Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Review: Stevie Nicks Jones Beach


Stevie Nicks w/Michael Grimm
Nikon Theater At Jones Beach
Sunday, September 4

Better than: A radio stuck on the classic rock station.

"Welcome, Jones Beach," Stevie Nicks said before her second song on Sunday night, the last night for both her current mini-tour and the Long Island oceanfront amphitheater's 2011 season. "If you know me, you know there's nowhere I'd rather be than the ocean. I love it here." The crowd—even those people flouting her request to not hoist their cameraphones and get video of her performance that night—cheered.

For the rest of the evening—a 14-song set almost evenly split between her back catalog's most memorable songs and selections from this year's In Your Dreams—Nicks and the audience kept up this rapport, with her at one point wishing that she had another hour tacked on to the show to tell her stories; that the audience consistently responded to her reminiscences about the distant and recent past in kind, even breaking out into whoops and applause when she merely mentioned the Aspen mountains that had inspired Fleetwood Mac's monster hit "Landslide," was a pretty convincing sign that the feeling was mutual. (This even though the weather conditions were such that every audience member could feel as if they, too, were standing in front of a wind machine. Solidarity!) In her inimitable voice, she offered up the backstory for her military spouse's lament "Soldier's Angel" and tagged it with a plea to donate to the USO; she lost herself in the music, shimmying and twirling and giving her musicians Dances Of Stevie's Veils when they soloed; she gave a splendid introduction to her opening act Michael Grimm, a former America's Got Talent winner who'd pulled off a pleasant, if somewhat reserved, set of Stevie Ray-leaning blues-rock earlier in the evening.

By Maura Johnston
Full Review at the Village Voice

2 comments:

  1. not really of a review. my review was she was spot on every song and she looked absolutely beautiful, she connected with the audience all night. her new stuff was amazing and she was very funny esp. hello edgar hello stevie (loved it) saw her with rod stewart at the garden, and she was not herself(ive seen her over forty times) maybe she didnt want to take away from him. but this show was full of life and energy one of my favorites, really. long live the Queen of rock and roll> great show great cd. go and get it if you dont

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  2. I am old school and "was" not really a fan of Fleetwood Mac until last night at Jones Beach NY. I prefer much heavier rock and old fashioned blues, and always thought of Fleetwood Mac as a more romantic, softer rock band. Last night, I was blasted by strong, solid performances by all of you guys. Sound and visual were superb. I was not expecting that (you caught me out of base, completely). You gave me a lesson on why you have been around for this long. Congratulations for this concert. You have got a new fan in NY....

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