Concert Review: Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo at Wildhorse Saloon, Nashville, TN 7/15/2008

If there was ever a doubt who likes Pat Benatar more, men or women, the answer was plain to see tonight. The ladies love Pat! As I looked around the audience at the Wildhorse I immediately noted several all-female tables in the club. Yep, it was a little bit of a girls' night out. I guess there are plenty of survivors of those famous "best shots". And it was their night to celebrate.

There were two opening acts. Lindsey Rush started things off with her voice and guitar. I wouldn't call her music folk, but it was just a woman and her guitar, plus some between song banter. She was followed by Joey and Rory, a duo who played some decent sounding country songs. I enjoyed them a little better than Ms. Rush, but both of these acts were far from ideal openers the rocking Ms. Benatar and Mr. Giraldo. So I was patiently waiting for the headliners to take the stage, and I think the rest of the crowd was too.

So around 9 PM the band hit the stage, and opened with the fitting "All Fired Up". The crowd was fired up, and as an audience member I always hope the band is fired up as well. That's usually enough to make for a pretty good show, and that was the case tonight. Benatar and Giraldo seemed to be genuinely happy to be back at the Wildhorse, noting that they were here because they had so much fun last time (last year). Next up was an excellent "Shadows of the Night", and the estrogen levels were really going up now (actually I have no idea what I'm talking about; I'm not a doctor, it just sounded good). This was followed by "Invincible" and "We Live for Love", so it was becoming apparent we were going to hear all the best of Pat Benatar.

Now it was time to get mellow, so Giraldo (with acoustic guitar) and Benatar got up on the stools and changed the tempo a bit with "Every Time I Fall Back". I was not overly impressed with this one. But Giraldo said this would be about as mellow as they were going to get and he was correct. They then did a second acoustic song, "Strawberry Wine", which was more up-tempo and featured some really nice guitar work by Giraldo. During this two-song acoustic set band members Mick Mahan on bass and Chris Ralles on some kind of percussion box joined Giraldo and Benatar front and center. These guys formed a solid rhythm section throughout the show.

After this song the testosterone in the audience started acting up as some guy further back showed his impatience by yelling out "Rock and Roll" during one of those silent pauses. The old Venus and Mars thing struck again. But I couldn't help thinking the ladies might be feeling the same way too. Everyone was here to hear the anthems, and they were about to come up.

Somewhere during the show, actually two times, Ms. Benatar stated they were going to play until "they kick us out of here". Sounded good to me, but what proceeded next had me wondering about that. A spirited "We Belong" was next, followed by the song Ms. Benatar claims is not her favorite to perform, but what we all wanted to hear, "Hit Me With Your Best Shot". Despite her objections, she did a great job, and Giraldo's guitar work was energetic and sharp. He told all the "Guitar Heroes" in the crowd to take notes. But then it occurred to me. This was the eighth song and they were well into the greatest hits already. What exactly would they play until they got "kicked out of here"? Uh oh, my "peaking too fast" alarm went off, and I was right.

Completing an excellent set of greatest hits we then heard, all in row, "Hell Is For Children", "Love Is a Battlefield", "Promises In the Night", and "Heartbreaker", the latter two making up the encore. The string of the last six songs was simply amazing; just what everyone had hoped for. We were back in the 70s and 80s. The crowd was buzzing. The crowd was smiling. The crowd was happy.

And then the crowd was going home. 12 songs, a mere hour and 15 minutes, and we were going home. So much for playing until getting kicked out. I mean anything is possible, but the average show at The Wildhorse runs at least 90 minutes to 2 hours, and I've seen several 2 and a half hour shows there. The longer the band plays the more food and beverage they sell. So yeah, I did leave feeling a little ripped off.

Still, it was hard to be too disappointed about it, because what they did play was awesome. If you like Pat Benatar you will definitely want to see her live. Just make some plans for the rest of the evening.