Benatar breaks 28,000 hearts at SPAC
by Mary Anne Leonard, The Knickerbocker News, August 17, 1981
It’s 11 o’clock. Do you know where your children are?
Sunday night, they were more than likely still caught in the massive traffic jam of 28,000 people exiting the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, following the Pat Benatar concert.
For the biggest audience since 1978’s Fleetwood Mac show (and about the fifth biggest in SPAC’s history, say SPAC officials), Ms. Benatar and band put on an energized, hard-driving show, whipping through about 20 numbers from her three albums in just less than 90 minutes.
(Despite the size of the crowd, there were no problems with firecrackers and the audience was always under control).
Wearing a skin-tight black jumpsuit with a red ribbon in her short, curly hair, Ms. Benatar sounded slightly hoarse in her comments to the audience. But if she was, she masked it well when she picked up the mike. Her powerful voice took command, at times almost doing the impossible and soaring above her band.
The show’s pacing was artful, building with such songs as “Treat Me Right,” “Precious Time” (the title song of her new best-selling album), “We Live For Love,” “It’s A Tuff Life” (an appealing reggae-like rhythm that’s also from the new album), “Fire and Ice” and “In the Heat of the Night.” Though it didn’t seem possible, each song energized the next; the crowd got more feverish, and the set ended with a string of her best-known songs, “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” (a controversial lyric she described as “a figure of speech”), “Hell Is for Children” and “Heartbreaker.”
In “Heartbreaker,” the last pre-encore song, everything seemed to come together, and Ms. Benatar’s presence was dynamic. This is what her appeal is all about, even though her voice was much better served by In “Heartbreaker,” the last pre-encore song, everything seemed to come together, and Ms. Benatar’s presence was dynamic. This is what her appeal is all about, even though her voice was much better served by some of the other songs, especially “Treat Me Right” and even her latest single, “Fire and Ice.”
Providing a steady, impressive presence throughout the show — and deservedly getting almost as much of the spotlight as Ms. Benatar — was guitarist Neil Giraldo, who’s also written many of the group’s songs. As Ms. Benatar stood to the side, often looking like a cheerleader urging her band members to greater heights, Giraldo paced from one side of the stage to the other, offering guitar work with a range to match the singer’s vocals. Especially impressive was his work on “In the Heat of the Night.”
Opening (to an amphitheater that was still half-empty) was Billy Squier, offering a 30-minute, over-amplified set, marred by muddy vocals. Best of the set were an appealing “Two Days Gone” and “The Stroke,” two sides of a single from his latest album, “Don’t Say No.”
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