It’s not every day that you get to see two Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted bands, but that’s exactly what happened to folks who saw Heart and Cheap Trick take the stage at Little Caesars Arena on Tuesday night.
Heart hasn’t been on tour since 2019, so you could tell that fans of the legendary rock band were excited to see Ann and Nancy Wilson take to the stage.
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But first, openers Cheap Trick took to the stage, and they did a pretty good job of getting the crowd warmed up for the Wilson sisters.
I will admit, I only know the hit songs from Cheap Trick, so I was mostly into their set once they got to the end and played “Surrender” and “I Want You To Want Me.” I probably would have enjoyed more of it, but their sound was a little off. The guitars were very loud, and you could barely make out a word that was being sung. I wonder if others at the show noticed this. Let me know in the comments!
But things really took off once Heart took to the stage. Ann and Nancy Wilson have been doing this thing since 1975, and man did that show. They are absolute pros, and are showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
Opening songs “Bebe Le Strange” and “Never” got (most) of Little Caesars Arena onto their feet. Not only was Heart’s sound mix perfect, but I was already blown away by the vocals of Ann Wilson.
We really don’t talk enough about Ann’s vocal abilities, and Nancy’s guitar playing. When we think of legendary rock and roll singers, especially women, it’s mostly Janis Joplin or Stevie Nicks that get brought up. While I absolutely adore both of them (especially Stevie), Ann Wilson has always been a legendary vocalist, but at 73 years old, she still sounds incredible live. Sure, she’s had to switch up the way she sings some songs because she can’t hit the super high notes, but man, there were multiple times throughout the night that I was just blown away by her voice.
And we can’t forget about Nancy! So many female guitarists get overlooked when it comes to discussions about best guitarists of all time, and I think Nancy Wilson has to be in the top 20. She’s technically vert gifted, but also extremely versatile, too. Her acoustic guitar intro on “Crazy On You” is beyond iconic, but she can also shred on an Epiphone SG guitar like no other.
Heart’s set included all the hits that fans wanted to hear, like “Crazy On You,” “These Dreams,” “Alone” and of course the last song they played of the night “Barracuda,” which eventually got all of Little Caesars Arena on their feet.
They also included a couple Led Zeppelin covers (”Going to California” and “The Ocean”) which turned the entire arena into a giant sing-a-long. Heart’s cover of “Stairway To Heaven” at the 2012 Kennedy Center Honors ceremony is absolutely legendary, so it was fun to see them play some other Zeppelin tunes. They also briefly covered “Let’s Dance” by David Bowie, which was also a fun surprise. How can you not want to get up and dance when that song comes on?
It doesn’t seem like Heart has any plans on stopping the bus soon, so hopefully we’ll see them back in Detroit again soon. Long live the Wilson sisters!
