On my road with Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo at the Warner in Erie, PA  May 12, 2025

I desperately wanted to go see Devo in Cleveland on May 11 but I am concert buddy-less.  I mean my husband will go to shows with me that are within a reasonable distance- the exception being those two Dead and Co. shows at Fenway two years ago when I kind of tricked him into two shows in a row lol, but he is not a huge devotee of concert going. So I tried to think of a million different ways I could get to Cleveland, a two and a half hour drive, get a hotel, get an Uber, see the show,  figure out what to do the next day until I drove back through Erie for the Benatar show Monday night and realized it was just too much maneuvering to do by myself.  I did do a cool thing a week prior where I got to see Jerry Casale at a tiny little but very groovy art gallery in Warren, Ohio.  I’m telling you, I never realized the very deep and wide and interesting and vibrant music scene that came out of conservative Ohio until I started reading about Ben Orr.  Growing up in far western New York state I always of course looked east to NYC for culture and excitement.  But since, for the time being, I’m kind of anchored here, I’m starting to see the other places where music and culture grew and which I can get to more easily. And Neil “Spyder” Giraldo is a Cleveland boy!

Wow, wow, wow.  Pat Benatar is seventy two years old and you would never know it to watch and listen to her. I mean she doesn’t look like she did in spandex with a mullet and a headband- who does anymore, right?  But she looks fantastic, and maybe even better! And that voice- every bit as strong and powerful as it was forty years ago. She didn’t sing every one of her hits but she did cover most of them in about an hour and forty minute set.  

The opening act was another Ohio group from Youngstown, The Vindys. They took the stage at 8pm for a thirty minute set. Jackie Popovec, the lead singer, was absolutely magnetic. Her voice is very similar to Benatar’s.  I suggest you make a plan to see them if they perform near you.

It was close to 9 before Pat and Neil took the stage. They opened with All Fired Up.  And then because I wanted to focus on the show and not worry about writing this, I didn’t one hundred percent pay attention to the set list. Here is a set list from their show a week prior that I think is pretty close to the Erie show:

• All Fired Up
  Invincible
• Ties That Bind
• Promises in the Dark
• Benatar brought Jackie Popovec back out for In These Times and a killer  performance of We Belong
• Come Together
• River of Love
• Precious Time
• Shadows of the Night
  
• Hell Is for Children
• You Better Run
• They ended the set with a song everyone was eagerly waiting for, Love Is a Battlefield. This song was like THE pop song for brokenhearted teenagers in the fall of ‘83. Here’s a link to the very 80s style music video with Pat and her back-up dancers in all their big haired glory. 

Neil and Pat came back on stage hand-in-hand for three more tunes for the encore; Disconnected, Everybody Lay Down and a medley of Heartbreaker and Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire that had everyone in the theater on their feet cheering.

The crowd was heavily Gen X mixed with some Boomers and actually a few Gen Z surprisingly. The venue was packed.  I had been there a month earlier for The Daryl Hall show and there were definitely more people for Benatar and Giraldo. The crowd was wild for her, dancing, arms swaying, fists pumping.  She definitely still has a huge fan base, and nostalgia runs deep with Gen X. Everyone in the place was singing along to Promises in the Dark, We Belong, Shadows of the Night, Hell is for Children, and of course Heartbreaker. 

Because I never really paid attention to things when I was younger, I hadn’t realized how much Neil Giraldo was responsible for a lot of the Pat Benatar sound. Fairly recently I became aware of what an absolutely outstanding guitar player he is.  One of the reasons I wanted to see them, besides my quest to experience as many acts as possible before they retire forever, is that I saw them on Austin City Limits and I was blown away by their chemistry- I mean I knew they were married, but… and the power of the sound of the songs that I took for granted when I was fifteen years old.  I just always thought it was Pat Benatar, as if she performed in some sort of bubble.  It didn’t occur to me that her voice was part of an amazing band.  I mean I have no idea what exactly I thought, but Neil Giraldo is a kick-ass guitarist.  And then I found out he played with Rick Derringer, Steve Forbert, he played on and produced Rick Springfield’s I’ve Done Everything For You and Jessie’s Girl.  He produced John Waite.  He founded Three Chord Bourbon, which I think I knew at one time but had forgotten about. Plus, he is a very snappy dresser, in pin-stripe trousers, dashing scarf around his neck, and cute-as-hell porkpie hat.  His rotating collection of guitars are fucking beautiful.  If I’m correct he plays a series of Guild Starfires.

I think we sometimes forget how great a lot of the music was when we were growing up.  I’m so glad I went to the show.  I found a new band to follow.  I remembered and realized how fucking great Pat Benatar was and it, and I did some deep diving into Neil Girlado’s contributions to music history. 

On to the next show, Todd Rundgren, and then hopefully The Who for their final final tour!