Heart brought its 2025 Royal Flush Tour to the Premier Theater at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut, on Saturday, April 12, delivering an inspired set celebrating the band’s 50-year career.
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Before the show began, longtime Heart photographer Criss Cain hit the stage to address the audience. As has been widely reported, Cain explained that frontwoman Ann Wilson, who recently had undergone successful treatment for cancer, took a fall shortly before the trek kicked off and broke her elbow in three places. Due to the injury, the singer has been performing in a wheelchair throughout the current tour leg, because she’s able to keep her healing arm stable in a seated position.
Prior to the band’s first song, a video presentation was projected on a curtain hanging in front of the stage. The clip featured a year-by-year glimpse of pivotal moments in world and pop-culture history since 1973.
The curtain was then lifted to reveal Heart onstage as the band kicked into the title track of its 1980 studio album Bébé le Strange. Flanked on her right by her sister, rhythm guitarist and backing singer Nancy Wilson, Ann sounded in strong voice from the get-go.
Next up was Heart’s smash 1985 power ballad “Never,” which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. That was followed by a rocking version of the band’s first charting single, “Magic Man,” a song from Heart’s 1975 debut album Dreamboat Annie that reached No. 9 on the Hot 100. The performance showcased all three lead guitarists in Heart’s current touring lineup, Ryan Wariner, Paul Moak, and Ryan Waters.
More About Heart’s Touring Band
Heart’s current touring lineup features four members of Tripsitter, the group with whom Ann recorded her 2023 studio album Another Door. They are the aforementioned Wariner and Moak on guitar, bassist Tony Lucido, and drummer Sean Lane. The multi-talented Moak also plays keyboards, banjo, and mandolin.
Rounding out Heart’s touring band is Waters, who previously played in Nancy Wilson’s side group Roadcase Royale.
The Show Continued with Two Gems from Little Queen
The concert continued with a rendition of the melodic acoustic-guitar-driven gem “Love Alive,” from Heart’s third album Little Queen (1977). Nancy described the tune as her favorite poem ever wrote, set to music.
Little Queen’s title track was next, with Ann explaining that it was a song about the drive she and Nancy had to succeed at the beginning of their music careers.
Heart then got the crowd up and dancing with a mashup that featured a grooving rendition of its 1978 hit “Straight On” that morphed into the classic 1983 David Bowie chart-topper “Let’s Dance.”
Next, Nancy Wilson stepped into the spotlight to sing a beautiful version of “These Dreams,” the ballad that became Heart’s first No. 1 hit on the Hot 100 in 1986.
Nancy then showed off her own guitar skills by playing the classical music-inspired acoustic interlude that led into intro Heart’s 1976 hit “Crazy on You.” That brought the first set to a close.
Heart’s Intimate Acoustic Set
An intimate mini set follow that featured Heart’s members seated at the front of the stage with acoustic instruments. The band played the title track to Heart’s fourth album, Dog & Butterfly (1978), into the title track of Dreamboat Annie.
Heart’s love of Led Zeppelin is no secret, and the next song was a lovely rendition of the British rock legend’s 1971 folk-influenced ballad “Going to California.” The performance was highlighted by Moak on mandolin.
To finish the mini set, Nancy played her solo acoustic tune “4 Edward,” which she wrote as a tribute to Eddie Van Halen after he died in 2020. The song originally appeared on Nancy’s debut solo studio album, You and Me, which was released in 2021.
The Regular Show’s Finale
Lane delivered a spacey drums and percussion solo as Heart returned to its regular stage configuration.
The band then played “Mistral Wind,” an intense and hard-rocking tune that was the last song on Dog & Butterfly.
Moak kicked off what turned out to be the finale of the show’s regular set with an acoustic intro that lead into a medley of two of Heart’s most popular 1980s power ballads—the chart-topping 1987 hit “Alone” and the 1985 smash “What About Love.”
The Encore
Rather than having the band leave stage, Ann declared that the encore was about to begin.
The next song was the deepest cut Heart played at the show, “Sand.” The tune originally appeared on the 1997 album Whirlygig by Ann and Nancy’s side project The Lovemongers. Heart later released its own version of “Sand” on the 2010 album Red Velvet Car. Ann explained that the tune was written about a beloved gardener who worked at her home in Seattle and had passed away from AIDS, and whose ashes were sprinkled in the garden.
Heart then dipped into the Led Zeppelin catalog for a second time with a rocking rendition of “The Ocean.”
To end the concert, Heart burned, burned, burned, burned, burned it to the wick with its signature rock anthem “Barracuda.”
Heart’s Upcoming Tour Plans
After a show on Sunday, April 13 in Boston, Heart will wrap up its current tour leg with an August 16 performance at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Alt-country great Lucinda Williams will open that concert.
Heart then will return road starting next month for a late-spring/early-summer U.S. tour leg dubbed “An Evening with Heart.” The 18-date trek will feature the rock legends playing two sets at each show. The outing gets under way on May 31 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and runs through a June 28 concert in Hollywood, Florida.
Heart’s 2025 itinerary also includes an August 27 performance at the Great Allentown Fair in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Heart’s Set List, Premiere Theater at Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket, CT, 4/12/2025:
- “Bébé le Strange”
- “Never”
- “Magic Man”
- “Love Alive”
- “Little Queen”
- “Straight On”/“Let’s Dance” (David Bowie cover)
- “These Dreams”
- “Crazy on You”
- “Dog & Butterfly”
- “Dreamboat Annie”
- “Going to California” (Led Zeppelin cover)
- “4 Edward” (Nancy Wilson song)
- “Mistral Wind”
- “Alone”/“What About Love”
Encore:
- “Sand”
- “The Ocean” (Led Zeppelin cover)
- “Barracuda”
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