SPAC crowd enjoys mass Heart attack
by Steve Webb, The Knickerbocker News, June 18, 1980
The Seattle-based rock group Heart shows its devotion to the Beatles perhaps as obviously as the Knack, using a crescendoed “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” as a fanfare before kicking into “Bebe Le Strange,” the title cut from Heart’s latest album.
Tuesday’s concert at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center had been billed as featuring two of the strongest acts in rock today, the highly popular Heart and the journeyman Ian Hunter Band, featuring Mick Ronson. Both acts turned in strong sets before what could be considered a disappointing crowd of 11,335 persons.
Heart’s strength is a combination of the bright vocal charms of singer Annie Wilson and guitarist Nancy Wilson, and a straight-ahead rock format that emphasizes interesting melodies in its electric guitar riffs. While the group’s show could be considered somewhat packaged — it may have differed by five notes from a radio concert broadcast in April by the band — the music is always electric and personable.
After a series of hit songs, ranging from the debut single “Crazy on You” to the latest “Even It Up,” the band offered a showcase of its five albums, with acoustic ballads intertwined with fierce rockers.
Sound problems in the SPAC house of 5,200 seats hurt the overall success of the acoustic songs particularly, and it’s worth noting that both of the center’s rock shows so far this season have sounded better on the lawn than in the usually smooth-sounding theater. This was particularly true for “Raised on You,” a piece featuring Nancy Wilson’s lead vocals.
And the highlights came late in the show, when the sound was at its best. They included a frantic rocker called “Break,” which works as a companion piece to the early hit “Magic Man” with its lines:
*The dust is gathering where I stand…After a while there just ain’t no magic, man.”
It was followed by another highlight, “Magic Man,” that featured a wry disco section near the end. The other highlights were “cover” versions, a medley of the Beatles’ “I’m Down” and its inspiration, Little Richard’s “Long Tall Sally,” and a soulful version of “Unchained Melody.”
Hunter did an unusually long opening set, ten songs over a little less than an hour. A loose-knit collection of rock riffs and word-filled songs, his set had the feeling of his nice live double album, “Welcome to the Club,” including an exceptional performance of the new single, “We Gotta Get Out of Here.”
He was well received by the audience, a portion of which had clearly come to see him and guitarist extraordinaire Ronson, and got called back for two encores. The first of these, a powerhouse version of “Cleveland Rocks,” was the set’s highlight.
This number and a thing called “The Whole Truth” were the only moments the usually aloof Ronson really stepped out, and Hunter perhaps exaggerated his casual persona during a litany at the end, starting “England rocks” and going through Detroit, New York, Chicago, and then asking “Hey, where are we anyway?” about the present evening’s gig.
The two acts made a nice pair. Heart is emphasizing its snarl these days, with consistently fine electric material and fine guitar interplay between Nancy Wilson and lead player Howard Leese, both easily making up for Roger Fisher’s absence from the lineup. Hunter tempers his tough-guy stance with the perennial closer from his Mott the Hoople days, “All the Young Dudes.”
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