On Thursday April 8, 2011 the legendary rock duo Ann and Nancy Wilson know as the band Heart performed at ACL Live at Moody Theater as part of their "Harshing Your Sweet Mellow" U.S. tour promoting their new album "Red Velvet Car."

Opening for Heart was the band Electric Touch. They've been around for a few years playing at SXSW, Stubb's and a few summer festivals including this year at Coachella. This 5-piece band has a fun and enticing British-American rock flavor to their sound with Shane Lawlor on lead vocals, guitar and keyboard, Louis Messina Jr. on drums, Christopher Leigh and Isaac Strycker on guitars with Portland Musser on bass. Two songs I particularly liked were "Don't Be Afraid" and "Dominos" with some smart lyrics and nice chords and transitions.

Shane Lawlor (L) Christopher Leigh (R). Click here for gallery

Next up was Heart, by now the theater had completely filled up. Incense burned on the stage, surrounded by small trinkets like a Pink Floyd coffee mug, a snow globe and of course, bottles of Fiji water.

 
Nancy Wilson. Click here for gallery

Then Nancy Wilson came on stage, took her wildly blue painted magic gum-ball looking guitar with Ann Wilson singing and playing her flute for the opening song "Cook With Fire." The dress code for the night appeared to be black, with Nancy looking like a rocker-chick (or mama) with her leather jacket, but maybe Ann's outfit might have caused E!'s Fashion Police some heartburn. Next they sang "What About Love" from their 1985 self titled album "Heart" which was more top 40 pop style than the earlier 1977 "Little Queen" album with the rock song "Barracuda" played latter in the show. At times, Ann's vocals were strained making me wonder if she was recovering from a cold, but otherwise they sounded great. This night was a delight for Heart fans as they played a lot of their hit songs.

Here's the set list:

Cook With Fire
Heartless
What About Love
Straight On
Dog and Butterfly
These Dreams
Hey You
Desire Walks On
Kick It Out
Red Velvet Car
Alone
WTF
Magic Man
Crazy On You
Barracuda
What Should Never Be
Misty Mountain Hop

Photos by Manuel Nauta
studionauta.com
twitter: @m2nauta