

"What are we going to do now? Where are we going to go?" she asked before launching into "Tide Is High."

Harry, 61, played the acoustic set with Blondie guitarist Chris Stein that included "One Way or Another" and a cover of the Ramones song "I want to be your Boyfriend."

Rock poet Patti Smith -- another regular at the club after it first opened in 1973 -- will give the last show on Sunday.

The club in Manhattan's East Village -- its full name is CBGB & OMFUG, or Country Bluegrass Blues and Other Music For Uplifting Gormandizers -- became the epicenter of the punk-rock scene launching bands like the Ramones and Talking Heads.

It is closing after a rent dispute with its landlord.

With lead pipes and chords dangling from the peeling ceiling, Harry gazed at the walls filled with posters and graffiti scribbled over three decades.

"CBGB's, oh my God what are we going to do? This is terrible. I think they should make wallpaper like this right?" she told the crowd after it urged an encore performance of "Heart of Glass."

After the gig, the crowed spilled onto the sidewalk taking photos of the facade bearing the club's name.

"Deborah Harry is like the queen, she is awesome," said Greg Adsluf, 44. "To see her play at CBGB's is like watching her in her backyard, this is her home."