Concert Review: Blondie, Benatar give high-energy show
Despite the lingering threat of rain, a small, hardcore contingent of the 4,500 or so people at Saturday night’s Blondie/Pat Benatar show at Mud Island Amphitheater decided to play up the nostalgic vibe established by the presence of two ’80s vintage hitmakers by sporting appropriately retro outfits.
The fashions — lots of poofy skirts, layered tank tops, and crimped hair — seemed a tad out of step, more Madonna or Cyndi Laupner than Benatar or Blondie frontwoman Deborah Harry. But it was hardly the only thing about the night that seemed mismatched.
Photo by Brandon Dill
Blondie performs at the Mud Island Amphitheater on Saturday. The 80's icon shared billing with fellow rock legend Pat Benatar.
Photo by Brandon Dill
Pat Benatar performs at the Mud Island Amphitheater on Saturday. The 30-year veteran of the rock scene shared billing with fellow legend Blondie.
STORY TOOLS
RELATED STORIES
More Music Reviews
- Concert Review: Loaded R&B concert with Maze is amazing
- Concert Review: Lambert keeps party going in Tunica
- Concert Review: Maxwell melts the crowd at FedExForum
Share and Enjoy [?]
From the get-go, the pairing of these two acts seemed less a musical marriage than a demographically driven merger. Though both Benatar and Harry came up in the New York area in the late 1970s and even shared a common producer at one point, Blondie’s Manhattan hip smash-up of R&B-infused New Wave was a world removed from the Long Island-raised Benatar’s blue-collar light metal.
Such incongruities seemed lost on the majority of the crowd, however. They just wanted to hear two of rock’s most successful female-fronted acts crank out their considerably lengthy lists of best-loved hits, something they did with varying degrees of success.
Of the two, Benatar has aged the best. Touring in celebration of the 30th anniversary of her debut album In the Heat of the Night, the classically trained Benatar has lost none of her vocal power after more than three decades. Playing last on this night of the co-headlining tour, she more than adeptly climbed the scaly heights of such anthems as “All Fired Up” and “Promises In the Dark.”
Befitting the milestone anniversary, Benatar peppered her set with stories from her long career. (Who knew that her “You Better Run” was the second video ever played on MTV?) Fittingly, a trio of familiar faces joined her: her way underrated husband/guitar player/songwriting partner Neil Giraldo, original drummer Myron Grombacher, and longtime bassist Mick Mahan. Though they incorporated samples (notably on “We Belong”) and Giraldo introduced some songs on grand piano, the stripped-down lineup robbed some songs of the full sound fans may be used to. Who would have though I would have missed the cheesy keyboards on “Shadows of the Night?” But overall the bare-bones approach had the effect of emphasizing the timelessness of their sound, in stark contrast to the calcified Blondie.
As perhaps the genre’s most successful act, Blondie have come to personify New Wave. They may not have invented synth-driven, hook-heavy pop, but this night they wielded it like they did. And while it may be a sound hopelessly tethered to a time long past, the sheer pop joys of era anthems like “Hangin’ On the Telephone” and “Rapture” —re-worked into a long, meandering jam complete with a blues excursion — were hard to resist.
Ironically, the one weakness and perhaps greatest strength in the sextet’s set was Harry. A merely serviceable vocalist back in the day — her appeal was as much about projecting the sexual ennui of the time as it was about hitting the notes— Harry’s voice has predictably withered with age. It was most notable on the opening number, “Call Me,” where the singer opted to bail out on the high notes in the bridge, a decision that unfortunately sapped much of the dynamic energy of the song. But Harry made up for her vocal shortcomings by being an irrepressible cheerleader, dancing all over the stage, urging the band and the audience on to fun as she belted out Blondie favorites and a pair of surprising covers, the Rolling Stones’ “Get Off Of My Cloud” and the set closing “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” the kick-off in what is sure to be a long season of Michael Jackson tributes.
The estrogen theme of the evening even extended to the opening act, an all-too-brief set by the all-woman punk band the Donnas. Though the twentysomething California quartet is from a different era and place, their deliberate evocation of bands like the Ramones helped complete the portrait of New York rock circa 1979.
Comments
Share your thoughts
Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.