One of the great 70s female rock singer came to the valley on Tuesday to play at the Celebrity Theatre. Ann Wilson and her sister Nancy are the founders the rock group Heart. Ann is currently touring on her own and has a new band. She joked that the band is the “No Name Band” and is made up of Craig Bartock (Guitar), Andy Stoller (Bass), Dan Walker (Keyboards) and Denny Fongheiser (Drums). Both Craig and Denny have played with Heart in the past.
The show started with Ann and the band performing the classic The Who song, “The Real Me”. I have seen Ann and Heart a number of times over the years with the first time in 1978. It was amazing after almost 40 years, Ann’s voice was still clear and strong. She is still an amazing singer and was able to show her range with a number of the songs including the opener, “The Real Me”. They then moved into a trio of Heart hits, “Barracuda”, Crazy On You” and finally “What About Love”. Then band played a wide range of songs from a number of different bands, including Elvis, The Animals, Jimi Hendrix, The Who and Ray Charles, etc. Ann also sang a couple of her own songs, “Fool No More” and “Anguish”.
About ½ way through the set, Ann and the band took a short break. They started the second half with a classic Heart song, “A Million Miles”. Again in this part of the show they covered a number of songs for other great bands including The Animals and Peter Gabriel. They ended the main set with another The Who classic “Love, Reign O’er Me”. Most bands come back after the main set for a single song encore. Ann and the band did 2 encores of 4 fantastic songs.
Ann voice was tight and strong. She hit all of the highs and belted out the power sections of The Who songs perfectly. The band was very good and did not over perform Ann. Ann is the star and they let her take command of the stage and audience. The sound system was excellent. You could hear each band member and Ann’s voice was crystal clear.
For tonight’s show, the Celebrity Theatre was configured to a full surround setup, where the stage revolves. This allowed everyone in the theater to have fantastic seats and have a great view. Another great thing that was done at the Celebrity Theatre was that for a $5 donation to St. Mary’s Food Bank you get put into a drawing and the winner got upgraded to 2 front row seats.
Review and photos by Fred Kuhlman
Promoter: Danny Zelisko Presents
Venue: Celebrity Theatre
Date: Tuesday May 23, 2017
Photos © Fred Kuhlman 2017
Setlist:
The Real Me (The Who cover)
Barracuda (Heart song)
Crazy on You (Heart song)
What About Love (Heart song)
Fool No More (Ann Wilson & Craig Bartock)
One Night (Elvis Presley cover)
Anguish (Ann Wilson)
Manic Depression (The Jimi Hendrix Experience cover)
Intermission:
A Million Miles (Heart song)
I’ve Seen All Good People (Yes cover)
She Talks to Angels (The Black Crowes cover)
Don’t Give Up (Peter Gabriel cover)
We’ve Gotta Get Out of This Place (The Animals cover)
Won’t Get Fooled Again (The Who cover)
Alone (Heart song)
Love, Reign O’er Me (The Who cover)
Encore:
For What It’s Worth (Buffalo Springfield cover)
Ain’t No Way (Aretha Franklin cover)
Encore 2:
I Put a Spell on You (Screamin’ Jay Hawkins cover)
The Danger Zone (Ray Charles cover)
