Oscar and Grammy Award-nominated rocker Patty Smyth, (“Goodbye to You,” “The Warrior”) is back with the band she started with – Scandal – playing new and classic material! Patty Smyth and Scandal play The Ridgefield Playhouse on Saturday, August 4 at 8pm, part of the Pepsi Rock Series powered by Xfinity. Spurred by a reunion on VH1’s “Bands Reunited,” the band has regrouped, with two original members — guitarist Keith Mack and Keyboardist Benjy King — and a new rhythm section, bassist Tom Welsch and drummer Eran Asias. “This is probably the best band I’ve ever been in,” says Smyth, who has been touring and writing new material. Opening act is Chicago indie band The Empty Pockets. Visit GALLO (5 Grove St • Ridgefield) for dinner before the show and get a free glass of house wine with your entrée when you present your tickets/ Media partner for this event is 95.9 Fox, Classic Rock.
From her hits with Scandal like “Goodbye to You,” and “The Warrior” to her solo hits “Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough” and “Look What Love Has Done,” Patty Smyth has always been, at heart, a rock and roll chick. Having grown up in Greenwich Village skipping school and listening to the likes of Jani Joplin at her mother’s various nightclubs including the Gaslight and Café Wah, Smyth picked up the guitar at 15 and was performing on stage at NYCs Folk City. It wasn’t long before she was performing in places like Catch A Rising Star, doing a set between comedians like Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld.
Scandal burst onto the scene in 1982 with a self-titled debut that turned out to be the best-selling EP in Columbia Records history, featuring the hit single, “Goodbye to You,” a song Smyth co-wrote with bandmate Zack Smith. The group’s first full-length album, The Warrior, released in 1984, climbed into the Top 20 on the sales chart, eventually earning RIAA-certified platinum status, with more than a million in sales. The song “The Warrior” remains popular to this day, featured on the radio station Flash FM in the video game Grand Theft Auto and in the third installment of Guitar Hero, Rocks the ‘80s. The song is also featured in a parody of an iPod commercial on the popular animated Fox series Family Guy.
Smyth’s 1992 solo album turned out to be a career peak. “Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough,” a song Smyth wrote that featured a performance by Don Henley, became her biggest hit ever. The song reached #2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and stayed there for six consecutive weeks, going #1 on the AC chart for four straight weeks, as well as number one on many other national charts. The song was also named BMI song of the Year. The album earned platinum status, but more impressively, the single earned platinum status, as well, which is something that rarely happens. The album also produced the hits “No Mistakes,” “I Should Be Laughing” and “Shine.” In 1992, her song “Look What Love Has Done,” the theme from the hit Arnold Schwarzenegger/Danny DeVito comedy, Junior, was nominated for an Oscar, Golden Globe and a Grammy Award!
Sincerity, pathos and powerhouse vocals is how The Empty Pockets describe their music. Just as “The Band” famously came into their own behind various frontmen, The Empty Pockets have found comparable footing teaming up with a wide range of legendary artists; Kenny Loggins, Simon Kirke (Bad Company/Free), Al Stewart (“Year of the Cat”), Gary Wright (“Dreamweaver”), and Richie Furay (Buffalo Springfield/Poco), both as opening act and backing band. The Pockets' sound has evolved, influenced not only by these remarkable musicians, but also by independent artists and, most importantly, one another. The result is a dynamic musical style uniquely The Empty Pockets' own, a surprising yet familiar blend of folksy rock and roll and Midwestern soul.
For tickets ($47.50) call or visit the box office, 203-438-5795 or go online at ridgefieldplayhouse.org. The Ridgefield Playhouse is a non-profit performing arts center located at 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main Street, Ridgefield, CT.