Heart performs Wed. at USANA

Wednesday night, Def Leppard will bring their customary show of hard rock favorites from the “Hysteria” and “Pyromania” albums and an elaborate laser, light and video show to the USANA Amphitheatre.

Before the Leppards hit the stage, however, another iconic group will bring what’s sure to be just as powerful of a performance using nothing but guitars, drums and amps.

But when your group is fronted by one of the best female vocalists in the history of rock, you don’t need much else.

Since Dreamboat Annie was released in 1976, Seattle sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson have sold more than 30 million albums worldwide during their tremendous three decade career.

In the 1970s, Heart recorded such classic rock staples as “Crazy On You,” “Barracuda,” “Magic Man,” “Heartless” and “Straight On.” They moved to a more commercial pop sound in the 1980s, finding huge success with songs like “Alone,” “What About Love,” “These Dreams,” “Never,” and “Who Will You Run To.”

Most recently, the band has returned to their rock roots with more Zeppelin-like songs. Their latest album, Red Velvet Car was released in 2010. During a recent break in their tour, Ann Wilson told the Deseret News during an interview from Chicago that she and her sister are already in the process of writing their next album, which she says will be a much heavier record than Red Velvet Car.

Like all of Heart’s music, the songs on the new album, Wilson said, come from her and her sister’s observations of what’s going on around them.

“There’s a song on the album coming up about the way it feels right now to be in this economy,” Wilson said.

In what she called a “very poetic” song, Wilson said the song looks at how someone can stand in the middle of a street, close their eyes and feel what the town was like at its peak, and then open their eyes to see what was happening today.

After 13 studio albums and appearing on Billboard’s charts in four different decades, Heart’s legacy as one of rock’s all time greatest groups is secure. But Ann Wilson said she and her sister aren’t ready to just sit back and cruise through the rest of their career on past achievements.

“It’s the same thing that pushed us to start off in the first place,” Wilson said of the reason Heart keeps moving ahead with new music. “It’s an artist’s need to express themselves.”

On their current tour with hard rock icons Def Leppard, Wilson said it’s been a fun experience. But fans definitely get two different types of shows.

With Def Leppard, Wilson said it’s a big stage production and the band sounds just like their records from the ’80s, something Def Leppard fans appreciate.

“Def Leppard fans are rabid. They love them some Leppard,” she said.

But for people who want to hear a working band come out and, “crunch it in a more simple way,” Wilson said she and Nancy go in front of the audiences each night, who are all fans of rock music, “and grab them by the throats.” By the end of their sets, Wilson said the crowd is typically “unglued.”

Wilson said Heart includes songs from all eras of the band in their set. But they do it in a way that pleases both them and audience.

“It’s really a live band. We do good on the record. But I think we do way better live,” she said.

Heart has been playing covers by Led Zeppelin and The Who in their set list this time around. Each show has concluded with The Who’s “Love Reign O’re Me.”

There are two vocalists that do the song justice. One is Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam. The other, is Wilson and Heart. By the time Ann Wilson hits that final note, it’s bound to put goosebumps on those in the audience.

“It’s almost like I feel transcendent,” she said of how she feels by the end of the song. “I’m so out of body by that point, my whole soul is bared.”

In July, Nancy Wilson broke her wrist after slipping on a marble floor while wearing flip-flops. Amazingly, she didn’t miss a show, although another guitarist was brought in to help accompany her playing.

“She’s pretty brave. At the beginning it really did (hurt her),” Ann Wilson said.

She said she could tell her sister was in pain on stage. But she played through it. And by the time Heart hits the stage in Utah Wednesday night, Nancy’s wrist is expected to be completely healed.

Tickets for Def Leppard/Heart are available online athttp://smithstix.com/.