Ann Wilson’s 2025 Rendition of “Going to California” Proves the Soul Never Tires

The August 19, 2025 performance at Red Rocks Amphitheatre put a singular spotlight on Heart’s reverence for Led Zeppelin and the quiet ferocity of Ann Wilson’s voice. Under the Colorado night sky, the band folded “Going to California” into a set that balanced their own classics with carefully chosen tributes, transforming a legendary venue into a living room-sized space for acoustic storytelling. The date and song placement were documented by setlist chroniclers and widely shared by attendees who recognized how intimate the moment felt in such a vast, open-air setting.

This show belonged to Heart’s mid-year run that highlighted the group in an “An Evening With Heart” format at Red Rocks, a stop singled out in roundups of the band’s August itinerary. The night carried the feel of a special engagement—part retrospective, part celebration of survival—and was bracketed by other August U.S. dates that featured Todd Rundgren in select markets, underscoring how Red Rocks served as a marquee moment on the calendar.

The set itself mixed eras and moods, with “Going to California” arriving as a tonal pivot—an exhale after the electricity of songs like “Crazy on You” and “Magic Man.” Fans who tracked setlists noted how Heart’s 2025 shows frequently wove Zeppelin material into the sequence, making the Red Rocks rendition less a surprise and more a statement: this band’s DNA has always included a deep conversation with Zeppelin’s acoustic side. Average setlists and individual date logs from the year reflect this pattern clearly.

If there was a single visual that defined the tour, it was Ann Wilson performing seated—a practical adaptation that never diminished the reach of her phrasing. Earlier in the year she explained that the choice wasn’t about lingering effects of cancer treatment; rather, she suffered a fall days before the tour, breaking her elbow and necessitating a sling, so sitting allowed her to focus entirely on breath, balance, and tone. That clarity informed every syllable she poured into “Going to California.”

Context mattered here. Wilson had publicly disclosed in 2024 that she underwent surgery for cancer followed by preventive chemotherapy, which pushed Heart’s 2024 plans into 2025 and reframed the return as more than a tour; it was an affirmation. By the time the band reached Colorado, articles and interviews had already documented her finish of chemo and the determination to resume large-scale shows, making the Red Rocks performance resonate as a hard-won victory rather than a routine booking.

Red Rocks itself contributed a character of its own. The natural acoustic contours of the amphitheater are famous for supporting voice-forward arrangements, and Heart leaned into that advantage. “Going to California” at this venue took on an extra shimmer: Nancy Wilson’s guitar lines breathed with the canyon’s echo, while Ann’s seated posture created a still center that drew the audience closer. It was the kind of performance that rewarded silence—every nuance floating into the high desert air.

The night’s pacing also told a story. Earlier numbers gave the crowd the adrenaline they came for, but Heart’s decision to place “Going to California” as an acoustic jewel recalibrated the emotional frequency of the set. The song’s delicate open chords and reflective lyric opened a corridor to something older in Heart’s identity: the sisters’ lifelong study of Zeppelin’s catalog—not as mere homage, but as a second language they speak fluently on major stages.

When Ann settled into the first verse, the seated delivery sharpened her diction and emphasized breath control. Singing without the kinetic theatrics that come with full mobility can be demanding; she compensated with micro-dynamics—drawing phrases inward, then letting them bloom. The result was a reading that honored Robert Plant’s folk poise while sounding unmistakably like Ann Wilson, her alto focusing into a beam that cut through Red Rocks’ canopy of stars.

Nancy’s accompaniment was equally considered. Rather than over-decorating the arrangement with busy counter-figures, she left space, sketching the harmonic spine with patient arpeggios and letting the venue’s natural reverb complete the picture. That restraint created room for the lyric’s imagery to land—a choice consistent with the duo’s long practice of shaping Zeppelin songs for their own timbral palette. The setlist record for 2025 shows this wasn’t an isolated experiment but part of a recurring acoustic architecture throughout the run.

The Red Rocks audience, primed by decades of Heart’s electric canon, leaned in. You can hear it in the crowd sound on attendee videos: a hush that isn’t disengagement but reverence. It’s followed by that uniquely Colorado roar at the last cadence—a recognition that a band associated with arena power can still command an audience by whispering. Several uploads from the night, scattered across channels, all converge on the same narrative beat: the quiet held, then the ovation arrived like thunderclap on sandstone.

Positioning “Going to California” alongside other Zeppelin pieces in 2025—such as “The Rain Song” and “The Ocean”—deepened the sense that Heart was curating a mini-suite within the show. The Red Rocks setlist reflects precisely that trio, with “4 Edward” appearing as Nancy’s tender instrumental nod in the same arc. In sequence, the choices traced a lineage from Zeppelin’s acoustic mysticism to Heart’s own body of work, without ever feeling academic.

Timing details from the evening reinforce that this was a shared headline event shaped to feel intimate. Todd Rundgren’s support set began at 7:30 p.m., with Heart taking the stage around 9:00 p.m.—information preserved by setlist archivists. That structure delivered a twilight-to-night immersion that suited the acoustic centerpiece, giving “Going to California” a canvas of darkness and stars that can’t be faked in arenas.

The night’s significance was also signaled before a single chord rang out. On social channels close to the band, posts flagged Red Rocks as a sold-out occasion, a small but telling indicator of how intensely fans had circled this date. After a year of uncertainty and postponements, the demand to be present for the Wilsons’ return—on that storied stage—was overwhelming and well documented by the band’s own pages.

Beyond the single song, the narrative of 2025 gave the performance its frame. Media coverage in late winter chronicled Heart’s comeback shows and the gradual expansion into summer and late-summer itineraries. Reports captured the mix of relief and resolve from Ann and Nancy: the gratitude of returning, the realism about physical limits, and the desire to make each night feel purposeful. In that light, the Red Rocks “Going to California” reads like a thesis statement—vulnerability as strength, economy as elegance.

What lingers from August 19 is not merely that a beloved band covered a beloved song, but that the cover functioned as a conversation across generations, illnesses, accidents, and venues that become characters in their own right. It was an artist choosing precision over spectacle, memory over bombast, and presence over nostalgia. The documentation—setlists, announcements, and a small constellation of audience videos—doesn’t just prove it happened; it preserves the feeling of being there when a classic found a new place to live.