A Heartmonger Meets Her Idols

Heart became my favorite music group in 1987. I was 18 years old and their album Bad Animals was on the charts. Particularly, the song "Alone" was on the charts. I fell in love with the album, but more importantly, I fell in love with Ann Wilson's voice. I went out and purchased every Heart album ever made.

Ann & Nancy Wilson St. Louis 8/2013

When I started listening to all of these records I realized I knew a lot of these songs. I remember being 7 years old, living in Jacksonville, Fl, riding in the car with the windows down and "Magic Man" coming on the radio. I just never put two and two together and recognized that Heart of the 1980s was the same group that put out all those great songs in the 1970s. I think that is still the case today. I think Heart is one of the most underrated groups of all time and not just because they happen to be my favorite, but for some reason, people just don't seem to retain their name with all of their music. They may remember "These Dreams" or "What about Love", but when you start rambling off their catalog, people are like "oh yeah, I love that song". As great as their songs are, my favorite being "Crazy on You" by the way, it was always Ann's voice that got me. It still does. I truly do not believe the group would have made it without her. As I have gotten older I have come to really appreciate Nancy for her songwriting and musical abilities. I have just now, at the age of 46, begun to try and learn to play the guitar. I aspire to one day be able to play the intro to "Crazy on You" which I think is my all time favorite piece of music.

I have seen Heart live 5 times. The first was around 1990 during their Brigade tour. I saw them in Orlando from the cheap seats. They were filming a video and Giant was the opening act. They were fantastic. I never for a moment thought they would suck live. How could they with Ann's voice? It would be 21 years before I would see them again. This time it was during their "Red Velvet Car" tour (awesome album btw) in Topeka, KS. I was in the cheap seats again, the Edgar Winter Group opened, and Heart once again was fantastic. In 2012 they performed "Stairway to Heaven" with Jason Bonham on drums at the Kennedy Center Honors for Led Zeppelin. It hit huge numbers on YouTube and iTunes. This led to the Jason Bonham Experience opening for them when they went on tour to promote their Fanatic album. This also led to me seeing them for the 3rd time. This time it was in St. Louis and the seats were not so cheap (either 3rd or 5th row). The above picture was taken with my friend's cellphone. His camera was much better than mine. If you have never have seen Heart live,one thing you should know is when they do their encore they do not do Heart songs. They do Led Zeppelin songs and they are fantastic at it. During this particular tour Jason Bonham would come back to drum Heart's encore set.

It was at this point I decided to become an official Heartmonger and join their fan club. For $30 bucks a year I get access to the website, a tee shirt, but most importantly concert pre-sale codes. I learned that they would be playing in a fabulous old, restored theater in Salina, KS in October of 2014. I was excited. I could buy a pre-sale ticket and get a fabulous seat. Unfortunately, I had the date wrong for when the pre-sale started. When I realized it I was stuck with a third row seat on the wrong side of the stage. That is the side where Nancy isn't. Still, it was a beautiful venue complete with ushers in uniform. There was no opening act or merchandise on sale. It was all Heart and was fabulous. You must remember that both Ann and Nancy are in their 60s now. They look and sound amazing, but you never know when they may get tired of the road. I despaired of not getting to see them again.

As fate would have it,in January,dates were announced for the Love=Music tour. They would be playing in Sioux City, IA on 3/25/15 and Joan Jett and the Black Hearts would be the opener. It is a 4 hour drive to Sioux City. This time I knew exactly when the pre-sale tickets were available. I got a front row seat right in front of Nancy.I still have a phone that does not have a great camera, so I had a harder time getting a decent picture of Ann as she was moving around quite a bit

Nancy Wilson Sioux City 3/2015

Ann Wilson Sioux City 3/2015

As fantastic as getting a front row seat was imagine my delight when they later announced there were add on VIP packages going on sale. I must admit it was a bit of a financial stretch for me. After all, I had already purchased my seat, plus I had to figure in gas, and I had gotten a room for the night as well. The package was an additional $250, but I knew if I didn't do it I would always regret it. So once again, I get my pre-sale code and literally counted down the minutes until they went on sale. Afterwards, I was very nervous. There would be a meet and greet and I was honestly afraid I would burst into tears. 

The day of the show arrived and I picked up my ticket and checked into the hotel, freshened up a bit and then it was time to head over to the arena to begin the VIP experience. We had to be there at 5:30 and their were about 15 of us. The VIP Coordinator was named Amy and she was wonderful. After signing in and receiving some of our swag ( ball cap, vip badges, little metal case that contained about 5 different Heart guitar pics, a limited edition poster we received later after the sisters signed them) we headed up to purchase any merchandise we wanted without the hassle of the crowds and as an added bonus we got to hear Joan Jett doing a sound check. 

Next we headed to the VIP room. It is done up in rich colors with candlelight. Food and beverage was served. Next on the agenda was the stage tour. The broke us into two groups. I was fortunate enough to be in the group that was led by Heart's Stage Manager. He answered any and all questions and gave us some real insight into what an operation it is to make something seem effortless, when it really isn't. Next came the best surprise of the night. We were introduced to Nancy's guitar tech Jeff. Not only were we introduced, but he had the guitar cabinets open. I was thrilled. Imagine my surprise when he asked if any of us wanted our picture taken with a guitar! I have always coveted Nancy's 1963 blue and white Telecaster. I asked if I could have mine taken with it and lo and behold he pulls it out and puts it one me. I couldn't believe it!

Me with Nancy's guitar tech Jeff and the Telecaster

We got to try and win a different guitar pick by answering a couple of trivia questions and yes I did win one. Now it was time to go back to the VIP room and await the arrival of Ann and Nancy. Amy advised us that they were pretty quite, Ann in particular as she was very aware of her voice and not wearing it out. She was told on a radio that the sisters were on their way. We were told to line up. I was strangely calm. They came in and of course we clapped. They sat at a table and we took turns going up to them, saying what we wanted to say and then going behind them to have our photo taken. They were very nice and polite, if somewhat subdued. I am sure they feel like animals on display during these things. They were not in their stage wear yet. When it was my turn I shook their hands and thanked them for taking the time to meet with us. Then I had my photo taken.

Me with Ann & Nancy Sioux City 3/2015 #heartvip15

It is a strange thing meeting your idols. On one hand I would have liked for there to have been a little more interaction, but I know that these women had a show to prepare for. Also, do we really want to hang out with our idols? Both of these ladies have been a huge force in rock and roll, particularly in showing that women can rock too. They seem very cool in interviews, but the reality is we don't know these people anymore than they know us. They may hold very different views on somethings than I do. I believe we think we want to hang out with our idols because we have formed an opinion of who they are in our minds. I think Ann and Nancy do it right,short and sweet. Think how horrible it would be to finally meet your idol and learn he is actually a jerk. I am sure that these are two of the coolest ladies on the planet, but I am glad I didn't spend much time with them. They as women and their music have come to mean so much to me over the years and I don't want anything to tarnish that. 

Were given our signed posters right after our photo was taken and then it was time to head to my front row seat. I loved seeing various generations in the crowd. I sat next to a family of four. The mom, dad and two teenage daughters who were huge Heart fans. I love that! I was sitting next to one of the girls and she had a little sign asking Nancy to throw her a pick because it was her birthday. Nancy did, it fell in the security barrier, we finally found it with the help of our cellphone lights and a kind security guard. Nancy even came back over and asked the girl is she got it. Once again, Heart put on a stellar performance. Will this be the last time that I see them? I don't know, but I do know it is one big thing I have marked off my bucket list.