Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (June 4, 2025)
Back in the mid-1970s, Ann Wilson enjoyed massive success as the lead singer of the rock band Heart. They’ve continued to play over the last 50 years despite some hiatuses.
One of these happened from 2019 to 2023, but Wilson didn’t stay idle. Instead, she recorded a 2023 album called Another Door with the backing band Tripsitter.
Wilson and Tripsitter toured the record as well. This Blu-ray represents a July 2023 performance at Nashville’a Brooklyn Bowl.
As expected, a good chunk of the setlist comes from Another Door. We find “Tripsitter”, “This Is Now”, “Rain of Hell”, “Ruler of the Night”, “Rusty Robots” and “Miss One and Only”.
The rest of the show consists of Heart tunes and covers. From 1987’s Bad Animals, we get “Alone”, which Wilson pairs with Led Zeppelin’s “Going to California”.
1980’s Bébé le Strange offers “Even It Up”. From 1978’s Dog & Butterfly, we find “Straight On”.
1977’s Little Queen brings us “Love Alive” and “Barracuda”. 1976’s Dreamboat Annie boasts “Magic Man”, “Mistral Wind” and “Crazy On You”.
Lastly, Wilson covers Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” and John Lennon’s “Isolation”. Oddly, the Blu-ray drops a single song from the concert: “Greed” from 2022’s Ann Wilson solo record Fierce Bliss.
Also, Wilson paired “Straight On” with David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” on this tour but you’ll hear no evidence of that 1983 hit here. I assume the producers didn’t want to pay for the rights to the Bowie track, as the concert edits it out of the Blu-ray.
And it does so remarkably well. I had to find a clip of “Straight On”/”Let’s Dance” online to hear how it went, and the cuts drop it without a trace.
As regular readers of my reviews probably know, I attend a lot of concerts. Over 40-plus years, I’ve gone to around 1200 shows.
Until 2024, I never saw Heart. This didn’t come as active dislike, for outside of their “Big Hair Era” of the 1980s, I thought they offered a decent rock band.
Heart just never clicked with me enough to warrant the purchase of a concert ticket. However, I’ve been more interested in seeing acts I never took in previously – the morbid “better see them before they die” concept - so paired with a relatively cheap admission price, I went to my first Heart concert in May 2024.
And it was… fine. The band didn’t knock off my proverbial socks but they performed pretty solid versions of their tunes.
The same can be said for Live in Concert. While the performances never become stunning, they offer well-executed takes on the tracks.
Don’t expect Wilson’s work with Tripsitter to offer a clear detour from her Heart material. While some solo excursions occur to give the artists an avenue to explore music that wouldn’t fit within the band, that doesn’t seem to be the case here.
Instead, I operate under the impression Heart took a break for a few years because Ann and sister Nancy needed time away from each other. The Wilson sisters didn’t found Heart but they remain the band’s only constant members over the last 50 years since their first album hit shelves in 1975.
Indeed, outside of Ann and Nancy, the current “Heart” includes no members who joined prior to 2019, and most didn’t come onboard until late 2023. Were it not for the absence of Nancy, the band on this disc would have as much of a claim to be “Heart” as the version I saw in 2024.
Anyway, this means that Another Door and her work with Tripsitter feels less like Ann exploring different musical avenues and more like she followed her usual muse simply with some other performers. I don’t mind this, as it allows the solo songs to blend well with the Heart tunes.
Can I call Tripsitter an inspired backing band? No, but they remain up to the task and give the songs reasonable bite.
As for Ann, she possessed one of the all-time great singing voices in rock. 73 years old during this concert, she shows some signs of degradation, but precious few given her age and the decades of wear.
Wilson can struggle to hit the high notes but still only suffers in comparison to Peak Ann. Her youthful voice really set a high bar so I won’t complain that she’s only at maybe 80 percent of that range in her 70s. She still sounds pretty darned good.
We get a fairly meat and potatoes concert here, one without a lot of embellishment. Not that I expected Wilson to dance ala Lady Gaga or use pyro, but I admit a little more chatter and maybe some stories would’ve been nice.
Still, the music sounds good and co-directors Barbara Hall and Tom Zaleski keep the presentation pleasantly simple. While I would prefer fewer shots of crowd members as they sing along, this nonetheless seems like a well-executed version of the show that avoids gimmicks and excessive edits.
All in all, this adds up to a quality concert. With a good mix of Heart hits and newer solo work, Ann Wilson makes this a positive experience.
Note that the Wilson concert ends at 1:21:31, which leaves almost precisely seven minutes of the disc’s running time to go. In that space, we get part of a performance from country singer Annie Bosko.
Why does this disc toss in this “bonus”? Bosko opened for Wilson at the show featured on this disc so I guess someone figured we needed to hear two of her songs.
We didn’t, though that doesn’t offer a criticism of Bosko’s talents, as she sings well. I just don’t care for her brand of country.
Still, Bosko’s easy on the eyes and viewers can skip her portion of the Blu-ray without effort if so desired. As such, though an unusual addition to the disc – and one that would’ve made more sense at the start since Bosko opened for Wilson – this exists as a painless “bonus”.
