Newport Yachting Center's 2013 Sunset Music Series Wraps Up Summer Concert Schedule With Styx, Tony Bennett and Pat Benatar

August 19, 2013 -- The Newport Waterfront Events at the Newport Yachting Center wraps up the concert schedule of its 2013 Nantucket Nectars Sunset Music Series summer season with a bang by featuring STYX this Thursday, August 22nd, Tony Bennett on Wednesday, August 28th and Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo on Saturday, August 31st.  The gates will open at 5:30 p.m. for all three shows.  Tickets range from $49.50 to $69.50 for the STYX concert, $80.50 to $100.50 for the Tony Bennett show and $39.50 to $65.50 for Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo.  Tickets for all three concerts and the other Sunset Music Series shows can be purchased at www.newportwaterfrontevents.com or by calling 800-745-3000.  Festival officials also ask that fans of the Sunset Music Series stay tuned as there will be an announcement of an additional concert soon which will extend the Series into the fall.

Since STYX reunited in the mid-1990s, they have performed more live shows than all of the previous years of its career combined, including Two Super-Bowl appearances and Pollstar Box Office chart-topping tours with Def Leppard, Journey, Boston, REO Speedwagon, and Bad Company, among others.  Spawned from a suburban Chicago basement in the early 1970s, STYX would eventually transform into an arena rock prototype by the late 1970s and early 1980s due to its big rocker tunes and soaring power ballads. 
However, STYX failed to break through to the mainstream until a track originally from its second album, "Lady" started to get substantial airplay in Chicago in 1974.  The song was soon issued as a single nationwide and quickly shot to #6 on the singles chart, as the album Styx II was certified gold.

The band hit its stride in the late 1970’s with four popular album releases (1976's Crystal Ball, 1977's The Grand Illusion, 1978's Pieces of Eight, and 1979's Cornerstone) which produced such hit singles and classic rock radio standards as "Come Sail Away," "Renegade," "Blue Collar Man" and "Fooling Yourself”.  STYX then released a concept album in 1981 entitled Paradise Theater which became the band’s biggest hit of their career (selling over three million copies in a three-year period), and made them one of the United States’ top rock acts due to hit singles like "Too Much Time on My Hands".  It also marked the first time in history that a band released four consecutive triple-platinum albums.

Tony Bennett has won 17 Grammy Awards along with the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001.  He also has been recognized with two Emmy Awards and is a Kennedy Center Honoree.  Raised in New York City, Bennett became popular nationally with the #1 hit, “Because of You” in 1951.  He reached his first artistic peak in the late 1950s with albums such as The Beat of My Heart and Basie Swings, Bennett Sings.  In 1962, Bennett recorded his signature song, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”.  Starting in the late 1980s, he reinvented himself and expanded his audience to include the MTV Generation while keeping his musical style in tact.  Bennett has sold over 50 million records worldwide.

Pat Benatar, the leading female rock vocalist of the 1980s winning four Grammy Awards and three American Music Awards, has always been a rule-breaker and a trailblazer.  Songs like “Love is a Battlefield”, “Hit Me with Your Best Shot”, “Heartbreaker”, “Promises In The Dark” and “We Belong” contributed to the dawn of MTV while she was forging a path for other female rock stars around the world.  Benatar’s life changed forever in 1979 when she was introduced to a fiery and inspiring guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Neil Giraldo, who shared the singer’s passions and used his skills as an innovative arranger and producer to help form the now renowned Benatar sound.

Giraldo and Benatar’s vision merged explosively on her 1979 platinum selling debut album, In The Heat Of The Night, which included Top 40 hits like “Heartbreaker” and the Giraldo-penned “We Live For Love”.  The 1980 Crimes Of Passion album was a Grammy Award-winning, #2 smash reaching quadruple platinum and giving Benatar her first Top 10 hit - the gold-certified “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”.  It also included, “You Better Run”, the second ever video to air on MTV.  Benatar’s next album, 1981’s Precious Time, went double platinum and outdid its predecessor by hitting #1 with lead single, “Fire and Ice”, earning Benatar her second Grammy.

Other platinum albums followed. 1982’s Get Nervous went Top Five and featured the Grammy-winning “Shadows Of The Night”.  That same year that Benatar and Giraldo got married.  The 1983’s Live From Earth boasted the Grammy-winning, Top Five hit, “Love Is A Battlefield” and 1984’s Tropico charted the Grammy-nominated “We Belong”.  In 1999, Benatar and Giraldo opened their private vaults and compiled an extensive three-CD collection, Synchronistic Wanderings: Recorded Anthology 1979-1999.  Most recently, Benatar released her long-awaited autobiography in 2010 entitled, Between a Heart and a Rock Place.  Benatar and Giraldo remain a rock ‘n’ roll powerhouse today, selling out concerts and still wowing audiences after over three decades in music together.

The remaining 2013 Nantucket Nectars Sunset Music Series line-up is as follows:

Date: Thur., Aug. 22; Performer: Styx; Ticket Prices: $49.50; 59.50; 69.50

Date: Wed., Aug. 28; Performer: Tony Bennett; Ticket Prices: $80.50 & 100.50

Date: Sat., Aug. 31; Performer: Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo; Ticket Prices: $39.50; 49.50; 65.50

In addition, tickets are on sale for the annual Newport Waterfront Events Music Festivals.  Still remaining this summer is the Newport Celtic Rock Festival featuring the Dropkick Murphys on Saturday, August 24th.  Visit www.newportwaterfrontevents.com for the complete Newport Celtic Rock Festival line-up and details.

The Newport Yachting Center is located on the waterfront in the heart of historic downtown Newport on America's Cup Avenue.  The venue features a covered concert tent and ample open air space with stunning views of Newport Harbor.  Guests can enjoy “The Point”, a dockside waterfront lounge and bar with good eats from Julian’s, before, during and after the shows.

All Sunset Music Series shows will feature live music on The Point Stage when gates open.  Times for opening acts and headliners vary per show, please visit www.newportwaterfrontevents.com for all the details.  For any other questions about the Nantucket Nectars Sunset Music Series, please contact Michele Maker Palmieri, General Manager at the Newport Yachting Center, 4 Commercial Wharf on America’s Cup Avenue in Newport, at (401) 846-1600, Ext. 222.  To receive future 2013 Sunset Music Series presale opportunities or exclusive packages, sign up at newportwaterfrontevents.com and become a fan on Facebook at facebook.com/waterfrontevents.

The Newport Yachting Center’s 2013 line-up to-date includes the Great Chowder Cook-Off (June 1); the Sunset Music Series (starting in late May through the end of August); the Newport Summer Comedy Series produced by RocJo Productions (starting in June through the end of August); the Newport Blues & BBQ Festival (July 20); the Newport Waterfront Reggae Festival (August 10); the Newport Celtic Rock Festival (August 24), the Newport International Boat Show (September 12-15), and the International Oktoberfest (October 12-13). All the events are held at the Newport Yachting Center in the “city by the sea” where beach-going, shopping, dining and enjoying the nightlife are often a part of the pre- or post-Newport Waterfront Events activity.  Visit us at newportwaterfrontevents.com, become a fan on Facebook at facebook.com/waterfrontevents and follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/newportevents.