Worthy of a big arena scale rock concert, I created a soft-meets-hard dichotomy in my outfit that night, Primarily there's some rock clothes fresh off the Queeraoke stage (a black thermal bodysuit from Uniqlo, high waisted straight leg jeans from the Gap, black Chelseas, and clear quartz pendant), With some cute and soft playfulness from my Target black & white cat socks. Blame it on my Gemini sun sign, but I enjoy the whimsical duality. Soft and strong, like a whispered anthem — I was ready to rock.
Crossing the Threshold
Benatar: Soundtrack of a Sleepless School Night
There was an older straight couple who reach the row during the next song. Despite a 23 year age gap, we bonded through music (especially in between sets). The woman was talking about older bands they had seen like the Rolling Stones, and the husband had seen Bryan Adams in the 80's. She indicated an age difference when it comes to people's tastes in music. I told her to have faith in indie pop and indie rock to keep the genres alive even in times when the top 40 consumer market may not necessarily be a fertile environment for those musicians. Mentioning this blog, I brought up Kylie Minogue, Tiffany, and Blue Lou Marini as 80's icons who I've seen still bring awesome performances. On the other end of the musician age spectrum, I recommended the Beaches and Maris. Using comparative name-drops gives older music fans a frame of reference. How a 2023 album but the Beaches on the global map, but opening for the Rolling Stones introduced them to older generations. Similarly, I showed photos from show put on by Maris and Caroline Kingsbury at a more intimate venue saying "You can see some Ziggy Stardust and kitsch in their stage presence.", and she agreed. I pointed to Maris, and desribed her abilities are like "Tiffany mall pop meets Laura Branigan's ability to belt". The other is more like "Bonnie Tyler and the Pointer Sisters with a touch of Scandal" When I mentioned a pop punk duo (Luis and Kelly of the Dollyrots) as a "mom & pop" duo in music who remind me of Benatar and Giraldo (a singer and her longtime guitarist, pianist, and husband), I was surprised that they knew of the Dollyrots! Just surprised as they were to find a millennial geeking out in celebration of that night's music!
Yes, I'm relatively young to be a Pat Benatar fan. My first exposure to her was when "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" was included for a season's end VHS clip show of my tee-ball team's greatest hits. There was an 80's song from John Fogerty on the tape, but Benatar was one of the examples of "80's cool." The 90's were a challenging decade for Pat and Neil. It was the subjectivity of that would likely push any further albums off into the Indie side genres like what Tiffany has done. God bless the radio show Rockline. Late one school night I listened to a syndicated classic rock radio show where an amazing couple talked about music, and raising a family. Accompanists of eachother in so many ways.
Adams: The Sapphic Thread in a Spanish Guitar
Bryan Adams on the other hand is someone I learned about through his 90's collaborations. The Ontarian rock star was another 80's icon. Continuing his prolific career into the 90's (propelled by ballads that weren't always supported by my college's 90's themed radio request show). Mutt Lang (the producer who co-wrote 1993's "Please Forgive Me" and 2025's "Roll with the Punches" With Adams) started working with the late composer conductor Michael Kamen. This trio wrote a handful of movie ballads, with two singles that resonate much more than memes of Johnny Depp's Don Juan deMarco and even Kevin Costner's Robin Hood. There are strong reasons why Alan Rickman and Bryan Adams were the most acclaimed artists from the star-studded "Prince of Thieves". "(Everything I Do) I Do For You" is an amazing song which proved near perfect on the charts and the Grammys.
It was the Don Juan DeMarco song that made the strongest impression on me. "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?" The Spanish guitar legend Paco de Lucia is how I fell in love with guitar picking. From Laurence Juber to Gabriella Quevedo... That amazing "duet?" on a single guitar performed by Rodrigo y Gabriela (Quintero). There's something so incredibly sultry about the Spanish guitar, the sensually evocative lyrics were at the time coupled with an even more provocative video. A few years before "Eyes Wide Shut", director Anton Corbijn turned DeMarco's use of the Zorro mask into a surreally recurring visual element that edges on a kinky kiss-kiss orgy in a Málaga-set Spanish cantina. When Cecilie Thomsen's character strokes her hand from Amira Casar's shoulder down to her hand, Casar slowly lifts Thomsen's hand to kiss it. She then holds out the hand as Thomsen looks over with one eye... Hot damn, the amor! The video's hard to find, and so is an exact explanation of this quick little scene that Adams and Google claim is entirely hetero. Me? It was one of those early Sapphic awakenings. Yes, before I knew I was trans, I was jamming to Etheridge, the Indigos, Hawkins, and this incredibly subversive display. I was in 7th grade when a classmate asked me if I was a "dyke". Released a year after Roseanne Barr and Mariel Hemingway's famous scene together, this gem of a music video raised such an answered question... And un-asked?
...
Anyway! In an age of Pandora, Spotify, YouTube, and "the Goldbergs", Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo finally started getting the multigenerational respect and fandom that they deserve. It got them into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (Pat insisted on their being honored as a duo). Bryan Adams is deserving of such an honor, but in the meantime, he's in good company in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. Seriously, he's in there with Celine Dion, Alanis Morrisette, Shania Twain, Rush, and the Barenaked Ladies. After 20 years of snubs, I hope that the nomination committee in a certain Cleveland museum changes their mind. That isn't anything agains Pat and Neil. More that as the committee widens its criteria for nomination and induction, there some glaring oversights.
 |
| Neil Giraldo at the piano — calm focus before the storm, a craftsman in his element. |
 |
| Benatar and Giraldo under their own marquee — four decades of chemistry illuminated in bold light. |
 |
| Bathed in gold, their sound felt timeless — fierce yet full of affection. |
 |
| Under red light, their connection crackles — love, music, and endurance in perfect time. |
Two Eras, One Heartbeat
It was a great privilege to see Benatar. Giraldo, and their band providing such flawless performances. The more I get behind today's indie pop/rock stars like Maris, the more I find myself indulging in Benatar's music. The set opener "All Fired Up" has that same magic that I find in the indie pop market of today, and I'm imagine what it must have been like to witness such music getting a wider degree of consumer acceptance. Looking at the single's 1988 performance, I can see that it didn't quite get top honors on Casey Kasem's weekly countdown. Regardless of a peak chart position at #19 (not too far from the mark made by 1981's "Fire and Ice." These songs' explosive combination of rock and pop energy show that Pat and Neil should've built an indie pop/rock following. The fandom isn't as mainstream, but they're loyal and appreciate a consistency that's otherwise hit or miss in competition with other Top 40 musicians. Throughout the setlist, the couple's chemistry was the star of their set. Yes, Pat and Neil honor an amazing career each time they sing "Shadows of the Night", "Love is a Battlefield", and "We Belong", but every set is also a celebration of their 43+ years together. The closing song for the setlist got all of TD Garden singing along with "Heartbreaker", while (ironically enough) the couple brings in a cover of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire", singing to the fans and each other. Giraldo then got to step out onto the stage's catwalk and wow the fans with his guitar playing.
 |
| Between sets, I glanced down at my cord jacket and black boots — a small reflection of the decades on stage. Some nights, the clothes carry as much memory as the songs. |
Crossing the Ring: Bryan Adams and the Light That Fights Back
Their band cleared the way for Bryan Adams's set. The space when dark, and Bryan starts greeting the Boston crowd. Where is he? My new friend in the next seat pointed to the B-Stage. However unorthodox, Adams opened the show with some songs played at the minor stage, giving the people further back an equally engaging experience. Adams made his way to the main stage where he's joined by his band. He points out how far back his history with drummer Mickey Curry goes, but that camaraderie pales a little to his friendship with lead guitarist Keith Scott. Their's is a bromance forged in 1981, and you can see how they intuitively work so well together. Each ever impressed by the other. The friendship reminds me of when Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins would take interviews together. Many of the songs were a great demonstration of a collection of hits from a sixteen album career, and the LED bracelets gave a more united and chromatically synched ambience. Integrated into the mix were songs from album #16 "Roll With the Punches". A gigantic silver boxing glove maneuvered through the air over the audience like a one balloon Macy's parade,. It may in fact be the same glove featured on the album cover. The "Roll With the Punches Tour" has a red theme which apparently is supposed to represent the traditional redness of boxing gloves. Not the ballon, or the album cover. Seeing the Boston hockey banners aglow with red light, it did cross my mind that a musician from the province of Senators and Maple Leafs gave the Bruins' home stadium a "C of Red" that would make Calgary fans blush. This album is full of great songs that continue Bryan Adams's music onward. There's a mix of harder rock songs (like the title track) about tough endurance paired with more introspective songs looking at today's day and age such as "A Little More Understanding), The album doesn’t revolutionize the 2025 rock scene, but that’s not necessarily what we need. Like when ABBA returned with their "Voyage" album, it's about providing a new album of material consistent with the artist's brand while speaking to the modern age. One of my favorite parts of the show was... When Bryan Adams and his crew played "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?" It was being performed in response to requests and Keith Scott (who was putting on a guitar playing clinic with his buddy Bryan) grabbed a Spanish guitar and stared filling in for the late Paco.
 |
| Adams opens the show from the B-stage, just a man and his guitar — the intimacy before the anthems. |
 |
| A beam of light cuts through the haze — Adams and his band in perfect sync. |
 |
| Thousands reflected back in song — the arena a mirror of shared joy. |
 |
| A ‘C of Red’ at TD Garden — LED wristbands pulsing in unison as Adams’ tour theme floods the arena. |
 |
| Under blue light and steel haze, the ‘Roll With the Punches’ glove drifts above the crowd — a floating emblem of endurance. |
 |
| A rhythm of reflections — silver glove, silver cymbals, and an ocean of cool light. |
 |
| The intermittent calm in the ‘C of Red’ — thousands of bracelets shimmering blue in unity. |
I love the bands' respective rhythm sections, and the drummers were each given their opportunities to perform big solos. However, Sunday's show was mainly about great 80's icons showing longevity as they shared their music and memories. In terms of performer elements, it was a night of Amazing singers partnered with guitarists complimentary in their own greatness. We witnessed the heat between Benatar and Giraldo as they sang of falling into the ring of fire. That passion continued, shapeshifting into the audience's collective sappy embrace of each Adams ballad, and then Bryan and Keith's bond. What did JD and Turk call it in "Scrubs"? "Guy Love"? It got even more heartfelt when the night's special guest was introduced. Bryan's 97 year-old mom was introduced from her front row seat. They are so close that she was the leading lady in his 2022 "So Good It Hurts" video.
 |
| Bryan Adams and Keith Scott trading riffs under red light — decades of friendship turned duet. |
 |
| Adams honoring his 97-year-old mother, the heart behind every song. |
Epilogue: The Ride Home
There was residual elation as I got on the Orange Line. I got to the subway's terminus just in time for the bus, and I let myself wind down as I prepared to write, illustrate, and planned for Halloweek Part 2.
Comments
Post a Comment