Watch Nancy Wilson and Mike McCready tear it up in raucous live cover of Led Zeppelin’s Rock and Roll

Nancy Wilson and Mike McCready
(Image credit: Bryan B/YouTube)

Heart icon Nancy Wilson invited Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready onstage to jam a few songs at her recent Seattle show (October 2), with spectacular results – and now fan footage has emerged capturing their performance.

McCready joined Wilson and band for the close of the set to perform Heart hit Barracuda, before finishing on a barreling cover of Led Zeppelin’s Rock And Roll.

In what seems to have been a moment of rock fantasy wish-fulfilment, McCready appears to be using Wilson’s own 1963 Telecaster in Lake Placid Blue. 

The distinctive electric guitar has been a favourite of Wilson’s for over 20 years and features a PAF humbucker in the neck position with a single-coil bridge pickup. Wilson, meanwhile, brandished her Bigbsy-equipped Gibson SG throughout the songs.

Watch the video above to see fan-shot footage of both songs, including some fine fretwork from McCready on Rock and Roll’s solo section. 

“Well, how ‘bout that?” comments Wilson at the close of events. “I think you can safely call that rock and roll.”

It’s not the first time McCready and Wilson have shared a stage, though. The pair jammed (alongside Chris Cornell), when Wilson and her sister, Heart vocalist Ann Wilson, were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2013.  

McCready then dropped in to play with Heart at Seattle’s Bumbershoot festival later that year, before they reunited again – this time alongside Duff McKagan – to perform at MusiCare’s 2018 Concert For Recovery – again, in Seattle.

Wilson is currently on tour throughout the US with Styx, but she also found time to pay her respects at the Foo Fighters’ second Taylor Hawkins tribute show. In the process, she helped deliver one of the night’s best performances when she played Barracuda with Pink and the Foo Fighters.

Matt Parker
Features Editor, GuitarWorld.com

Matt is Features Editor for GuitarWorld.com. Before that he spent 10 years as a freelance music journalist, interviewing artists for the likes of Total Guitar, Guitarist, Guitar World, MusicRadar, NME.com, DJ Mag and Electronic Sound. In 2020, he launched CreativeMoney.co.uk, which aims to share the ideas that make creative lifestyles more sustainable. He plays guitar, but should not be allowed near your delay pedals.