When Heart was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 2013, Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell called them, “Two Joan Of Arcs, standing up front, kicking total ass, backed by a surprisingly powerful and unique band.” Although he was speaking about the original incarnation of the group, Ann and Nancy Wilson are still rocking their way through the present with a knock-out band. One of the most overlooked aspects of Heart has always been the musicians supporting the sisters. Howard Leese, Steve Fossen, Roger Fisher and Michael DeRosier, whom as a whole set high standards for those who replaced them, has evolved into Craig Bartock on guitar, Dan Rothchild on bass, Ben Smith on drums and Debbie Shair on keys. Add in Nancy on acoustic guitar, take out Ann for a moment, and just listen. They will enrapt you.
In a voice over at the beginning of the Hall Of Fame Ceremony, Ann is heard saying that Heart had an opportunity to be great so they were going to go out there and blow everyone’s minds. It was a prophesy they accomplished, first fighting their way into a man’s world of adrenaline rock, through the video vamp age of MTV when the unblinking eye wanted beauty over substance, and now into the modern world where spectacle is all the rage. But this is where Heart has drawn the line and held true to their rock & roll roots. Let Pink swing on a trapeze and Bruno Mars channel James Brown. Heart will stand on a bare bones stage and just play and because of that very action, fans remain loyal. One fan on this night in Biloxi told me that she had been to over a hundred shows. And besides, who else can say they brought a tear to Robert Plant’s eye singing his own band’s “Stairway To Heaven.”
First thing’s first: Ann picks her vocal moments perfectly. Age has not diminished her powerhouse chords but it has changed the way she sometimes inflects and rearranges the tonality of the song. Instead of tearing through “Crazy On You” like an operatic acrobat, she maneuvers around a note and gives you more realistic human emotion; and she saves her high registers for the bigger moments her fans have breathlessly waited for: the crescendos of “Crazy On You” and “Alone,” and Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song.” But truly, it is her whispered vocals that have always been her most spine-tingling moments, as on “Alone” and “Mistral Wind.”
Continuing on their Fanatic tour, supporting their 2012 CD of the same name, they are performing two tracks that may equal, or perhaps even surpass, some of their hardest material. There is a great nasty sound in “59 Crunch” that reverberates through every nook and cranny of the song, and this band just shines on it. With “Dear Old America,” a song Ann explained was written for her father, a former Marine, and dedicated to all the servicemen, it stimulates with a bitterness that can come only from someone who has lived with a family member affected by the reality of military service.
Again, this all comes back around to the band: Bartock is a subtly fiery guitar player, rising to Ann-octave heights on “Magic Man,” without ever reverting to stereotypical guitar god poses, and slinks through some slide on “59 Crunch.” Drummer Smith provoked his bandmates to go bigger and harder on just about every song, especially the aforementioned songs alongside Bartock and Rothchild. Nancy springs to life, especially when playing her acoustic, ala her signature intro to “Crazy On You,” “Alone,” “These Dreams” and “The Rain Song,” a much better guitar player than she is given credit for.
Highlights included a special performance of “Rain” honoring The Beatles’ 50th anniversary of coming to America; raucous versions of “Misty Mountain Hop” and “59 Crunch;” “Dog & Butterfly;” and an almost hypnotic “Mistral Wind.”
“We were just young kids trying to do something good,” former guitar player Howard Leese told Glide last year. Almost 40 years since the release of their debut, Dreamboat Annie, Heart continues on, fifteen studio albums behind them, still going strong in every way.
SETLIST: Barracuda, Heartless, What About Love, Magic Man, 59 Crunch, Rain, Mistral Wind, Dog & Butterfly, These Dreams, Alone, Dear Old America, Crazy On You. ENCORE: Immigrant Song, The Rain Song, Misty Mountain Hop.
Live photographs by Leslie Michele Derrough
