Heart returns to the road with feisty songs and a robust Ann Wilson: Review
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VIENNA, Va. – For Heart, it's been an unsettled few years.
But the musical chemistry between Ann and Nancy Wilson, still a couple of the baddest broads in rock, is indestructible.
After taking a break from the band for a couple of years following a family fallout in 2016, the sisters mended their complicated relationship and returned to touring.
But last summer that momentum skidded to a hard stop when Ann, who turns 75 this month, announced she was undergoing treatment for cancer.
In February, the band's Royal Flush tour resumed, with Ann staying seated not because of her cancer – she's says she's 'nice and clear now' after chemo − but because she fell and broke her elbow.
Now, the sisters Wilson and their comfortable five-piece band are back for An Evening With Heart, a tour which landed at a packed Wolf Trap in northern Virginia on June 1 for the second date of the monthlong outing. (Another leg with Todd Rundgren kicks off in their home state of Washington on Aug. 8.)
Ann, her hair short, her jacket and ankle boots a crimson power statement, remained seated during the 90-minute show. But the positioning didn't diminish the potency of her voice or her ability to infuse drama into songs including the opening 'Bébé le Strange' and 'Little Queen,' performed with a hint of lingering bitterness from the misogyny Heart experienced in their '70s breakout era.
Nancy, in thigh-high boots, pink-streaked hair and her Flying V guitar, might not be Rockette-kicking anymore at 71, but she's still eternally cool. She laced her pretty voice and acoustic guitar through 'These Dreams,' the gliding power ballad and first No. 1 hit for the band during their '80s takeover, and treated fans to 'Love Mistake,' a little-played album track from 1983's 'Passionworks' album.
The sisters' voices have always been a beautiful anomaly – Nancy's delicate doe to Ann's muscular steed – and collided effortlessly on pop bauble 'Never' and serrated rocker 'Straight On.'
Three guitarists – Ryan Wariner, Ryan Waters and Paul Moak – shared strings duty with Nancy, while Tony Lucido and Sean Lane handled bass and drums, producing a mighty sound that jolted the crowd with set highlight 'Crazy on You.'
In addition to the catalog staples, Heart paid homage to Led Zeppelin as they often do in concert. If anyone can equal Robert Plant's yowling and evocative delivery, it's Ann Wilson, who vocally danced through a mesmerizing cover of "The Rain Song" as tasteful multicolored lights swirled behind the band.
The rock legends weren't the only shout-outs of the show. Nancy shared a sweet story about an interaction with the late Eddie Van Halen that involved an acoustic guitar, a hotel landline and the guitarist's musical aptitude. In 2021, she wrote '4 Edward' in his honor and in concert unspooled the intriguing instrumental – on acoustic, naturally – with obvious affection.
Acoustic guitar also shaped the foundation of 'Alone,' Ann's voice husky as she built to the powerhouse chorus and the band kicked in, an inventive guitar solo leading the melody into a double punch with 'What About Love.'
In the pantheon of rockers – female or male – few can match the enduring cool of the Wilson sisters.
Let's hope that when Ann stated early in the show that, 'Through all the trials and tribulations, we're back again,' she meant it from the heart.
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