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Ever seen Heart in concert?

#41
I worked with them at a festival in 1998. Nancy Wilson wasn't there. Ann Wilson seemed to be in a foul mood and wasn't very nice to their crew and totally ignored the production crew (that's not surprising, happens often). The rest of the band and crew were super friendly and cool. However, when they hit the stage she was magic. They upstaged Foreigner (who were the headliner) by quite a bit. Lou Gramm was recovering from a brain tumor at the time so I should cut them some slack for phoning it in, I suppose. Him and Mick Jones were not on speaking terms I don't think. They asked for separate trailers at opposite ends of the backstage compound. Festival management complied with that but Gramm complained that they were too close anyway. :laugh: To their credit though, they were nice to the crew and I had a pretty decent chat with Mick Jones.
 
#43
IMMusicRulz said:
As a devout Heart fan, I decided to ask this simply because I posted a similar thread about Kansas.

My parents actually think they saw Heart in concert. I know my mom saw Rush in 1976, and she told me that Blue Oyster Cult, REO Speedwagon, and Heart were also on the same bill. I am a little jealous that my mom saw Heart in concert.

Heart had some very good bass players in Steve Fossen and Mark Andes. They were a very compelling live act (but wasn’t every rock band a compelling live act in those days?)

But if you have seen Heart in concert please let me know. There’s actually a clip of Heart performing at the California Jam concert on YouTube. You’ll have to find it…
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Only on TV, still awesome! One of my favorite concert DVDs

I did see Kansas live, (with Foghat, Molly Hatchet and the Georgia Satellites) . Great show.
 
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#45
I saw them on a UK tour in early 2000's.

As a band they were tight and sounded good, but it was disappointing, as they refused to play any of their 80's hits. I know there's some history there, and during period the band were unhappy as being marketed the way they were. I also wonder if they didn't want to make royalty payments on the songs they didn't write?

You could argue that its on me, that I'm not as familiar with the bands "long history", but the set as 100% 70's material, mixed with the new album. To miss Alone, What About Love, Never, These Dreams etc was especially problematic here in the UK, as the band was essentially unheard of in the UK, never having had a single or album make the top 100 charts prior to 86. In the US Heart are a 70's band that re-invented themselves in the late 80's while in the UK they're simply a 80's band (much like Whitesnake are but geographically reversed).
 
#47
Saw them a few years ago in Dayton. Great show!

As a random piece of trivia... Before Heart was Heart, my dad sat in with them as a guitarist regularly. I found out about that through an academic paper at Wright State University of all places. Since my dad never talks about anything from his past, yet also has a very cool past, sometimes I'll google his name just to see if something new comes up. Somebody had interviewed another Dayton musician and he brought my dad up a few times.

I asked him about it, and he said, 'Well, I never brought it up because they weren't 'Heart' yet. In that article, I also discovered that his high school drummer was Ron Riddle, who'd go on to play in Blue Oyster Cult.

When I asked my dad about the times he played with Heart, he was also hilariously casual about it with his fanboy son. He said, "Oh yeah, Nancy and I still email each other from time to time." "Wait, you're friends with freakin' Nancy Wilson." "Well, I mean, we're not close but we stay in touch"
 
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#55
I saw Heart in the 70's, I must have been around 16 I think. It was with Steve Fossen on bass. As was with most of the shows I saw then(and I saw everyone who came through the DC/Maryland area) it was a big arena show. The sound at these was not always exactly clear. But to this day I have a memory of it being one of the clearest, most distinct bass sounds I've ever heard live, particularly in a big venue. Maybe because I was dead-center on the floor (but I wasn't that close). If memory serves it was a natural J or P, pickstyle, sounded like flatwounds, and it was just mixed so well and as I say, clear as a bell. And they were killer. Ann is a force of nature.
 
#57
I've seen them three times. Unfortunately, i didn't get to see them in the 70s. All three times were before their falling out, with the first one being about 10-12 years ago.

All three were great shows, but Ann seemed to be having gone voice issues at the middle show. She was in great voice at the other two and probably didn't even need to use a mic. ;)

Great bands at all three shows, too.
 
#58
alack said:
I too saw them on the Bebe La Strange tour. I love that record and have long been a Steve Fossen fan. His funky pick approach on songs like Heartless and Straight On were eye opening when I was first learning the instrument.
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Funny you mentioned those specific songs. In the late '90s after playing exclusively finger-style for about 15 years, those songs were very influential in learning to use a pick. I especially enjoyed the snap of his picked lines weaving in with the snappy Fender guitars on Heartless. Sound like Telecasters to me. John Glascock in Jethro Tull was another big influence on getting pick-style down.
 
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#59
Jimmy Howe said:
Funny you mentioned those specific songs. In the late '90s after playing exclusively finger-style for about 15 years, those songs were very influential in learning to use a pick. I especially enjoyed the snap of his picked lines weaving in with the snappy Fender guitars on Heartless. Sound like Telecasters to me. John Glascock in Jethro Tull was another big influence on getting pick-style down.
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Agreed! That live Tull record (Bursting Out) featuring Glascock’s picked Stingray was big for me.
 
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#60
Steve Fossen, what were you thinking when you picked that top out...?

images
 
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