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Heart, JOAN JETT and Cheap Trick give it all at the Forum
from: ocregister.com
By KELLI SKYE FADROSKI | Photo by Kevin Mazur
As Nancy and Ann Wilson of rock band Heart were kicking around ideas on how to really promote and celebrate their band's 16th studio release, "Beautiful Broken," which dropped in July, the pair instantly thought of getting together with JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS.
During an interview back in April, Ann Wilson, who performed as solo show as the Ann Wilson Thing at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, said that they knew they needed a solid third act and landed on their longtime friends, Cheap Trick. It was also fitting since all three bands had been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Heart in 2013, Jett in 2015 and Cheap Trick was just officially inducted in April, thus the Rock Hall Three for All tour was announced.
Filling up, though not fully selling-out the Forum in Inglewood on Tuesday night, Heart gave a great mix of hits, covers and new material. The band appeared on stage and Ann got to it, wailing out "Wild Child." That was followed by Nancy's familiar guitar intro to "Magic Man," a song off of Heart's debut, "Deamboat Annie," which turns 40 this year. Ann soared through "What About Love" and talked about equal rights for women before offering "Even It Up."
Nancy took over for "These Dreams," a definite set highlight as she simultaneously bared her soul, rocked out on guitar and showed off the best, blondest, bounciest hair in rock 'n' roll. She was joined by her sister mid-song and the pair's harmonies were spot on. They did a couple of new songs including the title track, "Beautiful Broken," which was dedicated to those who are a little nutty, and a cover of R&B artist Ne-Yo's "Two."
Heading into "Straight On," Ann prefaced the song with a little of James Brown's "Get Up Offa That Thing." Anne's hauntingly powerful delivery of the song "Alone" brought down the house and it was followed by strong back-to-back performances of "Crazy On You," with Nancy going wild on guitar, and "Barracuda."
Heart returned after a quick break with two Led Zeppelin covers for the encore. It started out with a rousing version of "Immigrant Song," Ann's vocal certainly giving 1970s Robert Plant a run for his money, and the evening ended with a beautiful rendition of "Stairway to Heaven."
JOAN JETT is just a badass. She wasted no time digging into her hour-long turn, coming out fast and hard with "Bad Reputation" and her band, the BLACKHEARTS, kept that momentum going by transitioning right into "Cherry Bomb" by Jett's first band, the RUNAWAYS. The 57-year-old performer is still devilishly sharp as she delivers the lyrics of the popular song that she co-wrote over 40 years ago and she also continues to rock the otherwise glam version of Gary Glitter's "Do You Wanna Touch Me? (Oh Yeah)." The seasoned performer got the entire venue clapping and belting out "Oh! Oh yeah! Oh yeah!"
Of course, her other covers went over swimmingly as her take on Tommy James and the Shondells' "Crimson and Clover" had the band flooded in red light and the crowd swaying along and the Arrows' "I Love Rock 'n' Roll," which has always been an audience-pleaser for Jett. She ripped into a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Light of Day," which the Boss had written for a 1987 film of the same title, which starred both Jett and actor Michael J. Fox.
The latest material, off of her 2013 record "Unvarnished," was as much of a treat as the classics. She busted out "Any Weather," a cut she inked with Foo Fighters' frontman Dave Grohl, "TMI," which is a nod to an obsession of over-sharing on social media, and "Soulmates to Strangers," a well-crafted song co-written by Against Me! frontwoman Laura Jane Grace.
Jett is a devoted performer and perfectionist, who apologized a couple of times during her turn for her guitar not being quite ready or for some otherwise unnoticeable flubs. Aside from that, she seemed fearless as she growled out her content and though small in stature, she stood tall as she barked out the lyrics to "I Hate Myself for Loving You," it's still very believable almost 30 years later. She closed out by introducing her band and playing "Everyday People" by Sly & The Family Stone.
There should have been far more people in the building for Cheap Trick. It seemed ridiculous to refer to the influential '70s rock band as "the opener" since, aside from the 6:45 p.m. on-the-dot start time, it wasn't treated as such as it was given a full-hour set, filled with songs that those in attendance seemed to have forgotten they loved.
As recognizable tunes were fired up, fans would jump to their feet, wave their arms and sing their faces off to "Surrender," "Dream Police" and it was hard to resist the clap and sing-along during "I Want You to Want Me."
Cheap Trick had an infectious energy that pumped throughout the set as it did a couple of covers including "California Man" by the Move and Velvet Underground's "I'm Waiting for the Man," which was sung by bassist Tom Petersson. Even its brand new material, "Blood Red Lips" and "No Direction Home," off of its 17th studio album, "Bang, Zoom, Crazy ... Hello" which came out in April, sat well within the set. However, one of the most charming moments came with its slower, love ballad, "The Flame," during which the audience happily helped Robin Zander extend out "over youuuuuuu" each time he hit those notes. |
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