Concert Review: Heart @ Fox Theater - Detroit - June 4, 2025

 

After a half-century of music and despite some serious sibling dysfunction that'd make Oasis raise their bushy eyebrows, the Wilson sisters, Ann & Nancy, sole remaining members of Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Heart are on the road with their An Evening With Heart Tour which kicked off last week with some of their gear being stolen in New Jersey and rolled into Detroit's iconic Fox Theater for an evening of classic rock.

Backed by three additional guitarists (one also covering keys), bass, drums, and an occasional percussionist the ensemble was able to create a lush wall of sound capable of covering all the layered parts of songs like "Crazy On You."

While Ann Wilson has had some recent health challenges and performed perched on the edge of a high stool (and needed a little help getting on and off stage, holding the bassist's arm), she sounded in fine voice which is even more remarkable considering she'll be turning 75 later this month. Here and there she would back off from some of the highest notes of the repertoire or use a different tonality than she would've 45 years ago, but she was still able to deliver the goods.

If you were there for the hits, you got them - Seventies FM classics like "Bebe Le Strange", and "Magic Man" as well as Eighties MTV staples "These Dreams", "Alone" and "What About Love" (which were mashed together in a medley connected by their guitar solos), and "Never" - along with some too-deep cuts that got the audience off their feet like "Love Mistake" and "Little Queen." One of their biggest hits, the lyrically terrifying "All I Want To Do Is Make Love To You" was missing, probably because Ann doesn't like it.

Also on the mash-up tip was the way "Straight On" segued into a Bootsy-esque bass solo then David Bowie's "Let's Dance." The set was also populated by two Led Zeppelin covers - "The Rain Song" and "The Ocean" - a Chris Thompson tune ("You're The Voice"), and a tune from their Lovemongers side project ("Sand").

If you'd checked setlists beforehand, you probably looked at the half-hour intermission after only eight songs and wondered what that was about when Bruce Springsteen is currently putting on at least 2-1/2 hour shows at the same age? Well, that had been changed to a mid-show break where Ann and the band left the stage except for Nancy - who told a story about giving Eddie Van Halen an acoustic guitar before playing her acoustic instrumental tribute to him, "4 Edward" - at which point she exited to leave drummer Sean T. Lane to do a weird art noise/industrial thing that didn't hit a drum at all. Then the band returned for the rest of the show.

If there was something lacking from An Evening With Heart's 95-minute show (including what Ann joked was a "fake encore, imagine we left, then came back" for the last three songs) was enough rock & roll pep & vigor. Most of the songs felt a tad slow & there were too many sit-down songs. I saw them in 1987 on the Bad Animals tour and I recall that rocking much harder, though to be fair they were only in their 30s then. Some more energetic album cuts like "How Can I Refuse?" or "If Looks Would Kill" would've been appreciated.

That said, they did conclude with a satisfying one-two punch of Zeppelin's "The Ocean" and "Barracuda" which get the crowd hyped the moment Nancy tore into the chugging harmonic riff. Always finish on a high note and the crowd will remember that most.

Set List:

1. Bebe Le Strange
2. Never
3. Magic Man
4. These Dreams
5. Little Queen
6. Straight On / Let's Dance
7. Love Mistake
8. Crazy On You
9. 4 Edward
10. Drummer's Art/Noise Thing
11. Love Alive
12. You're The Voice
13. The Rain Song
14. Alone / What About Love
15. Sand
16. The Ocean
17. Barracuda

Their upcoming tour dates can be found here.