By “Tampa” Earl Burton
With older artists, you can sometimes get a “hit or miss” effort from them. For example, David Lee Roth’s appearance at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Event Center in Tampa in 2025 did not feature Roth singing as much as “performing” for the crowd, a massive “miss.” On Thursday night, one of those “hits” came to the same stage as Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo absolutely blistered the Event Center stage with a remembrance of their classic hits.
Thundered Out of the Gate
The packed Event Center was ready for a show from the powerhouse pixie and her husband (married since 1982), and Benatar and Giraldo did absolutely nothing to disappoint the crowd. Instead of warming up into some of the more taxing songs in her arsenal, Benatar instead chose to open the show with “We Live for Love” from her debut album In the Heat of the Night (1979). The soaring soprano vocals of its chorus would have been a challenge for any vocalist, but not for Benatar, as she met the challenge of sounding like she had just stepped from the studio nearly fifty years ago.
The Benatar/Giraldo Express did not slow down at all after that impressive opening. Diving into a track from Wide Awake in Dreamland (1988), “All Fired Up” not only seemed to embody Benatar’s attitude toward her performance but also to describe the thoroughly excited crowd. While they might have sold seats in the Event Center for the show, they were rarely used, as the crowd roared its approval for Benatar and Giraldo’s performance.
This is not to say that there weren’t missteps. Giraldo apparently suffered a slight injury during the performance, stating, “I don’t want to get blood on the piano!” as he sat down to play. As he first accepted a towel from his crew and a bandage from a well-equipped fan in the front row, Benatar first showed concern to her husband (asking “Are you OK, babe?”) before rolling her eyes as Giraldo launched into a story about how his dad had lost the tip of a finger in an unfortunate snowblower accident (“Go get that, and we’ll get it reattached,” Giraldo recounted his father said at the time). “Now I forgot what song we were going to do,” Benatar deadpanned as she held up a hand towards Giraldo and looked at the audience as if saying, “See what I have to deal with?”
Crisis averted, the show would go on…
“One of the Things…”
As they set up for the concert to continue, Benatar remarked, “One of the things about being around…well, forever…is that you’ve got a shitload of songs to choose from.” But Benatar and Giraldo made the songs sound fresh, as they did when the twosome took to the stage by themselves (without bassist Mick Mahan and drummer Chris Ralles) for a starkly personal version of “Shadows of the Night.” Benatar’s aching vocals, alongside Giraldo’s intricate guitar playing, made the song different from the bombast of their album version.
Additionally, Benatar and Giraldo ventured into areas the band usually does not enter. They were able to journey into tracks from the less well-received records in their catalog, paying particular attention to the highly underrated Gravity’s Rainbow (1993). They performed several songs from that album, including “Ties That Bind” and “Disconnected,” to the enjoyment of the rabid fanbase. They even reached into the Innamorata (1997) record for a performance of “Dirty Little Secrets” that still sounds excellent even after all these years.
Benatar and Giraldo aren’t happy to sit on their laurels, however. They also premiered a new tune, “Come on People,” which Benatar introduced by saying, “Well, as we all know, the world’s gone to shit…this is a positive song that we’re going to try out.” From the Event Center audience’s response, the tune was well received, as it would not have been out of place in the Benatar/Giraldo catalog of the Eighties and Nineties.
“Let’s get you dancin’,” Benatar quipped before the band tore into the classic “Love is a Battlefield,” and the audience responded by filling the aisles on the floor. This time around, however, the song had a different feel not only for Benatar and Giraldo but also for the audience. It was a tune that hit differently for people who have actually been through romantic warfare, and Benatar did not shy away from letting the audience share their feelings about it.
The three-song encore concluded with Benatar and Giraldo taking a bit of an odd tack, but one that worked. “Heartbreaker” was the closer for the night, but the duo decided to drop Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” into the center of the performance. It could have been a disaster, but the band and Benatar pulled off the trick quite nicely, sending the Tampa crowd home excited and enthusiastic about seeing two rock-and-roll legends.
The current mini-tour (it is only six dates, with the Tampa stop serving as the second show) will feature three shows in February and a finale in March. Columbia, SC, Wilmington, NC, Atlantic City, NJ, and Tucson, AZ, will be serving as hosts, and tickets are dwindling as we speak. If you are in those areas, you are not going to see many shows that are better than the one put on by Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo…that is, unless Neil slices his finger worse next time!
- All Fired Up: Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo Ignite the Crowd at Seminole Hard Rock Tampa - January 31, 2026
- Flag-Waving Facade: Aaron Lewis Delivers Patriotism Over Performance - January 29, 2026
- Chatting with Danny Martin of NYC band WICKED - January 20, 2026
