Call Us Invincible

Thursday night I ventured out to the very edge of Brooklyn to see the Call Me Invincible tour with Pat Benatar and Blondie. I returned home with a few thoughts. First, it’s true what a man once told me, “rock ‘n roll is not an aesthetic or even a sound, but a spirit. And you can't kill a spirit.” Second, while the crowd is critical to the experience of live music, it’s possible to enjoy a show in spite of a lame audience. Finally, despite the focus on youth in today’s media, older women are cool. We will inevitably bring more to the table than our teen and twenty-something sisters. It’s not that we don’t love our younger sisters. We remember what it was like being young but, honestly, it’s WAY better now. Plus, generally we’re just better at whatever it is that we do because of all those years of experience. Thanks Patricia and Debbie for reminding me.

In the spirit of rock ‘n roll, a good friend of mine traveled to NYC from Connecticut for the concert last Thursday night. After her two hour trek and a quick change from our work clothes into jeans and some funky shirts, like super rock-heroines, we were off to Asser Levy Park in Coney Island, ignoring the threat of thunderstorms and flash flood warnings. Nor were we deterred by the massive crowds, the lines, the police officers and concert staff who had no idea where the entrance was located or, for that matter, what the hell was going on. We found several confusing lines that seem to lead nowhere. Nothing was very clear, except that there seemed to be A LOT of empty seats inside the park and we wanted two of them. We went around the apparent line, found the entrance, walked in, and grabbed ourselves some seats. Normally, I hate people who cut in line, but in this case the chaos and our rock 'n roll attitude forced us to this option.

While we were pleased with our seats initially, it turned out that we were sitting in a section with people who were, honestly, totally LAME concert attendees. When Pat Benatar walked on stage and launched into “All Fired Up” there was nothing from the concert-goers around us. They didn’t move. OK, there were a few sound issues at the start, Benatar’s voice wasn’t loud enough in the mix and she was drowned out by the band, but that was fixed by the middle of the song. The crowd around us just sat still and stared, which they continued to do for most of her set. I was stunned. Where were we? Benatar is FROM Brooklyn (Greenpoint to be exact). Shouldn’t everyone here LOVE her?

In his article “The Price Of The Ticket,” John Seabrook of The New Yorker recently described kids lining up to see a Jefferson Starship show in 1965. He said, “they were there for the experience. It was the music, the artist, and the community of fans together with the blaze of lights, the press of sweaty flesh, and a thousand fists punching in the air as the chorus rolled around.” Yes! This is why we go to a live show, even to the opera, to experience the sound and energy of live music with everyone around us enraptured in that same energy. But what if your community doesn’t feel the experience? We just ignored them and punched our fists in the air with the much more engaged crowd many rows ahead of us near the stage. The great thing about being older as that you really don’t give a crap what everyone thinks anymore. Besides, we were now super rock-heroines.

I have to admit, I don’t exactly recall when I discovered Pat Benatar or Blondie. It may have begun with a K-Tel album. Remember those? Mix records that always seemed to have a K.C. and The Sunshine Band tune and some disco tracks. I had K-Tel ‘s Full Tilt. The first song on side A was Blondie’s “The Tide is High” and the last song on side B was Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot.” So Full Tilt must have led me to pick up Benatar’s Get Nervous, because I remember the album cover with her in a straight jacket and thinking that she looked really strange, but very cool. My first cassette of Benatar’s was Live from Earth, basically a greatest hits of live music plus some studio songs including her massive hit “Love Is A Battlefield”. This cassette was a staple on my stereo and in my Walkman throughout the mid-’80’s.

It has taken me more than twenty years to see Pat Benatar live. Needless to say, I was pretty psyched for this show. She did not disappoint. Many may know her from “Hit Me with Your Best Shot” and “Love Is a Battlefield.” But listen to songs like “Heartbreaker,” “Hell is For Children,” “Promises In the Dark,” or even “Invincible.” Those are some serious rock tunes. The bass and drum intro to “Heartbreaker” is fast, low, and as heavy as any all male rock band. In fact, her entire band is and has always been, full of men. Clearly they contribute to this testosterone-driven, heavy rock sound. What makes the music interesting are her lyrics and the way her voice drives these songs. While she is entirely one with the music, she is the power. Her (rumored) five octave mezzo-soprano voice is what pulls you in and makes you feel everything about the entire song. The songs are hard hitting, not only their topics, but also the emotion she pulls out them. She can still hit those high notes in a live show. She poured everything into the performance and seemed to enjoy every moment. Well, except for “Hit Me With Your Best Shot,” which she claimed to be tired of singing after all these years and asked the audience for help. Overall, at somewhere around age 56, she is inspiring.

Entertainment media seems write off women over the age of 40, let alone 50 or 60. At the very least, it seems female musicians of a certain age are expected to suddenly mellow out. Critics seem surprised that at 50, Madonna continues to be... well, Madonna. But if Mick Jagger can prance around on stage in skinny jeans at age 66, why shouldn’t, say, Debbie Harry jump around on stage in a mini-skirt at 64? That’s exactly what she did on Thursday evening. She’s traded in her killer heels for some sneakers, but she donned a funky mini-skirt with wacky tights and proceeded to belt out classic Blondie tunes straight off of their Best Of Blondie album.

Assuming that I also discovered Blondie on that same K-Tel album mentioned earlier, the first album of theirs that I owned was likely The Best of Blondie, circa 1984. My favorite song was always “Dreaming.” Unfortunately they didn’t perform it at the show. This was fine though, as soon as she launched into the first song, “Call Me,” I knew it was going to be a great set. The band was tight and she nailed the vocals. Although, I'm not sure that we needed all the extended guitar solos. Blondie too has an all male testosterone-driven band. In this case though, the band is more punk and Harry’s vocals bring a pop element to their sound. Except for “One Way or Another” and a few other songs from Blondie’s early punk beginnings like “Atomic,” Blondie really is the quintessential pop band. Yet they still capture that punk spirit underneath. “Rapture” and, the reggae infused, “Tide Is High” have a more pop sound. Granted, the songs seemed a little slower live than the originals. Initially it seemed like she was going to struggle with some of the higher notes in songs like “Heart of Glass,” but in the end she delivered. Our lame audience perked up a bit and seemed to know more songs, including their recent hit “Maria” from Blondie’s last release No Exit in 1999. They wrapped up a fun evening with an encore that included a Michael Jackson song and left us, as any good live show will, wishing they wouldn’t stop ‘till we had enough.

Finally, a brief note about The Donnas, who opened the show. These women are also serious rockers. Taking their inspiration from New York punk icons The Ramones, they have a heavy sound with some catchy lyrics and a lot of wit. One may be tempted to compare them to the Go Go’s, if they had played heavier rock ‘n roll instead of pop music. But they sound closer to Joan Jett and her original all girl band, The Runaways. The Donnas all turned 30 this year and released their eighth album Greatest Hits Volume 16. They continue to mature and improve. The remakes of some of their earlier hits are much improved with stronger vocals and an overall tighter sound. This makes sense, because that’s what it takes to be great, time. The Donnas were a hot shot band, signed to a record label and touring in Japan while they were still in high school. Now, sixteen years later, they have thousands of hours of practice and touring behind them. It’s well worth the wait to allow them to mature. I’m sure that we have more to look forward to from The Donnas over the next few decades.

You may ask, of all three bands, who was the best? Does it matter? They were all amazing. I loved Pat Benatar’s set and the audience loved Blondie. The Donnas delivered as the young up-and-comers, allowing us to delight in their sound while recognizing all who came before and paved the way for them. But this was no ‘passing of the torch’. Pat Benatar and Blondie, still rock and continue to record new albums. Thankfully, in a more enlightened age, there’s room for all of them. More enlightened because not long ago the music industry thought that one all female tour a summer was plenty. It was Sarah McLachlan’s Lilith Fair or nothing. In 2009 there are plenty of options for great live music, much of it delivered by some amazing women. So pull out your super rock-heroine outfit and take a break from the daily work grind, the kids, the laundry, or whatever it is that can get in the way of channeling your rock ‘n roll spirit. Go see some live music. Delight in the energy of everyone around you experiencing the same thrilling moments. If the audience lacks enthusiasm and seems to miss the point, that’s fine. We’re old enough not to care, just ride the wave of sound without them. Trust me. It’s worth every moment.

Hear Music
K-Tel Full Tilt
SWIK Mix Pat Benatar
SWIK Mix Blondie
SWIK Mix The Donnas

See Music
Pat Benatar: Heartbreaker (live), Hit Me With Your Best Shot (live)
Blondie: One Way or Another (live), Dreaming (live)
The Donnas Take It Off (live), Out of My Hands (live)

Buy Music
Pat Benatar
Blondie
The Donnas