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From Stevie Nicks, a charming blend of solo spells and Fleetwood Mac at TD Garden
By Victoria Wasylaky Globe Correspondent,
Photo: Mirman Photography
Stevie Nicks is never beating the witch allegations.
Despite decades-enduring rumors, rock’s most mystical singer-songwriter has long disavowed spell-casting and similar activities (her quote “I just wear black because it makes me look thinner, you idiots” comes to mind). But there’s a reason the word “witch” trails behind her as closely as one of her sequined shawls, and it was on full display Monday night at TD Garden during her latest solo tour.
These days, the live performance rubric for legacy rock acts measures just how much an artist can still rattle the rafters. But Fleetwood Mac favorites like “Rhiannon” and “Landslide” do not a rager make, and Nicks’s prowess at age 77 instead manifested in her ability to keep Boston fans still but thoroughly spellbound, hanging on her every twirl.
Even when Nicks added an aggressive edge to her delivery, silvery vocals turning stony on songs like “Stand Back” and “Edge of Seventeen,” the crowd remained eerily rapt in lieu of any standard “rocking out.” Her mic stand, garlanded with beads and ribbons, and a steady rotation of vintage shawls only amplified her reputation.
The Boston date of Nicks’s solo tour was originally scheduled for August, but a shoulder fracture forced her to postpone a slew of performances, a debacle she addressed early in the set.
“It isn’t like it doesn’t hurt, but at least I can do it,” Nicks said with a wink after miming a few physical therapy exercises.
Throughout the evening, the singer’s demeanor was one of gratitude and pure pep, eagerly conjuring career anecdotes like the origin story of her Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers collaboration, “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.” Later, a cover of Petty’s tune “Free Fallin’” slated into the set with ease, a testament to Nicks’s cohesive selection of solo songs for the tour, all culled from her early albums “Bella Donna” and “The Wild Heart.” (The lone outlier was her politically charged tempest “The Lighthouse,” which she released as a standalone single last year).
But Nicks’s finest hat trick was proving her enduring appeal as Stevie Nicks, the all-around musician, versus Stevie Nicks, a singer from Fleetwood Mac. Unlike other solo tours of rock icons — say, John Fogerty’s recent date at MGM Music Hall at Fenway — Nicks’s own songs complemented the Fleetwood Mac material instead of competing with it. The instantly recognizable opening riffs of “Edge of Seventeen” and “Gold Dust Woman” were met with equal enthusiasm from the crowd, while her 1981 song “Outside the Rain” melted into the heartbeat-like bass of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” as if they were companion pieces.
There’s no finale like “Landslide” to knock loose a few tears, and during Nicks’s encore, her vocals twinkled like those fabled snow-covered hills while a slideshow displayed photos of her late Fleetwood Mac bandmate, Christine McVie.
The wistful ballad debuted on Fleetwood Mac’s self-titled album from 1975 ― the same album that helped weave Nicks into the fabric of the band and catapulted them to lasting stardom. Fifty years later, the song and Nicks seem somehow riper and more poignant than ever.
The work of a witch or not, that’s just magic.
Review & setlist: Stevie Nicks wraps TD Garden in friendship — and iconic capes
"I just want you to know that you live in a very, very, very attractive city. However, it is a very, very, very cold city."
By Kristi Palma
November 25, 2025
Stevie Nicks, with Abby Anderson, at TD Garden, Boston, Nov. 24, 2025.
Stevie Nicks fans were jubilant when the icon finally took the stage at TD Garden on Monday night, after a fractured shoulder forced her to postpone her scheduled Aug. 12 show.
The multi-platinum, Grammy Award-winning singer, 77, kicked off Thanksgiving week in Boston with beloved hits and inside stories from her illustrious career. Nicks is a two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee who, as a solo artist and member of Fleetwood Mac, has collectively sold more than 220 million albums.
But even rock ‘n’ roll queens get injured. And she wasted no time addressing the reason for her postponement before the night’s festivities began.
“I’m very glad to be here. Me and my shoulder are here. Don’t ever ever trip and break your shoulder because it is not a good thing,” Nicks said.
Shoulder aside, Nicks’ signature raspy voice was on point. And so were her signature capes — velvety, sparkly, fringy — and all the originals from her albums and videos, she pointed out. Each time she emerged in a new one, the crowd went wild.
Despite the injury, Nicks determinedly moved about the stage throughout the night, even shimmying and twirling at points. Upon the conclusion of “Gold Dust Woman,” she turned her back to the audience while stretching her caped arms out and flapping the material slowly like a majestic bird.
It was moments like that when Nicks seemed ethereal. Yet, she was also down to earth through much of the evening, chatting about her awe when meeting Tom Petty, and even demonstrating the physical therapy exercises she’s been doing to rehab her shoulder (to a chuckling audience).
She also talked about Boston.
“I have to say, driving to the show tonight and driving through the streets of your city, the city is really a very beautiful city,” Nicks said after the opening song (a cover of “Not Fade Away” by Buddy Holly and the Crickets). “I’m sure you know that, but for me, I’m like, ‘It’s so beautiful, this whole city.’ So I just want you to know that you live in a very, very, very attractive city. However, it is a very, very, very cold city.”
The multi-generational packed house, with women dressed in Stevie-inspired attire — velvet, lace, full skirts, shawls, and fringe vests — laughed at the Boston weather reference. As for Nicks, she wore a black velvet and ruffly dress with high black boots (no heel anymore, she said, as she’s too old for that now).
Nicks hasn’t released a solo album of new material since 2011’s “In Your Dreams.” But the audience was more than ready for a trip down memory lane as Nicks sang songs like “Stand Back” and “Edge of Seventeen” from her ’80s albums “The Wild Heart” and “Bella Donna,” as well as Fleetwood Mac classics like “Dreams,” “Gypsy,” and “Rhiannon.” Her voice was strong through all of them.
The newest song she sang is “The Lighthouse,” released digitally to streaming services in September 2024, a powerful and rallying cry for women’s rights that she premiered on “Saturday Night Live” last year. As she sang, the large screen behind her portrayed a lighthouse shining in the dark while a turbulent storm raged.
Nicks shared that she went to England to mix the song at Abbey Road and simultaneously practiced with Harry Styles in the next recording studio. The two were singing together at the BST Hyde Park concert series in July 2024 to commemorate Nicks’s close friend and bandmate Christine McVie, who passed away in 2022.
Nicks is clearly all about honoring her friends, and friendship was a common theme throughout the night.
Nicks paid tribute to McVie in the night’s final song, “Landslide,” while photos of the longtime pals ran like a digital scrapbook behind her. Another decades-long friend, Tom Petty, who passed away in 2017, was honored in the same way. In fact, Petty’s song, “Runnin’ Down a Dream,” signaled her arrival to the stage for the evening.
Nicks told the story of how her hit song with Petty, “Stop Dragging My Heart Around,” off her 1981 debut solo album “Bella Donna,” came to be. She said her producer Jimmy Iovine told her she didn’t have a single when the “Bella Donna” album was finished.
“There is nothing that anybody can ever say at the beginning of your solo career that can be worse than that, because writing a single is just not that easy,” she said.
Iovine then hooked her up with Petty, who said he had a song and even offered to sing it with her. Nicks was thrilled, and said she remembers how she “dressed to the nines” when meeting Petty. Her fans, familiar with her fashion sense, got a big chuckle out of that.
“Thank you, Tom,” she said, before launching into an energetic “Stop Dragging my Heart Around” with Waddy Wachtel, her guitarist and music director of 40 years, singing Petty’s part.
Nicks closed out the show with more thoughts on friendship. She said she recently saw “Wicked: For Good” with Wachtel.
“I can honestly tell you that Waddy and I cried all the way through it,” she said. “We did, because it’s all about friendship and how friendships last. Waddy and I have known each other since 1971.”
A sentimental Nicks also let her fans know that, despite her age, she’s far from retiring.
“When you leave here I want you to remember that, you know, me and Waddy, we’re quite old,” Nicks said, to laughter. “We love you so much that we don’t care how old we are. We’re out here. And we’ll be out here next year, and the year after that. Because you give us back so much.”
Bubbly Dallas native and country artist Abby Anderson opened for Nicks, singing original and cover songs in a soulful voice and playing both piano and guitar. She sang an unreleased song, “Untamed Woman,” written about her mom who was in the audience, and teared up while talking about her. The artist said she grew up listening to Stevie Nicks and that touring with her is a thrill.
