Is it a tribute band or not? That’s usually an easy question to answer. And I should know, having attended dozens of them over the years.
But Sunday night February 1 at the Clark Center felt a bit different. The group performing was Heart by Heart with two women playing the famous sister duo of Nancy and Ann Wilson. However, the group also featured two original members, bassist Steve Fossen and drummer Michael Derosier from the iconic Seattle-based 1970s/80s rockers.
Whether it was a tribute show or not quickly became a moot point the second they hit the stage and ripped into “Straight On,” their big, up-tempo 1978 hit.
Rock shows are mostly about nostalgia in 2026 so concertgoers come for the memories, good vibes and the catchy feel-good songs they love.
The large crowd reacted enthusiastically as the five-piece band, with stellar lead guitarist Chad Quist’s cool riffing, tore through “Even It Up,” “Magic Man,” “Crazy on You” and “Heartless”—all classic bangers that served as a late-1970s coming of age soundtrack.
Heart kind of lost their way in the early 1980s, eventually bringing in outside songwriters and new members to revive its musical career. One of those first singles was “Alone,” a power ballad that lead singer Somar Marcel deftly handled, not an easy task emulating Ann Wilson’s powerful vocals. Multi-instrumentalist Lizzy Daymont in her Suzy Quattro hairdo perfectly played the part of Nancy Wilson.
Otherwise, the concert featured all 1970s tracks from the band’s original line-up, mostly from the Dreamboat Annie album in addition to its three others. It wrapped up with a rousing version of “Barracuda” that got most of the baby boomers like me up and out of our seats.
I wanted to hear more stories of Heart’s heyday from Fossen and Derosier, but maybe they forgot them all or were too X-rated?
So there it is, another fun tribute show—their specialty—delivered by the Clark Center, and another happy crowd taking a much needed two-hour break from our modern-day tribulations.
I think we all need a lot more of that.