Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Stevie Nicks Concert Review - Verona, NY - Turning Stone Concert Review


Her strong, pure voice soars in Turning Stone concert


Wednesday, June 27, 2007
By Mark Bialczak Staff writer Syracus.com

Stevie Nicks was in fine voice Tuesday night at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino's Event Center.

Front and center amid her seven musicians and three backup vocalists, the woman who put much of the mystery into Fleetwood Mac belted out the hits like a true rock star.

One year removed from her 60th birthday, Nicks looked and sounded much like the energetic star who delivered to America a long line of hits, from the Buckingham Nicks start of 1971 to the full-blown Fleetwood Mac days to the solo career that bloomed because the three or four songs per album she was allowed to contribute to "The Mac," as she called them, weren't enough to satisfy her songwriting talents.

She told the just-about-capacity crowd just that early on during the concert. Nicks would be in a chatty mood, she explained, because she wanted to talk about all those great songs of hers.

From the first song of the night, "Stand Back," it was obvious that Nicks' pure, soaring rock voice still sizzles. It was vintage Nicks, dressed mostly in black, numerous strands of beads draped from her microphone stand, body ready to twirl with arms extended as if she really believed a wind beneath the balloon sleeves of her outfit could carry her off into the clouds.


Her band, led by her longtime friend and music director Waddy Wachtel on a very demonstrative guitar, was forever ready to help Nicks drive home the point with equal parts melody and power.


Between songs, Nicks smiled a whole lot.

"In 1981, going solo from the Mac was a very dangerous thing to do," she said. "I didn't want to split up the band, but I needed a vehicle to do more than three or four songs a record as a songwriter. So we put out the album 'Belladonna.' " The rest, she declared, was made rock 'n' roll history.

"I'd like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for staying with me all these years," Nicks said, fanning her eyes as if to dry tears. "And, with that said: Let's rock."

So rock they did, mixing pretty pieces like "Enchanted" with bona fide monster hits like "If Anyone Falls" and "Rhiannon."

Before launching into the gorgeous and piping hot "Dreams," Nicks described how she wrote the song while lying on Sly Stone's black velvet bed. "I took in the greatness of Sly," she declared. "I played it for the Mac, and we recorded it that day." With that classic line, "Thunder only happens when it's raining . . .," who wouldn't have?


Nicks revealed how she and guitar partner Lindsey Buckingham wrote "Sorcery" in the time when they felt lost because the Buckingham Nicks album was out of the stores and bust after only three months.


The night kept reaching new peaks, with "Gold Dust Woman" leading into Tom Petty's "I Need to Know" and the Mac classic "Landslide." "I want you to interpret my songs," Nicks said. "But the last two years, I talked a little bit about what this one means." With the numerous photos of her parents and Nicks growing up from a child to a star performer, it was obvious that her message of "putting aside ego for family" means something important to her. "I'm getting older, too," she sang, as her life shone for all on the big screen backdrop.

She demonstrated she's definitely not too old to rock hard with her rollicking cover of Led Zeppelin's rowdy "Rock and Roll" for the first encore.

For the second, she chose her theatrical "Beauty and the Beast," lighted by a candelabra on the piano and complete with a black-and-white film production to match the story on the screen.

Nicks wasn't ready to go without one more statement. She told all that the music industry is in trouble. "So go to concerts, listen to the radio, do whatever you can for new music. Or else we'll be listening to the same classic rock for the next 20 years," she said.

Mark Bialczak can be reached at mbialczak@syracuse.com or 470-2175. His blog "Listen Up" is at http://blog.syracuse.com/listenup/.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Sales Update - Crystal Visions

Week 12 on the Billboard Top 200 - Crystal Visions Sales update:

Date / Chart # / Sales / Total Sales
04/14/07 #21 - 33,944
04/21/07 #52 - 20,884 = 54,828
04/28/07 #49 - 13,384 = 68,212
05/05/07 #71 - 9,687 = 77,899
05/12/07 #73 - 9,531 = 87,430
05/19/07 #91 - 7,829 = 95,259
05/26/07 #116 - 7,421 = 102,680
06/02/07 #138 - 5,535 = 108,215
06/09/07 #131 - 5,705 = 113,920
06/16/07 #108 - 6,558 = 120,478
06/23/07 #152 - 5,212 = 125,690
06/30/07 #169 - 5,320 = 131,010

Stevie Nicks in Canada

Stevie Nicks still wonderful
By JANE STEVENSON
The Toronto Sun

RAMA, Ont. -- Stevie Nicks was down, but not out, on Thursday night as she opened the first of two soldout solo shows at Casino Rama. .

The 59-year-old songbird and sometime Fleetwood Mac member fell down on stage toward the end of her hour-and 45-minute performance during an extended and lively version of her signature solo track, Edge of Seventeen. Nicks, who said backstage later that she had a bum knee that was now extremely swollen, was helped to her feet by one of her three female backup singers and none of her seven male band members, who seemed oblivious to her plight. Ever the trouper, the singer -- who still favours platform suede boots -- shook it off, laughing, and strongly finished the tune, and even came back for a two-song encore including a cover of Led Zeppelin's Rock And Roll.

Touring in support of a greatest-hits album, Crystal Visions, Nicks claimed she loved to come to Canada because everyone was so nice. "As much as I love my country, they aren't that nice," the Phoenix native said.

The theatrical singer, who loves flowing dresses, velvet coats and top hats, shawls, black leather clothes, and the aforementioned boots (and made about a half-dozen costume changes) had a mic stand dripping in necklaces and scarves, and never missed a moment to interpretive dance or twirl on the spot.

In response, the audience rushed the stage from the moment Nicks opened her show with crowd favourite Stand Back, followed later by some Fleetwood Mac gems as Rhiannon, Dreams and Gold Dust Woman, the latter one of the set highlights as she really let it rip vocally.

Unlike many of her contemporaries, Nicks astonishingly sounds exactly as she did almost 40 years ago when she was starting out. But it was the poignant Landslide, the song from the 1973 landmark Buckingham Nicks album, that put a lump in everyone's throat -- as she sang in front of a backdrop of images of her family, most prominently her elderly and fragile father.

This is a performer who wears her heart on her sleeve, and we love her for it.

Nicks' last song was her own Beauty and the Beast, another tearjerker as a black-and-white film acting out the tragic fairytale played behind her on a large backdrop.

The singer, who also made a point of shaking the hands of most of the fans gathered at the front of the stage, wound down the evening with a last-minute plea for the music industry, which she pointed out was in "a sad state."

"Go to concerts, buy albums, listen to the radio," she pleaded as she took her final bows with her entire band.

Friday, June 22, 2007

Stand Back (Remix) hits the charts

Stevie's recently remixed 1983 hit "Stand Back" debuted on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play charts June 23rd at #31. Currently the track is sitting at #19.

Nine (9) different mixes of the track can be purchased through itunes.

Billboard Issue Date: 06/23/07
#31 - Stand Back

Billboard Issue Date:06/30/07
#19 - Stand Back

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Stevie Nicks - Other Side Of The Mirror outtake photo unearthed!

An old NEW "Other Side Of The Mirror" era photo was discovered today on this site. It's quite nice actually. Photovision

Stevie Nicks - Still rocking, still dreaming

Still rocking, still dreaming, enchantress Nicks delivers
By Lauren Carter/ Music ReviewMonday, June 18, 2007 Boston Herald.com
At 59, Stevie Nicks is still enchanting onstage. And she still has really great outfits.

Nicks’ nearly two-hour set at the Tweeter Center last night proved that rock’s goddess has maintained the illusion of youth, but more important, hasn’t lost the fire that fueled her best work.

Fleetwood Mac classics like “Rhiannon” and “Gold Dust Woman” were dark and ominous, giving Nicks ample time to sway meditatively and charm the crowd with dreamy twirls.

Nicks can play the hard rocker as well as the haunting enchantress, breaking out Tom Petty’s “I Need To Know” and a fiery “Stand Back,” making it clear that Nicks’ silk-and-sandpaper voice has dropped in register, but not intensity.

The night included a mixture of Fleetwood Mac classics and solo hits, from the country-tinged “Enchanted” off her debut album “Bella Donna” to “Dreams” and a hard-rocking “If Anyone Falls,” with longtime guitarist and musical director Waddy Wachtel punctuating the song with a driving guitar riff.
Nicks looked the epitome of mystical cool in a black ruffled waistcoat, skin-tight pants - and those boots. There was plenty of time for wardrobe changes, mostly leading to more black ruffled outfits and gauzy shawls.

The show was well-attended but not sold out, with enough women in top hats and black, flowy garb to signal Nicks’ influence on fashion.

The heavy riff of “Edge of Seventeen” officially closed out the nearly two-hour set, with Nicks making her signature walk around the stage only to return for an encore that included Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” and a poignant “Beauty and the Beast.”

There was no elaborate set behind Nicks, just a giant screen which displayed dreamy shapes, images of mysterious, beautiful women, and during the soft cascade of “Landslide,” a montage of Nicks through the years with her now-deceased father, Jess Nicks.

At the end of that song, opener Chris Isaak, who provided an alluring but overlong opening set on his last tour date with Nicks, surprised Nicks onstage with a bouquet of flowers, thanking her for being as gracious onstage as she is off.

Tellingly, Nicks also included “Sorcerer” in her set, a song about the “netherland time” after she and then-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham were dropped from Polydor Records - before they joined Fleetwood Mac and became world-famous rock stars - that she wrote in 1973 but didn’t record until 2001’s “Trouble in Shangri-la.” The song, like Nicks herself, has stood the test of time.

Stevie Nicks and Chris Isaak At the Tweeter Center, Mansfield, last night.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Nicks steps onstage and back in time on new tour


Some stars reflect on past mistakes and claim they wouldn’t change a thing. Not Stevie Nicks.


The rock goddess, who plays the Tweeter Center tomorrow with Chris Isaak, may weave layers of ambiguity through her songs, but she’s straightforward about her desire to erase almost two decades of drug abuse.


Nicks battled a cocaine habit from 1977 to 1986, and almost immediately after, an eight-year addiction to the tranquilizer Klonopin. “I would absolutely do it differently,” Nicks said from a tour stop in New York City. “Cocaine almost ruined my life. And if I hadn’t done Klonopin, I would have made two or three more fantastic albums. I lost most of my 40s to Klonopin and that really makes me mad, because your 40s are great. Maybe that’s why I see through 40-year-old eyes, because I lost my 40s, so I’m trying to get a little of my 40s.


If Nicks is making up for lost time, she’s doing it in style. For her Crystal Visions Tour, the singer/songwriter has a girly new wardrobe that helps her slip into the persona of an ageless rock star even as she creeps toward 60.


“I think you really can feel the age that you want to be depending on where you are, what clothes you’re wearing, what boots you’re wearing, how your hair is. You can really keep yourself in a very youthful place if you want to. And I don’t really want to be 59. I want to be like 40, so I look at my life through 40-year-old eyes when it comes to going on the stage.”


Nicks’ tour supports her new “Crystal Visions” CD/DVD, which celebrates her solo work and with Fleetwood Mac.


Though the Mac roared back with 2003’s “Say You Will,” the groups future hangs in the balance with the departure of keyboardist/singer Christine McVie.


“I was very not inspired by not having Christine on the last tour,” Nicks said. “I miss her more than you could imagine, more than I could have even imagined. So I hope that one of these days, Christine’s going to get up in her English castle and say, ‘I’m bored. I’m going to call Stevie and I’m going to do this Fleetwood Mac thing one more time.’ Because I don’t know if I’ll be happy doing it again without her. It just doesn’t seem right to me.


While another solo album is also a possibility, Nicks is also interested in turning the Welsh mythological stories of Rhiannon into a movie, and making a cartoon out of a story she wrote at age 17 - “So that was like 100 years ago,” she said.


But while Nicks pokes fun at her age and escapes into a younger version of herself onstage, she also embraces growing older.


“In my real life I’m very much aware that I’m 59, because my life’s experience is based on 59 years,” she said. “And that part I really like, because I feel like I’m very wise now. I see mistakes coming and I avoid them. When I was 40, I didnt.”

Friday, June 15, 2007

Stevie Nicks - Stand Back (Terranova & Austin Leeds Remix)

One more Stand Back Remix:

Stevie Nicks - Stand Back (Terranova & Austin Leeds Remix)http://www.evilshare.com/1e140066-6c...b-00a0c993e9d6

Nicks, Isaak: Who's the soft-rock champ?


Clearly, Stevie Nicks and Chris Isaak are at the very least on good terms. It's quite possible they're good buds. They definitely don't hate each other, since they're playing a show together tonight at the Tweeter Center in Camden, N.J.


Even still, we feel like it'd be amusing to pit the two soft-rock titans against each other in a Caribbean Barbed Wire Lumberjack Steel Cage Death Match, just to see who is the true champion of soft rock radio.


Plus, there's not much to write about this week, so here goes.

•Songwriting chops. Edge: Nicks, by a mile. After Stevie moved outside the Fleetwood Mac fold, everyone wondered what she could do without Lindsey Buckingham or Christine McVie there to help as a foil, co-songwriter or musical collaborator. The answer was "Stand Back," "Talk to Me," the classic "Leather and Lace" -- which is a killer cut despite the presence of Don Henley -- not to mention "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," which she didn't write but made awesome by blending her scratchy vocals with Tom Petty's Florida-flavored faux-Dylan lead vocal. Isaak has, er, "Wicked Game."

•Vocal chops. Edge: Draw. If you go for pure pleasantness of voice, Isaak would be the clear winner. His Elvis-meets-Roy Orbison croon and sneer could make almost any tune a hit. But Nicks' now-weathered pipes still burst with personality, and like Jules Winnfield said in "Pulp Fiction," personality goes a long way.

•Previous band. Edge: Uh, Nicks. Isaak was in a rockabilly band called Silvertone in the mid-1980s.

•Versatility. Edge: Isaak. In addition to being a great singer and decent songwriter, the studly Isaak has appeared in several films, including a brief appearance as a cop who gets duped by Hannibal Lecter in "The Silence of the Lambs." Aside from her soap opera-esque moments in Fleetwood Mac footage, Nicks doesn't act.

•Onstage accessories. Edge: Isaak. He brings the sneer and the greaser-style hairdo, but Isaak isn't really a props kind of guy. Nicks loses here for those weird cape/curtain-type things she hangs from her arms to cover herself up. Why? You go girl.
Although it looks close on paper, Nicks slaughtered the California boy.

Nicks and Isaak will be at the center at 8. Tickets are $25, $45, $79.75 and $125 at www. ticketmaster.com.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Stevies Rockin' the Beige Boots!

Stevie played the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ last night (June 12, 2007). Below are a few shots taken by Kelly (softsilverchain). The setlist doesn't seem to ever change, but it appears there are quite a few wardrobe changes on this tour.




Thursday, June 07, 2007

Soundscan Sales Update for Crystal Visions

Update on the Soundscan Sales for Crystal Visions.

Date / Chart # / Sales / Total Sales
04/14/07 #21 - 33,944
04/21/07 #52 - 20,884 = 54,828
04/28/07 #49 - 13,384 = 68,212
05/05/07 #71 - 9,687 = 77,899
05/12/07 #73 - 9,531 = 87,430
05/19/07 #91 - 7,829 = 95,259
05/26/07 #116 - 7,421 = 102,680
06/02/07 #138 - 5,535 = 108,215
06/09/07 #131 - 5,705 = 113,920
06/16/07 #108 - 6,558 = 120,478
06/23/07 #152 - 5,212 = 125,690

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Stevie Nicks Stand Back EP Released on itunes

A total of 9 Remixes of Stand Back which was a top 5 hit for Stevie Nicks back in 1983 have been released on a 4 track EP and also as single downloads on itunes. The following is available now:

EP: $3.96
1. Morgan Page Edit - 4:30
2. Ralphi's Beefy Retro Radio - 4:30
3. Tracy Takes You Home Mixshow - 6:54
4. Tracy Takes You Home Radio - 3:51

Singles: (sold seperately for 99 cents each)
1. Ralphi's Beefy Retro Mix - 11:11
2. Ralphi's Beefy Retro Edit - 7:30
3. Tracy Takes You Home Dub - 11:32
4. Tracy Takes You Home Mix - 11:26
5. Morgan Page Vox Mix - 7:01

Lindsey Buckingham Live on KLOS 95.5 FM June 5, 2007

Lindsey was interviewed on the Mark and Brian show on KLOS in Los Angeles today. He was interviewed from his home about his current tour in support of Under The Skin and the upcoming shows in the LA area.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Stevie Nicks "Vision Quest" Performing Songwriter Article

Daniel over at Stevie-Nicks.INFO typed out the entire article from the June, 2007 edition of Performing Songwriter. Click the picture to be taken to his site and the article...

Stevie Nicks Houston Review June 2, 2007 - Woodlands Pavilion

June 03, 2007
Nicks sends Woodlands fans into a frenzy

Stevie Nicks' book of spells hasn't changed much since her halcyon days as a gypsy rock goddess. But there's a good reason--actually, several decades' worth--why scores of fans still turn out for shows. Nicks' alluring mix of mood and music still weaves considerable magic.
The faithful were there Saturday night at the Woodlands Pavilion. Some in lace, some in shawls and still others in khaki shorts and polo shirts. Several brought flowers. Many scooped up several souvenir shirts and posters as they waited for their queen.

Nicks appeared soon enough, looking trimmer than usual in the requisite black, her blonde hair (still) cascading down her shoulders. She charged through opening number Stand Back and began twirling early in her hour-and-40-minute set, inciting rapturous cheers from the sizable crowd.

The song packed a glossy punch despite being more than two decades old, and it has recently resurfaced via fresh club remixes from DJ Tracy Young. (Coming soon to a dance floor near you, no doubt.)

Fleetwood Mac classics (Dreams, Gold Dust Woman) flowed seamlessly into solo hits (1983's If Anyone Falls) throughout the evening. Nicks has an easy, unfussy grace with her material. It's a familiarity that can only come with time and extensive touring.

She made slight changes to arrangements, and stretched some songs out into formidable showcases for her band and singers.

And for all the otherworldly gypsy drama that marks her image, Nicks comes off surprisingly warm and accessible onstage. Kind of like a really groovy aunt. She thanked the crowd repeatedly for its enthusiasm and chattered casually with her ten-piece band.

A lovely piano intro preceded Rhiannon, which also made time for a quick outfit change. (More flowy black, of course.) Enchanted was a nice change of pace--a jangly, rootsy gem that inspired the title of a 1998 box set.

Nicks introduced Sorcerer as a tune she had written (and demoed) more than three decades ago. It eventually found its way onto 2001's Trouble in Shangri-La, Nicks' last studio disc. The song required more vocal punch than much of the evening's material, and she proved up to the task.

The sly gallop of Gold Dust Woman was like welcoming back a mischevious friend. Images of mystical women and dancing lights flickered on the backdrop.

Nicks described the ubiquitous Landslide as simply being "about family." It still shows no signs of age, and accompanying photos of her late father only added to the tune's bittersweet shimmer.

Extended drum and guitar solos gave way to the sexually charged groove of Edge of Seventeen, the evening's unofficial closer. Nicks disappeared backstage and returned in what looked like schizophrenic wedding wear--a white dress and black tails with fringe. She did her usual meet-and-greet at the foot of stage, making off with several bouquets of flowers and cards.

Led Zeppelin's Rock and Roll was the first of two encores, and a top-hatted Nicks played it like a freewheeling karaoke number. Better was Beauty and the Beast, a dramatic ballad accompanied by arresting black-and-white images from Jean Cocteau's 1946 French film. The stark beauty was matched by Nicks' own soaring vocals, and it proved a captivating closer to a familiar, feel-good set.

Show opener
Chris Isaak was crooning and cutting up well before the announced 8 p.m. start time. Many were still mulling over Nicks merchandise and standing in line for beer and nachos.

His 70-minute set teetered toward alt-country, but it was peppered with rock, blues and plenty of wry comedy. He tore the front of his pants early in the evening and jokingly tried to cover the hole with his pink jacket and a stage towel. "The kids are getting scared," Isaak cracked. "Mommy!"

Moody breakout tune Wicked Game drew cheers of familiarity, its guitar still sexy and evocative. And Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing (famously used in Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut) should have been--but wasn't--another monster smash.

Isaak's voice is a wonder: low and smoky one minute, high and piercing the next. He played up the Roy Orbison influence with a sincere take on Only the Lonely and had the crowd singing along to Cheap Trick's I Want You To Want Me. (Both are on a recently issued Best Of collection.)

He tempered the noirish Blue Hotel with a light touch--literally. As his band Silvertone started the song, Isaak sauntered onstage in a discoball suit that reflected light from every angle. It was the perfect encapsulation of Isaak's crazy-sexy-cool
credo
.

NEW Date added to Stevie's Tour


A new date has been added to the Crystal Visions Tour:

Thursday - July 26th - Paso Robles , CA - Mid-state Fair