Showing posts with label Stevie Nicks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stevie Nicks. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 09, 2018

STEVIE NICKS Nominated For Induction Into The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame!

Stevie Nicks, The Cure Among 15 Acts Nominated For Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame


The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced its 2019 nominees on Tuesday, and in what has become an annual tradition, the list came with the Hall's usual heap of opacity and a dash of acrimony.

One nominee has already been inducted, two are receiving their fifth nominations, and one previously said it would decline the honor before changing its, ahem, tune on Tuesday morning.

Stevie Nicks is nominated for induction for the first time as a solo artist, having previously been welcomed into the Rock Hall in 1998 as a member of legendary rock group Fleetwood Mac. If she makes the cut when the 2019 class is announced in December, Nicks will become the first female artist to join the Hall a second time. 

Starting Oct. 9, the public can visit rockhall.com/fanvote to cast their votes for who they would like to see in the Class of 2019. Voting ends Dec. 9 and the top-five artists will make up a fan's ballot, which counts as a single vote. 

VOTE: Go to rockhall.com/vanvote for fan vote. You can vote once per day.  Below are some early stats as of this posting... But it's early, we gotta stay on top of this.



In alphabetical order, this year's nominees for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame are:
  • The Cure (second nomination)
  • Def Leppard (first nomination)
  • Devo (first nomination)
  • Janet Jackson (third nomination)
  • John Prine (first nomination)
  • Kraftwerk (fifth nomination)
  • LL Cool J (fifth nomination)
  • MC5 (fourth nomination)
  • Radiohead (second nomination)
  • Rage Against the Machine (second nomination)
  • Roxy Music (first nomination)
  • Rufus & Chaka Khan (third nomination)
  • Stevie Nicks (already an inductee with Fleetwood Mac, but first solo nomination)
  • Todd Rundgren (first nomination)
  • The Zombies (fourth nomination)

Wednesday, August 29, 2018

NEW ON INSTAGRAM - LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM AND STEVIE NICKS

Within days of one another.. Lindsey first joined Instagram and Stevie followed - either reactivating her account or re-joined. She had an account previously around 2014 that was official but was deactivated after the 24 Karat Gold album ran it's course.

Check them both out... @lindseybuckingham and @stevienicks



Sunday, August 19, 2018

First Photo of Stevie Nicks on the set of American Horror Story season 8


The Coven Returns. 
What a thrilling night with the legend Stevie Nicks on the set of AHS. - Ryan Murphy

Tuesday, August 07, 2018

Stevie Nicks Returns To American Horror Story "Apocalypse"

Creator Ryan Murphy tweeted today... Season 8 of the series will be a crossover between the “American Horror Story” seasons “Murder House” and “Coven,” which were the first and third seasons of the show, respectively. It will debut on Sept. 12.




Tuesday, June 19, 2018

LISTEN LeAnne Rimes and Stevie Nicks Duet 'Borrowed'

Hear LeAnn Rimes and Stevie Nicks' Delicate Duet 'Borrowed (Re-Imagined)'
Collaborative version of bittersweet ballad featured on Rimes' 'Re-Imagined' EP was "our destiny," says Nicks


Rollingstone

The day before LeAnn Rimes releases her Re-Imagined EP, a collection putting unique new spins on some of her best-known songs, the country-pop powerhouse unleashes another surprise track from the collection. And this one comes with a bona fide rock superstar attached. Stevie Nicks, whose work as a solo artist ands as a member of Fleetwood Mac have influenced Rimes for decades, joins her on an updated rendition of "Borrowed," a track originally featured on Rimes' brilliant, yet underappreciated, 2013 LP Spitfire.

Written by Rimes with Darrell Brown and Dan Wilson, and produced by Rimes, Brown and Nicks with famed guitarist Waddy Wachtel, this updated version of "Borrowed" finds the two singers sharing melody and harmony, imbuing the tune with emotional depth yet never overpowering each other. The result is a bittersweet country ballad with just a touch of glittering pop-rock magic.

Nicks, who refers to the "How Do I Live" singer as "the best I have ever sung with," notes that she chose to record "Borrowed" for Re-Imagined after Rimes sang it on The Tonight Show in 2013.

"I stopped in my tracks and sat down on the floor and started to cry," the rock icon tells Rolling Stone. "I understood what she was singing about. I understood that the pain was real... and I understood that it had happened to me. When the song ended, I called my assistant to tell her that one day, I would sing this song with LeAnn. It was our destiny."

Nicks, a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with her Fleetwood Mac cohorts, says of Rimes as a vocalist, "You can't compete with her; you can only keep up with her. To sing with her is to be blessed. She teaches you; she takes you along for the ride. She takes you on her journey and you arrive a much better singer."

"Stevie has been inspiring me as a songwriter and performer since I can remember," adds Rimes. "To know that my music has seeped its way into her heart the way her music has into mine is magical. Connecting with her, not only musically, but on a soul level – understanding what it's like to be a woman with passion, a pen and a desire to tell the most authentic, heartfelt truth through song, has been an experience that's forever left an imprint on my life."

The Re-Imagined EP, also featuring newly crafted versions of such Rimes hits as "Blue," "How Do I Live" and "Can't Fight the Moonlight," is available June 20th.

Check out their interview on Wednesday on BBC Radio 2 in the UK after the 8am hour.


Friday, May 18, 2018

AXS TV CELEBRATES ROCK LEGEND STEVIE NICKS



HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVE NICKS!

AXS TV CELEBRATES ROCK LEGEND STEVIE NICKS WITH A SPECIAL BIRTHDAY BLOCK ON SATURDAY, MAY 26 AT 1pE/10aP

The Career-Spanning Lineup Includes Unforgettable Performances with Fleetwood Mac and Lindsey Buckingham, a Pair of Powerhouse Solo Sets, and In-Depth Profiles

Los Angeles, CA (May 16, 2018) – AXS TV is celebrating iconic songstress Stevie Nicks’ upcoming birthday with a career-spanning lineup packed with performances and profiles on her actual birthday — Saturday, May 26 starting at 1pE/10aP.

The festivities begin with an in-depth look at one of the band’s most influential works, taking viewers behind the scenes and into the studio as Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Christine McVie, Mick Fleetwood, and John McVie discuss the creative process behind Rumours in Classic Albums: Fleetwood Mac – Rumours. An encore broadcast of Classic Albums will air at 6:30pE. The GRAMMY®-nominated 1986 concert Stevie Nicks: Rock A Little follows at 2pE, as Nicks takes the stage at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre for a powerhouse set featuring “Edge Of Seventeen,” “Talk To Me,” “Stand Back,” and “Dreams,” with guest appearances by Mick Fleetwood and Peter Frampton. An encore broadcast of Rock A Little will air at 7:30pE.

The day continues at 3pE with the 2014 profile series Rock Legends: Fleetwood Mac, compiling expert interviews, rare archive footage, classic concerts and more to tell the story of the band’s incredible legacy. An encore of Rock Legends airs at 8:30pE. Then, at 3:30pE, Stevie breezes into The Windy City for an intimate evening, blending solo hits and Fleetwood Mac favorites in Soundstage: Stevie Nicks, with an encore at 9pE. And Nicks is back in action with Fleetwood Mac, as the band brings the Say You Will Tour to the FleetCenter for an unforgettable show featuring “Rhiannon,” “Gold Dust Woman,” “Go Your Own Way,” and many more in Fleetwood Mac, Live In Boston at 4:30pE with an encore broadcast at 10pE.

The block comes to a close at 12aE, as Fleetwood Mac’s dynamic duo reunites for a once in a lifetime event in Lindsey Buckingham With Special Guest Stevie Nicks. The hit-fueled set features Buckingham’s priceless stories revealing the meanings—and controversies—behind some of the most beloved songs from his acclaimed career, before launching into an eclectic setlist that includes “Trouble,” “Murrow Turning Over In His Grave,” “Big Love,” “Peacekeeper,” and “Someone’s Gonna Change Your Mind,” headlined by an emotional duet with Nicks on the Fleetwood Mac signatures “Never Going Back Again” and “Say Goodbye.”


Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Stevie Nicks Performed in NYC Last at Playstation Theater

Last night Stevie played an American Express sponsored private concert in NYC at the Playstation Theater.

 
Photos above: barnabydraper

Photos above: craighermes and tanjaplecas (Instagram)

A post shared by Sam Byrne (@samcbyrne) on

A post shared by Jeffrey Kolsrud (@jeffkolsrud) on


Thursday, January 04, 2018

Stevie Nicks classic previews a new Fleetwood Mac reissue

Hear Fleetwood Mac's Intimate Early 'Landslide'
Alternate version of the Stevie Nicks classic previews a new reissue of the band's self-titled 1975 LP.

In 1975, Fleetwood Mac debuted their classic lineup with their second self-titled album. Not only did
Fleetwood Mac establish the musical chemistry of the band for decades to come, it helped solidify the group as a pop juggernaut with singles like "Rhiannon" and "Say You Love Me." Ahead of the January 19th release of the album's expansive reissue, listen to an early version of Stevie Nicks' classic "Landslide," which would become one of their signature songs.

The "Landslide" outtake sounds surprisingly similar to the final version. Nicks' voice has a little more rawness on the edges here, and where the album cut features Lindsey Buckingham's multi-tracked acoustic guitars and a brief electric solo, this version includes just a single acoustic-guitar track and some light percussion.

The reissue follows a recent series of remastered and re-released Fleetwood Mac albums. Like the others, Fleetwood Mac will include previously unreleased studio and live recordings. The reissue will come out in multiple formats, including a deluxe version that includes three CDs, a DVD and a vinyl LP.

In late January, artists such as Lorde, Harry Styles and Haim will perform at a Fleetwood Mac tribute show at Radio City Music Hall. The concert is part of a MusiCares benefit that will occur days before the Grammy Awards. The band's classic lineup will also perform at the concert.

Rollingstone

Pre-order at iTunes
Pre-order at GooglePlay
Pre-order at Amazon US
Pre-order at Amazon UK 


Monday, June 19, 2017

"Your Hand I Will Never Let It Go" - Stevie Nicks

Your Hand I Will Never Let It Go

Not to be upstaged by the release of an album that all of her Fleetwood Mac bandmates contributed to except for her, Stevie Nicks has returned with her first solo song since 2014’s 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault. The track, “Your Hand I Will Never Let It Go,” comes from the soundtrack to the new dramatic film from Focus Features, The Book of Henry, which stars Naomi Watts and Sarah Silverman. The song was written by Thomas Bartlett (also known as Doveman) and (!) Ryan Miller from Guster. (Miller posted on Guster’s Facebook about the collaboration, which he called “ONE THE GREATEST EXPERIENCES OF MY LIFE”).

The sparse, constantly mutating ballad finds Nicks bridging country-tinged pop songwriting with some modern electronic production and New Age-y flourishes. Watch the lyric video and hear the song below.

Spin


 

Stevie Nicks' new ballad, "Your Hand I Will Never Let Go," will be featured in the Naomi Watts-led drama, The Book of Henry. The song was written by Thomas Barlett and Ryan Miller. 

"Drowned in thought and caught in a stare/ Talking to ghosts who were not there," Nicks sings plaintively. "Then you took my hand/ Transformation began/ Commotion where it once was still/ Fireworks explode/ Front row tickets to the show/ This hand I will never let it go."

Nicks also contributed vocals to Lana Del Rey's new Lust for Life track "Beautiful People, Beautiful Problems." In a recent interview, Del Rey confirmed she recruited the Fleetwood Mac singer for a last-minute collaboration.

"I kind of thought I had finished the record a couple times," said Del Rey. "One of those times, I felt I wanted a woman on the record, and I was talking to [Nowels] about who would be great to get on the record. We both could only come up with Stevie. Funny enough, he went to high school with Stevie and wrote his first hit with her."

Nicks recently appeared onstage with Harry Styles at that singer's small venue Los Angeles gig. 

Rollingstone

Monday, May 29, 2017

Stevie Nicks addresses a few rumours... head on!

Why I've gone my own way: On the edge of 70, Stevie Nicks addresses a few rumours... head on!

By CRAIG MCLEAN
Dailymail


Turning her back on Fleetwood Mac. Teaming up with Chrissie Hynde. And ditching drugs with a little help from Prince. The rock icon confronts all those rumours... head on!

Now this is a treat. It’s Saturday night in a cavernous rehearsal facility in the San Fernando Valley, over the hills from Hollywood, and I’m enjoying a private concert from rock ’n’ roll’s greatest woman – a living, breathing, dancing, sunglasses-indoors legend. Ahead of an American tour, Stevie Nicks is running through a selection of hits from her multi-million-selling career as a solo artist and as frontwoman with Fleetwood Mac.

Rhiannon, Gold Dust Woman, Stand Back, The Wild Heart, Edge Of Seventeen: these are some of the best-loved songs of the past 40 years. And the woman who wrote them – more used to wowing arenas – is standing a few feet away, singing them to me, bashing a tambourine as if her life depended on it, swirling in a vision of black scarves and drapes.

During a break, I sit down with Nicks and, as she cradles her beloved terrier Lily, she talks. And talks. At the age of 69, this warm, witty woman remains as irrepressible as ever. As is usual in the world of Fleetwood Mac, there’s a lot to discuss. One topic is her upcoming US shows with fellow icon Chrissie Hynde, in support of Nicks’ 24 Karat Gold album. Another is rumours of a Fleetwood Mac tour – a tour that’s possibly a farewell one.

But more pressing is the imminent release of Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie. It’s ostensibly a duo album from Mac guitarist Buckingham and keyboard player/singer McVie. In the set-up and billing, it feels like a successor to Buckingham Nicks. This legendary ‘lost’ 1973 album was made by Stevie and Lindsey – then a couple – before the Californians joined a mouldering English blues band led by drummer Mick Fleetwood and assisted by bass player John McVie.

Their duo act didn’t last, and neither did their relationship. But Nicks’ and Buckingham’s songwriting contribution – not to mention their split, as famously documented in their songs on 1977’s 40-million-selling album Rumours – helped rocket-power Fleetwood Mac to Seventies rock’s mega-league.
When we speak, Nicks hasn’t heard the Buckingham/McVie album. ‘I was gone when they were doing it,’ she says. ‘I was in Nashville making 24 Karat Gold. And when they were finishing it, I was on this last tour. I’m sure it’s pretty great, because why wouldn’t it be?’

John McVie (Christine’s ex-husband) and Mick Fleetwood also play on the album. Which begs the question: if Nicks had contributed, would it have been a Fleetwood Mac album? The band haven’t made an album since 2003’s Say You Will, so it feels like time...

‘It probably would have been, but I had just given three years to Fleetwood Mac [for the last tour] and I wanted two years off. And they decided to go into the studio and I said: “I’m not going. But you guys can do whatever you want.”’

She understands why Christine was keen to make the album. The English keyboard player rejoined Fleetwood Mac in 2014 after a decade-and-a-half’s retirement in Kent.

‘Christine had been gone for 16 years and she had [only] done one tour and she needed to work. She needed to stand in front of those keyboards and write songs and play. And that’s why Fleetwood Mac will probably go back out next year and do a farewell tour,’ Nicks reveals. ‘Because Chris really wants to. Because she was gone for so long.’

For her part, Nicks can’t conceive of retiring. In that regard, her current partner is the perfect musical compadre. Both Nicks and Hynde have been through the sex and drugs and rock ’n’ roll wars. Tragically, The Pretenders’ frontwoman lost two band mates to drugs, while Nicks has had her own well-publicised battles with addiction in the Seventies and Eighties. She’s also had her share of intense love affairs: with Buckingham, with Fleetwood, and also with Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh and producer-turned-Apple-exec Jimmy Iovine.

These days, though, she’s contentedly single, surrounded by a wide circle of musician friends and various godchildren. Nicks’ homes in Los Angeles – one on the beach in Venice and one in the nearby hills – are retreats where she can indulge her love of writing poetry, reading the Twilight novels and watching Game Of Thrones.

That said: while both Nicks and ardent vegetarian Hynde, 65, are now both the epitome of clean and serene, they’re also capable of kicking up an onstage storm.

‘We became really good friends,’ says Nicks. ‘She calls me the Elizabeth Taylor of rock ’n’ roll. Because I always arrive in [hair] rollers with my big Elizabeth Taylor sunglasses, and my hair’s usually wrapped because it was cold when we first went out on tour.

‘But on stage, we don’t feel old. And hopefully we don’t look old! When we feel it’s not cool any more, we’ll change our shows. We’ll do more intimate shows and we’ll do more ballads. We’ll never be age-inappropriate.’

As for her ‘day-job’ band, their shows remain as huge, hits-filled and entertaining as ever. ‘When we did the last Fleetwood Mac show, on my birthday,’ Nicks recalls, referring to the band’s gig at London’s O2 in May 2015, ‘it was the nicest birthday I’d had in ten years. Harry Styles brought back a cake. Mick [Fleetwood] has kind of adopted him. There are just women in Mick’s family and Harry is that tall, lanky musical son he always wanted, so they keep in touch.’

Indeed, so do Styles and Nicks. A few weeks after our meeting, she joins the visibly awestruck 23-year-old onstage for three songs at LA’s Troubadour. Even the hottest 20-something in pop has his fanboy moments.

No doubt Nicks’ UK fans, celebrity and otherwise, will be out in force at London’s Hyde Park in July. As part of the British Summer Time concerts, she’s playing with headliners Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers. She counts Petty as her lifelong musical brother, and she pops up several times in the Florida rocker’s recent authorised biography, Petty. And the affection between the pair goes both ways.

‘There was a point when Tom thought I was probably not going to make it,’ says Nicks. ‘He said, “I started to expect I would get a phone call to say that Stevie had died from a drugs overdose”.’

Nicks has always been wholly honest about her years abusing drugs, notably cocaine. But she’s come out the other side, not just intact but shining. The same, tragically, can’t be said for her friend Prince. The pair collaborated on Nicks’ 1983 solo album The Wild Heart, and the two remained close.
‘He was as against drugs as anybody I’ve ever known. But what happened with him was that from the very beginning, he was doing insane things like jumping off six-foot risers in little Argentinian heels – and smashing down into the ground.’

Prince was reported to have died from an accidental overdose of the prescription painkiller Fentanyl.

‘He thought I absolutely was going to die of a drugs overdose. This guy gave me a lecture on over-the-counter cough medicine!’ she exclaims. ‘That’s when I was totally a drug addict and he was straight as an arrow. He’d bring me cough medicine when I was sick and then I’d ask for another spoon of it, and he’d go, “I didn’t come here to start you on a new drug!” I’m like, “Come on, really, please, seriously?” ’Cos I’ve done way worse.’

That, however, is a long way behind her. Now Nicks gets all her highs playing shows. ‘When I go up on that stage, that arena is my own personal house of love. And I’m going up there to tell these funny stories and to make people pump their fists in the air. I want to bring joy to these people.’

The same applies to Fleetwood Mac. Nicks ‘of course’ will take part in the band tour she mentioned earlier. But will it really be a farewell trek? ‘Well, we’re not young. The thing is, I’m probably still going to be performing long after next year. But as for everybody else, I don’t know. We’ll be skating into our seventies.’

For her part, performing is what keeps Nicks youthful and rocking – and with an energy and enthusiasm artists half her age would kill for. ‘Totally!’ she says. ‘It’s the love of my life.’

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Lana Del Rey and Stevie Nicks Team Up for New Song on Lust for Life

Two generations of witchy women, together at last
by Amy Phillips and Amanda Wicks
Pitchfork


Lana Del Rey has tapped none other than Stevie Nicks for a feature on her forthcoming album Lust for Life. No more information is available about the team-up between Lana and the Fleetwood Mac singer/songwriter, but it follows news of two more high-profile guests on the LP: the Weeknd on “Lust for Life” and Sean Ono Lennon on “Tomorrow Never Came.” Del Rey has not yet announced a release date for the album, which also features the single “Love.” 







From Big Brother to Big Real Estate
Zach Rance has been taking the South Florida real estate market by storm. If you are looking to buy, sell, lease or rent in Palm Beach County, Florida, contact Zach Rance through his website at www.ZachRance.com
Sponsored

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Stevie Nicks Rollin Into The Fall with 24 Karat Gold Tour








Dates available so far:

07.09 - London, UK - Hyde Park (W/Tom Petty) [previously announced]
09.09 - Chicago, IL - Ravinia Pavilion
09.10 - Chicago, IL - Ravinia Pavilion
09.24 - Louisville, KY - Bourbon and Boyond

Ticketmaster


Record Store Day April 22, 2017 - Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks Releases

Look for both of these vinyl albums to drop April 22nd!!

FLEETWOOD MAC - Alternate Mirage 
Event: RECORD STORE DAY 2017 
Release Date: 4/22/2017
Format: LP
Label: Rhino/Warner Bros. 
Quantity: 3500
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release

An album of alternate takes from the Mirage Deluxe edition, originally released in 2016. Includes the early versions of Mirage favorites "Gypsy", "Hold On" and "Oh Diane". Previously released only on CD, first time on vinyl. (Limited worldwide release of 6500.)

STEVIE NICKS - Rarities
Event: RECORD STORE DAY 2017 
Release Date: 4/22/2017
Format: 10" Vinyl
Label: Atlantic Catalog Group
Quantity: 5000
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release

This Record Store Day release is a 10" featuring rare demos, live and early takes from Bella Donna and Wild Heart deluxe editions. Includes two key Stevie Nicks soundtrack cuts: "Blue Lamp" (from the Heavy Metal soundtrack) and "Sleeping Angel" (from the Fast Times at Ridgemont High soundtrack). (Limited worldwide release of 7500.)

SIDE A: 01 Bella Donna (demo) 02 Edge of Seventeen (early take) 03 After The Glitter Fades (Live 1982) (Remastered) 
SIDE B: 01 Wild Heart (Session) 02 Blue Lamp (from Heavy Metal soundtrack) (Remastered) 03 Sleeping Angel (from the Fast Times at Ridgemont High soundtrack) (Remastered)






From Big Brother to Big Real Estate
Zach Rance has been taking the South Florida real estate market by storm. If you are looking to buy, sell, lease or rent in Palm Beach County, Florida, contact Zach Rance through his website at www.ZachRance.com
Sponsored

Sunday, April 09, 2017

Review Stevie Nicks and The Pretenders Live in Uniondale April 6, 2017

Review: Stevie Nicks magical at Nassau Coliseum for '24 Karat Gold' tour
Uniondale - On April 6, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Stevie Nicks headlined the new Nassau Colisem, as part of her "24 Karat Gold Tour."
by Markos Papadatos
Digital Journal

Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders served as her opening act, and they were able to warm up the stage for Nicks.

Nicks opened her set with "Gold and Braid" and it was followed by "If Anyone Falls." Thank you. This is a night of storytelling," she said. "It's so much fun for me."

She told the audience the story behind "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," and brought back Chrissie Hynde on stage to sing the Tom Petty-penned tune as a duet with her, which was a nonchalant yet powerful collaboration. Nicks noted that thanks to success of "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," it helped propel her Bella Donna album straight into the stratosphere.

For the follow-up song, "Belle Fleur," the stage was decorated in an elaborate set and a neat backdrop, as she brought her tambourine with her on stage and showcased her timeless outfit. She took the crowd on a trip down memory lane with "Gypsy" as a rain backdrop graced the stage.

She subsequently described "Wild Heart" as a song that was more crazy, while "Bella Donna" was more focused, and she delivered memorable versions of both songs. "Wild Heart" was an important song for Nicks since it proved to her that her solo career was not a fluke, and rightfully so.

One of the most poignant songs in the set was "New Orleans," which she wrote about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which has optimistic vibes to it.

The rock queen noted that the song "Starshine" originated in Tom Petty's basement, and she sang an upbeat and rocking version, which had that vintage Tom Petty touch to it.

After an outfit change, she took her fans on a vocal voyage to "Moonlight (A Vampire's Dream)," which had a neat orchestral arrangement to it, that was reminiscent of a scene in a Twilight film, featuring Nicks' expressive vocals. She noted that she wrote the song in 2009 at a time when she was super-disturbed with the Internet world. "At my age, I'm writing music just for me," she said, and the audience concurred with that statement, since Nicks proved that it is all about the quality of music.

One of the highlight moments of the night, and this journalist's personal favorite performance was "Stand Back," where she got the crowd on their feet. The best was when she did her signature spinning move midway through the song, which resonated well with the audience, garnering her a standing ovation.

After "Crying in the Night" and "If You Were My Love," she concluded her show with "Gold Dust Woman" and her Grammy-nominated "Edge of Seventeen." For her encore, Nicks performed two beloved Fleetwood Mac classics, "Rhiannon" and "Landslide."

The Verdict
Overall, Stevie Nicks gave Nassau Coliseum a nostalgic night of music to remember, which was a blend of her solo material, Fleetwood Mac songs and even newer songs that she had written. She proved to be one true song stylist, and was able to share her insights with her audience about the origins of some of her songs. The crowd was aware of the fact that they were in the presence of a rock and roll countess. Her "24 Karat Gold" tour stop at Nassau Coliseum earned an A rating.

Review Stevie Nicks Live in Charlottesville March 25, 2017

Stevie Nicks As Good as ‘Gold’ In Charlottesville
by Muktaru Jalloh
Commonwealthtimes

Currently on her second leg of the 24K Karat Gold Tour, legendary singer Stevie Nicks performed for a crowd of nearly 15,000 at University of Virginia Jean Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville on March 25.  

Known for her work with band Fleetwood Mac and her solo career, Nicks has been regarded by many pubs as the Queen of Rock & Roll, with more than 140 millions records sold and 8 Grammys. This tour is a celebration of her most recent album, the 2014 release of  “24 Karat Gold: Songs From The Vault.”

Originally scheduled for a start time of 7p.m., the venue announced last-minute show’s openers, The Pretenders, would not be performing due to illness. While some fans asked for refunds at ticket booths, many decided Nicks was still worth the night.

A predominantly older crowd, many came dressed to the nines with life-long fans opted to take a page out of their wardrobe from back in the day. Nicks, a mainstay of Rock & Roll music in the 1970s, was a major influence with her style and fashion as much as her music. Thus, many fans dressed in her likeness, sporting Nick’s’ trademark shawl fabrics, big hair and celestial pendants.

A little after 8 p.m., Nick’s’ band appeared on stage to roaring applause from the crowd. Once each band member was set, Nicks gracefully walked onstage and wasted no time getting the show started, opening with “Gold and Braid,” an unreleased song from her 1981 debut solo platinum-selling album, “Bella Donna.”

The album served as affirmation of her decision to leave the success of Fleetwood Mac and embark on her own career.  

After performing the song, Nicks spoke about the creation and legacy of the album, citing collaborators Tom Petty and Jimmy Lovine as instrumental to its success. She continued to perform carefully-selected songs from her early solo albums, including “If Anyone Falls” and“Stop Draggin”.

At certain parts of the night, Nicks chose to perform fan favorites from her work with Fleetwood Mac, performing “Gyspy” to a resounding response from the crowd. Like the album, the nearly three-hour-long highlighted various unreleased songs Nicks chose to perform for the first time.

For each song, she detailed its own unique background story and origin. To the audience’s pleasure, Nicks spoke with much candor and wit in her recollections. In addition, never-before-seen photos appeared on a large LCD screen behind her correlating with each story and song.

When she performed “Stand Back,” she spoke of her close friendship with Prince, who passed away last year. She detailed her first encounter with the legend, citing his purple camaro and his attire as personal memories that still stand out to her to  this day. Nicks revealed that the song was a play on Prince’s classic, “Little Red Corvette” and said that she feels his presence every time she performs the record.  

Nicks closed the set with her famous, “Edge of Seventeen” with her guitarist doing his best Jimi Hendrix impression during his solo. When the crowd pleaded that she sing one more, she gladly obliged performing “Rhiannon” and “Landslide” as encores.

An intriguing yet inspiring element to the show was the perspective in which Nicks spoke about her past and present. She spoke as someone who is at peace with her youth, prime and career. Most importantly, Nicks genuinely looked happy on stage to share these obscure songs that maybe one point in time she was too afraid to perform in the past. 

A show filled with nostalgia and remembrance, Nicks’s presence was also one of contentment and joy. With her voice as strong and cool as ever, Stevie is still as good as Gold.

Review Stevie Nicks Live in Baltimore March 26, 2017

Wild Heart: On Stevie Nicks and her dogged tenderness
Rebekah Kirkman
City Papers

At Royal Farms Arena a couple weeks ago, CP's Performing Arts Editor Maura Callahan and I are standing among a swarm of people who all look like vaguely different amalgamations of a certain type of person I have known throughout my life—people I grew up going to church with, people I worked for, the friends, parents, grandparents, uncles, and aunts of my peers and myself. A lot of these people are disappointed: The Pretenders, who are supposed to open for Stevie Nicks, had to cancel because singer Chrissie Hynde is sick.

As we wait in line at will call to pick up our press passes, where everyone else is clamoring for a refund—because they had already seen Stevie Nicks a million times and Fleetwood Mac a million times, and what if she sings songs that they don't know so well, and they were really looking forward to hearing 'Back on the Chain Gang' again only this time a little more rough around the edges maybe—an angry white woman behind us says to a Royal Farms Arena worker who is trying to help her, "I know it's not your fault, but this really SUCKS!" It's a bummer to be around all these joyless folks—I was bummed to miss The Pretenders too—but I'm able to transcend my temporary discomfort: We're about to see Stevie Nicks live for the first time, instead of sitting at home watching old recordings on YouTube, which is what Maura and I usually do.

We get into our seats—to the right of the stage, kinda close to the floor seats, and sandwiched between two old-dad-like dudes, one of whom keeps creepily looking over and gesturing at Maura. Soon Stevie and her eight-piece backing band emerge onto the stage, and after a rousing performance of 'Gold and Braid,' she greets the audience and tells us what we've gotten ourselves into.

"It's going to be different than you've seen before," she says, fingering the thick black and silver tassels tied to her mic stand. "I just had to do something for myself." So she went back into her "gothic trunk of lost songs" and pulled some of her lesser known and unreleased songs she wrote throughout her nearly 50-year career as a solo artist, a member of Fleetwood Mac, and as one half of the pre-Fleetwood Mac duo Buckingham Nicks. And then she sequenced them for this tour with the crowd favorites, including 'Gold Dust Woman,' 'Edge of Seventeen,' and 'Landslide,' among others.

Her set is peppered with anecdotes about how certain songs and collaborations came to be. Her stories are lengthy and comprehensive, and it feels as if we're all her grandchildren, as Maura observes, and we ought to listen to her. The second best story is about Prince, who she met in the late '70s at a party. (The best one is about how her song 'Moonlight [A Vampire's Dream]' is "Twilight" fanfiction; Bella was "eclipsed" by Edward—and who hasn't felt that way in a relationship before, she asked. Ugh, you're right.) Stevie's initial meeting with Prince was pretty unremarkable—she told him he needed to talk more, and then she fluttered away. She didn't hear anything else about him until 1983, when she was in a car with her new husband Kim Anderson (who had introduced her to Prince at that party), and 'Little Red Corvette' came on the radio. She started riffing on it in her head while listening to it, and they pulled over so she could write it down. After recording the song in a Los Angeles studio, she said, "Does anyone know how to get in touch with Prince?" (when Stevie gets to this part in the story, Maura shouts "Oh my god, she's gonna do a seance.")

So she called up Prince, and he happened to be in town. He came to the studio decked out in purple and velvet, she recalls. She played the song for him, and he liked it, so he played some synthesizers and guitar. "And then he was like, 'Well I'm out of here, people to see, places to go.'" The song was 'Stand Back.'

For the whole set, with only a minor hiccup here or there, she and her band sound incredible. It doesn't matter that she doesn't really hit the high notes anymore; she's adapted, and her performance is graceful—the crowd goes nuts when she twirls around in her black drapey dress and beaded and tasseled shawls (there are several shawl changes throughout the set).

Her stories between songs craft a scene of furious dedication; how she built on the momentum of her past work to keep going and making more. After the success of her 1981 debut solo album, "Bella Donna," for example, she went back to make more music and tour with Fleetwood Mac, and then put out "The Wild Heart" two years later, as an almost manic response to her fear of becoming a one-hit-solo-record-wonder.

As she introduces 'Belle Fleur,' which was released in her 2014 album "24 Karat Gold," Stevie describes it as a song that "could be written by Chrissie Hynde or Stevie Nicks or any other girl in rock 'n' roll" in the 1970s—it's about how getting more famous and "successful" meant first-class tickets and shiny limousines, which she realized were both literally and figuratively carrying her away from the comforts of home, stability, love, and her idea of who she really was. "I missed my Toyota," she says.

"This is no ticket for dreamland/ A garden for fevers to grow in/ As I run through the door of the long black car," she sings on 'Belle Fleur.'

At the heart of some of these explorations and disillusioned views of fame is a woman working it out. "I have no fear, I have only love," she sings with dogged tenderness on 'Gypsy.' And that's where her music hits me, a young woman in my 20s who feels occasionally, almost melodramatically, lost and confused about who and where I am in my life. Maybe that's true for a lot of the women and girls present tonight—and it makes me feel vaguely hopeful and idealistic that there exists some kind of intergenerational knowledge that women have and can use to support and show up for each other.

All of my current troubles have layers, and they co-mingle with one another, but perhaps my most obvious one—the one that's certainly wrapped up in all of the others—is that I'm currently about six months into grieving my dad's death, which happened a few days after my 25th birthday (he would've been bummed for me that the Pretenders canceled, but would've been jealous that I got to see Stevie Nicks). I asked my mom recently if being in your mid-20s is supposed to feel like a second puberty (shout-out to Mitski, whose 2016 album "Puberty 2" I've had in constant rotation since it came out). My mom reminded me that she had already had two babies by the time she was in her mid-20s (she had me when she was in her late 20s), and she did what she thought she needed to do to make things good for me and my siblings. "I did, learned, regrouped, and did," she told me.

And that's a thread I pick up in much of Stevie's music: so many songs about women who are younger, older, wise, lost, and figuring it out all at the same time. And tonight, the teenage girl a couple rows in front of me wearing a sweater with a skull on it is having just as much fun dancing and singing along with her friends as the gray-haired older women in our row who joyously, drunkenly slur to one another, "It's 'Landslide!'" when guitarist Waddy Wachtel starts strumming his guitar.

And at 68 years old, Stevie Nicks is still figuring it out, too. In the very last song of the night which is, of course, 'Landslide,' which she wrote when she was 25 years old, she adjusts a line from the original: "And can I sail through the changing ocean tides? Can I handle the seasons of my life? Uh-uh, I don't know, oh, still don't know."

Review Stevie Nicks with The Pretenders April 2, 2017 - Newark, NJ

Review: Stevie Nicks and the Pretenders find 'lost songs'
Jay Lustig, Special to The Record
NorthJersey.com

Stevie Nicks brought her “dark gothic trunk of lost songs” with her to the Prudential Center in Newark on Sunday night. It wasn’t a literal chest, of course, but she used this phrase, several times, to refer to the little-known material that made up much of the setlist.

This show was part of Nicks’ 24 Karat Gold Tour, which follows the 2014 release of her album, “24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault,” featuring new versions of previously unreleased songs she had written at various phases of her career. Nicks sang three of those songs (“Starshine,” “Belle Fleur” and “If You Were My Love”) in Newark, and built on the theme by also including rarities like “Crying in the Night” (from her 1973 album with Lindsey Buckingham, “Buckingham Nicks”) and “New Orleans” (her uplifting response to Hurricane Katrina, released on her 2011 album, “In Your Dreams”).

Nicks, 68, also talked a lot about the songs, especially the obscure ones, and told stories about what her life was like at the time they were written. As anyone who has heard her being interviewed knows, she’s a great raconteur — open and honest and always ready to delve into some fascinating tangent — and the stories made up a big portion of Sunday’s set. She was on stage for two hours and 20 minutes, and at least a half hour of that time was devoted to the stories.

There was still plenty of room in the show, of course, for hits, from both her solo career (“Edge of Seventeen,” “Stand Back”) and her albums with Fleetwood Mac (“Rhiannon,” “Gypsy”). She brought out Chrissie Hynde — who had opened the show with her band the Pretenders — to duet with her on “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.” “Landslide” was the low-key, soulful show-closer. “Gold Dust Woman” was stretched out into a cathartic epic, as was the “In Your Dreams” track, “Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dream).”

Nicks — who also performs at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y., on Thursday — was in good voice throughout, and her eight-piece band, anchored by the guitarist Waddy Wachtel (a friend and associate of Nicks since her Buckingham Nicks days), played flawlessly. Artful, intricately detailed video projections were used on many songs.

One of Nicks’ most memorable stories was about how hearing Prince’s “Little Red Corvette” on a car stereo inspired her to write “Stand Back,” and how she got Prince himself to play on the song. She also explained why the “long black car” in “Belle Fleur” symbolizes a relationship-destroying force, and how the upbeat “Starshine” came to be recorded, nearly 40 years ago, with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers — though it didn’t surface until “24 Karat Gold” simply because neither Nicks nor Petty was working on an album at the time.

Opening the show, the Pretenders began with two songs from their 2016 album “Alone” (“Gotta Wait” and the title track) before playing a dozen older tunes, almost all of which were hits. Hynde, like Nicks, has a distinctive voice, and it has held up well over the years. It’s worth noting, too, that “Gotta Wait” sounded as raw and urgent as any of the older songs. Maybe even more so.

The idea of a Nicks/Pretenders tour may not have made sense in 1980, when The Pretenders were lean, mean new-wave upstarts, and Fleetwood Mac was showing signs of superstar bloat with their “Tusk” album and tour. But somehow, it seems perfectly right in 2017, and when Nicks and Hynde sang together, on “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” they seemed like kindred spirits, totally comfortable with each other.

Review Stevie Nicks and The Pretenders Live in Pittsburgh March 31, 2017

Concert review: Stevie Nicks, Pretenders set the gold standard in Pittsburgh
SCOTT MERVIS
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Rebecca Droke/Post-Gazette

Wasn't Stevie Nicks one of the quiet ones in Fleetwood Mac?

She isn't now. All that stage banter saved up over the decades is spilling out on the 24 Karat Gold Tour, where she talks for 24 minutes between songs.

Ok, not really. I kid the diva (at my own peril!). It’s more like four minutes, and despite her bewitching image, she's not a diva at all, in the negative sense. We hesitate to apply the term “down to earth” to Stevie Nicks, because she seems to be hovering above it, but she's actually very sweet (I spoke with her on the phone years ago and she’s the kind of person who asks YOU questions about yourself).

This tour, which began in October and hit the PPG Paints Arena Friday on its second leg, is very much about her and how she came to be a star in and out of Fleetwood Mac. It's a “storytellers” tour without using that word, and on Friday night it was being filmed for posterity, giving it the feel of a live documentary in the making.

The odd thing about that is that usually people do the storyteller thing in an intimate theater setting, not a packed arena, here on a Girls’ Night Out Friday.

For starters, she brought along an old friend in Chrissie Hynde, the tough rocker from Akron, Ohio, fronting the latest version of the Pretenders, a band that emerged in the punk era of the late ‘70s as a counter-punch to the FM-friendly likes of Fleetwood Mac.

Clearly, the two Rock and Roll Hall of Famers love each other now, and Hynde even said “I love you, Stevie” after dedicating a beautiful version of the feminist ballad “Hymn to Her” to the headliner, along with all the rest of the songs in the set. The musical bond would jell even more later.

This concert was well placed on the calendar because over the last week Hynde has been canceling shows with a respiratory ailment, but in Pittsburgh (which she praised as a city that’s held on to its past) she seemed to be feeling no ill effects. The 65-year-old’s voice is still a wonder to behold — rich, sexy, forceful — and she cut a sharp figure in tight pants, boots and a sleeveless Recycled Records T-shirt. For this occasion, she settled on the nicer, mid-tempo Pretenders songs like “Back on the Chain Gang,” “Talk of the Town” and “Message of Love,” rather than such punk ragers as “Precious” and “The Wait.”

She actually seemed to care if Stevie’s fans liked her, and most did, but far too many were flooding in the aisles, just getting to their seats or getting up for beers, and with no real urgency.

Backed by one original Pretender in drummer Martin Chambers (Brits Pete Farndon and James Honeyman-Scott tragically died young) they added a pair of songs from new album “Alone” (including the bluesy, fuzzed-out title track) and finished with a solid run of “Stop Your Sobbing,” “My City Was Gone,” “Middle of the Road” and a typically sassy “Brass in Pocket.” Along the way, James Walbourne, of Pernice Brothers and Son Volt fame, provided the best guitar heroics of the whole night.

Stevie did not follow that by strutting out with one of her radio warhorses. She arrived in black lacy dress, cape and fingerless gloves, offset by her golden hair, on a gorgeously illuminated stage with deep cut “Gold and Braid,” setting the tone for a concert culled from what she described as the “dark Gothic trunk of lost songs.”

After following that with ‘80s synth-rocker “If Anyone Falls,” she said, “This is not the same Stevie Nicks show you’ve seen a million times, because I’m not the same Stevie Nicks you've seen a million times.”

In the good ways she is, though, because she is remarkably well preserved at 68, including that beguiling voice that can be at once lovely and dissonant.

The storyline centered on balancing her solo career with her day job in Fleetwood Mac. Being one of three singer-songwriters in that superstar band (with former flame Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie), there was, and is, the Beatles-like dilemma of getting your songs on the album.

When she decided in late 1980 to go solo with “Bella Donna,” “I wasn’t going to be like Beyoncé and break up my band,” she said, wisely appending that statement with praise and respect for the Queen. “I got Fleetwood Mac in a room and said, ‘Fleetwood Mac, I want to do a solo album, but it won't hurt us at all. It will only keep us in the spotlight while you're on vacation.’ ”

Providing some of the spark for that was Tom Petty handing her the smash single “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” a contender for best rock duet of all time, and on the PPG stage, her sidekick guitarist Waddy Wachtel had to be pinching himself to be in a threesome with Stevie and Chrissie, singing, “I know you BOTH wanna be your own girl.” It was one of those thrilling concert moments you can talk about for years, punctuated with a high-five photo op at the end.

Nicks continued with trunk songs from 2014’s “24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault,” like the bright Petty-and-the-Heartbreakers-assisted rocker “Starshine” and the seductive “Belle Fleur,” interspersed with hits like “Gypsy,” ending with one of her signature spins that drive fans wild.

With each song came a long story, about recording with Fleetwood Mac in an old French castle with no ice, or calling Prince for help on “Stand Back,” a song inspired by hearing “Little Red Corvette.” It took an hour to get his number and, because he was in LA not Minneapolis, it took less than that for His Purple Majesty to show up at the studio and add keys and guitar to the future hit.

She climaxed the 2 1/2-hour set with an enchanting “Gold Dust Woman,” complete with a frantic dance in the full-moon backdrop, and an electrifying “Edge of Seventeen,” with the guitars rumbling like propellers and Nicks spreading her vintage black cape like a nightbird.

She encored with the double Mac pleasure of a “Rhiannon” that rocked and a “Landslide” that displayed her tender touch with a ballad. For the purposes of the film, they returned to recut “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” with just Stevie and Waddy.

The 24 Karat format, and her occasional exits from the stage, surely interrupted the flow of the music (and there are bound to be complaints), but Stevie Nicks is still the gold standard, and her faithful fans got to know her a little better on Friday night.

In the end, she thanked them profusely for sitting through the stories and trunk songs, like the diva she is not.

STEVIE NICKS SET LIST

Gold and Braid
If Anyone Falls
Stop Draggin' My Heart Around
Belle Fleur
Gypsy
Wild Heart
Bella Donna
Enchanted
New Orleans
Starshine
Moonlight (A Vampire's Dream)
Stand Back
Crying in the Night
If You Were My Love
Gold Dust Woman
Edge of Seventeen
Encore:
Rhiannon
Landslide
Stop Draggin' My Heart Around

Pittsburgh Photos[Link]

Sunday, March 19, 2017

Reviews Stevie Nicks with The Pretenders Live in New Orleans March 15, 2017

Stevie Nicks digs deep to deliver a personal show at the Smoothie King Center
by fox8live.com
Photo: Chris Granger


NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) -
Expectations were high and should be when two iconic singers hit the same stage on the same night. Stevie Nicks and Chrissie Hynde, leading Pretenders, know where that bar is and each hit it Wednesday night at the nearly sold out Smoothie King Center.

The Gold Dust Woman took her adoring fans on a trip through her entire catalog. Stevie dug deep to her beginnings in Buckingham Nicks to Fleetwood Mac and on through her more than three-decade solo career.

Nicks pulled out classics and reached into what she calls her “gothic box of lost songs” to deliver a deeply personal show. Nicks is quite the storyteller and dropped golden nuggets of her musical history.

“It’s a journey, it’s a trip, come with me,” Nicks encouraged the crowd.

While she opened with Gold and Braid, a track she recorded but didn’t use on her enormous solo debut Bella Donna, Nicks quickly dished out some fan favorites.

If Anyone Falls from her 1983 “Wild Heart” album followed before she described what it was like to cut a solo album as Fleetwood Mac became the biggest band in the world in the late 70‘s.

Nicks promised not to break up Mac as she pursued a solo career with Atlantic Records while trying to figure out how to “make a girl Tom Petty record.”

Her producer and then boyfriend Jimmy Iovine brought her a song from Petty and it catapulted Nicks solo career.

“Stop Dragging My Heart Around” fired up the crowd and when Chrissie Hynde stepped in to fill Petty’s vocals on the duet, it was a special moment to watch the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers perform together.

The fifth song of the night was finally a Nicks-penned Mac hit, “Gypsy” from their “Mirage” album. Fans jumped up and danced like it was 1982 while Nicks did her signature spin.

Her sense of humor firmly intact, Nicks then joked after her solo success she “went back to make a record with, who were they? Oh Fleetwood Mac.”

Determined to make sure no one would say her solo career was a fluke Nicks said she wrote a lot of songs while touring with Fleetwood Mac for “Mirage.” When the tour ended, she went back into the studio to cut “The Wild Heart,” which became her second multi-million selling solo smash.

“I was not going to be a one-hit wonder,” she said.

Nicks voice was strong as she worked her way through “Wild Heart,” “Bella Donna” and “Enchanted.”

Then Nicks dove into the story of her next song as she sat in her living room in 2005 drawing while the news on the TV kept going back and forth to the massive hurricane bearing down on New Orleans. She said as a writer “you’re like a news reporter,” and began writing a poem about what she saw happening here.

“I’m going to write a story about someone who lives in the city and loves the city.  People will survive, they will rise to the occasion because they are a great city.” The result is the heartfelt New Orleans from her 2011 album In Your Dreams. It was a moving tribute to the city.

The best was saved for last as Nicks and her talented and accomplished 8-piece band knocked out Stand Back, the lead single from The Wild Heart. When the song ended a graphic showing Prince and Nicks together was revealed. Nicks said. “Prince and I were friends.”

She said one day she heard a Prince song and basically wrote and recorded “Stand Back” over it. Nicks said that they couldn’t go any further with it though until she got in touch with Prince to get his approval. He just happened to be in L.A. and dropped by the studio. Nicks said he loved it, played on the record and wished her good luck. The song she was listening to when she wrote the song was “Little Red Corvette.”

All night Nicks proved her sing and songwriting chops take second place to no one and while up to this point she only performed one Mac hit, she would finish the night with a Fleetwood flourish.

Nicks rolled out a powerful version of “Gold Dust Woman” from the all world hit “Rumours” as the band found one of its many highlights of the night.

After a much too long band introduction, she closed out the set with “Edge of Seventeen” while more of a tribute to Prince played out on the screen.

The enthusiastic crowd wouldn’t leave until they got a little more and Nicks delivered with “Rhiannon” as longtime friend, guitarist and musical director Waddy Wachtel led the way.

A Nicks concert though could never end without one more song, one she wrote in Aspen, Colorado in 1973.

A little song that she says took her “band to the top”, “Landslide.”

With Wachtel on acoustic by her side, Nicks was nearly pitch perfect on her signature song. It’s a simple song that tends to fill her fans with great emotion, bringing some to tears like the sweet woman sitting two seats away.

She wiped her eyes as Stevie said good night and a good night it was.


Stevie Nicks and the Pretenders teamed up for the best kind of nostalgia at New Orleans concert
by: Keith Spera
The Advocate
Photo: J.T. Blatty

The focus of Stevie Nicks’ current solo tour, she explained Wednesday at a nearly full Smoothie King Center, is “songs that I love to sing, not that I have to sing.” With that intention, she did herself, and her fans, a favor.

Her most fervent fans cheer whenever she so much as twirls around; they do not need to be force-fed a program of hits. Thus, her nearly two-and-a-half hour trip down memory lane, which included lengthy but charming and revealing stories, drew heavily from a cache of compositions that lingered for years in her “box of lost songs.”

Most of them deserved to be let out, especially by her full-bodied band led by Waddy Wachtel, the go-to session guitarist for the likes of James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Keith Richards, Warren Zevon, and, in the early 1970s, a then-unknown duo called Buckingham Nicks.

Nicks may well have been the beautiful, doe-eyed hippie-witch that every '70s male rock star wanted to date, but she was also relentlessly ambitious, determined to build a solo career independent of Fleetwood Mac. She wrote songs while on tour with the band; when her Mac-mates went on vacation, she went into a recording studio.

Unable to actually join Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, she settled for working with Heartbreakers producer Jimmy Iovine. The result was her multi-million-selling 1981 solo debut, “Bella Donna.”

That album’s lead single was the Petty duet “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” which he wrote with his guitarist, Mike Campbell. On Wednesday, Chrissie Hynde returned to the stage following her thrilling opening set with the Pretenders to share “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” with Nicks. Their connection and mutual respect felt genuine.

While making the follow-up to “Bella Donna,” Nicks was “more famous, a little more spoiled, not as focused.” Still, she was determined not to be a one-hit-wonder. The success of “The Wild Heart” confirmed she wasn't. She recounted how that album’s hit “Stand Back” is based on the melody of Prince’s “Little Red Corvette”; he came to the studio to approve her innovation and play on it.

Iconic Stevie Nicks performs in New Orleans, pays homage to the city
by Corrine Pritchett
Isunow.com

Rock and roll legend Stevie Nicks touched the hearts of many audience members Wednesday night at her New Orleans performance.

This performance was particularly special when Nicks told the backstory of her song “New Orleans.” She wrote the song during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

She said the hurricane had a “huge effect” on her and she found herself trapped in front of the TV screen, staying up to date on every aspect of the Katrina story.

It devastated her that an entire city and everyone who lived there had to go through the hardships of a natural disaster, especially an atrocity like Katrina.

She said she knew she had to write about it, but didn’t want it to just tell a tragic story; she wanted to inspire. She wanted to express that the city would make it through tough times.

“The people hope that their lives will get better,” Nicks sang. “I wanna get back to New Orleans, I wanna sing out in the streets of the French Quarter.”

It was clear that the crowd was thankful and emotional toward Nicks’ heartwarming performance of “New Orleans.” People were standing and cheering more than they had for any other song.

Aside from the moving “New Orleans” performance, she put on an all-around beautiful show. Her sets were different from others on past tours. She featured images of her artwork on the backdrop and shined bright, vibrant colors into the crowd and onto the stage.

Her unique voice was untouched by the effects of aging and as always, she had her iconic blue shawl and classic twirl.

She twirls to the beat of the melody as if the music takes her over. Audience members joined in with her, twirling their arms and dancing to the beat.

She crooned famous songs such as “Stand Back” and “Landslide.”

“Stand Back” was written after she heard a Prince song on the radio. She spent hours writing lyrics to the sound of his music. She joked on stage about how strange and nerve-wracking it was when she called Prince out of the blue.

She told him about the song and he came over within the hour. He was laid-back the entire time, and when she asked him if he wanted to record the piano and guitar part of the song, he managed it in under an hour.

“I walked him out to his car, and I believe he was driving a purple Camaro,” Nicks said at the concert, raising her arms above her head. “How perfect?”

She wrote “Landslide” in Aspen, Colorado, in 1973. It was there that she was visiting with Lindsey Buckingham, with whom she collaborated on her first ever album, “Buckingham Nicks.” She went out on the balcony, looked out at the snowy hilltops and wrote music. The words and meaning of the song came to her easily.

However, it wasn’t released until two years later, on the Fleetwood Mac album.

Nicks’ 24 Karat Gold tour was completely different from anything she had ever done by being personal and wonderfully unique.

Toward the end of the show, Nicks said, “It will never be me singing ‘New Orleans’ to New Orleans again,” and the crowd was overcome with emotional cheers. She closed the show with a breathtaking performance of “Rhiannon” followed by “Landslide.” At the very end, she inspired the crowd once more by saying, “Do what you want; follow your dreams.”

Stevie Nicks shared her Katrina story at a sold-out New Orleans show
by Justin Mitchell
Sunherald.com

I wouldn’t be surprised if I was the only person under 55 on the Gulf Coast who doesn’t get overly excited about live music or going to a concert.

Sure, I don’t mind going to a concert or two if I love the artist, but you won’t catch my diva self trekking through mud at a festival or standing in the sun all day to get stomped on by drunk people and smell patchouli and nachos while waiting for the headliner who is 45 minutes late.

It’s just not my thing.

My boyfriend, Alec, loves Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac. Like, he really loves them. Me? I love singing “Landslide” in my car and recently learned the words to “Rhiannon” because Alec plays it about once or seven times a day.

When his parents got him tickets to see Stevie in New Orleans, I knew it was going to be a concert he’d remember forever. So I wanted to make it special for him.

And by special I mean I wanted to be on my best behavior to make sure he had a good experience.

“I know this isn’t your thing, so if you could just dance when I ask you to dance and record when I tell you to record, that would be great,” he told me as we were parking. Miraculously, we made it to New Orleans and parked with minutes to spare before Stevie’s opener, The Pretenders, took the stage, and we didn’t murder each other. Praise be.

I got Alec a beer and myself a Diet Pepsi and waited for Stevie to take the stage. The faint smell of pot (and a little bit of body odor, courtesy of the drunk dude sitting behind us) wafted through the air.

My phone was in my hand, ready for Alec’s command to hit record.

Stevie, whose voice is undeniably haunting, gravelly and beautiful, came out in one of her famous capes, and the lighters came out and people started to scream.

I watched Alec’s eyes get big. It seemed a magnet had pulled his entire body more toward the stage.

I was waiting for a tear or two to fall, but it was me who began to get emotional as Stevie told us a story about what she was doing as Hurricane Katrina barreled toward the Gulf Coast in 2005.

She was not working at the time, she said, and she loved to draw and make art when she wasn’t recording an album. Stevie liked to play the television while she drew, for background noise, but she rarely watched it. But when she saw Katrina, she said she became mesmerized and watched the hurricane’s track as it got closer and closer to the Mississippi Coast and New Orleans.

The storm moved her. She felt an immediate connection with her fans in the South. Then and there, she finished a drawing she’d started in the ’80s. It was her image of Hurricane Katrina. She had never shared it with anyone until the concert Wednesday.

I was going to take a picture to share, but I decided the memory was more important than the photograph.

Then, she played a song about New Orleans she had recorded in 2010 and stored away in what she called her “Gothic box of lost songs.”

The crowd got teary-eyed and watched as Stevie sang about Mardi Gras, balconies, beads and daiquiris.

As she sang, I was reminded of my life-changing Katrina experience, when my junior and senior English teacher told a class of scared, confused juniors that things were going to be OK after the hurricane ravaged Hancock County.

Remember, Kay Lovelace Palombo told us, home is going to be fine because the birds have returned to the trees and they are chirping. It was at that moment I knew things were going to be OK.

And when Stevie was singing Wednesday, that feeling came back again.