It is probably a very strange thing for an artist to be playing at fairgrounds after selling out arenas in the past. Pat Benetar was a mega star back in the 80’s. In fact the second video ever played on MTV was “You Better Run” by Pat Benetar, which made her the first female artist ever played on MTV and Neil “Spyder” Giraldo the first guitar player to ever play on MTV (for those of you that don’t know MTV used to be a channel that played music videos). They played a really cool acoustic version of the song with just her and Neil. They interlaced the songs with storytelling of how some of the songs came together and how Pat and Neil came together and got married (they were bandmates first and have been married since 1982).

I have always liked the harder edged Pat Benetar songs because they are very guitar driven and she has a great voice. Both her voice and Neil’s guitar playing still sounded incredible. Pat Benetar had no backup singers at her age; just her wailing away. I don’t remember them playing my favorite song “Treat Me Right” but I do remember them playing “Hell Is For Children,” “Invincible” and “Heartbreaker.” If they had any weird feelings about playing the San Diego County Fair they certainly did not show it. They just seemed genuinely happy to still be able to do what they love doing.