Heartbreaker: Going solo to see Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo

(First appeared in The Baldwin Times/Gulf Coast Media, 2-06-26)

By Wayne Smith

Gulf Coast Media Contributor

Author’s note: Part 2 of 2.

“Being apart is so very hard It hurts my soul, it hurts my heart You know I miss you, yes I do …”— “Together,” Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, (2020)

It had been a long day. Cold. My legs were worn out.

But I made it to the show.

Waiting in the balcony of Mobile’s historic Saenger Theater for Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo to take the stage, I found myself surrounded by couples — just as Dorinda and I would have been.

Pat and Neil are a couple themselves, married just a few years longer than we were — them in 1982, us in ’86. Rock’s Romeo and Juliet. A love story that became part of the soundtrack of our lives.

They took the stage right on time, breaking into the opening notes and words to, appropriately, “We Live for Love.”

I sat there alone, listening.

And somehow, I wasn’t alone at all. I could almost hear Dorinda singing along to some of their smash hits. Part of our own history. You’ll hear a few of those in a moment.

If you read my column last week, Part 1, featuring Alan Hunter, turn the record over for the B side — B for Benatar. Rock and Roll Hall of Famer. 80s icon. And a rock queen.

Dorinda and I shared a lifetime of concerts — shows we planned for, saved for, talked about on long drives, maybe to see the Police or Bon Jovi, among many others. There were two bands left on our bucket list that we never made it to together: Pat Benatar and Aerosmith.

On Monday night, Jan. 26, I finally got to put a check mark beside Pat Benatar.

I was just without my Bear.

Neil Giraldo and Pat Benatar during their Jan 26 concert at Mobile’s Saenger Theatre. The couple have been married since 1982. (Photo by Wayne Smith)

Last week’s column included a talk with Hunter, one of MTV’s original VJs, reminiscing about how the music video network took off following its launch in August 1981. That column also featured some trivia on Benatar: her video for “You Better Run” was the second video played on MTV. And the first by a female artist.

She had hit singles before, including her classic song “Heartbreaker” from her debut album in 1979. But MTV took her to new heights.

She writes about it in her memoir, "Pat Benatar: Between a Heart and a Rock Place."

“In one week our world changed … To have a hit song on the radio was to have someone know your voice, your sound. To have a hit video was to have someone know your face. The semi-anonymity that we enjoyed was gone. We had officially arrived, and America had seen our faces. … Today we take for granted that video content is available anywhere you look. … But back then, communications were so archaic that this really was a revolution in how music was brought to the masses.”

That’s why her story naturally plays as a follow-up to my Jan. 30 column, about 80s music and the early days of building a relationship with Dorinda.

And you don’t have to know Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo to understand this story.

It’s about love — and how music helps us remember it.

Pat and Neil played many of the songs Dorinda knew by heart — word for word:

• "You Better Run" (1981) — “What ya tryin’ to do to my heart, what ya tryin’ to do to my heart.”• "Love Is a Battlefield" (Released September 1983, a month before I met Dorinda) — “We are strong, no one can tell us we’re wrong.”• "We Belong" (1984) — And of course, there was that one — “For worse or for better, we belong, we belong, we belong together.”

That one hit hard. Listen to that song or look up that video sometime on YouTube and you’ll understand.

The cover of Pat Benatar’s compilation album, Pat Benatar – Icon, reissued on blue vinyl in February 2021. (Photo by Wayne Smith)

About halfway through their final song of the evening — their closer, the one that started her path to fame — they shifted into a blaze of Ring of Fire before bringing it home — a twist that made the whole room sit up and feel it.

Then, they went back to finish that final song, just like it was meant to be. The show was over. Pat and Neil took a bow, grandparents now, like us.

Their fans cheered, and then everyone began to leave the warmth of the Saenger.

I headed back out into the cold.

Heartbreaker.

See a recording of "Heartbreaker" performed at the concert below:

https://youtu.be/tgr3kteeBPU

Wayne Smith has worked as a writer and editor at newspapers across Alabama, Florida and South Carolina. His weekly column focuses on navigating Gulf Shores alone after losing his wife to cancer, and the places he discovers and the people he meets. Read his previous columns, including Part 1 of this series, “A Sirius Star — Alan Hunter: Rewinding hits of the ’80s — our soundtrack,” at www.GulfCoastMedia.com. Contact him at wwsmith6410@gmail.com.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Pat Benatar performs at the Saenger Theatre in Mobile on Jan. 26. In back is bass player, Mick Mahan. (Photo by Wayne Smith)

The cover of the children’s book by Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, “My Grandma and Grandpa Rock.” The author bought these copies for his grandchildren. (Photo by Wayne Smith)