Review: Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo 'Shine' at Tilles Center at LIU Post

As all Long Islanders know, Billy Joel IS the King of Long Island. Occupying the throne as Queen is Pat Benatar. Sorry Mariah, but as it was experienced on October 12, 2018 at the Tilles Center, Benatar hit the stage with her best shot, fired away and knocked out all competition for the title. I don't understand how in the h-e-double hockey sticks both Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo are not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame yet; to say that this is an injustice is putting it lightly. #wakeuprockhall

Pat Benatar is the living definition of flawless. Her voice is pristine. Benatar was accompanied by Giraldo, her legendary guitarist and husband. Currently wrapping up their Winter 2018 leg of the Almost II Tour, Rock and Roll's leading couple made a stop at the Tilles Center and rocked the roof. Back in 2015, Benatar and Giraldo came up with an idea to provide the fans with an intimate acoustic show. This gave the artists the opportunity to strip down many of their hits and deep cuts and truly demonstrate their artistic abilities in both performing and songwriting. Back in 2004, Carole King performed a live show called the Living Room Tour; if you had the opportunity to see this performance, it very much felt like you were sitting in King's Living Room and having an intimate conversation with the artist, interspersed with songs, about her life and career. Benatar and Giraldo successfully evoked that same ambiance.

Throughout the evening, the pair told stories about their past and stories behind and many of their songs. Some fun facts revealed to the audience included: In the Heat of the Night, the couple's first album, took 28 days to record, the music video for "You Better Run" was the second video ever to the be played on MTV, which made Neil Giraldo the first guitarist to be featured on MTV, and 1993's "Gravity's Rainbow" was Pat's favorite album to record. I was particularly fascinated by Neil Giraldo's anecdotes about songwriting. Giraldo's goal is to make sure that each of their songs has a memorable intro, in addition to a great melody. When you reflect back to their songs, it's clear Giraldo succeeded; you can easily identify their song just from the first few notes. Another highlight was having the privilege of hearing "After the Fall", a new song from an upcoming project. The song itself was beautiful and sounded very much like an 11 o'clock number. Could this be one of the songs from the long-awaited jukebox musical that was originally supposed to premiere in 2017? Unfortunately, we won't find out for a while as Benatar stated, "The upcoming project will come out in about a year and a half."

Every performance rocked during their set and they perform all of their hits: "Hit Me with Your Best Shot", "Love is a Battlefield", "We Belong", "Promises in the Dark". While they were all great, Benatar and Giraldo's performance of "Shine", Benatar's recent single that was specifically written for the Women's March, was moving and deserved the standing ovation it received. If you are in the Ontario area, you can catch Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo's next performance at Citizens Business Bank Arena on October 28.

You can preview the setlist from Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo's show at the Tilles Center below:

1. All Fired Up
2. We Live for Love
3. Promises in the Dark
4. Run Between the Raindrops
5. We Belong
6. In These Times
7. You Better Run (Young Rascals cover)
8. After the Fall
9. Ties That Bind
10. Hit Me With Your Best Shot
11. Love is a Battlefield

Encore

1. Shine
2. Disconnected
3. Medley: Heartbreaker/Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash cover)/Don't Tether Me

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