Aplscruf's Music, Art, and Literature Blog

Heart Heats Up Marymoor Park July 1, 2014

Nancy and Ann Wilson Heating Up the Stage

Just when we thought it couldn’t get any hotter on this record-breaking scorcher of a Tuesday, Heart lit the stage on fire.

Pat and I have lived near Seattle our entire lives and we’ve never seen Heart in concert. Looking back, it seems like a sin.  Last spring, we witnessed Ann Wilson as a surprise guest at PettyFest. She belted out Tom Petty’s songs with such rockin’ fury, we knew we had to see her with a full band sometime.  We didn’t have to wait long; soon after, Heart tickets for Marymoor Park went on sale.  They were overpriced, but we decided to go for it.

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I knew with the July heat and weekday traffic, that this night would either be hit or miss.  We planned our route, left a little early from work and were surprised at how quickly we entered the park and found good parking.  

Now the wait began.  A huge line was already forming, yards away from the gate.  Of course, the line was situated directly in the 95-degree sun, so we hunkered down as best we could.  I brought an umbrella, but we chose to just bear it and turn away from the sun as long as possible (I know I’ll miss that sun come November).  I finally gave up and found a shady spot while Pat dealt with the heat and the line.  It started moving fairly quickly in about 20 minutes, and I re-joined him when it turned a corner into the shade.  We got in after a quick bag search.

Our eighth-row seats were stage left, just right of center.  Nice.  We could handle this spot.  The seats were at a triangular configuration, so it was easy to get in and out of there without having to crawl over too many people.  We made our way back over to the beer and food trucks. Luckily, we entered the food line fairly quickly because I’m sure the people last in line behind us had an hour wait.  We settled on a Surf Infusion truck and ordered yummy tacos and a pulled pork sandwich.  They held us over for the rest of the night. Alright, the logistical details are finished. All went well, and better than expected. We were looking forward to relaxing and enjoying the show.

As we were finishing our food, Michael Grimm took the stage.  He was the winner on Season 5 (2010) of “America’s Got Talent” and played a nice solo acoustic set.  His smooth voice had just a touch of grit.  Grimm and Ann Wilson sang a duet for his debut, self-titled album, but we weren’t blessed with a duet tonight.

Michael Grimm opens the Heart show on the massive stage at Marymoor Park, Redmond, WA

We found our seats as he finished up his last two songs.  We gave him a hearty applause, but there were still rows of people who hadn’t shown up yet.  Lots of them were stuck in the enormous food lines. I don’t think the show was sold out, either, which surprised me.  

I was always a Heart fan, but in a “Well, they’re from Seattle, so of course I like them,” sort of way. I listened to Heart throughout my adolescence, but only own one vinyl album (Dog and Butterfly) and a more recent Greatest Hits CD.  They made an hourly appearance on our classic rock radio stations for decades.  I guess I took them for granted, even though they’ve sold over 35 million albums and keep making more, including the most recent album, Fanatic.

What I didn’t expect is to be completely blown away by Heart. I knew it would be a good show, but I was kind of expecting to just hang out in the summer heat and enjoy the music.  I did not realize the magnitude of their talents and the impact they would have on me.

Nancy Wilson starts off the rockin’ night with “Crazy on You”

Nancy Wilson entered the stage to growing cheers as the crowd hurriedly found their seats.  We all stood and hushed up as Ms. Wilson strapped on a gorgeous acoustic guitar and played the intro to “Crazy On You”  with such power and emotion. Oh, I had chills on this 90-degree evening! I showed Pat my goose-pimpled arm.  She threw her golden tresses around with a toss of her head, posed, postured, and thrust the guitar up and down as she worked her magic on the strings with ease.  She is truly a guitar goddess; and I must admit, by the end of the night, I had a serious girl-crush on her. Pat didn’t seem to mind that one bit. Her lacy leg kicked high as she finished the intro, and Ann Wilson joined her on stage with a roar from the crowd.  

Ann Wilson, the raven-haired rock diva, hasn’t lost her vocal prowess. Her legendary female Voice of Rock is known throughout the world.  She belted out “Crazy On You” with the same gusto as she did in the 1970’s, and nailed the high notes in the chorus.

Ann Wilson, Queen of Heart

The 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees worked the entire stage, moved close to the edge and bent down for a closer view of their audience, waved to the crowd, smiled, grimaced and used their entire bodies to convey the music.  Their stage presence was one of the best I’ve seen in years.  Their backing band was great, too, but they held back and let Ann and Nancy shine. Current members include: Ben Smith, Debbie Shair, Craig Bartock, and Dan Rothchild.

The Setlist:

• Crazy On You
• Heartless
• What About Love  – After this massive hit, Nancy exclaimed that Marymoor Park is very special to them because back in the day, they used to come to the Park with a 6-pack and a guitar and hang out.
• Dreamboat Annie  – featured Ann on flute
• Straight On
• Little Queen
• Let Me Roll It – Ann wanted to dedicate this Wings cover to Sir Paul McCartney, since he was sick recently.  They held nothing back, and I stomped along to the intro, in total heaven.
• Heaven – a psychedelic tune, not quite accepted by the Music Industry execs, but one of their favorites.  Nancy played her guitar like a cello, upright and with a bow.
• These Dreams  – Dedicated to Marymoor Park
• Alone
• Mashallah – from their new Fanatic album
• Magic Man
• Barracuda
• Encore:
• No Quarter
  (Led Zeppelin cover)
• The Ocean
  (Led Zeppelin cover)
• Immigrant Song
  (Led Zeppelin cover)
• Kashmir
  (Led Zeppelin cover)
• The Rain Song
  (Led Zeppelin cover)
• Stairway to Heaven – Ann was a little raspy near the end of the long set, but was forgiven as she belted out Robert Plant’s falsetto vocals on “Stairway to Heaven” The Total Experience Gospel Choir joined them on stage for a couple of the Zeppelin tunes!  Amazing.

The crowd was super-polite, which was yet another treat for this fantastic night.  We didn’t see any drunks or rude behavior, other than a few people trying to work their way to the large gap between the front row and tall stage. We actually ended up at the front during the encore, due to ‘blind’ security officials. They just smiled and gave up trying to stop people; everyone was so well-behaved, it wasn’t a problem.  I actually rested my arm on the stage!  It was fantastic.  I was in heaven.  My soul smiled once again, and I turned back to show Pat—he smiled back.  He knew!

*Note: My pictures are horrible due to lighting and using my phone as a shabby excuse for a camera.  See Heart’s Facebook page for some incredible shots of the band from some amazing local photographers!

July 10, 2014 Posted by aplscruf | Ann Wilson, Concert Season 2014, Heart, Marymoor Park, Music, Nancy Wilson | 1 Comment