Legendary rock band reschedules tour dates after singer’s cancer scare: ‘We can’t wait’
Heart’s “Royal Flush Tour” is back on, with nearly 20 dates announced for 2025.
In July, the classic rock band postponed a slew of shows planned for this year, saying lead singer Ann Wilson, 74, needed time to recover from cancer surgery. On Monday, however, Heart announced via social media that the band would be back on the road next year.
“We can’t wait to resume the Royal Flush Tour in 2025!,” Heart said in posts on Instagram and Facebook. “We hope to see all of you good people there!”
The band pointed fans to 19 concert dates posted on its website, scheduled Feb. 28-April 5 in North American cities ranging from Las Vegas, Nevada, to Quebec, Ontario. A concert originally set for November 2024 in Birmingham was not among the dates, and that show has yet to be rescheduled.
Guitarist Nancy Wilson, 70, who founded Heart in the 1970s with her sister Ann, added a comment on the band’s Monday Instagram post that said, “Stay tuned! More to come.”
No details were provided on Ann Wilson’s health or recovery, although in July the singer said she had a successful operation and was “feeling great.”
“My doctors are now advising me to undergo a course of preventive chemotherapy & I’ve decided to do it,” Ann Wilson said in a press release. “And so my doctors are instructing me to take the rest of the year away from the stage in order to fully recover.”
At the time, the release also encouraged fans to hold onto their tickets for rescheduled dates.
READ: Legendary rock star has cancer surgery, band postpones tour dates: ‘I’ve much more to sing’
Heart was set to perform in Alabama on Nov. 13 at the Legacy Arena at the BJCC, with Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening as the opening act. Tickets for the concert went on sale in early April via Ticketmaster, with seats priced at $31-$319 plus service charges. A listing for the BJCC concert remains on the Ticketmaster site, with a note that says, “Please hold onto your tickets as they will be valid for the new date.”
Heart’s plans for 2024 had included more than 80 shows, with concerts booked throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. It was an extensive agenda for Heart — famed for 1970s and ‘80s hits such as “Magic Man,” ‘Crazy on You,” “Barracuda,” “These Dreams,” “Alone,” What About Love” and more — traveling on what a publicist said was the band’s first concert trek in five years.
On May 29, Heart announced that its European dates in June and July would be canceled. A statement on social media said Ann Wilson would undergo a “time sensitive but routine medical procedure for which the minimum recovery time is six weeks.”
On July 2, Heart postponed the rest of its shows for 2024. “To the ticket buyers, I really do wish we could do these gigs,” Wilson said in her statement. “Please know that I absolutely plan to be back on stage in 2025. My team is getting those details sorted & we’ll let you know the plan as soon as we can.”
Heart has 15 studio albums to its credit, 1975-2016, including blockbuster records such as “Dreamboat Annie” (1975), “Magazine” (1977), “Little Queen” (1977), “Dog and Butterfly” (1978), “Heart” (1985) and “Bad Animals” (1987). The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013.
Ann and Nancy Wilson are best known as the prime movers of Heart, although both have pursued solo projects over the years. Ann Wilson, for example, recorded much of her 2022 album, “Fierce Bliss,” at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals.
READ: Ann Wilson talks Heart, new Muscle Shoals album, Led Zeppelin