Pat Benatar has endured for three decades as a pop-rock icon, and she shared stories from that time at the Gothic Theatre last Wednesday.
If you were a teenage girl in the early ’80s, was one of a handful of artists (being the other) that you could point to and tell the boys you knew that yes, women can rock, and rock hard. As shown in the movie “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” she even inspired a whole look.
With her husband and songwriting partner Neil “Spyder” Giraldo on guitar, Benatar released a string of albums marked by tightly-crafted hard rock songs that had a slight pop feel to them.
Now 57 and looking as good as she ever has, Benatar ripped through a short but sweet set at the on Tuesday night, sounding timeless. Benatar is on the road celebrating her 30th year in rock, and she played most of her hits.
Giraldo started the evening with a crunchy guitar lead that quickly resolved into the opening chords of “All Fired Up.” The band, including bassist Mick Mahan and drummer Myron Grombacher, sounded tight. Benatar herself started a little slow, and her voice could barely be heard on the first verse, but as she hit the chorus, it lifted up.
Benatar occasionally dropped a song into a lower key to better fit her voice, as on “Shadows of the Night,” and at times her singing had more of a rasp to it, but it still sounded fierce.
In keeping with the 30-year theme, Benatar frequently introduced songs with stories from her many years on the road. Before a fiery “You Better Run,” she said they were at the Rocklahoma Festival in 1980 and their manager told them their video was about to be played on the new MTV channel. It was the second video ever played on MTV, and, since the Buggles didn’t have a guitar player, Giraldo was the first guitarist to appear on the channel.
Benatar laughingly introduced “Invincible” by saying, “This is a great song from one of the worst movies ever written.” She had fun with the audience before “We Belong,” getting them to use their cell phones to mimic the candles from the original video. Giraldo too had fun, and introduced “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” by asking if there were any “Guitar Hero” players in the crowd. When somebody held a game guitar up, Giraldo laughed and said, “I’m going to show you how to play it.”
One of the highlights of the night was “Hell is for Children,” which Giraldo started slowly on piano before ripping into the opening guitar riff. Benatar prowled the stage while seeming to rip the words of the song from her body.
Benatar ended her just-ove-an-hour set with “Love is a Battlefield,” then came back for a three-song encore that included an excellent “Promises in the Dark” and a rollicking “Heartbreaker.”
Denver singer , who will be having a CD-release party at the Soiled Dove on Oct. 1, opened the show, showcasing her pure, bell-like vocals on “Wake Up Easy.”
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Candace Horgan is a Denver freelance writer/photographer and regular contributor to Reverb. When not writing and shooting, she plays guitar and violin in Denver band the defCATS.
