Fans of classic rock band Heart can get the next best thing at the Tidemark Theatre on April 5.
Barracuda, a tribute to Heart, is so close to the real thing that Heart founding member and guitar player Roger Fisher gave them his stamp of approval.
Heart single-handedly broke the mold of male-dominant rock in 1976 with their debut album ‘Dreamboat Annie’, which featured hits Crazy On You, Magic Man and Barracuda. Subsequent albums gave us hits such as Heartless, Straight On, Tell It Like It Is, What About Love?, Never, These Dreams, Nothin’ At All, Alone, Who Will You Run To and All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You.
Like Heart, Barracuda got their start in Vancouver. They first took to the stage in 2011 and rapidly became the top Heart tribute in North America. In 2012, having heard rave reviews of Barracuda, Heart’s original lead guitarist and co-writer, Roger Fisher, drove from Seattle to Vancouver with brother Michael, Heart’s original manager and sound technician, and also the subject of the song ‘Magic Man’ to see Barracuda. Roger and Michael went on record saying that Barracuda was the best Heart tribute they had ever seen, and they had seen many. Roger was so impressed with Barracuda that he made several special guest appearances with Barracuda, on both sides of the border.
Heart started their road to stardom in Vancouver in 1973, rapidly becoming a top-drawing act in every night club and one-night shows wherever they played. Their repertoire was an eclectic mix of rock classics including a heavy dose of Led Zeppelin hits that especially brought them fame, so much so, that Heart’s nickname was ‘Little Led Zepp’. During this time of playing covers, Heart was busy writing songs for what would become their first album, Dreamboat Annie, on Vancouver-based Mushroom Records. Following a major disagreement with Mushroom, Heart moved to Seattle, the city of their origin, and were subsequently represented on Portrait, then Epic, then Capitol Records.
Barracuda, like Heart, also tackles Led Zeppelin’s material, with covers of The Battle of Evermore and Kashmir in their repertoire.
Barracuda’s DL Car covers the vocals of Ann Wilson with absolute perfection, which is not an easy task. Her precision is nothing short of breath-taking. Sourced out of Portland, Oregon is Sarah Moon, who perfectly covers the vocals and guitar of Nancy Wilson. On lead guitar, keyboards and harmony vocals is Ray Roper, formerly of recording artists Stonebolt. Multi-instrumentalist Darryl Hebert plays keyboard, electric and acoustic guitars, keytar, banjo and mandolin. Mark Kenny, also a member of Nick Gilder and Sweeney Todd, plays bass, and veteran of many Vancouver-based bands, Doug Grant plays drums.
Barracuda captures the sound of Heart down to the finest detail both vocally and instrumentally, and have to be seen to be believed!
Tickets are $52.50 plus applicable taxes and fees, and are available at the Tidemark Theatre website.
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