While the Wilsons insist this is merely an indefinite hiatus, it’s an unfortunate hiccup after an incredible Heart resurgence that included the 2012 release of its Top 25 album Fanatic, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, an electrifying performance of “Stairway to Heaven” at Led Zeppelin’s Kennedy Center Honors tribute, the 2013 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the follow-up success of Beautiful Broken. While Heart was still at work on its most recent album, Wilson formed the Ann Wilson Thing! with Bartock, Stoller and drummer Ben Smith, and released their first EP in 2015, with a second one dropping last year during the Beautiful Broken tour.
For the new Ann Wilson of Heart tour, Wilson cautions that fans shouldn’t expect a full-on Heart show, although she has promised a handful of “reimagined” songs from the band’s storied catalog. What they can expect is a set of fresh Wilson originals, written over the past year or so, and a few of the covers that were featured on her 2007 solo debut, Hope & Glory, and her two Ann Wilson Thing! EPs, all set to a variety of video presentations. And they can most assuredly expect the amazing voice that has powered one of the most influential and successful Rock & Roll bands of the past four decades.
Wilson recently paid tribute to Chris Cornell on Jimmy Kimmel Live!:
