Staff photo / Andy Gray Jackie Popovec, right, lead singer and guitar player for The Vindys, talks with friends and fans at the merchandise table following the band’s set opening for Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo at MGM Northfield Park on Wednesday.

NORTHFIELD — It’s not often that it’s possible to pinpoint the exact moment an act wins over a crowd.

For The Vindys on Wednesday at MGM Northfield Park, it was during the song “Morning Light.”

Lead singer Jackie Popovec hit a note and held it for so long, I could feel the audience’s collective jaw drop in astonishment.

Granted, unlike most unsigned bands opening for a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame act with an older fan base, The Vindys aren’t an unknown entity, at least not on the northeast Ohio date, the fourth of the 22 shows the group will play this summer with Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo.

There were plenty of folks wearing Vindys’ T-shirts in the crowd, and the village of Northfield made the Youngstown contingent feel at home with some road construction, lane closures and detour signs on Northfield Road. And The Vindys’ multiple sell-outs at Cleveland’s Music Box Supper Club and other bookings in the region indicate that not all of the group’s fans are from the Mahoning Valley.

Popovec’s note wasn’t the only attention-grabbing moment. Another came during John Anthony’s guitar solo on Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” to end the set. With only a half hour to play, the arrangements were a bit tighter and the solos were shorter than a Vindys’ headlining show.

When Anthony (and guitar player Rick Deak) finally got a chance to let loose, the shock felt by those seeing the band for the first time was palpable.

Before the show, the screens at the side of the stage were promoting other MGM Northfield Park concerts, including Mammoth WVH on July 24. Anthony’s solo showed Wolfgang Van Halen isn’t the only “child” of Eddie Van Halen playing that stage in July.

“What I love about how the set is constructed, with ‘Morning Light’ she does that note and just totally changes everyone’s opinion,” Anthony said on Thursday. “Then on top of that, we end with ‘War Pigs,’ and it just sets the tone.

“We feel we have to bring that energy and excitement to them, and we have to earn that from Pat and Neil’s audience. They’re just incredible musicians in their own right … We love the challenge. We’re always so excited — how can we make this more special and more energetic than before?”

One has to respect the confidence and the generosity of Benatar and Giraldo. A lot of acts wouldn’t want to follow a band as high-energy as The Vindys, but Benatar showed during her 16-song, 90-minute set that her vocal belt is still of black belt quality, and Giraldo is no slouch on guitar (or piano). They mixed many of the expected hits (“We Belong,” “Love Is a Battlefield,” “Promises in the Dark,” “Heartbreaker”) with some deep cuts (“My Clone Sleeps Alone”) and covers (the Chambers Brothers’ “War,” Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire”). Playing bass for Benatar and Giraldo was Youngstown native and Cardinal Mooney High School graduate Mick Mahan.

Many opening acts tell horror stories about obstacles headliners give them to make sure they’re not outshined. The first time I covered Deak opening for a national act, it’s when Youngstown’s SinOmatic opened for Creed at Gund Arena in 2000 and played with no soundcheck (if I’m remembering correctly), minimal lighting and strict instructions not to use the ramp jutting out from the stage (SinOmatic lead singer Ken Cooper ignored the rule about the ramp).

Wednesday’s set sounded great and was well-lit.

For many in the crowd, all of the songs were new, but The Vindys’ fans also got a sneak preview of its new song “Elton Glasses Baby,” which debuts today on all streaming services.

“We’ve been workshopping that tune for about a year now,” Anthony said. “If you listen to how we were playing it live to how we recorded it, it’s a completely different version. The new version is arena rock — keyboards, big guitar sound. That was its true premiere as it’s going to sound on the recorded version. We weren’t doing it initially, but we wanted to do something a little different for the Cleveland hometown show.”

It’s one of several new songs the band has recorded since its last album, “Bugs,” was released in 2021.

“I think Jackie saw it as the most summery, upbeat — putting on your best pair of sunglasses, your most wild sunglasses,” Anthony said. “We’re right in the middle of summer and coinciding with the tour, that’s exactly what she had in mind.”