Heart By Heart ~ January 10th ~ Historic Everett Theatre
Everett, Washington.
Almost everyone knows who Heart is and you probably have a favourite of one or more songs, but have you heard of Heart By Heart? January 10th Heart By Heart gave a spectacular performance at The Historic Everett Theatre in Everett, WA.
Heart By Heart is made up of founding member of Heart and Hall of Famer Steve Fossen on bass and original member of Heart and Hall of Famer Mike Derosier on drums, also featuring Legendary guitarist and THE BEST Jimi Hendrix tribute artist Randy Hansen, Radio personality and talented musician Bob Rivers on keyboards, musical virtuoso Lizzy Daymont on guitar and vocals, and Northwest's extremely gifted vocalist Somar Macek.
The doors at The Historic Everett Theatre opened at 4:30pm to ticket holders for the NFL Seattle Seahawks and Panthers game showing on the theatre's huge stage screen. Immediately after the Seahawks won the game, Heart By Heart jumped on stage and gave us another winning show!!
Being a fan of the early songs of Heart, I was more than surprised when Heart By Heart opened their set with, "Cook With Fire!" Not only was I pleased at the choice of their opening song, but the performance was sizzling!! Staying true to the powerful vocals of Ann Wilson, Somar Macek sealed the deal for me when she began to sing! Steve Fossen described Heart By Heart as being the second generation of Heart and I would agree. At one point, I closed my eyes and felt as if I could of been at a Heart concert 40 years earlier.
When original Heart members Steve Fossen and Mike Derosier came together on the Heart By Heart project, they wanted to make sure they did it right. They definitely got it right, with Somar's captivating vocals, Lizzy's wizardry on guitar, not to mention how well Somar and Lizzy's vocals go together, Randy's alluring style and impressive guitar skills, and Bob's enchanting key work. By the time of the third song, "Magic Man" I was completely won over. Understandably, as you will never hear "Magic Man" at a Heart concert as Ann Wilson has said she will not perform the song live and is the first to be chopped from the setlist. That's ok because Heart By Heart ROCKS this one!
As much as I enjoyed Heart's revised version of Dog and Butterfly in concert when I saw them last year, I yearned to hear the studio version live. Lizzy Daymont (Heart By Heart) strapped the acoustic guitar around her shoulder and began to gently strum the opening chords to, "Dog and Butterfly," the way it was done originally. Lizzy being the newest member of Heart By Heart and the key that fits perfectly in the band, really showed her skills on the acoustic guitar. She played the instrument so well that the acoustic sound traveled up front and was the focus of the song, as it should be. Everyone stood up, confirming what I was thinking, this band is BRILLIANT!
Looking up at the stage, seeing the players interact with each other and looking around at the audience smiling and dancing, I realized that the band was having just as much fun as we were! It's super cool to watch Lizzy Daymont and Randy Hansen trade off on solos and harmonize on guitars! "Love Alive" was a perfect example of how well Lizzy and Randy play together! I've been a Randy Hansen fan for a long time and I follow him around probably more than I should (wink), but Randy brings not only his gift of musical talent to Heart By Heart, he brings his charm and lively stage presence.
The 80's Heart hits weren't really my favorite music of Heart, but as Heart By Heart got into the 80's set, I found myself singing right along to Somar Macek and really diggin' it! Audience participation is always fun and when It was time to sing, "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You," Somar aimed the mic out to the audience and we happily sang the chorus. Speaking of love, the band put a rockin' spin on the intro to, "Who Will You Run To," with The Who's "Baba O'Riley" intro. Randy Hansen led with awesome guitar effects and Mike Derosier following with the drum part that Keith Moon would have been proud of.
In my opinion, "Mistral Wind" is one of Hearts best songs and probably not the easiest song to sing or perform, but Heart By Heart sailed through this song perfectly! "Mistral Wind" is meant to take you on a romantic journey and make you feel almost like you're dreaming. Somar with whispering vocals and Lizzy on the acoustic guitar started us on a soothing path of ocean and sky until the drums, bass, and rhythm kicked in taking us out to choppy seas. "Mistral Wind" is all about feeling and nobody can provide the feeling in this song better than Steve Fossen's prominent bassline playing along with Randy's rhythm guitar and Mike Derosiers superb drumming. This was definitely a Hall of Fame performance!!
While Ann and Nancy Wilson are moving forward in their renewed and well deserved Hall of Fame success with a new band and reworked songs, Heart By Heart is making their way around the US playing the music of Heart exactly how it was recorded many years ago and I am a total fan of that!
SETLIST:
Heart By Heart Website:
Review by:
Jill Maciel
West Coast Correspondent CRR.co.uk
Photos by:
Scott Banning
Wow great article!
ReplyDeleteGood review but you have one fact wrong. Ann Wilson has never said she will never sing Magic Man. It still appears on their setlist. They may change up the set list and remove a song for a short time but that one always comes back.
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