BALTIMORE — The Seattle sisters that helped define arena rock with their powerhouse band Heart stopped by Baltimore's CFG Bank Arena Monday night to receive a heavy dose of fan love in support of their extensive Royal Flush tour.
Lead singer Ann Wilson and guitar maestro sibling Nancy spent roughly 90 minutes sauntering down memory lane by playing highlights and a few surprises from a career spanning five decades to the near-capacity arena crowd.
Ably backed by guitarists Ryan Wariner and Ryan Waters, multi-instrumentalist Paul Moak, bassist Tony Lucido, and drummer Sean T. Lane, the pair started with the title track from their 1980 album "Bébé le Strange."
While Nancy moved about and spun around often armed with an acoustic guitar while all night orchestrating a four-guitar attack from the band, a focused Ann remained stationed front and center and often sat on a stool as they covered the bigger 1970s and 1980s rock staples including "Straight On," "These Dreams" (with Nancy's rare lead vocal), Crazy on You," "What About Love," "Never" and "Magic Man."
Highlights showcasing the sisters entwining and mesmerizing vocal elegance were heard in "Dog and Butterfly" and Ann's flute mastery in "Love Alive" and "Dreamboat Annie."
A few head-scratchers included "This Is Now" from Ann's solo album with her band Tripsitter (all of those musicians were now part of Heart) and the out-of-place David Bowie cover "Let's Dance."
Either could have easily been replaced with the more familiar and impactful songs from the Heart catalog such as "Heartless," "Kick It Out" and "Even It Up."
Septuagenarian Ann Wilson was tasked with challenging herself to reproduce her famed three-octave range and, although with some slightly diminished moments, she masterfully pushed her voice to its limit, never cracking and often soaring.
And as expected, the sisters paid tribute to one of their major influences, Led Zeppelin, with a pair of classics. The acoustic song "Going to California” anchored the band sit-down mid concert.
Next as part of the encore was a pounding version of "The Ocean.” Heart concluded the night with the classic rock radio anthem "Barracuda" with Nancy’s signature crunchy guitar riffs played on her Gibson SG.
And, while on the topic of classic rock radio legends, the power-popping, garage-rocking dynamos Cheap Trick opened the night with a blistering almost hourlong set covering many of their hits from a six-decade career.
The original line-up of elderly guitar wizard Rick Nielsen, lead singer Robin Zander and bassist Tom Petersson (all in their 70s) was supplemented by Mr. Nielsen's son Daxx on drums and Mr. Zanders’ son Robin Taylor on rhythm guitar and vocals.
The 14-song set offered the signature songs "Dream Police" and "Surrender" as well as "Ain't That a Shame" and "I Want You to Want Me," the later made famous from the live "Cheap Trick at Budokan" album from 1979.
Mr. Zander’s son was allowed to sing the rare tune "Downed" originally heard from that 1979 concert at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo and sounded exactly like his old man.
By the way, Mr. Zander's vocals have shown no sign of age as demonstrated by a soaring version of the band's one and only No. 1 hit from 1988 "The Flame.”
A usually hunched Mr. Nielsen showcased a small museum's worth of guitars, changing one every song to demonstrate his loud style, and flicked picks at the crowd like a ninja wielding throwing stars or tossed them out like confetti.
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