Its been almost 5 years since I saw Nancy Wilson preform live. So, when it was announced that she would be doing a run of 9 shows this summer including a stop in Niagara Falls, it was circled on our calendar to be there. Again, the last time I saw her perform was with her side project called Roadcase Royale. This time she is calling her band Nancy Wilson’s Heart. So its a different entity from Roadacse Royale. Included in this project are Andy Stoller on bass, Kimberly Nichole on vocals, Daniel Walker on keys and two holdovers from R.R. in Ryan Waters on guitar and Ben Smith on drums. You may remember Smith from his drumming days in Heart as well. So you can say Wilson kept some of the old continuity with this new project.
Taking the stage with her trusty Martin acoustic guitar, Wilson went into the McCartney and Wings song “Band on the Run.” A nice number to get the juice’s flowing and of course, anything related to The Beatles is always a good choice to start. One my favorite Heart songs was up next in “Straight On,” where Nichole handled the vocals for. Wilson and Nichole traded off lead vocals throughout the entire set. Nichole exploded on the national scene on season 8 of NBC The Voice. She also hails from Seattle, Washington so maybe that is the tie in how her path crossed with Wilson’s path musically. She also tackled the higher range vocal in “Mistral Wind” and did an admirable job on it. She also handled the iconic Heart cover in “Alone.” It should be noted that Walker was more than tickling the keys as he flavored the softer “Dog & Butterfly” with an accordion. I actually thought this was brilliant! A very nice and interesting touch. Speaking about the song and album of ‘Dog & Butterfly,’ Wilson added the b side “Nada One” into the setlist. I never heard this perform live so it was cool to hear and enjoy. Since Wilson now resides in the San Francisco area and has become good friends with Sammy Hagar, it wasn’t a surprise that she added a Hagar era Van Halen song to the set. Her choice here was “When It’s Love.” She said it was one of her 2 favorite Van Halen tracks. She also said it was the 1st time the band did it live. For the iconic “Crazy on You,” Wilson did a start and stop sequence while playing the intro. It was funny and not sure if it was planned or not. I did miss her usual kick though once the intro is about to end. That’s the first time I never seen her do that. For the encores, the band did a cool version of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb.” The entire band left with Wilson only left on stage. She then proceeded to talk about her encounter with Eddie Van Halen. This was years ago while Heart shared the same hotel as Van Halen. She then sang “4 Edward,” which was a track on her 2021 solo release titled ‘You and Me.”
Its been 50 years since the band Heart has formed. Will there be a tour or something to celebrate that fact? Who knows. I will take seeing Nancy Wilson in any form. If its outside of Heart, I hope we haven’t seen the last Roadcase Royale. I do think that band was very good and was hoping to hear subsequent albums from them. In the meantime, you will enjoy Nancy Wilson’s Heart. Go check them out if you can.
Setlist:
Band on the Run (Paul McCartney & Wings cover)
Straight On (Heart song)
Dog & Butterfly (Heart song)
Alone (i-Ten cover)
These Dreams (Heart song)
Nada One (Heart song)
Mistral Wind (Heart song)
Even it Up (Heart song)
When It’s Love (Van Halen cover)
Crazy on You (Heart song)
Barracuda (Heart song)
Rock and Roll (Led Zeppelin cover)
Encore:
Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd cover)
4 Edward
We would like to thank Steven Cahill from the Fallsview Casino for the credentials to review the show.
