Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Review of Heart in Concert at Musikfest

Every August in Bethlehem, Pa  they shut down the main part of the city for 2 weeks and fill it with music.  Hence the name Musikfest.  The first time I was there was because of a guy I nicknamed Poncho Man.  Poncho Man was very different than any customer I had come through my line at the supermarket.  I would always compliment him on his ponchos he'd wear because no one else in the stuck up town I lived wore anything interesting like that.  He was a man of the world and would tell me of trips he had been on.  He probably got a kick out me being so wided eyed at his stories that he invited me to Musikfest.  It was love at first sight.  In one tent we danced to reggae music in a mile long congo line.  On another stage, I listened to a celtic band that I still love 11 years later.  And the only big name playing that week was James Taylor's brother.  Every August I would think about Musikfest but never went.  Poncho Man and I lost touch and was forgotten.  I heard last year Clay Aiken was there so I made it my goal to go this year.  A week before I thought, "Hmm, I better see who is at Musikfest this year."  My jaw dropped when I saw my favorite band was headlining.  With a week to go, and our anniversary coming up, my loving husband scored major brownie points by buying us tickets.  We didn't get the greatest seats, but just to be there was awesome.  You know who Heart is right?  "These Dreams," "Alone," "What About Love?"  Ok, so I those are not my favorites, but I'm trying to establish a connection here.  Heart premiered in 1975 with Dreamboat Annie-one of the greatest albums ever made.  Ann Wilson is the rocker girl with the amazing voice and her sister Nancy is the genius musician. No, I'm not going into all the other musicians they've had through the years, but you can post about it if you have the time.  So, now going into their fifties, they still got it.  Ann can still belt her voice like old times and Nancy is jumping and rocking out on her guitar.  They were amazing.  They played Magic Man, Straight On, Love Alive, Bebe Le Strange, Even it Up, Tom Petty's "You Wreck Me," a Who song (Rain on Me?), 2 Led Zepplin covers, Alone, These Dreams, Crazy on You, Barracuda, Lost Angel (from new album).  This was a first for me to go to a concert that I could scream at the end of a song because I had loved it for so many years.  My husband is not so much a classic rock fan, and he was impressed.  It was strange for people to be singing right along and not miss a beat--just like me.  Oh yeah, and Poncho Man was there... sitting just a few rows up.

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