Heart release live Beautiful Broken video

Heart's Nancy and Ann Wilson
Heart's Nancy and Ann Wilson (Image credit: Getty)

Heart have released a live video of them performing Beautiful Broken.

It’s the title track of their 16th album, which was released last month via Concord Bicycle Music. The studio version features a guest appearance from Metallica’s James Hetfield.

Speaking about the track with Rolling Stone, Heart singer Ann Wilson said: “I wrote the words in 2012 or 2013. And the vision I had for it was of a sort of fabulous disaster chick – kind of in the form of someone like Courtney Love.

“She’s complicated, she’s gorgeous, she’s got it all wired tight, but she has a design flaw upstairs that makes her unable to live in the world normally. It’s a character study, really. And getting James Hetfield to sing on it, that was an idea that Nancy had.”

Guitarist Nancy Wilson added: “James is a really old friend of my husband’s. We were listening to the bonus-track version of Beautiful Broken that came from the Fanatic album, and it had such a great, raucous spirit. It had that aggression and that rock thing and so he said, ‘Well, why don’t we see if James might want to give it a listen and try to do some stuff on there?’

“James came back and said that he loved it. So we sent him the new track that we had just recorded. He took it to his studio and he did amazing work. He added a new part, some new lyrics, all the background vocals. I think he brought the song more into focus than it had been.

“It was great to see it transform like that into something sort of new, which is what we did with a lot of the songs on this album.”

Heart are currently on tour across the US in support of Beautiful Broken with Joan Jett & The Blackhearts and Cheap Trick. Their next date is scheduled for Kansas City’s Starlight Theatre on August 15.

Heart, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Cheap Trick 2016 tour dates

Aug 15: Kansas City Starlight Theatre, MO
Aug 18: Dallas Gexa Energy Pavilion, TX
Aug 19: The Woodlands The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, TX
Aug 21: Phoenix Ak-Chin Pavilion, AZ
Aug 23: Inglewood The Forum, CA
Aug 24: Mountain View Shoreline Amphitheatre, CA
Aug 26: Auburn White River Amphitheatre, WA
Aug 27: Ridgefield Amphitheatre Northwest, WA
Aug 29: West Valley City USANA Amphitheatre, UT
Aug 30: Morrison Red Rocks Amphitheatre, CO
Sep 08: Saratoga Springs Performing Arts Center, NY
Sep 10: Holmdel PNC Bank Arts Center, NJ
Sep 11: Bristow Jiffy Lube Live, VA
Sep 13: Virginia Beach Veterans United Hoam Loans Amphitheatre, VA
Sep 14: Raleigh Coastal Credit Union Music Park, NC
Sep 16: Charlotte PNC Music Pavilion, NC
Sep 17: Atlanta Chastain Park Amphitheatre, GA
Sep 19: Nashville Ascend Amphitheatre, TN
Sep 20: Pelham Oak Mountain Amphitheatre, AL
Sep 22: Tampa Midflorida Credit Unio Amphitheatre, FL
Sep 23: West Palm Veach Perfect Vodka Amphitheatre, FL

Heart: "When You're Young, You're Fearless And Cool..."

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.