On June 13th, I had the honor of seeing Ann Wilson of Heart perform live at the Basement East in Nashville, Tennessee. To my surprise, there was no opener as Ann and her band played for the entire 3 hour show. Backed by some serious players, Ann and her band dazzled the audience with familiar hits and even a solid amount of new songs off the new album, Fierce Bliss, released on April 29th, 2022. She even busted out a flute multiple times to show just how powerful a musician she is. What made this show so unique was the fact that normally to see Ann Wilson or Heart you would have to see them at an arena but she gave us an intimate experience in the 400 seat Basement East. I saw Heart for the first time in Washington DC for the Foo Fighters July 4th 20th anniversary show at RFK Stadium so to see Ann again in such a small venue was an unforgettable experience. As much as I enjoyed the Heart classics, I was pleasantly surprised at how well the new songs sounded. Almost on the heavier side, the new music took us straight to riff city but still kept that 70’s guitar focus. Ann reflected on her time stuck in the house during quarantine and explained that she would listen to the birds and write the new music. Ann and her band even threw down a Led Zeppelin cover as well as a Jeff Buckley tune and even did a snippet of “Let’s Dance” by David Bowie. 

I’m Music Magazine Photographer/Writer Kris Cagle