by Allison Davis (photos: Yvonne Gougelet, Seminole Hard Rock Tampa)
Last night marked my first time visiting the Seminole Hard Rock since moving to the area. Growing up in a casino town, hitting the local gaming floor hadn’t exactly been a priority, but walking through those doors felt like a fever dream of my past. When you layer in a “blast from the past” soundtrack, let’s just say I felt 20 years old again.
To get things moving, “All Fired Up” was an absolute necessity and it did exactly what the title promised. They followed up with “Invincible,” a title that describes this duo perfectly. Pat Benatar remains a true powerhouse, defying decades with her vocals, while her partner-in-crime and husband, Neil “Spider” Giraldo, plays those notes like no other.
The night took a gritty, intimate turn during the intro to the first song they ever wrote together, “Promises in the Dark.” Neil Giraldo had been playing with such intensity that his guitar strings actually drew blood. As he sat down at the piano for the song’s opening, he noticed the injury, which led to a classic “when I was a kid story.”
Neil recounted a childhood memory of his father losing the tip of a finger in the snow while working on a snowblower and sending him to fetch it so it could be reattached. He assured us his own bleeding finger was “no big deal” by comparison. Seeing the chemistry on stage now in their 47th year of musical magic and approaching their 44th wedding anniversary this February is inspiring. I can only hope to be half as cool as Pat Benatar when I hit my 70s (though I was jokingly reminded last night that I’m already behind schedule on the “cool factor”).
A SYMPHONY OF NOSTALGIA
The setlist was a masterclass in hits:“We Belong”,”Love is a Battlefield” (which had grown men dancing like teenagers from the very first note) Watching the sheer joy and nostalgia Pat Benatar brings to her fans made me realize how deeply this music is woven into our DNA. The show closed with a high-energy encore of”Heartbreaker” a song I have fond memories of belting out in a local Reno dive bar many moons ago. They performed it as a brilliant mashup with”Ring of Fire,” paying homage to June Carter and Johnny Cash.
THE TAKEAWAY
As I left, I found myself eavesdropping on the crowd. People weren’t just discussing the performance; they were trading stories of their own experiences growing up with the music the moments, the milestones, and the memories that these songs soundtracked. Music hits a place in the soul that nothing else can reach. If you’re a music lover, you understand that specific fire that gets lit when the right song finds you. Last night, that fire was burning bright.
