Despite 35 years in a musical relationship (and 32 in a marriage), this is the first Pat Benatar album on which Neil Giraldo has been given equal billing. The cover shows the pair embracing, or gazing adoringly at each other, or wandering off into the sunset, and the partnership is just as pronounced on this two-CD, single DVD set.
Recorded live at Long Island’s Huntingdon Theatre in front of what sounds like an extremely lively, extremely female audience, every flawless Benatar vocal is matched by chiming, whammy-driven virtuosity from Giraldo.
The hits – Hit Me With Your Best Shot, Love Is A Battlefield and Sex As A Weapon – are all included here, and Giraldo out-Edges The Edge on the latter track’s swooping, ringing solo.
Everything is attacked with a ferocity that belies the material’s age, and an unexpected chunk of Roky Erikson’s brilliant Don’t Slander Me shows up during Heartbreaker./o:p
