Stevie Nicks Made History at KIA Forum Los Angeles

Stevie Nicks Weaves Memories + Music with Emotional Concert at the Forum in LA — and Makes History in the Process

 

By Adrian Garro

Rockcellar

Photos: Ashley Osborn 

A decoration on one of the pillars outside the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif., on Dec. 2 highlighted the many tours that have brought Stevie Nicks to the venue’s stage over the years.

After an incredible, sold-out evening this past Saturday evening, Nicks has now played the Forum 25 times — the most concerts put on at the venue by a female artist, according to the facility itself.

From her (many) tour stops at the Forum with Fleetwood Mac to her own robust solo career and beyond, Nicks knows the Forum more than most. Throughout her two-hour concert, you could feel the comfort and familiarity she felt as she dazzled her adoring audience with a mix of solo hits and favorites and the Fleetwood Mac classics that made her one of the most beloved singers/entertainers in history.

“I sing and I dance around my apartment, my house, and I do it because it makes me feel like I’m 25 and that’s good — because I’m not,” Nicks cracked at one point, one of her many moments of amusing banter between the 17 songs she and her band performed.

Stevie has been on the road for parts of the past two years or so, either on headlining dates, appearing at festivals or on a co-headline bill with Billy Joel. This Los Angeles stop was a headlining show, which afforded Nicks the chance to take her time and really dig deep — both in terms of the songs she sang and the thoughtful stories and anecdotes she provided between them. It effectively made the Forum feel much more intimate than it already does as if we were all gathered around a storytelling session with one of the greats.

Helping to create this atmosphere of warmth was an audience featuring quite a few women in obviously Stevie-inspired outfits, head-to-toe shawls, scarves and the general style that she has proudly and unapologetically shown off for decades.

Support for the night came from Ingrid Andress, a Nashville-based singer/songwriter with a few Billboard hits and four Grammy nominations to her name. Andress, who wore a Slipknot shirt that she’d modified into a fashionable performance outfit, was a revelation, performing on piano and on vocals accompanied by a guitarist.

She, too, told stories between songs (“I have four siblings and we were all homeschooled for a bit, so if you think I’m weird — that’s why”), raved about the thrill of opening for Stevie Nicks and turned in the sort of performance that clearly won her a nice chunk of new fans and set the tone for Nicks’ headlining set.

Nicks made it abundantly clear that performing is where she feels the most at ease, even at age 75. At one point she quoted her mother, saying, “My mom used to say to me, ‘Stevie, when you’re hurt, you run to the stage.’ And this has been very hard for me, with the loss of Christine. So, I run to the stage, and I basically run to you. And I thank you for making me better, every single time I come on stage. Thank you so much, you’re always in my heart.”

As Stevie explained, her current tour was put together as a means of coping with the loss of her dear friend and longtime Fleetwood Mac band mate, Christine McVie, who passed away in November 2022. Throughout the show and especially during the encore finale “Landslide,” photos of Stevie and Christine from all eras of their time together flashed on the screen behind the stage, the songs taking on a eulogistic tone with the emotions clearly being expressed by the singer.

The early days of Fleetwood Mac after she and Lindsey Buckingham joined the band, she explained, provided steadily increasing paychecks as the group became more successful — a far cry from her previous experiences being “cut off” by her family after moving to Los Angeles in pursuit of a music career. As the paychecks grew in volume and finances became more stable, though, Stevie said she found herself sometimes going to her bedroom, stripping her mattress off the bed frame, placing it straight on the ground and lying down on it as a means of keeping herself grounded despite her world expanding in all directions.

“I’m still Stevie, I’m still me,” she recalled saying to herself in those grounded moments. “It all has to do with the gypsy in me, I guess.”

These were the sorts of stories that made up a good portion of her set, each more entertaining than the last. Just as there were visual tributes to McVie, there were also notable moments of homage to the late Tom Petty — with both Nicks’ collaboration with him on “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” and a beautiful cover of “Free Fallin” in the encore, photos on the screen reflecting various live performances they’d given together over the years.

From start to finish, this was as meaningful and expressive a concert as one could expect. Throughout, Stevie’s voice sounded pristine — so much so that some in the crowd said things like, “She’s amazing, there’s no weakness in her voice whatsoever.”

Stevie Nicks has helped soundtrack the lives of millions — and this show demonstrated that as important as her music may be to her audience, it’s that same audience that is just as crucial in keeping her spark alight.

Or, as she said more succinctly during “Edge of Seventeen”:

“I just want you to know that this is what I sing for.”

Stevie Nicks’ set list:

Outside the Rain

Dreams (Fleetwood Mac song)

If Anyone Falls

Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around

Fall From Grace

For What It’s Worth (Buffalo Springfield cover)

Gypsy (Fleetwood Mac song)

Wild Heart

Bella Donna

Stand Back

Soldier’s Angel

Gold Dust Woman (Fleetwood Mac song)

I Sing for the Things

Edge of Seventeen

Encore:

Free Fallin’ (Tom Petty cover)

Rhiannon (Fleetwood Mac song)

Landslide (Fleetwood Mac song)