Review: Magnificent rocker Ann Wilson of Heart soars in Minneapolis concert

While the crowd was going crazy for Ann Wilson of Heart's performance of "Crazy on You" Tuesday at the Pantages Theater, she didn't even let the night's first standing ovation in Minneapolis dissipate before she started introducing the next number. It was a new song called "Rusty Robots" coming out this fall.

Maybe the seldom-smiling Rock & Roll Hall of Famer seemed a little rushed or a bit uncomfortable on a sleepy weeknight on her brief monthlong tour. But earlier in the evening she made a salient point: "You can't live in the past. You can, but you're missing out on other sweet stuff."

Indeed. Wasting no time while Heart is on hiatus, Wilson is about to drop her second solo album in two years. "Another Door," due in September with her new band Tripsitter, may not be sweet stuff, but the material sure sounded like strong stuff in concert. There was the heavy-as-Ozzy "Rain of Hell," the trippy space-age "Tripsitter," the ballad "Miss One and Only" ("I'm always listening to your whisper in the wind") and "Ruler of the Night," which featured both Wilson's wail and her soothing flute. She also tore into the heavy riffing rocker "Greed" from last year's "Fierce Bliss" album.

But the fans came for the Heart classics. And, to their delight, not only does Wilson, at 73, have the same dark bangs and deep brown eyes but she still has that magnificent voice. While Robert Plant and so many aging rockers have seen their voices change as time marches on, Wilson can still soar to the stratosphere with richness, force and passion. What a gift she has.

Playing two 45-minute sets and occasionally sitting down, the rocker in the black sequined dress, black frock and black low-cut tennis may not have had the stamina of old, but you could have closed your eyes and it would have sounded like 1980. Except there were no vocal harmonies from her sister Nancy Wilson.

Tripsitter guitarist Ryan Wariner knew all the licks on "Magic Man," and the mostly undemonstrative Wilson at least managed half a fist pump at the end. Wariner, who looked like a tall Iggy Pop, distinguished himself with an extended acoustic guitar introduction to "Crazy on You" and razor-sharp rhythm on "Barracuda."

A Wilson performance would not be complete without dipping into the Led Zeppelin catalog, this time with the bracing "Immigrant Song" and, coming out of an abbreviated version of Heart's power ballad "Alone," an inspired and heartfelt "Going to California," which featured Wariner's acoustic guitar braided with Paul Moak's mandolin.

There were other covers, too, including a potent reading of John Lennon's "Isolation Man" and, after Heart's "Straight On," Tony Lucido's bass led into David Bowie's "Let's Dance," with the most robust lead vocals that 1983 classic may have ever received. That's something Ann Wilson can still do 50 years after she emerged in Heart.