Photo credit: Adam Miszewski
It’s fairly easy to overlook thanks to the dulling effect of familiarity and their rather drastic mid-’80s adult contemporary makeover, but sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart were some pretty tough customers back in their heyday, not only surviving but thriving in the male-dominated world of 1970s hard rock. The string of singles they closed out the decade with is still more or less unimpeachable—anyone who can hear the beginning of “Barracuda” and not react should probably be receiving medical attention—and in probably the greatest test of a song’s strength, they’ve all survived being beaten into the ground by endless repeats on classic rock radio. Thankfully, as Monday night’s show demonstrated, the Wilsons apparently still enjoy playing them too, albeit alongside some later hits that don’t hold up quite so well.
With there being no opening act to speak of, the ushers added a caveat to their usual patter as they showed the massive audience of middle-aged white people to their seats, noting that the show would run from 8 to 9:30 p.m. with no intermission. Despite this oddly specific proclamation, the band didn’t actually take the stage until about a quarter after (although by the sound of it that may have been due to a stubborn bass amp), appropriately kicking off their set with 1977’s “Kick It Out.” A few more classics from the same era followed, but before long the focus shifted dramatically to the sort of slickly commercial high school prom fare the band specialized in during the latter half of the 1980s, such as “What About Love,” “These Dreams” and “Alone.”
A few too many power ballads, however well crafted, led to a sagging middle portion, which wasn’t helped by some equally sentimental new material, including one song given to them by Ne-Yo and originally intended for the “Empire” soundtrack, oddly enough. Many in the crowd took this as their cue to grab another beer or sit down and rest their legs, but were back in place by the time the band returned to the prime cuts. Those included, of course, “Crazy On You” and the inevitable “Barracuda,” but also a rather epic encore, which found them confidently tackling a trio of Zeppelin covers: “Immigrant Song,” “No Quarter” and “Misty Mountain Hop.” Even if the overall song selection could have used a little more of their early edge, Heart can certainly still rock pretty hard.
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