Concert review: Odd couple Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks offer fun night at U.S. Bank Stadium
By ROSS RAIHALA
Photo: lauraannkg on IG
If Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks seem like an odd combination, well they are. He’s a steely, populist New Yorker, while she’s a dramatic hippie witch from Phoenix. And yet, the pair delivered a delightful and nostalgic evening Friday at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, even if they took two quite different approaches.
Nicks amped up the moody atmosphere for her set, a blend of her solo hits and some of the songs she wrote for Fleetwood Mac, and wore a series of her famous shawls. Early on, she told the crowd one of her backup singers tested positive for COVID that morning and Nicks’ vocal coach was filling in. Nicks said it would sound a little different and it did, particularly during “Edge of Seventeen” and “Landslide.” A bit distracting, but not enough to be a game changer.
As for Nicks, she sounded terrific. Now 75, she twirls slower than she used to, but she can still sing. Whether she was belting out “Stand Back” or bringing the audience in with “Dreams,” Nicks nailed it.
Her longtime guitarist Waddy Wachtel — a session musician who has worked with everyone from Linda Ronstadt to Dolly Parton — also shined. He extended the instrumental breaks in several numbers, most notably “Gold Dust Woman,” an already dramatic song he transformed into a true epic.
Nicks also covered two very distinctive songs — Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ “Free Fallin” — and somehow made them her own. True magic.
Four songs into her set, Nicks played her debut solo single “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” with Joel popping out to sing Petty’s part. He did a decent job and later in his own set offered a surprisingly awesome Mick Jagger impersonation (both singing- and dancing-wise) during a snippet of the Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up.”
Joel takes an old-fashioned and showbizzy approach to performing live, complete with massive hooks and canned comic lines he’s used hundreds of times. For example, he took the stage to the end score from the 1984 Robert Redford sports film “The Natural,” written by Randy Newman channeling Aaron Copland.
The 75-year-old wasn’t afraid to pump up his old hits like “Only the Good Die Young” and “New York State of Mind” into true stadium rockers. Crucially, though, he didn’t significantly alter any arrangements, he just made them bigger and bolder.
As such, the set list was packed with Joel’s many hits, the ones he’s been playing for decades now. The crowd greeted each one like an old friend, from “My Life” and “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)” to “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” and “Piano Man.” (Joel retired from recording pop/rock albums with 1993’s “River of Dreams.”)
The furthest Joel strayed was a pair of album cuts early in his set, “Summer, Highland Falls” and “Zanzibar.” Of the latter, Joel noted it “gets played on TikTok, whatever the hell that is.” Joel sure knows how to put on a show.
Review: Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks team up to thrill classic rock fans of all ages
Despite no new music for decades, the Rock Hall of Famers packed U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
Billy Joel stands close to alone. Fifty years to the week after he released the album "Piano Man" — featuring that sing-along ode to loneliness — he was ambitiously playing at U.S. Bank Stadium even though he hasn't released an album of new songs in 30 years. What other solo artist would attempt that?
Stevie Nicks stands close to alone, too. One year to the month after the death of her bestie Christine McVie, she was playing at U.S. Bank Stadium, opening for Joel, as essentially the last singer standing from Fleetwood Mac. (Remember the band unceremoniously dismissed Lindsey Buckingham in 2018, and he's scaled back to performing in theaters.)
Joel and Nicks seem like an odd pairing — the pugnacious New Yorker and the mystical California hippie. Yet, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers have joined forces this year for the eight-city Two Icons, One Night Tour, which falls between their separate arena gigs.
The New York/California ticket got the overwhelming approval Friday night of maybe 50,000 multi-generational voters at the packed Vikings stadium (according to our applause poll).
With living-in-the-past Joel, the fans indicated that "we love you just the way you were." Of the 25 or so selections his group offered, all but two were from 1982 or earlier. And not all were hits, as he included deep tracks "Summer Highland Falls" for "all you manic depressives" and "Zanzibar" with its snazzy jazzy Carl Fischer trumpet solo.
Joel was, as always, full of shtick, attitude and, now, dad jokes. He did his dad-dance impression of Mick Jagger by doing a taste of the Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up," and he had his guitarist Mike DelGuidice detour into a gratuitous slab of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" as well as Puccini's aria "Nessun Dorma." Like Joel's catalog, his two-hour set was a remarkable rangy musical melting pot.
Joel remembered playing at the Marigold Ballroom "in the boondocks" (actually it was downtown Minneapolis, where the Hyatt Regency stands), and he asked for prayers so he could still hit his high notes on "An Innocent Man" (he did).
Yes, he was in good voice at age 74, save for control issues on a couple of tunes. He turned "The Longest Time" and the doo-wop styled "River of Dreams" into wonderful group vocal showcases. The piano man gave each of his fun-loving musicians time in the spotlight, which doesn't typically happen at stadium shows. Moreover, the sound for Joel's highly musical set was better than usual at the football palace. Too bad his crew couldn't get the live video cameras to work on the opening "My Life."
Nicks, who in 2016 toured with Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders (same era, different vibe), delivered a greatest-hits set this time, unlike her arena trek seven years ago that featured plenty of deep tracks. As the first act to hit the stage Friday, Nicks knew how to get the party started segueing into "Dreams," the Fleetwood Mac song that got resurrected via TikTok in 2020, for her second number.
She pulled out her trump card on the fourth selection, "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," as Joel sauntered out to sing the part originally done by Tom Petty on Nicks' debut solo single in 1981.
The duet may not have been as spirited as when Nicks pulled it off with Hynde in St. Paul seven years ago, but it certainly invigorated the late-arriving Minneapolis crowd. Afterward, Nicks explained that she's done the song live with Petty, Harry Styles and others, but Joel "scares me every time." It was a little unclear if she meant that in a good way.
There was no question that Nicks, 75, was in terrific voice, that seductive husky siren of hers, though it was hard to fully appreciate her 90-minute performance in the echo chamber that is the Vikings stadium. Moreover, the live video — that was essential in the massive coliseum with a petite performer who eschewed her usual signature dizzying dancing — was marred by all kinds of tacky patterns (colorful dots, gold bubbles, etc.) over her image.
Waddy Wachtel's guitar consistently cut through, whether the mysterious and ultimately noisy slashing on "Gold Dust Woman," one of Nicks' highlights, or the edgy riffing on "Edge of Seventeen" (which also featured a funky organ passage by the Twin Cities' own Ricky Peterson).
Nicks did not mention Prince even though she played their funky 1983 collaboration "Stand Back." As she always does in the Twin Cities, she gave a shout out to "my one and only husband," Kim Anderson, her ex- who was in the audience and to whom she dedicated "Wild Heart."
Despite a few glitches, Joel and Nicks reinforced what the music business long ago learned: Classic rock knows no expiration date.
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