Post Malone, Stevie Nicks to headline Uptown Charlotte summer music fest
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Post Malone headlines a list of 40-plus artists that will be featured during a big summer music fest next year in the Queen City.
The three-day Lovin’ Life Music Fest will be headlined by Post Malone, Stevie Nicks, and Noah Kahan, which runs May 3-5th in Uptown, Charlotte. Tickets on sale now.
Nearing the end of the downtown Phoenix concert on his co-headlining tour with Stevie Nicks at Chase Field on Friday, Dec. 8, Billy Joel paused to reflect on the apparent incompatibility this tour may represent to certain fans on both sides of the aisle.
Even Joel didn’t get it at first. Or so he led us to believe.
“I couldn’t understand the package, as they say,” he recalled after thanking his costar for doing the tour. “OK, Stevie Nicks. And Billy Joel. OK. Why?”
That got a great reaction. Lots of laughter. Then he answered his own question with a shout of “Because it sells tickets, for Christ’s sake.”
This is true. It does sell tickets.
Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks: The soundtrack of your life
But it also makes a lot of sense on levels that go well beyond the ticket-buying super-power that Venn diagram suggests.
They both had massive pop hits in the ‘70s and ‘80s, so regardless of which artist is the bigger draw for you and yours, the other one will also play a lot of songs that occupy a sweet spot on the soundtrack of your life.
You know what came out the same year as Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours”? Billy Joel’s “The Stranger.” Think about it. Two career-defining albums all but guaranteed to satisfy the same nostalgic urges.
And Joel and Nicks both know how to work a room, packing a setlist with crowd-pleasing classics while establishing a conversational rapport that draws you even deeper into who they are and what they represent.
Is Nicks a bit more heartfelt? Sure she is. Is Joel a bigger goof? Of course he is.
He wouldn’t have it any other way.
And there was no mistaking the camaraderie between them when Joel made an early appearance during Nicks' set to sing Tom Petty's part on "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around,” doing his best to channel Petty in both phrasing and inflection, then hugging it out with Nicks before he left the stage.
It was an easy highlight of the night.
Stevie Nicks was in excellent voice throughout her 90-minute set
Although this is a co-headlining proposition, someone had to go on first, and that task fell to Nicks, who more than rose to the occasion at the helm of a fantastic backing band with longtime musical director Waddy Wachtel often dominating the proceedings on guitar, from “Fall From Grace” to the cover of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worh” and “Edge of Seventeen.”
His slide work, in particular, was consistently brilliant.
And Nicks was in excellent voice throughout her roughly 90-minute set while rocking an impressive assortment of shawls. That voice has deepened through the years, but Nicks is enough of an artist that she’s learned how to harness the power of the voice she has in 2023 and apply it in intriguing ways to classics she recorded in her 20s.
I’ll admit, I wasn’t wild about her messing with the melody to “Dreams” when she first started reimagining those early songs to suit her changing vocal range, but the “Dreams” we heard in Phoenix felt like the way it should be sung. At least in 2023.
It was a powerful performance, rocking with conviction in all the right places.
Because Nicks' image tends to leave a lot of writers searching for more synonyms for haunting and mysterious, we rarely hear about how much a song like “Gold Dust Woman” rocks in the hands of her latest collection of backing musicians.
But in Phoenix, “Gold Dust Woman” was an epic 12-minute rendition that used the Fleetwood Mac recording as a starting point and went off on a far more psychedelic journey that built to a fiery climax that was both majestic and intense. It was a highlight of her 15-song Phoenix setlist.
When Stevie went solo:How Stevie Nicks fueled her solo career with 'Stop Draggin' My Heart Around'
Stevie Nicks honored the memory of her mother, Tom Petty and Christine McVie
She took the stage to a recording of Tom Petty doing “Runnin’ Down a Dream” and set the tone for her performance with a dramatic rendition of “Outside the Rain,” which segued seamlessly into “Dreams,” the hit she took to No. 1 with Fleetwood Mac.
That was the first of several Fleetwood Mac songs in a set that found her signing off with two selections she wrote for the self-titled Fleetwood Mac album that introduced the “Rumours” lineup, “Rhiannon” and “Landslide,” the latter of which was accompanied by vintage photographs of Nicks and the late Christine McVie.
She also made her way through countless highlights of her solo years, from the pulsing synth and slide guitar of a “Stand Back” that appeared to have a harder edge than the recording, to the a cappella break of “If Anyone Falls.”
And the heartfelt nod to her friendship with Petty, whose image flashed across the screen as she sang “Free Fallin’,” was exactly as sweet as she meant it to be.
It was after “Dreams” that Nicks reminded everyone that she was born in Phoenix.
“As soon as I get here, I think I’m gonna miss the ocean,’” she said. “And I get here and I don’t miss the ocean.”
As Nicks was preparing to finish her encore with “Landslide,” a bittersweet highlight of that first release with Fleetwood Mac, she dedicated the song to her brother, Christopher, with whom she shared a home in Paradise Valley, Arizona, for 25 years.
It’s as emotional a song as you could ever hope to hear. And after bringing her performance to a vulnerable finish with that undisputed classic, she talked about having met McVie in 1975.
“It’s kind of an empty world without her,” she said.
Then she teared up while recalling the words of her mother, Barbara Nicks, who died in 2012.
“And I want you to also know that my mom always used to say to me, ‘When you are hurt, you run to the stage.’ And I run to the stage every night.”
It may have been the strongest solo set I’ve ever seen her play.
Stevie Nicks was a tough act to follow. But Billy Joel managed
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.”
That is the word that best conveys the feeling in the air on the night of Nov. 29 when Stevie Nicks performed in San Diego State University’s Viejas Arena.
The crowd gathering before the concert was an ebb and flow of glitter, draped in beaded scarves and dark hats — a reflection of Nicks’ own iconic style.
A remarkable range of ages was present that night, from Nicks’ older white-haired fans to newer fans running in flowing dresses, all of whom contained the same excitement to see the so-called “White Witch.”
“When did I become a Stevie fan? I’ve been a fan my whole life!” said Denise Hughes, attendee and SDSU alumni. “Well, I was born in 1980, so you could say I became a fan in 1982!”
Former frontwoman of Fleetwood Mac, one of the biggest bands of the ‘70s and ‘80s, Nicks launched her solo career with her album titled “Bella Donna” in 1981. The album and her following work established her as both an extraordinary frontwoman and a platinum-album-selling solo songwriter and performer.
After such an illustrious career, Nicks shows no signs of slowing down as she continues to write new music and perform today.
“I love Stevie’s independence,” said fan Hillary Addelman. “(I love) that she’s a woman with a vision and that she branched out with Tom Petty and other musicians, following her own dream. If it’s anything like her last concert, her storyline that goes with every song of hers makes it an intimate experience. It’s not just a song, it’s a story.”
The love for Stevie Nicks had not been contained within the older generation, as the crowds of parents and children showed, but has passed down from generation through records spinning in growing households and children coming to share their parents’ love for Nicks’ music.
“Fleetwood Mac was how I woke up every morning, so I have my dad to thank for that,” Addelman said.
The veteran solo star and Fleetwood Mac mainstay was engaging throughout her performance at SDSU’s Viejas Arena, which benefitted from an unusually clear and well-balanced audio mix in a venue long noted for its booming acoustics and slap-back echo.
Stevie Nicks has been in a select class since she sang and spun her way to stardom in the mid-1970s as a member of Fleetwood Mac. Five decades later, she has risen to an even more select class as her often-stirring Wednesday night concert at San Diego State University’s Viejas Arena reaffirmed.
Along with fellow Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Bonnie Raitt, Patti Smith, Chrissie Hynde, Debbie Harry of Blondie and San Diego native Ann Wilson of Heart, Nicks is among the very few women artists who rose to prominence in the ‘70s who continue actively touring and recording in their 70s. Moreover, Nicks is the only one to be inducted twice, first with Fleetwood Mac in 1998, then as a solo artist in 2019.
That unique distinction could have allowed her to rest on her laurels at Viejas Arena, where Nicks last performed in 2018 on what appears to be the final tour by the now-dormant Fleetwood Mac. At 75, she could have easily just picked up her presumably hefty paycheck — the 8,000-seat arena was at near-capacity — and coasted through a low-gear, cruise-controlled show.
But the husky-voiced troubadour sounded like she still had some things to prove Wednesday, performing with palpable conviction throughout. And when she sang the refrain “I don’t want to stop now” as her 1981 hit, “Edge of Seventeen,” built to a mighty climax — 90 minutes into her nearly two-hour performance — it sounded more like a vow than an aspiration.
“Thank you so much for being a part of my life. I’ll see you again, I promise,” Nicks told the cheering audience when the song concluded.
That promise came true minutes later when she returned to the stage for three encores. But it’s likely Nicks was referring to a future tour, since she clearly was enjoying herself at least as much as her audience. The enthusiastic crowd included a significant number of women — younger, older and in between — whose concert attire paid homage to looks Nicks popularized back in the 1970s and 1980s, including leather and lace, top hats and enough capes and shawls to stock a store or two.
Accordingly, when Nicks briefly left the stage several times during her 17-song set, it was to exchange one cape for another. Her microphone stand was decorated with two black scarves, a trademark since her early “witchy woman” Fleetwood Mac days. To cheers, she happily modeled what she said was her original “Bella Donna” album-cover cape.
In her introduction to the 1982 Fleetwood Mac favorite, “Gypsy,” Nicks recalled how she and guitarist-singer Lindsey Buckingham — then her paramour — rose from obscurity to fame after they joined Fleetwood Mac in 1975. The couple quickly went, she noted, from earning $200 a week, to $400, to $800, to $1,500, to $500,000 a year, and more.
“We got rich, fast!” Nicks affirmed. She added that, when she longed to relive her days as a struggling musician working as a waitress, she would “put my mattress on the floor.”
Nicks spoke freely between most of her selections, but it wasn’t the kind of quick, impersonal banter one often hears at concerts.
She warmly recounted first meeting and singing with Tom Petty on her 1981 solo hit, “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” a collaboration instigated by Jimmy Iovine, her producer and boyfriend at the time. Prior to her potent version of the Stephen Stills-penned 1967 Buffalo Springfield hit, “For What It’s Worth,” Nicks encouraged her fans to vote in the next election.
“I myself never voted until I was 72,” she said. “I was busy! I was busy being famous ... I didn’t want to do jury duty.”
Accompanied by a polished six-man band and two female backing vocalists, led by guitar ace Waddy Wachtel, Nicks opened the concert with a pair of songs that served as a template of sorts for the evening.
The first was the moody “Outside the Rain,” a choice cut from her 1981 solo debut album, “Bella Donna.” The second was the 1977 Fleetwood Mac classic “Dreams,” which in 2020 became an unlikely internet hit on TikTok.
Both were delivered with skill and authority, as were Nicks’ subsequent selections. She wisely didn’t attempt to hit notes no longer in her reach, but infused each song with emotion and meaning. And she twirled just a few times, slowly. But when Nicks stretched out, as she did on an extended version of Fleetwood Mac’s “Gold Dust Woman” that surged with power, her vocal intensity was palpable.
She was equally compelling performing deep solo album cuts, such as her 2011 anti-war lament, “Soldier’s Angel,” as she was when essaying Petty’s “Free Fallin’ ” and her 1975 Fleetwood Mac classic, “Rhiannon.”
The concert’s most poignant moment came at its conclusion. That was when Nicks paid tribute to Fleetwood Mac keyboardist and singer, Christine McVie, who died last Nov. 30 at 79 from an ischemic stroke.
Nicks’ spare version of the wistful love ballad “Landslide” found her accompanied by just acoustic guitar and piano, as vintage photos of her and McVie were shown on multiple LED screens. Nicks didn’t write the “Landslide” lyrics “And I’m getting older too / Oh, I’m getting older too” in tribute to her fallen friend and band mate. But when she sang them Wednesday, they served as an elegy and a world-wise declaration of endurance and resiliency.
Billboard Magazine recently published its 2023 year end charts and Fleetwood Mac is all over the place showing up on multiple charts. Mostly for "Rumours", but still for an album over 45 years old, this is pretty impressive!
#1 - Billboard 200 Artists - Duo/Group
#2 - Top Rock Albums Artists
#3 - Top Rock Albums - “Rumours”
#3 - Rock Streaming Songs - “Dreams”
#3 - Rock Digital Song Sales Artists
#3 - Top Artists - Duo / Group
#3 - Top Rock & Alternative Albums Artist
#3 - Catalog Albums - “Rumours”
#4 - Top Rock & Alternative Albums - “Rumours”
#4 - Rock Streaming Songs Artists
#5 - Vinyl Albums - “Rumours”
#6 - Top Rock Artists
#6 - Catalog Artists
#10 - Rock Digital Song Sales - “Everywhere”
#11 - Rock Digital Song Sales - “Dreams”
#11 - Top Rock & Alternative Artists
#12 - Top Album Sales Artist
#16 - Tastemakers Albums - “Rumours”
#25 - Billboard 200 Albums - “Rumours”
#28 - Top Rock Albums - “Greatest Hits”
#29 - Top Rock & Alternative Albums - “Greatest Hits”
Stevie Nicks' fifth and sixth solo albums, "Trouble in Shangri-La" and "Street Angel" coming soon to vinyl in limited edition transparent sea blue and transparent red vinyl.
Roughtrade in the UK posted the information with a link to pre-order. I'm sure Rhino will soon provide information for a north American release.
STREET ANGEL
30th Anniversary Edition of Stevie Nicks’ fifth studio album, pressed on transparent red vinyl. Originally released in 1994, the album peaked at #45 in the US, and #16 in the UK. The Gold-certified album features the singles “Blue Denim”, “Maybe Love Will Change Your Mind,” and “Street Angel” featuring David Crosby.
Stevie Nicks’ sixth studio album pressed on Transparent Sea Blue vinyl. Originally released in 2001, the album reached #5 on the Billboard 200 and has been certified Gold by the RIAA. The album features the hits “Sorcerer,” “Every Day,” and “Planets Of The Universe,” which reached #1 on Billboard’s Hot Dance chart.
Fleetwood Mac's "Say You Love Me" from the 1975 white album was certified Silver which signifies 200K units sold in the UK. Also, "Go Your Own Way" from Rumours reached another milestone 4x Platinum or 2.4 million in units sold. Streaming contributes to units sold along with digital downloads.
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.
“There’s just something that’s so rock and roll about Detroit City,” said Stevie Nicks at the top of her headlining show at Little Caesars Arena Tuesday night.
She is certainly right about that statement, and rock and roll she did deliver. As the first woman to ever be inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (once with Fleetwood Mac and again as a solo artist), she lived up to her title as Queen of Rock and Roll.
Dressed in all black and her signature shawls, Nicks tore through her back catalogue of hits, which included Fleetwood Mac hits (”Dreams,” “Gypsy,” “Gold Dust Woman”) as well as songs from her solo career.
The best part was that she introduced almost every song with a little story or anecdote, and man were they entertaining. She told stories of her time before joining Fleetwood Mac, how she and Lindsey Buckingham were dirt poor until they joined the band and her friendship with the late Tom Petty.
She even encouraged the audience to get out and vote (it was election day, after all), and how she didn’t actually vote in election until recently, and to not be dumb and stupid like she has been all her life with not voting. For the amount of young people in the crowd last night (all dressed as her, of course), it was a needed message.
I’ve seen Nicks a few other times while she was on tour with Fleetwood Mac, and she never talked this much when she was with the band. That’s probably because Fleetwood Mac has so many songs to get through in their setlist, so it was kinda great that she could be a bit more intimate, even while playing at a packed arena.
But it was all about the performance for Nicks. At 75-years-old, she still sounds amazing. The highlights, of course, was when she performed Fleetwood Mac hits. “Dreams” and “Gypsy” were ethereal, while “Rhiannon” during her encore was as witchy as ever. It was like she cast a spell over the entire audience.
She also added some covers to her setlist. “For What It’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield was a welcome surprise (also her story before she played the song was delightful as ever), and a cover of “Free Fallin’” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers was a beautiful tribute to her late friend.
Speaking of tributes, she closed out the show with her most famous song, “Landslide,” and dedicated it to Christine McVie, her best friend and Fleetwood Mac bandmate who died almost a year ago. Images of Nicks and McVie played on the screens in the arena while Nicks warmly sang the lyrics “Children get older, I’m getting older, too.” As a lifelong Fleetwood Mac fan, I couldn’t help but get emotional.
Nicks told the audience right before the show ended how this tour has helped her deal with the immense grief of losing McVie, and it was the perfect note to end a wonderful night of music on.
“Join the peace train,” she said at one point during the show, and it was a perfect reminder for what’s going on in today’s world. Long live rock and roll, and long live Stevie Nicks.
Stevie Nicks (Live) 4K - Opening Songs - 11/7/23
Stevie Nicks in Detroit: Storyteller, showstopper singing Fleetwood Mac and solo hits
DETROIT - She has one of those voices you have to hear in person to get the full appreciation for. Stevie Nicks performed both Fleetwood Mac hits and songs from her solo catalog at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Tuesday, November 7.
She took the stage at 8:25 p.m. to a loud applause, performing “Outside The Rain,” a deep cut, before smoothly mashing into “Dreams,” performing it just the way fans remember the song when it was released in 1977. After hearing the 75-year old’s strong, signature vocals on this Fleetwood Mac classic, fans knew they were in for a special evening.
Nicks didn’t just perform, she was a storyteller, giving fans some history behind many of the songs she performed. Like how she didn’t have a lead single for her “Bella Donna” album until Tom Petty offered her “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” to record. And she says she had the choice to do it with or without him. You know how that turned out.
Nicks also performed a cover of “For What It’s Worth,” a song written by Stephen Stills and made famous by Buffalo Springfield. Nicks told the crowd she said when she was younger that she would record it when she became a rock star. She put it on her 2010 album, “In Your Dreams.” She says she always had thought the song was political, but says it is actually about the Sunset Strip curfew riots.
Nicks also paid tribute to the late Petty with a strong rendition of “Free Fallin,’” showing pictures of the two together throughout the years.
Nicks had two showstopping moments in the evening with extended versions of Fleetwood Mac’s “Gold Dust Woman” and one of her solo hits “Edge of Seventeen.” Both were mesmerizing from start to finish.
She also told the crowd there is just something about performing in “Motown.”
“I have to say that in all the years I’ve been doing this, I always remember being in Detroit many, many times to play. I don’t know whether it’s Detroit City, like the song, or cars, I don’t know. It’s just something in the name of Detroit that’s just really special and rock and roll. I’m so happy that I’m here still standing and alive.”
The setlist also included solo hits “If Anyone Falls” and “Stand Back” as well as Fleetwood Mac staples “Gypsy,” “Rhiannon” and “Landslide.” In all, she performed 17 songs in two hours with plenty of storytelling. Nicks voice is just as strong as ever and she delivered a memorable night of music.
“You have been patient listening to my long stories and I love you for that so much, really. I will take that home with me tonight.”
Stevie Nicks celebrates long career, absent friends at Little Caesars Arena
Stevie Nicks called to “get this party started” early on during her concert Tuesday night, Nov. 7, at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena.
What the presented, however, was a bit of a wake — albeit a celebratory one.
Nicks, at 75 and nearly 50 years into a two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted recording career, put absent friends front and center during her two-hour show. Tom Petty was particularly top of mind; Nicks and her eight-member band entered the stage to his “Runnin’ Down a Dream,” and Petty, who passed away in 2017, was part of a parade of stars (her ex-boyfriend Don Henley, occasional tour mate Billy Joel, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and others) featured on the curved rear stage video screen as she played their 1981 hit collaboration “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.”
An emotional encore cover of Petty’s “Free Fallin’,” meanwhile, was accompanied by another photo show, this time all of Petty, his Heartbreakers and Nicks with him and them. In image of Prince, who died during 2016, appeared during “Edge of Seventeen.”
But perhaps the most moving was the show-closing rendition of Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide,” a tribute to Nicks’ late bandmate Christine McVie — who passed last year — that was also accompanied by a three-hanky reel of vintage images of the two together.
The undercurrent of mortality was poignant but hardly a drag on a show that also celebrated Nicks’ long career and continuing potency as a performer. Wrapped in a series of shawls — including the original one she sported on the cover of her 1981 solo debut, “Bella Donna” — Nicks was a commanding presence even when standing stock still, her voice finding melodic variations in the 17 songs from her solo and Fleetwood Mac catalogs. She’s aging with grace, but her capable delivery of rockers such as “Fall From Grace,” “Wild Heart,” “Stand Back” and “Rhiannon” assured fans — many dressed in Nicks’ flowing Welsh witch attire — that she’s hardly bowing to the years.
The support was there, too, particularly from longtime guitarist and music director Waddy Wachtel — spotlighted during numerous solos including a lengthy prologue to “Edge of Seventeen” — and backing vocalists Lori Nicks (her sister-in-law) and Sharon Celani.
The show was part “Storyteller” as well, with Nicks offering lengthy and insightful remembrances of working with Petty on “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” and her fan experience with Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth,” which she covered during the show. Nicks is also using this year’s tour to perform the 1985 track “I Sing for the Things” for the first time, and she dedicated “Soldier’s Angel” to current war in Ukraine, with video images of the struggle and of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Nicks didn’t delve deeply into politics, however. “You came her for peace — that’s what I’m trying to give you,” she explained before the song. “We just sing this for peace.”
Nicks demonstrated admirable self-awareness at the end of the night, telling the Little Caesars crowd that “you have been sweet and you have been patient and you have listened to my long stories, and I love you for that.” She could rest assured the feeling from fans was mutual.
The 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Ceremony brought out the best and brightest in the music industry for a night of electrifying performances at the Barclays Center in New York City on November 3, 2023.
One of the biggest surprises of the evening came when Stevie Nicks joined inductee Sheryl Crow on stage to perform Crow's hit 'Strong Enough' off her 1993 Grammy-winning album Tuesday Night Music Club.
The 75-year-old Fleetwood Mac icon looked every inch the bohemian chic goddess in a billowy black ensemble as she belted out the upbeat single next to Crow, 61, who rocked out on a guitar.
The 'Edge of Seventeen' songstress wasn't finished whipping the crowd into a frenzy when the song ended, however, as she kept up her signature vocals for a round of Crow's 'Everyday Is a Winding Road'.
And the stunning female vocalists got a little help from none other than singer/songwriter/guitarist Peter Frampton.
Vinyl Me Please releases exclusive versions of Fleetwood Mac's Tango In The Night and Mirage on forest green and plum galaxy vinyl. The expected release date for both is early February. Members and non-members can pre-order now at vinylmeplease.com
This bundle includes VMP exclusive reissues of Fleetwood Mac's Tango In The Night and Mirage.
Tango In The Night is Fleetwood Mac's fourteenth studio album featuring iconic tracks like "Big Love," "Seven Wonders," "Little Lies" and "Everywhere." A volume of incredible synth-pop from the band originally released in 1987.
The VMP exclusive version of Fleetwood Mac's Tango In The Night is pressed on 180g Forest Green Galaxy vinyl at GZ Vinyl. The 1LP will arrive in a single, tip-on, foil-stamped jacket with a lyric insert. It was mastered from the original master tapes by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound.
Mirage, the soft rock follow up to its more experimental predecessor, Tusk, is the thirteenth studio album from Fleetwood Mac and features "Gypsy," "Can't Go Back," "Hold Me" and "Oh Diane."
The VMP exclusive version of Fleetwood Mac's Mirage is pressed on 180g Plum Galaxy vinyl at GZ Vinyl. The 1LP will arrive in a single, tip-on, foil-stamped jacket with a lyric insert. The lacquers were cut from the master tapes by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound.
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