Neil Giraldo and Pat Benatar, husband and wife rock gods (Photo courtesy Webster PR)
I was an unabashed MTV kid, and I absorbed as much music as I could through the heydey of the music video channel.
That music came in various stripes, such as the hard rockin’ Pat Benatar, who debuted as the second video ever on MTV with “You Better Run” from her 1980 album Crimes of Passion.
“We now call that album ‘Crimes of Fashion,'” quipped Neil Giraldo, the longtime husband and guitar player of the “Invincible” songbird, holding up the album’s back cover at a concert I attended many moons ago.
Now more than 35 years on, Pat and Neil Giraldo have become perhaps the happiest couple in show business, and certainly one of the most dynamic, between her indefatigable voice and his irrepressible guitar chops. In fact, the duo launched a 35th anniversary tour in 2014, and they bring that tour to the Warner Theatre on Wednesday, July 8.
Watch these amazing musicians perform a set of three songs — 1979’s “We Live for Love,” 1984’s “We Belong,” and 1981’s “Promises in the Dark” — for an NPR Tiny Desk Concert on Nov. 25, 2014.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxteG1thK5I]
As you can see, Pat and Neil sound even better with age. The tour setlist promises a lineup of classics, although I’m also an admirer of her last studio album, 2003’s “Go,” which I felt was critically underrated! Anyway, the show certainly will feature many longtime favorites, perhaps including “Shadows of the Night,” “Hit Me with Your Best Shot,” “Love Is a Battlefield,” and many others.
Speaking of “Love Is a Battlefield,” the song is the subject of the latest in an excellent retrospective series of videos the duo have been doing in honor of their 35th anniversary.
Watch Neil and Pat discuss how the song came to take shape:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oeNbhl64BM]
And don’t miss them in what is sure to be a terrific show at the Warner Theatre on July 8.
Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo
Warner Theatre
Wednesday, July 8
Show @8pm
$43-$93
All ages