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Pat Benatar
As my wife and I were making our one-hour trek over to the Belmont Country Club, home of the Loudoun Summer Music Fest since the summer of 2004, I was wondering what size crowd Pat Benatar was capable of drawing for this type of show. She has not put out a new album since 2003's Go, and her star has certainly faded significantly since her 80's heyday, so I was only expecting a rather modest turnout this night. Let's just say that my expectations were a little off. As we pulled off the Route 7 exit towards the festival parking entrance, we were met with long lines of cars converging from all directions. At the Black Crowes' show, just two weeks prior, we were able to drive right into the parking "pasture" without even stopping - and they drew a very respectable sized crowd. Pat Benatar nearly doubled that. The last time I saw Pat in concert was during her Wide Awake In Dreamland tour of 1988. Since then, I had not really followed her career much, until I stumbled across her excellent Live - Summer Vacation Tour DVD of 2002, and was completely blown away by what great live performers she and husband/guitarist Neil Giraldo still were. Ever since, I vowed to see them live once again, and on this rainy August 19th night at the Loudoun Summer Music Fest, I finally got that chance. Neil and Pat hit the stage around 7:30, tearing into what is perhaps the best song in their catalog to open a show with, "All Fired Up". Joining them onstage for this tour were Mick Mahan on bass, and Chris Rallas on drums. Just as with the Black Crowes concert, the ominous skies above were threatening to unleash a torrential downpour at any minute, but we were blessed enough to only get a few moments of drizzle the entire night. The setlist included at least one song from each of Benatar's studio albums, with the only exceptions being Gravities Rainbow and her most recent album Go. I was especially surprised about the Go snub, since I thought it was an excellent album deserving of more recognition. You can see four songs from that album performed on the Summer Vacation Tour DVD, and they held up quite nicely beside the classics. I guess I shouldn't complain since I got to hear so many of the big hits, but I always like to hear what an artist is up to lately. Towards the end of the first set, my wife and I left our lawn chairs, which were positioned at binoculars distance from the stage, and took a stroll all the way up to the edge of the Gold Circle seating area, just in time to witness the tremendous "Hit Me With Your Best Shot", "Hell Is For Children", and "Heartbreaker " trilogy that closed out the set. What a world of difference it made being close up enough to feed off the fun and energy that Pat and Neil were projecting into the crowd. Benatar's amazing voice still sounds as good as ever, and her hubby's underrated guitar work takes these songs to a whole new level live. What an awesome team. After a few minutes of wild applause from the worshipping fans, the band returned to the stage for two more songs, "Promises In The Dark", and "Love Is A Battlefield" to complete their incredible 90-minute show. If any of you old Pat Benatar fans were still wondering whether she and Neil can still deliver the goods, let me lay those thoughts to rest - they can! And they certainly did this night in Ashburn, Virginia. Setlist |