Heart’s Unstoppable Spirit: “Alone” and “What About Love” Shine in 2025

Heart’s Royal Flush Tour stop in Utah on March 8, 2025, packed the Maverik Center in West Valley City, just outside Salt Lake City. The night was billed with Squeeze as special guests, setting up a multigenerational rock bill that felt both nostalgic and current. Fans arrived expecting a greatest-hits showcase—and they got it—but the emotional centerpiece came when Heart folded “Alone” into “What About Love?” late in the set.

Ann Wilson performed the show seated in a wheelchair, a practical decision after a painful elbow injury requiring surgery shortly before the tour began. She and the band addressed it directly on the road, making clear she was cancer-free after surgery and preventive chemotherapy in 2024; the chair was about stability and pain management, not a setback in recovery. The accommodation focused attention on her voice, which remained thunderous and precise.

Local coverage confirmed the backstory to the Utah audience that night: before Heart took the stage, a member of Wilson’s team explained the elbow injury and why she would be performing seated. The crowd answered with cheers, and the energy didn’t drop for a moment once the set began. The context turned the performance into a lesson in resilience as much as musicianship.

From the opening surge of “Bebe Le Strange,” the band sounded taut and heavy, with Nancy Wilson and the touring guitarists trading riffs like a three-guitar frontline. The rhythm section played with a push-pull feel that kept even the biggest radio staples feeling alive. The mix was clear enough to separate acoustic textures from electric muscle, a balance that Heart has always used to its advantage.

The set flowed through eras: 1970s fan favorites, glossy 1980s ballads, and choice covers that spoke to their influences. Utah’s crowd sang back the choruses to “These Dreams” and “Crazy on You,” but the room truly quieted for the more spacious, introspective pieces. When a veteran act can silence thousands with a hush instead of volume, you know they’re operating at a different level.

Placed deep in the main set, “Mistral Wind” served as a slow-burn mood setter before the medley that fans came to hear. Its storm-gathering dynamics let Ann ride long phrases and let Nancy braid chiming arpeggios into ominous swells. By the final section, the band had reset the room’s pulse to something cinematic and anticipatory.

Then came the turn into “Alone,” built on piano and sustained guitar before Ann’s entrance. She attacked the verses with conversational clarity and saved the furnace for the pre-chorus, making the famous hook feel earned rather than automatic. When the chorus arrived, her controlled belt filled the arena without sacrificing diction, proving how little staging or movement matters when the vocal core is this strong.

Without breaking the spell, they pivoted into “What About Love?,” and the medley snapped into focus as a dialogue between two peaks of Heart’s 1980s resurgence. Nancy’s harmonies sat slightly above the root, brightening the blend while the band thickened the backbeat. The transition honored how closely these songs are linked in fans’ memories while offering a fresh, narrative arc on stage.

Context makes that pairing even more satisfying. “Alone” was a No. 1 Hot 100 hit in 1987 and an end-of-year chart powerhouse, while “What About Love” returned Heart to the U.S. Top 10 in 1985 and effectively kicked off their mid-’80s comeback. When performed together, they trace the arc from comeback to summit in under ten minutes.

Elsewhere in the show, their classic-rock affinities were on full display. A luminous take on Led Zeppelin’s “Going to California” floated on Nancy’s acoustic textures and Ann’s weightless phrasing, a reliable highlight on this tour. Later, the encore detonated with “The Ocean,” before Heart slammed the door with the chug of “Barracuda,” sending the arena out humming that immortal riff.

Nancy’s solo interlude, “4 Edward,” honored Eddie Van Halen with a melodic instrumental that drew a straight line from acoustic intimacy to electric heroics. Live, the piece works as a breath and a benediction—a way to pay respect while resetting the stage’s emotional air pressure for the final run of big songs. Fans in Utah heard it placed just before the hit-stacking stretch.

Production choices were noticeably restrained: tasteful lighting cues, minimal staging, and plenty of sightlines toward Ann. That economy let details cut through—the grain in her vibrato, Nancy’s pull-offs in quieter passages, and the tight vocal stacks on the 1980s material. In a tour where the singer performs seated, this less-is-more approach felt intentional and smart, keeping focus exactly where it belonged.

Squeeze earned their slot as openers with a brisk, hooks-first set that reminded the crowd how sturdy British new-wave songwriting can be. Their presence sharpened Heart’s rock heft by contrast, and the changeover between bands was smooth and quick, giving the headliners a runway to start late but finish strong. It was a smartly curated night rather than a mere nostalgia package.

Utah’s City Weekly called the performance “bad-ass” in spirit even with the chair, a sentiment echoed in the cheers that greeted each explanation and every high note. The review captured the vibe accurately: seasoned pros refusing to surrender momentum, leaning into craft and connection. That local perspective matched what fans have been saying city to city on this run.

Stepping back, it’s remarkable how the Royal Flush Tour reframes Heart’s legacy. The setlist treats their catalog like a living document—shifting medleys, honoring roots, and refusing to sand down edges for easy comfort. Utah’s date illustrated that philosophy, showcasing the band’s 1970s mystique and 1980s power-ballad punch without letting either dominate.

Finally, there’s the human story. After a publicly disclosed cancer diagnosis in 2024, completion of treatment, and a painful, ill-timed elbow injury, Ann Wilson still chose the road and the work. In West Valley City, that decision translated into a performance where constraint bred concentration, and concentration produced catharsis. The medley of “Alone / What About Love?” wasn’t just a sequence—it was a statement that this voice and these songs still land with authority.

As the lights rose and the last feedback faded, fans filed out talking about two things: how big those choruses still feel in a room, and how quietly powerful resolve can be. On March 8, 2025, in Utah, Heart didn’t merely revisit its past—they proved its present, one medley and one ovation at a time.