LE BEL AGED

PAT BENATAR Joe Louis Arena, Detroit _Feb. 15, 1986_

by Joanne Carnegie

There�s a place on Detroit�s west side called the Motor City Skating Center. Pat Benatar played there in December of 1979. She�d just released her first album, and maybe 300 people cared enough about it to show up. Six years later, on a wintry night at Detroit�s Joe Louis Arena—seating 20,000—no roller skates were in sight. Mostly couples were, with arms wrapped around each other, all there to hear Pat Benatar wallop out her long string of hit singles. And a long string it was: �Invincible,� �Love Is A Battlefield,� �Hell Is For Children,� �I Need A Lover,� and �Heartbreaker,� not to mention the hits from her latest, Seven The Hard Way—�Sex As A Weapon� and �Le Bel Age.�

After a three-year hiatus from performing and just three weeks into her tour, in Detroit Pat Benatar�s �comeback� seemed to be working. She was missed. Roses were thrown to her; she smiled, waved and told us, �It�s great to be back!�