An Evening with Heart
Rock royalty swept into town here in the Austin, Texas, area and proved why they reside at the top with their legendary peers. Without an opening band to share the stage and time with, Heart created an intimate mood in an arena holding thousands.
A few minutes after eight p.m. the lights went out and the giant curtain emblazoned with Heart’s logo became a trippy video screen that started counting down the years since the band’s inception. Short news reels showed headline images like Saturday Night Live players, Michael Jackson moonwalking, miners rescued from a collapse, 9/11, Kurt Cobain, each and every year right up to 2025.
She is undoubtedly the Queen of rock, and she stood and sat there as if possessing all that authority.
Then the band started playing behind the curtain, cast in red light, as if they were a caged animal waiting to burst out. The building and rumbling low end and gnarly riffs of “Bebe Le Strange” started bubbling to the surface. Then the curtain dropped while stagehands scrambled to get it off stage and the band kept pacing forward, staking their claim to the stage like Joshua counting each step as if he owned every inch covered. It was a strange and funky song to start things off, but it was a perfect way to identify that this was Heart and they were in complete control.
Two things immediately jumped out when the stage was revealed — there were seven players on stage (!) and frontwoman Ann Wilson was leaning on a bar stool at center stage. She is undoubtedly the Queen of rock, and she stood and sat there as if possessing all that authority. My heart hoped she wouldn’t falter or show signs of age during what I was expecting to be a huge three-hour show.
I started counting all the players and noticed that there were four guitarists. ‘This promises some interesting possibilities,’ I thought to myself.
The band segued right into “Never” and Ann’s voice was on, full, and rock solid.
Without skipping a beat, Ann declared, “Let’s do this thing,” and they whipped into “Magic Man” and the place exploded with applause and excitement. When it came time for that first blistering guitar solo, the guy with the longest hair who seemed to occupy the space on stage left that shouted “LEAD GUITARIST,” Ryan Wariner, stepped up front and center. His six strings were screaming with feeling and he sauntered ever closer off to the side of Ann, looking over at her like he was seeking her approval. “Am I playing it right, Mama?” He was killing it on that Les Paul.
A bit later in the song, after Wariner played a couple tasty leads, it presents another solo section, which guitarist/keyboardist Paul Moak and his dreadlocks occupied the spot to the right of Ann. It was great to hear this awesome song performed so well and to see a lot of stage moves and performance craftsmanship.
The band kept the show moving at a brisk pace, with hardly a pause between songs. This made the pauses and brief chats that did come welcomed and endearing throughout the show.
Nancy Wilson introduced “These Dreams,” which she sings lead vocals on, with a little quip about the ’80s, hoping that everyone had changed their hairstyle since then.
The stage backdrop was a bunch of ruching / layers of purple or deep blue curtains. The mood lighting was usually a blueish hue that gave the whole night kind of “an intimate evening with your favorite band” kinda vibe. Of course, all the color spectrum made splashes throughout the night. It was neat to see a sea of smartphones aimed at the stage during this song, with people wanting to capture the sweet moment. I also spied an eighth (!) performer on stage right by the drummer, adding some shaker action to this tune.
The band kept the show moving at a brisk pace, with hardly a pause between songs. This made the pauses and brief chats that did come welcomed and endearing throughout the show. They played one of their old tunes next, “Little Queen,” which shows the subtle sass and energy the band has always delivered. Right after the song ended Ann belted out the performers’ names: “Paul Moak on keyboards and guitar; Ryan Waters on guitar; Nancy Wilson on guitar; Sean T. Lane on drums; Tony Lucido on bass; and Ryan Wariner on guitar.” Nancy politely returned the favor by stating her sister’s name (as if we didn’t know it).
A couple times during the show you could see Ann sipping from a tea cup. That might be one of the keys to her voice staying in such great shape!
This is one of those timeless songs where Ann’s vocals and the guitars soar to frighten-ly high heights. A classic, indeed.
The short pause gave the build-up of “Straight On” all the room it needed to rock the room. While most of the (older) audience was seated most of the show, they were moving and groovin’ in that “I’m over 50” way. The band outdid us all in giving off the energy all night.
The harmony guitar leads on this song were just utterly beautiful. Bands like Stryper or the Eagles would have been proud.
Then bassist Tony Lucido crept out to the front of the stage to show what he could do on bass. With a few flashy leads he motioned to the audience to get active. Then he got to the very edge of the stage and just shredded. He got the place moving and it seemed very appropriate to start dancing, and the band segued into “Let’s Dance,” which would’ve made Bowie smile. That mystery percussionist came out again and added some bongos to the drumming. The guitar leads were super excellent during this fun tune as well. They really brought the great song alive.
Nancy took the spotlight as she introduced an acoustic song called “Love Mistake,” about helping talk someone off the ledge after their first heartbreak. Then Ann introduced “You’re the Voice” as a point of hope in our crazy times. Her voice really soared in this song. She sounded strong. The song did capture a real hopeful vibe, with sing-along choruses of “Whoa-oh, oh, oh-oh, ooo.”
Nancy then demanded the spotlight again as she took the very edge and front of stage right to play her amazing and super-fast acoustic guitar intro to “Crazy on You.” This is one of those timeless songs where Ann’s vocals and the guitars soar to frighten-ly high heights. A classic, indeed.
Nancy then sat down midway back at center stage and shared a little story about Eddie Van Halen. They toured together, she shared, and one day Eddie told her how much he liked her acoustic guitar playing. She shared with laughter and shock about how she reacted hearing that kind of praise from a maestro like him. She said she gave him an acoustic guitar that night and early the next morning he woke her up with a phone call. “Check out what I came up with,” he said as he played it over the phone. I assume that what Nancy played next was that tune, as it was called “For Edward.” That was a cool storyteller moment.
If I ever got the chance to sit down for an interview with Heart, it would be easy to just talk about Led Zeppelin the whole time.
Drummer Sean T. Lane did not let silence or the applause from the audience last that long as he went into this amazing mood-setting solo. It built up like a sonic thunderstorm that reminded me of Frank Marino’s “Electric Reflections of War,” which is all guitar feedback. Lane was making all his noise with who knows what. Some sort of Taurus pedal machine on acid? I don’t know. It really conjured that mystical and super heavy “Dazed and Confused” vibe from the Led Zeppelin live show.
This segued into “Love Alive,” which carried some sitar-ish moments. It brought the arena along for a very surreal, atmospheric, and trippy ride. Visions of Morroco’s street musicians filled my head. It was like a “Kashmir” moment – heavy, melodic, and hypnotic. As if they knew what they were doing and what kind of musical ground they were treading, they went right into the lovely Zeppelin ballad, “The Rain Song.” Ann moved as she sang as if she was paying homage to a sound and a song bigger than her band. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard Zeppelin play it so well. Somewhere I could see a tear sliding down Robert Plant’s face. To put it simply, it was purr-fect.
The acoustic guitars took us into the intro to the ’80s mega-hit, “Alone.” The drums built in tension, the guitar leads wailed and this little guitar army took the opportunity to just follow-up on each other. The song medley-shifted into “What About Love,” which deftly placed two great songs into each other.
It felt like a full-blown marathon show, but only two hours zipped by in musical bliss.
Ann shared a sad but beautiful little story about a gardner they employed, who shared the joys of plant life with their children. This gardner passed away much too soon and the day they sprinkled his ashes in their garden at his wish, I guess they wrote this song called “Sand,” which they then played. It featured a moment that showcased how well four guitars can sound together.
Then we all heard the count, “We got the four more ready…” and the band slammed into “The Ocean” in perfect time.
If I ever got the chance to sit down for an interview with Heart, it would be easy to just talk about Led Zeppelin the whole time. They’ve always honored that great band with good covers, including a live version of “Rock and Roll” on their Greatest Hits album. When I saw them play Austin in ’83 they covered “The Rover,” so it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that they’d pull out some deep cuts to cover, but it sure was a treat to hear it.
I think the audience let the band down, however, as they didn’t really take the cue and amp up their sing-alongs to the song, “La-la, la-la-la, la, la-la-la, la-la.” But that’s okay. Ryan Waters played a mean solo during this tune, which featured some riff trade-offs with Ryan Wariner.
Nancy stepped into the guitar fray as they went into “Barracuda,” which would’ve made a heck of a quad mix with all those guitars going at once. The song was extended to let the lead guitars do their thing at full volume, and then the concert was over.
It felt like a full-blown marathon show, but only two hours zipped by in musical bliss.
I’m impressed. This old band is not limping across the finish line by any means. They’re still sprinting with loud, boisterous rock and firing on all cylinders. Bravo.
All these brilliant photos by Criss Cann. This review wouldn’t be the same without his excellent contributions.
