Story by Kristen Collosso | September 8, 2010 | Tags: arts, Koka Booth Amphitheatre, music
Concert review by Kristen Collosso. Photos by Chris Adamczyk.
The Carolina heat broke just in time for two 1980s hit-makers to grace Booth Amphitheatre’s stage on Thursday night. Pat Benatar and REO Speedwagon brought all of their greatest hits to Cary and gave us a really fun evening!
Tyler Bryant
The night kicked off with up-and-coming artist Tyler Bryant and his band. While he is very much a fresh young musician, Bryant has already shared the stage with many great classic artists including Aerosmith, BB King, Styx, and Vince Gill. His days as a musician started early, and it was obvious from his performance on Thursday night that he is certainly a rising star.
The guitar riffs and the soulful vocals of Bryant’s original tunes seemed to draw strongly from 70s rock. Bryant entertained the mostly middle-aged crowd with a brilliant cover of Jailhouse Rock and a great story about how a Tom Petty song (Honey Bee, specifically) got him out of a speeding ticket.
Winners of the Cary Scavenger Hunt had front row seats.
Pat Benatar
Pat Benatar’s highly anticipated set was next. I loved observing the excitement of all the 40-something year old women who’d come to see their teenage idol. Some even dressed up for the occasion. I watched as a woman asked her husband to move over so another woman whom she’d just met could dance next to her!
At 57 years old Pat Benatar is still as beautiful as ever, and she can still hit every single note. She powered through her biggest hits, including Hit Me With Your Best Shot, You Better Run and Heartbreaker, as well as some of her more obscure fan favorites. She even commented that she was tired of performing Hit Me With Your Best Shot but her band (and audiences) would never let her leave it out!
Around the middle of the set, Benatar sat performed an acoustic set of You Better Run, I Don’t Wanna Be Your Friend and We Belong with her guitarist, co-writer and husband Neil “Spyder” Giraldo. I loved this portion of the set because it felt like Pat and Neil had just sat us all down in their living room to tell us a few stories behind some songs they’d written together.
One thing that really struck me about Benatar as a performer was how very gracious and humble she was toward the audience. Every time we’d erupt in applause, she’d put her hand to her heart and thank us profusely. Basically, what’s not to love about her?
Set list: Pat Benatar
REO Speedwagon
REO Speedwagon took the stage for the final set of the night.
While REO is best known for their power ballads Keep On Loving You and Can’t Fight This Feeling, it must be stated that many of their other songs are loud, high-tempo and extremely dance-able.
So anyone who gives you that look when you say you’re going to see REO Speedwagon in concert (you know…THAT look) clearly hasn’t seen them live! REO rocks!
The infectious energy of front man Kevin Cronin kept everyone on their feet throughout the show. Fans seem to be divided on whether his affinity for storytelling is annoying or endearing. As for me, I’d go with the latter — his stories always keep a smile on my face!
Speaking of smiling — the entire audience got a huge laugh when Cronin choked up during the final lyric of Can’t Fight This Feeling. He laughed and put his head down for a moment, instruments still going, and then announced (in song): “I just swallowed a bug, oooh yes I did!”
KBA Cranks It Up for REO
Perhaps the highlight of REO’s set was near the end, when Cronin acknowledged that several people in the crowd had been motioning for them to turn the volume up. “We see you out there, and we’d love nothing more than to crank it up for y’all,” he said. “But the sound police are out tonight and they won’t let us do it!”
This was, of course, met by a massive amount of booing! It seemed like Booth Amphitheatre had just been called out. But a song or two later, Cronin came back to the front of the stage to make an announcement. “I just wanted to announce that, for the first time in history, this venue has agreed to crank it up!”
The audience roared its approval! Imagine that — the first band to ever get the volume up at Booth Amphitheatre was none other than REO Speedwagon! I think I’ll use this story next time my friends give me that look.
Set list: REO Speedwagon
Concert Slideshow
Chris Adamczyk filed this slideshow from the concert.
Lindsey Chester
September 8, 2010 at 5:19 pm
awesome photos Chris!
Steve Boyko
September 8, 2010 at 5:28 pm
Great review… sounds like a great concert! Pat Benatar rocks.
Kristen
September 8, 2010 at 6:10 pm
Thanks Steve! It was a heck of a show. Cary’s been fortunate this year in the acts that have booked Booth Amphitheatre!