Friday, October 28, 2016

New Release Mick Fleetwood Blues Band Feat. Rick Vito Live at The Belly Up

MICK FLEETWOOD BLUES BAND FEATURING RICK VITO  – LIVE AT THE BELLY UP

LIMITED TIME - $9.99 SALE PRICE

Mick Fleetwood, the iconic co-founder of Fleetwood Mac, is celebrating his blues heritage with The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band, featuring Rick Vito. As well as their own material, the band pays tribute to the original Fleetwood Mac, the blues band that started it all in 1967. Bringing together four stellar Blues and Rock musicians, Mick Fleetwood presents Live at The Belly Up, a 2-hour live album featuring 17 tracks.

At the front of the group is Rick Vito, veteran Bluesman and former Fleetwood Mac vocalist and lead guitarist. Rick adds his personal touch while staying true to the styling of early Fleetwood Mac front man Peter Green. “A lot of guys can play the licks but Rick has the tone and that’s so important in real blues,” says Mick Fleetwood.  With Fleetwood anchoring the band on percussion, the “other half” of the rhythm section is Lenny Castellanos on bass. As Mick points out, “I’ve played with John McVie for 40 years, any bassist who plays with me has big shoes to fill.” Lenny does a great job filling those shoes while complimenting Mick’s unique and revered drum style. Mark Johnstone ties everything together on the keys and backup vocals, infusing a vibrant energy to the group.

Live at The Belly Up, features 17 tracks and over two hours of music including 
  1. Looking For Somebody
  2. Fleetwood Boogie
  3. Oh Well
  4. Red Hot Gal
  5. Rollin Man Meets the Voodoo Woman
  6. Love That Burns
  7. Eyesight To The Blind
  8. Black Magic Woman
  9. Black Crow Blues
  10. Lucky Devil
  11. Passage East-World Turning
  12. Rattlesnake Shake
  13. You Can't Judge a Book By Looking At The Cover
  14. Shake Your Moneymaker
  15. Stop Messin' Around
  16. Carol
  17. Albatross

Run Time: Approx 122 Minutes
Mixed by Lynn Peterson

Available on iTunes 

Reviews Photos and Videos Stevie Nicks Live in Denver Oct 27, 2016


Stevie Nicks Twirls 24-Karats of Gold Dust on Denver
by Denby Gardiner
303Magazine.com

Photo Gallery (52 Photos)

24 Karats of Gold Dust sparkled all over the Pepsi Center last night in an ode to the queen of Rock and Roll, Stevie Nicks. Nicks’ recent release of new recordings of old demos, or 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault, sparked a hefty tour, landing her in the Mile High along with rockers the Pretenders.

The show began promptly with the Pretenders, a solid act in their own right, front-woman Chrissie Hynde especially. Hynde sparked up the show, exposing her seasoned rocker ways while playing her rock jams like “Brass In Pocket” and slaying the hell out of the harmonica. After a little over an hour, the group waved good night and Martin Chambers, the band’s drummer, donated his shirt to the crowd. Even after all of these years, the Pretenders have kept their eccentric stage persona.

Just before nine o’clock, a figure draped in dark clothing and blonde curls pouring down the front of it could be seen walking onto the enormous stage. The microphone stand was decorated with a long, sparkling scarf. Next to the stand was a tambourine, also dressed in a long dazzling cloth. Nicks belted “All These Years” to open her set, with her full band joining on with keys, drums, piano, bass, guitar and backup vocals. With her latest release being the re-visitation to many unreleased tracks from her many decades-long career in writing music, Nicks explained to the eager crowd that this tour and this performance is not “the same Stevie Nicks that you are used to.”

“If Anyone Falls in Love,” and “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” (which brought back out Chrissie Hynde, this time decked out in a Broncos jersey) were more than enough to raise the entire Pepsi Center to their feet to celebrate through dancing. The old hits are always wonderful, however, this tour being in support of a release of forgotten tunes, you could guess she played a good amount of songs that had never been memorized, and in some cases, even heard. “Belle Fleur,” like many others of the set-list, inspired a lengthy background story from Nicks, explaining the origin and why it never made it to record. The added anecdote to each track as she went down the reasons and happenstances that can occur in the industry accrued a sense of intimacy between the crowd and the artist – it felt as though she was sharing her personal journals with us.

“Dreams,” of course, earned an excessive (yet necessary) mass phone recordings and perhaps the first real sing-a-long of the night. “My Belladonna,” “Annabel Lee” and “New Orleans” grooved the second half of the icon’s set, and with each passing track, Nicks explained more and more of the backstories of how things came to be for her.

The many whimsical outfits, obviously inspired by Nicks’ style, twirled to the music that the band rocked out, some new some old and some unreleased. After announcing her band, Nicks dropped the inevitable bomb on her audience with a banging “Edge of Seventeen.” All the way from the familiar rift at the beginning to the last of the hit, everyone in attendance sang along and were dancing out of their seats. Nicks thanked those whole-heartedly as she left the stage, mentioning that she used to live in Denver.

After a brief moment, the artist returned to play “Rhiannon” and “Leather and Lace.” Two imperative songs for the evening rocked the rowdy crowd to an ease, ensuring at least most of the needs of her fans had been met. As Nicks embarks on this large tour ahead of her, she has left a piece of herself in Denver, one that she will hopefully return for again and again for the rest of her never-ending-vampire-blood-fueled existence.



Stevie Nicks and The Pretenders Rocked Tough and Tender at the Pepsi Center Last Night
by Tom Murphy
Westword.com

Tonight it was easy to forget that Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders and Stevie Nicks are both senior citizens and that their greatest impact on popular culture happened in the first half of the 1980s when both ruled the airwaves. Go ahead, try to tell them that. Because last night, both stars rocked like the old days.

Sure, Nicks was then a member of one of the most popular rock bands of the era as a singer and songwriter in Fleetwood Mac but she also established herself as a solo artist of note beginning with her striking 1981 solo album Bella Donna. The Pretenders seemed to come from out of nowhere and were not really post-punk or New Wave despite Hynde's roots in England's punk world and the timing of the first Pretenders record, issued in 1980. Historical coincidences aside, Hynde and Nicks simply played the show like they were having fun with the music and rediscovering a newfound passion for the material.

What became obvious immediately during both sets is how Hynde and Nicks, both rightfully acknowledged for their powerful and arresting vocals, have unconventional and distinctive voices. Both are capable of a broad range of emotional expression and tonal range. Both have grit, and Hynde somehow manages to be tough and tender, while Nicks makes a virtue out of really selling the vocal lines with a forcefulness like she's amplifying and projecting her direct emotional experience. Both styles create a riveting tension and versatility of expression that is at the root of what makes their music so compelling.

Continue to the full review at Westword.com

Stevie Nicks was 24-karat girl power at the Pepsi Center
By Stephanie March

It’s rare that someone takes the stage and you can actually feel the energy of the room shift, but Stevie Nicks had that force inside the Pepsi Center Thursday night.

The Phoenix-born rock goddess started her career more than 40 years ago, yet her passion for music was more commanding than ever. Nicks opened with “Gold and Braid,” a song originally intended for her “Bella Donna” album that never made the cut. The lively jam allowed Nicks to shimmy her shoulders and open up her infamous sandy vocals. Opening with the not-so-well-known song prepared her fans for a set-list of rarely-played treasures. But the whole night wasn’t just treasures. Those jonesing for the classic Nicks hits got exactly what they went for.

The Pepsi Center show was just the second night of her 24 Karat Gold Tour — the first in her hometown of Phoenix — so kinks were to be expected, but Stevie Nicks didn’t miss a beat. She jetted into “If Anyone Falls” and then with a couple twangs of the guitar, she brought the entire crowd to its feet with “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.” Standing in for the original duet’s Tom Petty was Chrissie Hynde, whose band The Pretenders opened the show. Their raspy vocals were perfectly in sync proving, as Nicks has been doing for years, that she doesn’t need a man to do anything.

Nicks’ lyrics are not only empowering, but her powerful delivery is what creates a space of vulnerability and connection for her fans. Her latest tour embraces women and highlights Nicks’ mastery of her craft. Her live version of “Bella Fleur” gave fans a taste of her vocal range and proved she still has the vocal chops we fell in love with in the ’70s. But there’s nothing quite like when she performed Fleetwood Mac songs.

When Nicks moved into “Dreams,” it was pure magic. Although there were no famous Stevie Nicks twirls on stage during the song (only one the entire night), when she grasped the microphone and sang “When the rain washes you clean, you’ll know” it reminded fans that no matter what mistakes we make tonight, tomorrow is a brand new day.

Nicks moved through her set quickly, only breaking a couple times to tell stories. She thanked the crowd and shared her tie to Colorado with family from Cripple Creek, and that she has an insane Aunt Gertrude (who we now want to meet.) She continued on to “Wild Heart” and “Starshine” — both of which share a raw pain that fans can dance to. While Nicks has always specialized painful ballads, the hard pang of guitar and steady, solid beat of drums made it impossible to wallow for too long, giving fans that crucial space to explore pain.

She strategically saved the best of her magic for the end of the night. Proclaiming that there were spirits in the Pepsi Center, she donned a golden scarf on her shoulders and performed “Gold Dust Woman” and “Edge of Seventeen.” And with a brief break she came back onto stage in all black and went into her encore.

“Rhiannon.”

She closed the night with “Leather and Lace” from Bella Donna; the original duet was performed with Don Henley, but Nicks again, carried it just fine without him.

Far after the lights went up and daydreams were twirling through the chilly Denver streets, Nicks’ fans were left with the feeling they were stronger than they know if they just open up to it. It’s okay to not know what’s next, just be the best you while you figure it out.


Setlist intact from the first night, which is cool! 

Stevie Nicks setlist
  1. Gold and Braid
  2. If Anyone Falls
  3. Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around (w/Chrissie Hynde)
  4. Belle Fleur
  5. Outside the Rain
  6. Dreams
  7. Wild Heart
  8. Bella Donna
  9. Annabel Lee
  10. Enchanted
  11. New Orleans
  12. Starshine
  13. Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dream)
  14. Stand Back
  15. Crying in the Night
  16. If You Were My Love
  17. Gold Dust Woman
  18. Edge of Seventeen
Encore
  1. Rhiannon
  2. Leather and Lace







VIDEOS BELOW - CLICK THE LINK

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Listen to Stevie Nicks "Wild Heart (Session)" from upcoming "Wild Heart" Album Reissue


"Wild Heart" from the upcoming reissue of Stevie's second solo album (available November 4th) is available to check out at Billboard (US), Uncut (UK) and Rollingstone (France).  The song is now available to purchase on iTunes in Australia/New Zealand and the UK.  Will be available in North America on Friday October 28th.


UK iTunes
Stevie Nicks - Wild Heart (Session)

Australia iTunes
Stevie Nicks - Wild Heart (Session)



Review Stevie Nicks Warm and generous, like a gracious host opening her home to visitors


Stevie Nicks 10.25.16
by: beneathadesertsky.com

Warm and generous, like a gracious host opening her home to visitors. Or like a lengthy visit with a favorite aunt that you haven’t seen in way too long – if the aunt wrote killer music, of course.

That’s the feeling I came away with from the Stevie Nicks concert at Talking Stick Resort Arena last night. Nicks launched her 24k Gold Tour in Phoenix on October 25, 2016. Backed by 6 piece band and two vocalists, Nicks delivered a terrific performance to open the tour.  Most importantly and impressively, she made each person in attendance feel as if she was performing just for them – as if they were hanging out with her in her living room listening to demo tapes, which it became apparent was really her objective all along.

Warm and generous are appropriate adjectives to describe a number of different aspects of the concert,

Nicks’ voice was in fine form. Her voice was warm and enveloping, especially on her slower, more melodic songs. While she’s obviously not the same singer she was 40 years ago (and who is), her voice has matured in a way that is velvety and textured with plenty of inflection and nuance. And it remains as distinctively hers as its always been.

Nicks’ commentary and banter was both engaging and entertaining. Nicks shared the very personal moments in her life that inspired her music and, particularly, her lyrics. Whether it was writing Leather and Lace while dating Don Henley or writing New Orleans while glued to her television watching news coverage of Hurricane Katrina, Nicks shared the backstory for many of the songs she performed. Nicks expressed concern several times that she was talking too much throughout the show and late in the concert even joked about someday doing a show “where I don’t even sing – I’m just going to talk.” The way that she shared the history of her music, however, only served to make both her and her music more personable, approachable and endearing.

Nicks’ remarks conveyed a sense of vulnerability and exposure that we rarely hear from artists on stage. She was very open about her fears and trepidations going into a tour in which she’s performing songs that she has never previously performed live and in which she’s performing solo without the support of her Fleetwood Mac bandmates. At one point she acknowledged being “a little freaked out” by what she called a “very different” type of show.  Hearing Nicks express the types of concerns that all of us have felt at one time or another simply served to humanized her and make her feel kinda’ sorta’ just like one of us.

Nicks was visibly appreciative of the fans’ reaction to the show and the material she and her musical director had selected. While it’s standard fare for every artist to thank the audience for attending and declare their love for the fans, it seemed just a little more genuine and sincere coming from Nicks. It appeared that she truly didn’t know if the audience was going to warmly receive a concert that featured never-before-played and rarely-played tracks from long ago albums. After finishing the concert with Leather and Lace, Nicks seemed reassured and took an extra moment to thank the audience for letting her know “that this is going to work and be OK” and with that she once again expressed her gratitude.

All of these elements came together in perfect harmony to create a wonderful, intimate concert that pleased both hard-core and casual fans alike. For hard-core Nicks fans, the show simply reaffirmed why they’ve always loved her as much as they do. For more casual fans, the concert gave them a whole lot of reasons to deepen their appreciation for both her personally and her music.

I’ve always thought of Stevie Nicks’ music as big – big voice coupled with big musical arrangements. The staging of the show did a terrific job of matching that bigness. There was a large video screen at the back of the stage flanked by two video “frames” on either side. Large pendant lights dropped from the ceiling to frame the front of the stage. Spotlights illuminated the crowd in front of the stage which had the effect of almost incorporating the first five or seven rows of fans into the staging. Everything about the show was big which did a wonderful job of matching and enhancing Nicks’ performance.

Other highlights from the concert included

Nicks performed four songs that she had never performed live on-stage before so it was great being the first audience to hear her perform Wild Heart, Belle Fleur, Crying in the Night and If You Were My Love.

Nicks performed Belle Donna live for the first time in 25 years and proudly announced that she was wearing the original purple shawl from the photo on the back of the Bella Donna album cover.

Chrissie Hynde came back out to the stage to perform Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around with Nicks. This could have been my favorite song of the entire set. Hynde and Nicks, each a star in her own right, coming together for this song was as special as it was powerful.

One last note about the concert – and not to read too much into this or make too big of a political statement – but in some ways the show reflected some of the broader undercurrents in American society and culture this election season. It was clearly a celebration of strong, successful women – with Chrissie Hynde leading the all-male Pretenders and Stevie Nicks being Stevie Nicks. But while Nicks’ 35 years of individual success was on full display, there was also a small tinge of the ways that she’s had to navigate the men in her life to get there, especially as reflected in the story she told about writing Leather and Lace. Nicks shared that she wrote the song while she was dating Don Henley but she wrote it on her own and not with him. She’d play the song for him while she worked on it and he’d respond “That sucks” until one day she played it for him and he acknowledged “It’s good.” She responded to him “Ok, so we’re done” and he replied, “We’re done.”

So as we quickly move towards the end of an election period in which a woman is a major party candidate for the first time and may be elected as President of the United States in a campaign that has featured more than its share of overt and subtle sexism, it seems fitting that two strong women triumphantly shared the stage. And maybe that’s why watching them perform Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around was as powerful as it was. The lyrics of the song clearly reflect the tension between the competing attitudes of “I know you really want to be your own girl” (as reflected by one of the major party candidates) and “You need someone looking after you” (as reflected by the other). If the current political environment and this 25-year-old song aren’t a prime example of Oscar Wilde’s declaration that life imitates art then I’m not sure what could ever be. I suspect that the strength and power of the two artists on stage at Talking Stick Resort Arena last night is a clear indicator of how that tension will likely ultimately be resolved.

SET LIST
  • Gold and Braid (First time since 2000)
  • If Anyone Falls
  • Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around (with Chrissie Hynde)
  • Belle Fleur (Live Debut)
  • Outside the Rain
  • Dreams (Fleetwood Mac song)
  • Wild Heart (Live Debut)
  • Bella Donna (First time since 1981)
  • Annabel Lee
  • Enchanted
  • New Orleans
  • Starshine
  • Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dream)
  • Stand Back
  • Crying in the Night (Buckingham Nicks song) (Live Debut)
  • If You Were My Love (Live Debut)
  • Gold Dust Woman (Fleetwood Mac song)
  • Edge of Seventeen
Encore:
  • Rhiannon (Fleetwood Mac song)
  • Leather and Lace

 








Tuesday, October 25, 2016

REVIEWS Stevie Nicks Opening Night 24 Karat Gold Tour - Phoenix

Review: Stevie Nicks launches 24K Gold Tour in 'my hometown' of Phoenix with Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde




Ed Masley
The Republic
azcentral.com

Photos Gallery (20 Photos)

As she stood on stage at Talking Stick Resort Arena, addressing the crowd on the opening night of the 24 Karat Gold Tour, Stevie Nicks recalled an off-the-cuff remark she made at some kind of special event leading up to the concert.

“The great thing,” she said, with a laugh, “is that I get to sing all the songs. And then I thought about it and I went, ‘And the not great thing is that I get to sing all of the songs.’ It’s crazy. After singing only one-third of three-thirds for three years."

Then, on Tuesday, Oct. 25, her first solo outing since Fleetwood Mac finished the On with the Show tour last November, she reassured the fans with, "I just want you to know that I’m up here and I’m strong but I’m a little freaked out. Just a little. But I’m in my hometown, Phoenix, where I wrote a lot of my songs.”

There’s a special rapport she's developed through the years with fans here. So it came as no surprise that she would choose to launch her tour here, testing the waters with a “very different show” in an arena packed with fans who made her feel as much at home as one can feel in an arena packed with fans.

4 songs debuted live
As she said at the end of the night, “You’ve let me know that this is gonna work and that I’m gonna be OK. And I appreciate that. So take care of yourself. Stay strong. Don’t watch the news. It’s depressing.”

See? She’s funny, too. Not just sincere and gracious.

What makes this such “a very different show” is that she’s playing songs she’s never played before and others that she hasn’t touched in ages, setting the tone for the 20-song performance with the old-school Memphis soul vibe of a track she hadn’t played in 16 years, “Gold and Braid.”

“Bella Donna” was back in the set list for the first time since the very early ‘80s, and four songs made their live debut – “Belle Fleur,” “Wild Heart,” “If You Were My Love” and the Buckingham Nicks song, “Crying in the Night.”

Nicks marveled at how long it’s been since that first album she recorded with then-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham.

“Forty-three years,” she said, before recalling, “This was gonna be the single off the Buckingham Nicks record. It was so long ago, I don’t actually remember if it ever was the single or made it out. I know I remember sitting in the basement and working this song out.”

She talked a lot, at one point joking, “Someday, I may do a show where I don’t even sing. I’m just gonna talk.” And that was only after realizing how much she had been talking and telling the crowd, "You know, it’s like I’m not really supposed to talk this much.”

That’s the conventional wisdom, anyway. Keep the show moving. Or as people have been known to shout, “More rock, less talk.”

'You have been like great friends'
In practice? All that talking only serves to draw you deeper into Nicks’ world, creating a level of intimacy that’s hard to come by in a room that size. As Nicks said at one point, “I’m glad I was able to share this first night of trying to get this all in my head with you. You have been like great friends sitting in my living room listening to my new demos."

And those demos sounded great. Nicks’ voice was in beautiful shape throughout, and the musicians she’s assembled for this tour (including Tempe’s Al Ortiz on bass and Nicks’ longtime musical director Waddy Wachtel on guitar) did a brilliant job of fleshing out the songs, from the bass-driven groove of the opening numbers, “Gold and Braid” and “If Anyone Falls,” to the three Fleetwood Mac songs they played, “Gold Dust Woman,” “Rhiannon” and “Dreams.”

And as those Fleetwood selections would suggest, it wasn’t all about the road less traveled. In addition to those relative obscurities, they dusted off a handful of her biggest hits, including “Edge of Seventeen,” “Stand Back” and a beautiful, bittersweet “Leather and Lace,” her Don Henley duet, which featured gorgeous harmonies from Nicks’ female backup singers and brought the encore to a finish after one last story.

“I didn’t write it with Don Henley,” Nicks recalled, “but I was going out with Don Henley so I would play it for him and he would say, ‘That sucks.’ And I would say, ‘OK (because you’re, like, an Eagle)’ and then I’d go back and I’d work on it. And this went on for, like, a couple months. And one day, he said, ‘It’s good.’ And I went ‘OK, so we’re done?’ And he said, ‘We’re done.’”

She also dusted off her other big ‘80s duet, the Tom Petty collaboration “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” with Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders standing in for Petty. It was great to see those two iconic artists share a stage, especially considering a quote I read from Nicks before the show: “When my manager said, ‘What about The Pretenders?’ I’m like, ‘Would they even go with me?’ And he said, ‘I think they would!'”

The great Pretenders (so special)
Of course they would. And Hynde was clearly thrilled to be there, joking “Yeah, we did our nails together” during the Pretenders set, which started off strong with two raucous selections from their excellent new album, “Alone” and “Gotta Wait.”

Hynde was rocking an Elvis Presley T-shirt and a pair of faded jeans (in stark contract to Nicks, with her dresses and shawls). The only other surviving member featured on that classic first Pretenders album, drummer Martin Chambers, was laying down the beat behind her.

This year's lineup also features a pedal steel player, who was put to brilliant use on a gorgeous, understated “Hymn to Her,” after which Hynde told the audience, “That one was for Stevie.”

The set was a good mix of crowd-pleasing staples and newer material, including “Down the Wrong Way” from her recent solo album, and “Holy Commotion,” the first single out of the box from the Pretenders’ new album, “Alone,” which somehow sounded even more contagious live.

And she wasn’t shy about returning to that first self-titled masterpiece. After blowing the dust off “Private Life” as the fourth song of the set, Hynde and her bandmates made their way through a handful of ballads and mid-tempo pop songs – “Hymn to Her” followed by “Back on the Chain Gang,” “Don’t Get Me Wrong” (on which she struck a playful model pose to complement the lyric “If I come and go like fashion”) and “I’ll Stand By You.”

Then, Hynde announced “We didn’t really come here to do ballads" to introduce a four-song joyride through some highlights of that first release – a commanding “Tattooed Love Boys,” “Mystery Achievement,” the Kinks’ “Stop Your Sobbing,” and the song that may be destined to remain her calling card, “Brass in Pocket.”

The singer was clearly enjoying the moment on that one, investing the lyrics with the self-assurance they demand: ”'Cause I gonna make you see / There's nobody else here / No one like me / I'm special, so special / I gotta have some of your attention / Give it to me.” But she also made it more inclusive by sharing the moment with the fans down front, holding the mike out for a fan to sing “I’m special.”

It was special. And it should have been hard to maintain that moment, but “Holy Commotion” was up to the challenge, and they followed through with “Middle of the Road,” which included a killer harmonica solo from Hynde, and the psychedelic funk of their cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Room Full Of Mirror” from the “Get Close” album.

It was a spirited representation of what Hynde and her latest collection of Pretenders have to offer. And it was refreshing to see her connecting so strongly with so many people in such a big venue while reminding all the casual fans who may have drifted off after “Learning to Crawl” that she’s still special.

Stevie Nicks setlist

Gold and Braid
If Anyone Falls
Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around
Belle Fleur
Outside the Rain
Dreams
Wild Heart
Bella Donna
Annabel Lee
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
Leather and Lace

Pretenders setlist

Alone
Gotta Wait
Down the Wrong Way
Private Life
Hymn to Her
Back on the Chain Gang
Don't get me Wrong
I'll Stand By You
Tattooed Love Boys
Mystery Achievement
Stop Your Sobbing
Brass in Pocket
Holy Commotion
Middle of the Road
Room Full of Mirrors

Stevie Nicks Honors Her Deep Cuts on 24 Karat Gold Tour
by Mitchell Hillman
Phoenix New Times

Photo Gallery (40 Photos)

Let's face it, there's something downright magical to Stevie Nicks.

When I think of Nicks, three things come to mind: Fleetwood Mac, the sexiest voice on the planet, and magic, probably in that order. Even the way I had the opportunity to see Stevie Nicks and the Pretenders on Tuesday night at a nearly sold-out Talking Stick Resort Arena was magical — a last-minute assignment to review the show.

I was all in for the Pretenders alone. Granted, Chrissie Hynde is the only original, consistent Pretender here after many generations of different lineups, the newest being completely different from any previous incarnations. While original drummer Martin Chambers put in an impressive performance, he no longer records with with them. She even joked that they've been together for 35 years and "You only get twenty for murder." It's her show though, and it has been for some time. I was particularly excited because the Pretenders just dropped their first new album in eight years, Alone, last week. The set opened with the title track, which sounds like an ode to Iggy Pop with a hypnotic Stooges keyboard line. It was followed by the forthcoming single "Gotta Wait" and then by "Down The Wrong Way," from her 2014 solo outing, Stockholm. The first album deep cut, "Private Life," was something of a surprise, and the crowd loved every second of it.

Hynde slowed things down for a bit with "Hymn to Her," a beautifully haunting ballad, from the Pretenders' 1986 album Get Close, that she dedicated to Stevie. It was a dreamy number immediately blown away by back-to-back-to-back hits "Back On The Chain Gang," "Don't Get Me Wrong," and "I'll Stand By You," all far exceeding expectations in both quality and integrity. The set contained further hits like "Brass In Pocket," deeper cuts like "Middle of the Road" and "Mystery Achievement," new single "Holy Commotion," as well as their take on the Kinks' "Stop Your Sobbing," which was the Pretenders' first single. The band finished the evening with a cover of the Jimi Hendrix obscurity "Room Full of Mirrors." It appears that Chrissie Hynde can rock with the best of them. Oh, and since it was the main talking point everywhere by everyone after that electrifying set, Chrissie Hynde is doing incredibly fine at 65.

It was soon time for the Enchantress herself, Stevie the Good Witch. The crowd was visibly excited; this was their generation's bewitching chanteuse. The one thing the crowd wasn't going to get was a lot of Stevie talking this time around, and she commented more than a few times that she was trying to keep her banter to a minimum. Still, though her vignettes surrounding each song were rather brief, they only served to enhance and evening that dug as deep into her recording history as possible. She made it very clear that this tour was going to be different, that this was going to be about songs not often played, that fans have pleaded to hear live for years, with some hits thrown in for good measure.

To be honest, it's one of the finer concert concepts going these days. I'd pay good money to see Neil Diamond do some weird stuff from his early days, or Neil Young for that matter — the idea being to appeal to the diehard fans with the deep cuts and obscurities. I'm not sure that anyone who is a fan of Nicks' entire career, with the Mac and solo, could have asked for a better evening or a better selection of songs. Opening with a cult favorite like "Gold and Braid" blew my mind nearly as much as the stage setting, which brought to mind a variety-show set from the 1970s. It would progress just as the set would. The crowd was on its feet for a song that's never been properly recorded in a studio. The second song was 1983's "If Anyone Falls," a minor single from her second solo album. I hadn't wanted to concentrate at all on the setlist for this concert, but it became apparent the set list was the experience.

"Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" didn't feature Tom Petty this time around, but Chrissie Hynde returned to the stage for a magnificent duet and one of the highlights of the evening. I'd say it gave me goosebumps, but I had those for nearly the entire set. The obscurity "Belle Fleur" followed, a demo from her first album that she reworked on her most recent album 24 Karat Gold: Songs From The Vault. "Outside the Rain" was showing favor to Nicks' first solo album, Bella Donna, and rightfully so; it was an amazing debut outing.

Another detail should be mentioned at only five songs in: Stevie had gone through at least three capes or cloaks. This would continue throughout the evening. The crowd would go especially wild when she would dance and spin, edges of her cloak in hand.

The set was designed with pacing in mind, and dropping the first Fleetwood Mac song in the sixth slot was a good call, but so was the seamless transition from "Outside The Rain" to "Dreams." The crowd was on its feet. Some were handling it better than others, some were clearly getting drunk, some were approached by security. Still, you could taste the eruption of joy that washed over the audience. That said, for the most part, this crowd was every bit as excited about the Stevie hits and obscurities, like the title track from 1983's Wild Heart making its live debut and Bella Donna's title track being played for the first time since the early '80s. She wove her magic and dabbled in the mysticism of her own back catalog, pulling "Annabel Lee," "New Orleans," and "Moonlight (A Vampire's Dream)" from her 2011 album In Your Dreams, while mixing them with early tracks like "Enchanted" or revamped demos like "Starshine" and "If You Were My Love." Meanwhile, the Stevie Nicks live staple "Stand Back," which was inspired by Prince's "Little Red Corvette," was made all the more meaningful with images of Prince in the impressive light projections.

Going as deep into her catalog as there is, she pulled "Crying In The Night" from 1973's tragically out-of-print album Buckingham Nicks. It's a song that's never been played live before, but apparently Waddy Wachtel, Nicks' musical director and longtime guitarist, had his heart set on taking this one out on the road. Nicks unleashed another Fleetwood Mac number with "Gold Dust Woman," and the crowd returned to their feet, if any had sat down. It was a fantastic number and a total nostalgia trip. Wachtel nailed the guitar part in no uncertain terms. The set ended with "Edge of Seventeen" from her first solo album and further projected tributes to Prince, before she bid us her first adieu.

For the encore, I expected a Mac attack, and when the opening chords of "Rhiannon" began, I was assured. I half-expected "Landslide" to follow, but something much better happened. She told the story of how she wrote the song "Leather and Lace" for Waylon Jennings and Jesse Colter, but when she found out they were divorcing she pulled it back. That's why their album Leather and Lace did not feature the song of the same name, which in my house was quite a mystery until we had both of the albums and probably heard something about it on the radio. It was an amazing song on Bella Donna, but live, more than 35 years later, it's even better and more moving, and Ms. Nicks finally moved this man to tears with a sentimental surprise ending to a truly spectacular evening.

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Stevie Nicks Promises "Eclectic" "Fast and Furious" show

Stevie Nicks Kicks Off 24 Karat Gold Tour Tonight, Promises "Eclectic," "Fast and Furious" Show

Stevie Nicks kicks off her 24 Karat Gold Tour tonight in her hometown of Phoenix, Arizona, and she promises a show packed with music, not a lot of chatter.

"I'm not gonna do long talking things, where they might be going, 'Well, she could've actually done a whole song during this little talk here,'" Stevie tells ABC Radio. "It's gonna be fast and furious."

The set list will feature songs from Stevie's entire solo career as well as Fleetwood Mac hits, so everyone will go home happy.

"It's gonna be eclectic," she says. "I don't think anybody's gonna walk away going, like, 'Oh my God, she didn't do that Fleetwood Mac song that we wanted her to do.'" 

She adds, "I'm not even gonna give people a minute to even start to ponder what's missing!"

And while she's giving fans a show, Stevie wants them to give her a show, too -- she's urging them to come dressed to the nines.

"I'm dressed-up up there, so I think it's a great thing to...say, ‘I give you all permission to totally pretend that you're going to a glorious cocktail party, and wear your most beautiful clothes,’" Stevie says.

"If you're a six-foot-five guy and you want to come in your white 'Edge of Seventeen' outfit, please do!'" she adds. "'Cause I just think it's hysterical, and I love it!"

Stevie's opening act is another legendary rock and roll chick, Chrissie Hynde, and her band the Pretenders -- which thrills Stevie to no end.

"When my manager said, 'What about The Pretenders?' I'm like, 'Would they even go with me?' And he said, 'I think they would!'" Stevie says. "I'm really excited about this, and I think, yes, we are bada** chicks, and it's really gonna be fun!" 

Copyright © 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.


Saturday, October 22, 2016

INTERVIEW Stevie Nicks on the importance of being a romantic

Stevie Nicks on the importance of being a romantic
The Creative Independent

Do people often ask about your songwriting process?

They do. You know, they say, “Do you write about people? Do you write about love affairs? Do you write about what’s happening now? Do you write about what happened to you a long time ago in the past? How do you summon those memories up?” I always say to them, as a writer you don’t have any one way. You write about what inspires you right now. If what inspires you right now is that song “Missing You” by John Waite because you just happened to hear it on the radio, then so be it. That was my song back when I was with Joe Walsh and whenever it comes on I just have to sit down. My mind races back to that time in my life and if I let myself I could run right to the piano and write another song. I don’t always let myself do that anymore, but that’s what it inspires.
As a writer you don’t have any one way. You write about what inspires you right now.
I can be sitting in a parking lot waiting for my assistant to come to the car and I see a couple walk by and I can see their fingers gently touch and see him open the door for her and look at her and her look at him and for a moment they just stand still in time… and then I can go home and write a song about them. Or I can see a movie—say, it’s a movie with Michael Fassbender called The Light Between Oceans—and I can’t get this movie out of my head. The tragedy of this movie is so intense and so beautiful you can hardly stand it and you go home and think about it for days afterwards. It’s everything I can do to not just say “Stop everything I have to go and write a song about this movie because I need to write a song about this fictional relationship that I can’t stop thinking about.”

When people ask me about songwriting, that’s what I tell them. Pay attention to your feelings. It can be anything. Everything. And yes, I can write a really super romantic song today even though I’m not really in a relationship nor have I been in one for a long time. I can take ideas right out of the air, but I have to be really inspired. It has to be something truly inspiring that pushes me to go and write a poem, and then that poem is something that, when I have the time, I will take to the piano. That has always been my process since I was 15 years old.

You’ve spoken about the connection between poetry and songwriting. Is writing poems and songs your way of making sense of the world?

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

INTERVIEW Stevie Nicks speaks with Keith Caulfield of Billboard Magazine

Pop Shop Podcast featuring: Stevie Nicks and Sheryl Crow
Billboard co-director of charts Keith Caulfield and senior editor Katie Atkinson interview Stevie Nicks.

We spoke to the legendary Stevie Nicks a little while back, and in our conversation, we talk about her upcoming tour, her 24 Karat Gold album, how she compiled the set list for the show and the possibility of a new Fleetwood Mac album from the classic Rumours-era lineup of the band. Plus, Nicks discusses how she’s “heartbroken” that she’ll never be able to perform her famed hit “Stand Back” with Prince, as the song was inspired by the Purple One’s single “Little Red Corvette.”

Download/Listen on iTunes HERE... IT'S FREE!

Billboard

Saturday, October 15, 2016

Mick Fleetwood returned to the historic El Carmen restaurant


Mick Fleetwood Revisits El Carmen

Mick Fleetwood returned to the historic El Carmen restaurant in Los Angeles last month, to be photographed by Henry Diltz for the upcoming Genesis publication charting the formation and rise of Fleetwood Mac from 1967 to 1974.

It was in this restaurant, in 1974, that Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham met to discuss the next incarnation of the group.

Genesis is looking for anyone who has historic photographs of Fleetwood Mac for possible inclusion in Mick Fleetwood's limited edition new book.

To find out more about this Genesis edition, and submit your photos of Fleetwood Mac for possible inclusion in the book visit: 

Genesis Publications

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Mick Fleetwood Says He Hopes Fleetwood Mac Finishes a New Album "Before We Hang It Up"

Fleetwood Mac launched its 2014-2015 world tour, Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham, John
McVie and Mick Fleetwood worked on some new tracks that have yet to see the light of day. Fleetwood says that "before we hang it up," he hopes the band will complete those recordings and release a new studio album, while admitting that he isn't sure if that will happen.

"We have what we would call a large stash of great music. I'm not quite sure what we're heading to do with it," he tells ABC Radio. "I hope that we are able to [put an album together]. It's just getting everyone on the same page to finish off the work that we've been doing."

Mick admits that one Fleetwood Mac member who currently isn't on the same page is Stevie Nicks, who will be launching a new North American solo tour on October 25.

"She's busy doing her own stuff," he points out. "And in this point in life, we've all dedicated so much time to Fleetwood Mac, you go, 'Hey, it'd be great if we could, but if not, don't worry about it.'"

Fleetwood tells ABC Radio that even if Nicks chooses not to lend her talents to the project, he hopes the music that's already been recorded will be released in some form.

"I think there's some thought that some of that lovely music would come out as a sort of duet album, maybe…from Christine and Lindsey," Mick poses. "And if not, it will stay in a room, waiting for the day that maybe it would make sense that all of us can contribute to that being a Fleetwood Mac album."

He adds, "Before we hang it up in the next few years, I truly hope there's another lovely album that will come out."

Copyright © 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

Check out the 'Bella Donna' Demo from Stevie Nicks' Nov 4th reissue of Bella Donna

Today Rollingstone.com gave us the first taste of Stevie's new album reissues... Check out the previously unreleased demo of 'Bella Donna' from the November 4th deluxe release of 'Bella Donna'. It's beautiful in it's simplicity!  If you are in the UK, Australia or New Zealand the track is now available at iTunes and Amazon (UK) to download.  The US and Canada it looks like Friday it'll be available.

Pre-order both deluxe versions of 'Bella Donna' and 'The Wild Heart' today at Amazon or iTunes.




Monday, October 10, 2016

Christine McVie on Fleetwood Mac: ‘Without one of us, we’re incomplete’

The singer on the band’s half-finished album, the visitation she had when writing Songbird, and growing up with a psychic mum.

by: Peter Robinson
The Guardian

Hi, Christine. What was it like growing up with the surname Perfect (1)?

It was difficult. Teachers would say: “I hope you live up to your name, Christine.” So, yes, it was tough. I used to joke that I was perfect until I married John.

Fleetwood Mac’s Mirage is being reissued as a box set for £50 (2). Does that seem like a fair price?

It’s a really nice item! It’s quality, isn’t it? It’s good value for money – you’ve got a lot of outtakes, a lot of previously unheard demo versions of songs, you’ve got the vinyl ... a CD, I believe, is in there? I mean it’s a nice package! I haven’t had a good look at it, but the label has given me one to take home. I get a free one!

Have you listened to the demos and outtakes?

No. I’m not a big fan of those things. I know people are interested but for my own personal enjoyment I prefer not to listen to them. My songwriting, when I’m writing, is nothing like it is in its finished form – but you have to start somewhere.

Is the new album finished?