Fearing this Heart tour might be their last*, I caved in and flew across the Atlantic to experience a couple of shows. I’m so happy I did. Once the tour started a saw a lot of fans complain about the setlist, the bandmembers, Ann’s voice and the lack of sisterly love on stage. So I went to the show in Concord (California) with rather low expectations. I saw Heart perform one of their best shows in a long long time however! 12.000 people there had a great time. Seeing Heart play the much smaller Pearl venue in Vegas was a treat and see them finishing this leg at a thundering Hollywood Bowl is something I’ll never forget.
Setlist
Yes, as we’ve all grown accustomed to, the setlist is heavy on the 70s and light on the 80s and after. But a longtime fan would kill to hear Rockin’ Heaven Down, Love Alive, Little Queen and Mistral Wind live in one show. I haven’t seen a better setlist for decades. I do hope Ann doesn’t open their second leg shows announcing a trip through the decades while playing nothing from the 90’s and after. That may have been true earlier in the tour, but all that stuff got replaced.
Band
The bandmembers on this tour are basically the ones Ann recruited for her solo adventures. Throw in two stellar guitarists Nancy and Ryan Waters and you’ve got yourself a true wall of sound. I would have preferred to see more familiar faces on that stage like Ben and Dan, but I soon noticed that my attention was drawn to the sisters full time. As long as it sounds good, the majority of the audience probably doesn’t really care who plays the keys or the drums. And it did sound really good.
Ann
Okay, let’s be fair. Ann is 69 and does not hit those high notes with ease or sometimes not at all. Anyone surprised? Anyone wants their money back? Hell no. I was very impressed with her voice and her emotional delivery (like on What About Love and Alone). At the Hollywood Bowl show she had a bit more trouble as it was a show in a long exhausting line of shows. By the way: Nancy sang some great leads and together the sisters sound as good as always (for instance on The Boxer).
Sisterly love
This topic has been so divisive these last years and even during this reunion tour. I agree with what many fans have been saying. Ann and Nancy interact a lot less than previously in their joint career. But it is really not as bad as you’d think. And does it really matter? Not to me. And if it does matter to you so much, then you gotta ask yourself why it is so important to you. They have their little moments and I even got to witness a good old hug. Seeing them together on stage as Heart gave me chills and it made me realize that their split up had affected me much more than I admitted.
There is so much video on Youtube and Facebook out there, so I’ll just post a couple. I have three live video’s on Facebook:
Live from Concord: These Dreams
Live from Vegas: Little Queen
Live from Hollywood: Stairway To Heaven
Cal Vid posted the entire Hollywood Bowl Show here and for the encore here.
Check out Heart on the second leg of the Love Alive Tour.
*This tour has not been billed as the last Heart tour. I have no information about a new tour either.
“ What’s shaken “