Monday, September 25, 2023

Stevie Nicks Announces 2024 North American Headlining Tour Dates



Stevie Nicks unveils seven additional headlining tour dates extending into 2024. She will kickstart the new year on February 10th in Atlantic City and sweep across the US enchanting audiences from New York, South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana concluding on March 9th in Arlington, TX.

Tickets for all dates (minus Arlington, TX) go on sale beginning Sept. 29 at 10 a.m. at StevieNicksOfficial (pre-sales begin earlier this week)

February 10 – Atlantic City, NJ - Mark G Etess Arena
February 14 – Belmont Park, NY - UBS Arena
February 21 – Greenville, SC - Bon Secours Wellness Arena
February 24 – Hollywood, FL - Hard Rock Live
February 28 – New Orleans, LA - Smoothie King Center
March 3 – Omaha, NE - CHI Health Center
March 6 – North Little Rock, AR - Simmons Bank Arena

Sunday, September 24, 2023

Reviews... Stevie Nicks Live in Foxborough (Boston) Sept 23, 2023

Stevie Nicks and Billy Joel a powerhouse pop tandem at rainy Gillette
By Maura Johnston



FOXBOROUGH — When the pugilistic pop composer Billy Joel and the bewitching singer-songwriter Stevie Nicks announced their joint tour earlier this year, it took a second for the pairing to click. Joel’s blend of classical training and punky New York attitude seem at odds with Nicks’s West Coast mystic visions, but the two share a theatricality — not to mention packed back catalogs — that made their show Saturday night at Gillette Stadium a top-to-bottom joyride.

The hit parade was a bit waterlogged, with rain falling steadily throughout the show. But the weather — which was also marked by decidedly autumnal temperatures — added a sense of drama to the proceedings while also proving that those filling the stadium were committed to seeing the whole night through. Nicks’s set spotlighted both her work with the tumultuous hitmakers Fleetwood Mac and her solo material, with a stunning extended run-through of the world-weary Mac track “Gold Dust Woman” and a fiery take on her grief-stricken solo hit “Edge of Seventeen.”

Mourning ran through the set, with Nicks’s former duet partner Tom Petty being paid tribute through versions of the tug-of-war duet “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” (with Joel more than ably handling what Nicks called “the argument part” of Petty’s vocal) and the modern American standard “Free Fallin’.” Her former bandmate Christine McVie, who passed away last November, was given the spotlight during Nicks’s set-closing version of the yearning Fleetwood Mac smash “Landslide.” That song and “Free Fallin’” have both become modern touchstones of American pop, and Nicks’s presentation of both showed how crucial she and her collaborators have been to the modern pop firmament.

Joel opened his set with a take on his 1978 outta-my-face anthem “My Life” that he blended into Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,” which succinctly summed up at least one facet of his appeal. His musical chops straddle the old and new worlds; his piano playing, as evidenced by the frequent close-ups on his keyboard that blazed across the video screens, hasn’t missed a beat, and he can still hit the high note that marks the yearning title track from 1983′s street-corner-music homage “An Innocent Man.” He’s able to channel that talent and knowledge of pop into songs that speak from a perspective marked by hunger, whether it’s for basic respect from the system (the chugging “Allentown”), bridge-and-tunnel transcendence (the strivers’ anthem “Movin’ Out [Anthony’s Song]”), or something more carnal (the New Wave-y chronicle of frustration “Sometimes a Fantasy”). Joel’s been in music’s upper echelons for four-plus decades, but his wisecracking, fighting spirit still shines through — and his pop craftsmanship makes joining in via singing along even easier.



Double play at Gillette: Joel and Nicks offer a classic show
Craig S. Semon

FOXBOROUGH _ Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks’ limited-run, double-bill concert pairing is being touted as “Two Icons, One Night.”

No argument here.

While one of these legendary artists has enough star power, rich musical legacy, and a cavalcade of hits to play to a packed house on their own, two on the same bill is rock ‘n’ roll heaven sent as became quite evident during a rain-soaked, sold-out show Saturday night at Gillette Stadium.

Despite having really nothing in common other than selling tons of records, composing some of the most memorable and beloved pop songs in the last 50 years, and emerging out of the ‘70s, Joel, who hasn’t played Foxborough gridiron since the summer of 2009 as part of the “Face to Face” tour with Sir Elton John, and Nicks, who has never played at the home of the Patriots, seems like an unlikely pairing indeed.

While they’re not quite as odd at each other as Elvis Costello hanging out with Burt Bacharach or as peculiar as Miley Cyrus fronting Metallica, Joel is New York brass/angry young man cool while Nicks is rock’s premiere earth mother/leather and lace enchantress.

And that’s what made this unlikely pairing so special and so much fun.

Joel, 74, who played roughly two hours, while Nicks, 75, who opened with an abbreviated hour-and-20-minute set, delivered two distinctly different and totally satisfying sets that were chock-full of nothing but great songs. And both delivered a killer encore worth the price of admission alone.

Early in his set, Joel braced the drenched crowd with some good news and bad news, starting with the bad news: “We don’t have anything new to play for you.” And then the good: “You don’t have to listen to any new (expletive).”  

Despite the fact that he hasn’t released a new pop album in 30 years, Joel’s voice sounded great and his songs sounded as fresh and relevant as ever.

Perched behind a black baby grand piano on a rotating circular stage, Joel pounded out Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” before breaking into his first of many beloved hits and crowd singalongs, “My Life,” during his longer, headlining set. Delivered with the same youthful vigor as he did when the song was first released 45 years earlier, Joel stood up at the end of the number to soak up the admiration from the drenched audience.

While the rain was enough to give the most delicate in the crowd a heart attack, ack, ack, ack, ack, ack, Joel kept the hit parade coming with a rousing version of “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song),” one of his great slice-of-angry-young-man’s-life vignette songs from 1977’s “The Stranger.”

Although it wasn’t needed to sell the song, the stormy seas saga “The Downeaster Alexa” received an added visual boost with sheets of rain crashing down on the crowd during Joel’s passionate plight of the Long Island fisherman.

With Taylor Swift no longer being the only recording artist with a memorable rain show at Gillette, Joel _ after amusingly doing impromptu versions of the Beatles’ “Rain” and The Everly Brothers’ “Crying in the Rain” _ cursed the Almighty up above with the defiant cries of “Is that the best you can do! Is that all you got!”

Retreating back to the standard setlist, Joel briefly lamented that he’s not in his 30s anymore, so the audience should pray for him to hit a couple of high notes on the falsetto favorite “An Innocent Man.” Brushing the sweat off his brow by song’s end, Joel nailed the crucial notes like a seasoned trooper.   

Snippets of The Regents’ “Barbara Ann” and Solomon Lindi’s original Evening Birds’ cover of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” served as a warm-up exercise for Joel’s modern-day doo-wop classic, “The Longest Time,” which had the singer dragging the mike stage from one end of the stage to the other.

After the elegant piano masterwork on “Vienna,” Joel gave Bruce Springsteen a run for his blue-collar champion crown with “Allentown,” one of the happiest songs ever recorded about factory closings.

With its swirling keyboards and percolating rhythms, Joel’s naughty little ‘80s relic about the middle of the night, 900 phone calls “Sometimes A Fantasy” is still his strongest bid for new wave rocker status, while “Only the Good Die Young” served up the singer at his bad boy best.

The soul-cleansing, life-affirming “The River of Dreams” was not only enough to lift the crowd’s spirits, it turned into a killer showstopper when percussionist and blessed pipes extraordinaire Crystal Taiefero got up from behind her drumkit and unleashed her inner-Tina Turner on “River Deep, Mountain High.”

Joel and company delivered a spectacular version of “Scenes from An Italian Restaurant,” which ended with the crowd waving Brenda and Eddy (the two main characters in the song) goodbye.

After getting a stagehand to replace his rain-soaked harmonica with a dry one, Joel introduced "a pretty good crowd for a Saturday (which it was)" to a series of familiar bar regulars sharing a drink they called loneliness (because it’s better than drinking alone) on the autobiographical musical character study “Piano Man.”

Joel kicked off a killer, five-song encore with the chart-topping, history lesson “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” a true scorcher that every Baby Boomer should see performed once in their lifetime with the flickering images of the 118 pop culture references that the singer rattles off at breakneck speed.

Joel revisited the lovable bad boy with the blessed pipes of his youth (the same one that once won supermodel Christie Brinkley’s heart) on his lively ode to doo-wop, “Uptown Girl.”

After the snappy and irresistible “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” (Joel’s first Number One), Joel went back to the piano for “Big Shot,” which was one of the heaviest rockers of the evening, followed by “You May Be Right.”

With her unmistakable raspy voice, elegant gypsy fashion sense, and spacy stage antics, Nicks proved she’s still an encompassing free-spirit who, despite the rain, is one with the cosmos but always seems to be at odds with affairs of the heart.

Whether it was the timeless, Fleetwood Mac classics (which included “Dreams” “Gold Dust Woman,” “Rhianna,” and “Landslide”) or her stellar solo hits (including “If Anyone Falls in Love,” “Stand Back” and “Edge of Seventeen”), Nicks proved she still has the power to conjure up the forces of nature.

Wearing a black, long-sleeve top, a grey frilly chiffon skirt, knee-high boots, a floppy hat, and donning a vast assortment of capes, scarves, and shawls throughout her set, Nicks' voice sounded youthful and robust and her teary-eyed ruminations and impassioned roars of defiance were vibrant and timeless.

One of the most distinctly female voices in pop, Nicks cast the audience under her spell immediately and often and nothing was going to rain on her hit parade, not even rain, even if she conjured up images of stormy skies with the appropriately titled opener “Outside the Rain,” which seamlessly segued into “Dreams,” the first of four Fleetwood Mac classics performed by her piping hot band led by guitar god and bespectacled rock legend Waddy Wachtel

Despite the golden-haired rock goddess calling the rain “awful,” the lines “Thunder only happens when it raining” and “When the rain washes you clean, you’ll know” (both from “Dreams”) became the unofficial mantra of the rain-soaked crowd that roared with approval.

Joel first popped up unannounced during Nicks’ set to fill in for the late Tom Petty in the Nicks-Petty duet smash “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.” Carrying an umbrella and wearing a bundled-up blazer, dungarees, sneakers, and a baseball cap advertising “Deux Ex Machina Custom Motorcycles,” Joel sang the song with gusto but the pairing was merely a nice gesture that lacked the infectious heat of the original.

Nicks adorned herself with a gold and black shawl for the showstopper “Stand Back” and while draped with a gold shawl showered the crowd with rock ‘n’ roll riches on the epic rocker “Gold Dust Woman.” With the pouring rain glimmering in the yellow stage lights, it looked like the audience was in the middle of a psychedelic gold rush.

After a heartfelt cover of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ “Free Fallin,’” Nicks closed her main set with a guitar-heavy, arena-rock version of "Edge of Seventeen," which turned into a lovefest with the diehard Nicks-ophiles in the audience pounding their fists in the air and shouting along with their idol.

During her encore, Nicks delivered the most tender and tortured number of the evening with her signature Fleetwood Mac ballad "Landslide." Paying tribute to her Fleetwood Mac bandmate Christine McVie, who died at 79 in November, this was Nicks at her emotionally unguarded best.

Friday, September 22, 2023

Fleetwood Mac this week on the charts around the world

Fleetwood Mac this week on the charts around the world. Previous week in brackets.  These are the most current charts as of September 22, 2023.

 

 


US Billboard Top 200
#34 - Rumours (32)
#81 - Rumours Live (debut)
#178 - Greatest Hits (146)

US Top Album Sales
#4  - Rumours Live (debut)
#23 - Rumours (22)

US Top 100 Current Album Sales
#4 - Rumours Live (debut)

US Top 25 Vinyl Albums
#7 - Rumours Live (debut)
#14 - Rumours (14)

Canada Top 100 Albums Chart
#31 - Rumours (re-entry)

UK Top 100 Albums Chart
#6  - 50 Years - Don't Stop (7) 5,220 sales
#26 - Rumours (22)

UK Top 100 Singles Chart
#84 - Dreams (74)
#85 - Everywhere (77)

UK Top 100 Album Sales
#22 - Rumours (23)
#41 - Rumours Live (9)
#86 - Greatest Hits (95)

UK Top 100 Album Downloads
#63 - Rumours (51)

UK Top 100 Physical Albums Chart
#21 - Rumours (21)
#39 - Rumours Live (9)
#90 - Greatest Hits (98)

UK Vinyl Albums Chart
#14 - Rumours (17)

Scotland Top 100 Albums Chart
#15 - Rumours (17)
#43 - Rumours Live (6)
#91 - Greatest Hits (85)

Ireland Top 100 Albums
#4  - 50 Years - Don't Stop (2
#21 - Rumours (20)

Australia Top 50 Albums
#27 - Rumours (26)

Austria Top 75 Albums Chart
#15 - Rumours (re-entry)

Belgium Top 50 Albums Chart
#19 - Rumours (re-entry)

Dutch Top 100 Albums Chart
#3 - Rumours (3)

France Top 150 Albums Chart
#51 - Rumours Live (debut)

Switzerland Top 100 Albums Chart
#17 - Rumours (re-entry) 

Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rumours: Live’ Debuts at No.4 on Album Sales Chart

Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rumours: Live’ Debuts in Top 10 on Album Sales Chart



Fleetwood Mac’s from-the-vaults release Rumours: Live debuts at No. 4 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated Sept. 23). It’s the highest debut on the list for the band in more than 20 years, since the act’s last full-length studio album, Say You Will, opened at No. 2 in May 2003.

Comprised almost entirely of previously unreleased recordings, Rumours: Live captures the band’s Aug. 29, 1977, concert at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., during the act’s Rumours Tour. The trek was in support of its then-most-recent studio release Rumours, which had bowed earlier in 1977. That album would spend 31 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart – still the most weeks at No. 1 for an album by a group. The set launched four top 10-charting hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including the group’s lone chart-topper, “Dreams.”

(Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales.)

Rumours: Live sold a little over 10,000 copies in the U.S. in the week ending Sept. 14, according to Luminate. Among the songs featured on the album are such Hot 100 hits as “Dreams,” “Oh Well,” “Landslide,” “Over My Head,” “Rhiannon,” “You Make Loving Fun” and “Go Your Own Way.” Rumours: Live was available to purchase as a digital download album or in three physical iterations (a 180-gram double vinyl set, a crystal-clear colored double vinyl set sold via Walmart, and a two-CD package). Vinyl accounted for 44.5% of the album’s first-week sales.


Fleetwood Mac “Rumours Live” 

Rumours Live On The Charts:

USA:
No. 4 - Top Selling Album 
No. 7 - Top Vinyl Album Sales 
No.81 - Billboard Top 200 

Scotland:
No. 6 - Top 100 Albums (debut)

UK:
No. 9 - Top 100 Album Sales (2,988 sales)
No.11 - Top 40 Vinyl Albums
No.19 - Top 100 Physical Albums
No.23 - Top 100 Download Albums
No.23 - Top 100 Streaming Albums
No.34 - Top 100 Albums Chart

New Zealand:
No.32 - Top 40 Albums Chart

France:
No.51 - Top 150 Albums Chart

Tuesday, August 29, 2023

Review Stevie Nicks Complete Studio Albums & Rarities



Stevie Nicks
Complete Studio Albums & Rarities
Author rating: 9/10

Massive career-spanning box sets are a completist’s dream. In this installment, Rhino takes on Stevie Nicks’ solo career. The 10-CD set features each disc housed in a replica sleeve with copies of the liner notes, all be they too small to actually read. There is no big booklet examining the titles, featuring essays or ephemera. It’s just the music. And as far as that goes, it doesn’t get much better.

Bella Donna, from 1981, is the gold standard, and the conventional wisdom is that things go progressively downhill from there, at least until the 2000s come along and Nicks enters the revitalized stage of her career. The big hits on Bella Donna (“Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” with Tom Petty, “Edge of Seventeen,” “Leather and Lace” with Don Henley) need no introduction. But even the other tracks here shine. It’s Nicks’ coming out party.

The Wild Heart, released two years later, doesn’t have quite the same hit power as Bella Donna, but songs like the title track and “Enchanted” are only some of the non-hits that sparkle with the best of Nicks’ solo work.

Rock a Little, from 1985, was a largely forgettable affair, steeped in ‘80s effects, but the upbeat “I Can’t Wait” is perfect ‘80s radio, and the ballads “I Sing for Things” and “Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You” touch with the best of her ballads.

The Other Side of the Mirror (1989) stands up better to time with songs that are not obscured by the decade’s worse impulses. The tunes are mostly earworms, benefiting as always from Nicks’ inimitable voice and overall charisma, and with four tracks with either co-writing credit and/or guitar playing by Heartbreaker Mike Campbell. Unfortunately, “Two Kinds of Love,” with Bruce Horsby, in hindsight only proves that Hornsby was no Tom Petty in terms of male Nicks duet partners. A cover of Johnny Cash’s “I Still Miss Someone” does the Man in Black proud.

With 1994’s Street Angel, Waddy Wachtel, architect of the infamous chugging riff of “Edge of Seventeen” is back in a more prominent role, where on The Other Side of the Mirror he seemed more of a bit player. The result is an album that is more immediate, more thrown back to the classic Nicks albums of the early ’80s. And while there may be no big hit tracks other than “Maybe Love Will Change Your Mind,” which reached 57 on the Billboard chart, it’s a better album upon revisiting that it was perhaps given credit for at the time, being released amid the grunge explosion.

After Street Angel, Nicks laid low for the rest of the ‘90s, not releasing another album until 2001’s Trouble in Shangri-La, and the album finds her entering the new millennium sounding reenergized and supported by a cast of admirers including Sheryl Crow, Macy Gray, and (Dixie) Chick Natalie Maines, all who provide supporting vocals. But the album sounds not so much like a star-studded affair, rather a return to what Nicks always did best, write killer songs.

Another 10-year break after Shangri-La found the release of In Your Dreams, which was produced by Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart, who also duetted with Nicks on “Cheaper Than Free.” Lindsey Buckingham also returns to provide guitar and backing vocals on “Soldier’s Angel.” Aside from the undeniable pop melody of the title track, the rocker “Ghosts Are Gone,” and the soaring choruses of “Italian Summer,” In Your Dreams is predictably solid fare.

By 24 Karat Gold, Nicks was firmly in the middle of her resurgence. Fleetwood Mac was well into its own third (or eighth?) life, and Nicks’ solo profile was as high as it had been since Bella Donna. For the album, she recorded demos of old songs written between 1969 and 1987, with a couple newer tracks/covers thrown into the mix. And it shows, the album being one of her strongest solo records since that glorious debut.

The set is capped with a two-CD compilation of rarities consisting of soundtrack cuts, B-sides, and non-proper album tracks. It’s 23 additional songs essential to the complete Stevie Nicks collection, and it’s a boon to have all these various songs in one place. They are in no way throwaways, the set culminating in Nicks’ 2022 version of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth.”

It’s all here with Complete Studio Albums & Rarities. And it’s worth your while in grand sum.

Monday, August 28, 2023

Review Stevie Nicks Complete Studio Albums & Rarities Showcases Her Magic

Stevie Nicks
Complete Studio Albums & Rarities
4.5 out of 5 stars

While Stevie Nicks’ latest release, Complete Studio Albums & Rarities, may not seem like that enticing of a project on paper, having the expanse of Nicks’ career all in one place is the best way to showcase her magic.

The project starts out with cuts from Nicks’ debut solo album, Bella Donna. Her witchy motif is in full swing on the title track while she showcases some of her musical affiliations with a pair of timeless duets: “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” with Tom Petty and “Leather and Lace” with Don Henley. The remastered versions of the tracks bring even more color into these Nicks classics.

Following the Bella Donna section is The Wild Heart. Highlights include the title track (which sees Nicks at her most enchanting), another duet with Petty, “I Will Run To You,” and “If Anyone Falls.”

As the title suggests, the track list continues in chronological order. The rest of the Complete Studio Albums portion of the project features cuts from Rock a Little, The Other Side of the Mirror, Street Angel, Trouble in Shangri-La, In Your Dreams, and 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault.

The content is pretty much what one would expect. There aren’t many surprises within the first part of this release. But, if anything, take it as an excuse to revisit Nicks’ work. When an artist is so omnipresent, they can be taken for granted. Given the prestige of her work, we all think we have our favorite Nicks song signed and sealed. But, when diving deep into the breadths of her career, it’s highly likely that new favorite songs will emerge.

For instance, on Bella Donna, it’s “Edge of Seventeen,” which has become the standout over the years. But, closing out the album is a stunning little mid-tempo number called “The Highwayman,” which has far fewer streams but is every bit as hypnotizing. Similarly, a deep cut on The Other Side of the Mirror, “I Still Miss Someone (Blue Eyes)” calls to mind Nicks-helmed Fleetwood staples like “Sara” or “Gypsy.” This release gives songs like these a second chance at finding their audience.

The back half of the release, Rarities, has a little more to chew on. Many of the songs on Rarities are only available on this release. If you are a Nicks fan, you’re likely starving for new content from the rock icon. Save a cover of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth,” Nicks hasn’t shared new music in several years.

There are a few rarities that demand attention. Standouts include “Real Tears,” “Love’s a Hard Game to Play,” and “Garbo” but, really any of these deep cuts will be an enticing listen for Nicks’ wanting fans. Each of them continues Nicks’ reign as the most haunting, mystical, and captivating rocker around.

Rarities is also a testament to how prolific Nicks is as a songwriter. It’s not enough to have her name-making past work on display, Nicks wanted to go the extra mile and share songs that have not yet received their dues. This would fall flat if it was understandable why these songs didn’t make the original cut but, luckily, they are every bit as powerful as the songs that became Nicks’ signature releases.

Nicks is an artist with a sprawling history. From her time in Fleetwood Mac to her continued solo career, few rock stars have been so enduring. It’s high time we brought Nicks back into focus and really meditated on what made her the symbol she is today. This release provides just the outlet.