Photos by Andy Argyrakis

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame should’ve inducted Pat Benatar decades ago considering she blazed so many trails, especially when it came to women in a genre primarily populated by men, but it’s better late than never now that the four-time Grammy Award winner finally made the cut for the class of 2022.

Along with Neil Giraldo, her husband, frequent producer and the first guitarist to ever appear on MTV, the celebrity super couple celebrated not only that monumental news, but also the announcement of “Invincible: The Musical,” which debuts in Beverly Hills this fall, when the “De Novo” Tour filled up the Genesee Theatre.

It marked yet another round of legendary artists to grace the stage at the carefully restored venue, and for 100 minutes, they got the Waukegan audience “All Fired Up” with several originals and a few remakes in their resolute style.

They included the power ballad “We Belong,” the fierce “Promises In The Dark,” the acoustically reworked “Shadows Of The Night” and the abuse chronicling “Hell Is For Children,” with Benatar and Giraldo coming across much younger than folks in their sixties.

There were even a few somewhat obscure selections, such as the environmentally-themed “Purgatory” and the beatnik dedication “River Of Love,” which might not have received as much attention, but were important artistic exercises beyond the otherwise constant streak of chart-toppers.

Towards the tail end, both The Rascals’ “You Better Run” and The Beatles’ “Helter Skelter” pointed to the pair’s earliest influences, while the danceable “Love Is A Battlefield” has since done the same for multiple generations since it took the 1980s by storm and resurfaced as a YouTube regular.

Given that lengthy list, the absence of “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” almost went by unnoticed, which as Benatar has stated in interviews, is on hiatus out of respect to the families affected by the recent waves of mass shootings, a subject that was quite close in proximity to the Independence Day tragedy right down the road in Highland Park.

Regardless how fans felt on either side of that decision, it was nonetheless a life-affirming evening filled with so many other anthems, it gave the Genesee an otherwise comprehensive overview of Benatar & Giraldo’s iconic songbook.

For additional information on Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo, visit BenatarGiraldo.com.

Upcoming concert highlights at the Genesee Theatre include “Happy Together” featuring The Turtles (Aug. 6); Ludacris (Aug. 11); Cheap Trick (Sept. 10); Daughtry (Sept. 11); The Rush Tribute Project (Sept. 16); Elle King (Sept. 18); “Lost 80’s Live” featuring A Flock Of Seagulls (Sept. 22); Gordon Lightfoot (Sept. 23); “Cornerstones Of Rock” featuring The Ides Of March (Oct. 1); The Marshall Tucker Band (Oct. 6); Get The Led Out (Oct. 13); Trace Adkins (Oct. 21); Purple Reign (Oct. 22); Gogol Bordello (Oct. 23); Judas Priest (Oct. 25); Randy Rainbow (Nov. 4); Gin Blossoms (Nov. 5) and Marie Osmond (Dec. 9). For additional details, visit GeneseeTheatre.com.

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