Rockin’ Heaven with Heart
Iconic band continues to share their hits with friends and fans
PREVIEW Heart With: Jason Bonham When: Tuesday at 8 p.m. Where: Jubilee Auditorium Tickets: $83 to $113 through Ticketmaster
Ann Wilson made Robert Plant cry tears of joy.
Wilson, whose magnificent voice powered Heart into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, put that voice to work at the 2012 Kennedy Center Honors ceremony with a tribute to iconic rockers Led Zeppelin. With Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones — the remaining members of Led Zeppelin — sitting in the front row of the balcony at the Kennedy Center Opera House, Heart took to the stage and amazed the audience with a striking cover of Stairway To Heaven.
The video of the performance, which has more than 12.6 million YouTube views, clearly shows the emotional response from Plant and his bandmates.
Yet Wilson isn’t about to take full responsibility for the tears that came from Plant that night.
“I’m not so sure his tears were solely about our performance,” Wilson said in a phone interview from her Seattle home.
“There were so many things that were probably going on inside his heart, one of them seeing Jason (Bonham) drumming, the son of his best friend who died, who was only a child when Stairway To Heaven came out. Seeing him down there must have also brought back memories of his friend John (Bonham, former Led Zeppelin drummer).
“It must have been an emotional moment for him for a lot of reasons. I was just really happy. My mission that night was to please those guys and make them feel real good. Here they were, this rock band on their best behaviour, dressed up in suits in front of the president, and I just really wanted to make them feel happy. I’m glad we did.”
The event, which was held Dec. 2, 2012, in Washington, D.C., was a prelude to a joyous 2013 for Heart. In addition to a successful U.S. tour that hit 30 cities, Heart was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 18.
“That was one night where we kind of looked at each other with big owl eyes.”
ANN WILSON
The ceremony rewarded Heart for a career that includes 35 million albums sold, seven Top 10 albums, four Grammy nominations and 21 Top 40 hits including Crazy On You, Magic Man, Barracuda, Even It Up, These Dreams and Alone.
When asked if the induction was a validation of Heart’s career or acknowledgment of what the band already knew, Wilson had a quick response.
“It was an acknowledgment of something we already knew,” said Wilson. “The band would have gone on with as much confidence as ever had we not been inducted but having said that, I have to say that it was big, big honour …
“It was kind of like a birthday party where you already know you’re 29 or 30 or whatever it is but you stand in a room and everybody goes, ‘Yay for you. You’re 30!’ It was that kind of feeling, only magnified a million times.”
The induction was for the original lineup of the band which was comprised of Nancy and Ann Wilson, Howard Leese, Michael DeRosier, Steven Fossen and Roger Fisher. Leading up the ceremony, many referred to the Wilson sisters as trailblazers, leading the way for other women into the rock world.
Although a massive compliment, Ann Wilson said she and her sister didn’t really think about their career in that fashion.
“For us, it’s subjective because we’re inside it. We’re just doing what we’re doing,” said Wilson.
“Sometimes it takes people telling you, ‘Hey, this is what you did,’ to realize it. That was one night where we kind of looked at each other with big owl eyes and went, ‘Whoa, I guess we did.’”
Heart is currently in Canada with its Rockin’ Heaven tour, along with Jason Bonham.
Wilson was somewhat hesitant when asked which of the hits was her personal favourite, but after a little prodding, she provided a few tunes she enjoys performing.
“It’s kind of hard to separate one out, but I think if you were to say which song was the most Heart-like song that I could really get my teeth into, I’d say it’d be Mistral Wind. Barracuda, too, because it’s got edges and it was written in such a flurry of anger about a topic that still holds true today. It hasn’t lost any of its edges. Those two songs I never get tired of singing.
“In the ballad area, Dog & Butterfly is a real good Heart song.”