Staff photo / Andy Gray ... Jackie Popovec of The Vindys performs for a hometown crowd at the Rock the Rich Center benefit Saturday night at the Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre. Lita Ford headlined the event.

YOUNGSTOWN — The weather may have been cool, but the music was hot for Rock the Rich Center.

Saturday was the first time the benefit for the Paula & Anthony Rich Center for Autism at Youngstown State University took place at the Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre.

Jake Ellis, community engagement and event coordinator for the Rich Center, said he didn’t have a final attendance figure (and the silent auctions and raffles didn’t close until late Sunday, so the amount raised by the event wasn’t available), but the event definitely accomplished one of its goals.

“Awareness for the autism community, plain and simple as that,” he said. “We’re out here trying to raise money for the Rich Center for Autism at YSU, absolutely, but we wanted to get in the heart of downtown Youngstown. There are a lot of people affected by autism, and we wanted to make this an event for them and for everyone.”

While the sun popped out shortly before the music started, most of the attendees looked like they were dressed more for fall football than summer concert season, although there were more leather and pleather pants in this crowd, thanks to headliner Lita Ford.

Ford, who got her start as a teenager with The Runaways in the 1970s and had solo hits with “Kiss Me Deadly” and “Close My Eyes Forever” in the ’80s, opened with “Gotta Let Go” and also played a cover of Elton John’s “The Bitch Is Back” and songs by the Sex Pistols and Alice Cooper, as well as her own material.

The Vindys may have been the opening act, but they were the hometown favorites, judging by the number of concertgoers who raised their hands when lead singer Jackie Popovec asked how many people in the audience were friends and family of the band, were wearing Vindys’ merch or had texted the band members the day of the show.

The Vindys have played the benefit several times, and Popovec said the band was proud to be there Saturday and support an organization that aids children, adults and families.

“Thank you Rich Center for putting on a really cool rock concert,” Popovec said.

The band made its brief homecoming as it wraps up its second tour with Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo. The Vindys played a show in Indiana on Friday, arrived in Youngstown on Saturday and was packing up its gear and merch stand display during Ford’s set in order to get on the road to Delaware for the tour finale Sunday.

“I sing every day with Pat Benatar — my queen,” Popovec said. “Singing with her every single night has been a learning experience. We run like a machine up here.”

For the tour, The Vindys have been traveling without its horn section, but the horn players joined them Saturday for an hourlong set that included its latest single “Electric,” several old favorites and a finale featuring The Vindys’ “Chasin'” segueing into Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs.”