Irving Azoff has released a short but moving statement about the passing of his former partner, Howard Kaufman.
Howard was a giant among men. He never sought the spotlight, but was the best in the business.
We worked together for more than 45 years. He was a great influence on me and taught me a lot.
Despite his major health issues, he always wanted to work till the end and I’m glad he got his wish.
It’s a tragic loss for our industry. He will be missed by me as well as scores of others he touched.
Pollstar confirmed Thursday that Kaufman had passed away. No further details were available at press time.
Kaufman was one of the most powerful managers in the industry despite keeping a low profile. At the time of his death his company, H.K. Management, shepherded acts like Stevie Nicks, Aerosmith, Jimmy Buffett, Jeff Lynne’s ELO, Lenny Kravitz, Chicago, and Def Leppard, along with co-managing Fleetwood Mac.
Kaufman and Irving Azoff ran Front Line Management from 1974 to the early '80s until Azoff was named prexy of MCA Records. The two merged their companies in 2005 and resurrected the moniker.
Kaufman became a special adviser to Azoff when Ticketmaster bought the company in 2008 and Azoff was named CEO of Ticketmaster Entertainment. He is also credited, during his days at IFA, with encouraging Fred Bohlander and Dan Weiner to step out on their own and form Monterey Peninsula Artists.
Howard Kaufman
by Bob Lefsetz
Subscribe to his email newsletter - great insight on the music industry
He famously told a household name band he'd make them more money in two years than they had in the previous twenty.
And then he did.
Most people don't know who he was. Because unlike those that followed him into the business, Howard was not about fame, he was about protecting the interests of his artists, and money.
And everybody cares about the money. Knock around this business long enough and you'll hear the famous cliche... "It's not about the money, it's about the money."
And Howard started off as an accountant. He worked with James William Guercio. And then he went on to partner with Irving Azoff and steer the careers of Jimmy Buffett and Stevie Nicks and Aerosmith and Def Leppard and... You want someone in your corner, and that was Howard. He could be funny and he could be stern, but one thing's for sure, you could not pull the wool over his eyes.
The first time I met him was on a plane down to Chula Vista, to see Jimmy Buffett, and he told me Fleetwood Mac was gonna reform and I asked him about new material and he told me he'd be happy if they never made another record. This was 2003, he already knew where the bucks were buried, on the road. You see old does not mean dumb, does not mean over the hill, oftentimes it means wisdom and foresight and Howard had it.
Stevie Nicks says she does not think Fleetwood Mac will make another album together — because they are “not 40” any more.
The singer, 68, believes the band are more likely to focus on touring and doubts they will ever record a follow-up to 2003’s Say You Will.
She said: “If the five of us were to get together to make a record it would take a year, which is what it always takes us.
"It would be a whole year of recording, then press, then rehearsal, and by the time we got back onto the road, it would be heading towards the second year, and I don’t know whether at this time it’s better for us just to do a big tour.”
The band has sold more than 100 million records and reformed with the classic line-up of Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, John and Christine McVie and Mick Fleetwood for a world tour, which ended in 2015.
Nicks said: “It’s every single penny we make divided by five, so the expense of making a record, which is huge, and then to get back on tour ... we are not 40.
"We have to take that into consideration — how long can we do tours that are three-hour shows? Would you rather spend a year in the studio or get back on the road? I think that the band would choose to tour.”
Nicks, who is focusing on her solo career, is also reluctant to make new music.
She said: “I don’t write as many songs any more because with the internet, the way that kids listen to music, all the streaming, and the fact that if they’re very savvy, if they want to get it and not pay for it, they can.
"It goes against the grain of our whole belief in, ‘You write a song, you record it, and you put it out there and people should buy it’.
"We realise it’s not our world any more and the younger kids don’t look at it like they’re taking from us... we don’t have the impetus to write 20 songs because we know that unless you’re under 20 you’re not going to sell many records.”
She is not involved with the new album by McVie and Buckingham, which is not a Fleetwood Mac record.
She said: “I’m sure it’s going to be great, because Christine is super-inspired. I’m really happy for them.”
On July 9, Nicks will support her old friend Tom Petty with his band The Heartbreakers at Barclaycard Presents British Summer Time in Hyde Park.
She said: “I’m the girl who always wanted to be in his band and he’s always the one who said, ‘No, no girls allowed.’ There’s just no one else I’d rather be on stage with than Tom.”
Fleetwood Mac's Christine McVie and Lindsey Buckingham talk about making their first duet album
By Randall Roberts LATimes
Longtime devotees of the rock band Fleetwood Mac might be forgiven for letting out a gleeful yelp when registering the news that singer-keyboardist Christine McVie shared with The Times in December while sitting next to her band mate -- guitarist, singer and producer Lindsey Buckingham.
“I've been sending Lindsey demos in their very raw form,” she says, sitting in the Village Studio’s storied Studio D in West Los Angeles, “and he's been doing his Lindsey magic on them, which I love.”
The product of that magic is tentatively scheduled to come out in May, and the two are at the Village to work on vocals. Working with them are two familiar names: Mick Fleetwood, whose towering drum kit is in the next room, and bassist John McVie.
The album coming out of these sessions, however, won’t bear the Fleetwood Mac imprimatur.
Rather, the release with the working title “Buckingham McVie” will arrive as the first full-length collaboration between the pair.
For hard-core fans, it’s not news that, save band mate Stevie Nicks, Fleetwood Mac’s members have been holed up at the Village. At various intervals over the past few years, the band has acknowledged working on an unspecified project thought to be a new Fleetwood Mac album.
In fact, during a studio visit in 2014, The Times’ Randy Lewis sat down with Christine McVie and Buckingham to discuss her return to touring after 16 years away from the band.
“I thought, I'm really missing out on something — something that's mine, that I’ve just given up,” she said to Lewis. “I'm not paying respect to my own gift."
Nearly three years later, sharing a couch in the same suite where decades earlier Fleetwood Mac recorded its epic album “Tusk,” Buckingham says that after her return, he and McVie generated an entire album’s worth of material during the sessions.
“We got in here, and it made sense to me with what she had given me and what I done with it. But we still didn't know how it was going to play out in the studio,” Buckingham says.
He quickly realized that he’d had a pent-up enthusiasm for this kind of collaboration. “I loved doing it, because it's something that I haven't had a chance to do for Stevie as much as I did in the past,” he says, stressing that he continues to compose for solo projects.
“Those are a little more esoteric and off to the side,” he says, “but that's not the same as doing it for somebody else.”
McVie says she reconnected with Mick Fleetwood prior to joining the 2014 Fleetwood Mac “On With the Show” tour. She’d been living a solitary life in rural England when the drummer traveled to London in order to escort her to Hawaii, the destination she chose to help her overcome her fear of flying.
“I'd been virtually doing nothing in the country in 16 years of being a retired lady. Being busy walking my dogs — actually not doing anything very constructive,” she says. “I made one little solo album in my garage.” (2004’s “In the Meantime.”)
Buckingham remembers Fleetwood calling him soon thereafter. “He said, Christine's been over here and, you know, she would like to maybe rejoin the band." For Buckingham, it was a no-brainer.
McVie lets out a big laugh. “It’s unprecedented!”
“Yeah, but a lot of things about Fleetwood Mac are unprecedented,” says Buckingham. “I left for a long time and you guys got two guitar players and went ahead and did that for a while. Then I came back.”
“Weird times,” McVie says.
“Yeah,” Buckingham agrees. “I mean it's a band like no other.”
McVie, who is best known for writing and singing Mac gems including “Don’t Stop,” “Over My Head” and “Think About Me,” acknowledges that, early on in the Buckingham-McVie project, she doubted her ability to reconnect with her muse.
“I suppose I wondered if I believed in myself,” she says. “But I was like, 'Go for it, Chris. Go for it.' And, you know, a better thing's never happened to me. I've reconnected with the band and found a fantastic person to write with.”
Looking at Buckingham, she adds, “We've always written well together, Lindsey and I, and this has just spiraled into something really amazing that we've done between us.”
For his part, Buckingham’s initial songwriting contributions were the product of sessions with Fleetwood and John McVie, which Buckingham invited Christine McVie to augment.
“It was just pieces with no wording,” she says. “ so I put melody and lyrics on some of his material.”
“That was a first,” says Buckingham. “She would write lyrics and maybe paraphrase the melody — and come up with something far better than what I would have done if I'd taken it down the road myself.”
Those up on the history of Fleetwood Mac might note in the Buckingham McVie moniker the echo of an earlier duet album, “Buckingham Nicks.” Released in 1973 by the two future Fleetwood Mac members when they were a romantic and musical partnership, the Nicks and Buckingham release led Fleetwood a year later to invite the couple to join his band.
Nicks hasn’t contributed to the forthcoming Buckingham McVie project. She’s been on her own trip. In 2016, Nicks embarked on her “Rockin’ 24 Karat Gold Tour” with the Pretenders as openers. That tour will continue with a few dozen more dates across early 2017.
Her schedule, however, had little bearing on what Buckingham and McVie were creating, says Buckingham.
“All these years we've had this rapport, but we'd never really thought about doing a duet album before,” Buckingham says. “There is that album that I did with Stevie back before we joined the band, but other than that, it's all been Fleetwood Mac or solo.”
Interrupting with a tone of bafflement, McVie says, “And why on Earth? It seems absurd after 45 years.”
“Sometimes,” Buckingham says, “it takes, oh, about 40 years of perspective to figure it out.”
Vinyl sales have been climbing steadily over the world but in the UK, it has reached a 25-year high with 3.2 million albums purchased on vinyl in 2016. Fleetwood Mac's Rumours was the 5th best selling vinyl in the country for 2016. Below is the Top 10.
Pos. Artist & Title
1. David Bowie / Blackstar
2. Amy Winehouse / Back To Black
3. Various Artists OST / Guardians Of The Galaxy - Mix 1
4. Radiohead / A Moon Shaped Pool 5. Fleetwood Mac / Rumours
6. The Stone Roses / The Stone Roses
7. Bob Marley And The Wailers / Legend
8. The Beatles / Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
9. Prince & The Revolution / Purple Rain OST
10. Nirvana / Nevermind
Stevie Nicks has gone solo for the 24 Karat Gold tour playing more than two dozen arena dates in North America before the end of the year. Production designer Paul Guthrie of Toss Film & Design in Minneapolis chose 88 ClayPaky Mythos fixtures for the lighting rig.
He previously deployed Mythos on tours for Miranda Lambert and Macklemore. Nicks’ latest tour, in support of her album, 24 Karat Gold – Songs from the Vault, launched in Phoenix and will wrap in Los Angeles. While the iconic singer/songwriter appears as a solo artist, she tapped the Pretenders to open for her – delivering a powerhouse show for ticket holders.
A veteran of Nicks’ tours, Guthrie endeavoured to: “create something new and a bit more modern” for her new show. “Stevie enjoys using video content so the tour features a lot of video on an LED videowall backdrop and L-shaped scenic pieces,” he explained. “Our overwhelming lighting edict is always no smoke. So we defer to lighting the band and adding in layers of light to create new looks.” The versatility of Mythos offers myriad options to Guthrie. “It’s fun to have one light that can produce a multitude of different effects in the same head,” he said. “Mythos is basically the workhorse light in the rig.” He notes that the tour’s complement of 100-120 moving lights is now considered a medium- size rig for an arena tour adding: “It used to be that 16 were considered to be a lot! We’ve come a long way.” PRG’s Las Vegas office supplied the fixtures.
Eighty Mythos are mounted in the overhead lighting trusses where they form solid lines of fixtures. Guthrie reported: “On the downstage and mid-stage trusses they provide stage wash and beam effects. Those on the most upstage of the trusses, upstage of the videowall, create layers to add depth.” Eight more Mythos are positioned on the floor upstage of the band to illuminate their dynamic performance.
Tom Wagstaff, the lighting director for the Pretenders deploys about 60 Mythos, on the downstage and mid-stage trusses, and repositions the complement on the floor, says Guthrie. For the 24 Karat Gold Tour Thomas Mayer is the lighting crew chief and Cecil Nelson, Matt Schiller and Scott Naef are the lighting crew. A.C.T Lighting is the exclusive North American distributor for Clay Paky. Francesco Romagnoli, Clay Paky Area Manager for North and Latin America, added, “Mr. Guthrie always does great work and is trusted to work with great artists. It’s always a please to collaborate with him.”
Stevie Nicks: “Bella Donna”/”The Wild Heart” (Atco/Modern/Rhino) -- The albums that established the charismatic Fleetwood Mac singer as a solo star get expanded nicely. “Bella Donna” gets supplemented with nine outtakes (including four worthy songs that didn’t make the album) and a 1981 concert. “The Wild Heart,” her solid, if overly synthy, 1983 follow-up, meanwhile has nine outtakes. Insightful liner notes help illuminate Nicks’ life and career during this period. -- Ratings: “Bella Donna” -- 4 stars; “The Wild Heart” -- 3 ½ stars
Fleetwood Mac: “Mirage” (Warner Bros.) -- Following the artistically bold, but commercially disappointing “Tusk,” Fleetwood Mac retreated to safer pop territory on “Mirage.” This reissue adds 20 outtakes to the finely crafted original album, including a pair of strong unreleased Stevie Nicks songs, “If You Were My Love” and “Smile at You.” -- Rating: 3 ½ stars
FIVE THOUGHTS ABOUT STEVIE NICKS WITH THE PRETENDERS AT PARK THEATER (DECEMBER 17)
by Spencer Patterson Las Vegas Weekly
1. For the record, the first song performed publicly at the Las Vegas Strip’s newest music venue—attached to the Monte Carlo resort (soon to be rebranded with the same Park name as the theater and adjacent outdoor plaza)—was “Alone,” the title track from the Pretenders’ latest studio album. The first hit, 1981’s “Message of Love,” arrived two numbers later.
The sound inside Park Theater ranged from fairly muddled for the Pretenders’ first half-dozen songs (turn up Chrissie Hynde’s vocals!; and is that slide guitarist actually playing, ’cause we can’t hear him at all) to somewhat improved midway through that opening set (Hynde sounds great, but there’s still no slide in here) to pretty pristine for Stevie Nicks’ headlining performance (which bodes well for the future).
3. The venue lays out roughly like the Colosseum at Caesars Palace or the Axis at Planet Hollywood, though it’s less ornate than the former and less comfy than the latter. The lobby’s chandeliers and the second floor’s circular patio deck are memorable touches, and two giant side-stage screens provided close views of the musicians, but the theater itself felt a bit generic for Las Vegas’ most modern concert hall.
Sight lines seemed clear across the venue—unless you were seated on the flat floor and someone stood up in directly in front of you. The primo seats appear to be those in sections 201 through 205, and then working back.
A few logistical quibbles: Armrest drink holders render armrests virtually useless (there’s a reason most venues build their drink holders into the backs of the seats in front of you). Concession lines looked lengthy all night, probably because there aren’t many areas set up to sell food and drinks at this point. And upstairs bathrooms are quite small, so time your visits wisely.
4. The Pretenders are one of those, “Oh, I know that song!” bands. Serious fans aside, I doubt most attendees knew they’d recognize so many tunes on Saturday—“Back on the Chain Gang,” “I’ll Stand by You,” “My City Was Gone,” “Middle of the Road” and “Brass in Pocket” among them—and the band still left some of its classic cuts (like “Talk of the Town” and “Show Me”) unplayed during a healthy 15-song set.
At age 65, Hynde remains a strong singer and a magnetic presence, bringing an Elvis T-shirt and good grand-opening awareness to the stage: “Elvis played on this stage … in spirit. We’re the first band to play this stage.” She also marveled that Las Vegas will soon have hockey, and delivered this zinger during her intro of 65-year-old founding drummer Martin Chambers: “We couldn’t get Buddy Rich, because he’s dead.”
5. Nicks explained that she designed her latest solo tour to excavate deeper cuts from her catalog, and she did just that Saturday night, at one point reeling off six-consecutive non-charting songs between Fleetwood Mac classic “Gypsy” and synthy solo favorite “Stand Back.” That unorthodox approach largely succeeded, on the strength of Nicks’ still-powerful pipes (her voice sits in a lower octave these days but retains its singular, spine-tingling quality), her crack eight-piece backing band (Hynde also joined in for “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around") and her folksy between-song storytelling. The 68-year-old singer occasionally got off track as she related the origins of songs like Buckingham-Nicks oldie “Crying in the Night” or newer solo composition “New Orleans,” but the loose approach brought a cozy, living-room vibe to the sold-out, 5,300-capacity room.
Of course, the crowd cheered loudest for the night’s closing quartet of all-timers—“Gold Dust Woman” and “Edge of Seventeen,” and then “Rhiannon” and “Landslide” in the encore—and whenever Nicks twirled in place, proving that even in shiny new buildings on just-enlivened stretches of the Las Vegas Strip, some things never change.
Review Stevie Nicks opens a 'gothic trunk' of lost songs at the Forum
by Mikael Wood
Pop Music Critic LA Times
Stevie Nicks brought her usual assortment of accessories to the Forum on Sunday night, including a tambourine festooned with glittering streamers and a dark-blue garment she described as “the original ‘Bella Donna’ cape.’”
Unchanged since she started wearing it around the time of her debut solo album in 1981, the cape cost $2,000, she said, and was made of silk chiffon — the same material used to create ships’ sails, according to Nicks.
“It’ll never fall apart,” she added.
Yet the 68-year-old singer also had one item she doesn’t normally bring on the road, and that was her “dark Gothic trunk of mystical, magical lost songs.”
Two years ago, Nicks reached into the vault for “24 Karat Gold,” an album collecting new recordings of orphaned tunes she’d written as long ago as 1969, well before she and Lindsey Buckingham joined Fleetwood Mac and quickly became pop superstars.
Now, with Fleetwood Mac on a break following last year’s reunion tour with Christine McVie, Nicks is touring behind the record, performing those lost songs for adoring audiences happy to hear them (provided she also sings “Gypsy” and “Stand Back,” of course).
Implicit in any such project is the determination to set a story straight — to show it was the world, not the artist, that kept this music from achieving its full potential.
On Sunday, for instance, Nicks told a story about recording “Starshine” decades ago at Tom Petty’s place in the Valley. Then she suggested the crisp, hard-driving rock cut would’ve been a huge hit if only she or Petty had been putting together an album at the time.
Because they weren’t, she said, “it ended up in the trunk.”
Instead of bitterness, though, Nicks found warmth in her recollections, helped along perhaps by the concert’s location — not merely in her hometown but at one of the arenas where Fleetwood Mac helped invent arena-rock.
“Ah, the Forum,” she said at one point, and you could sense the fond memories swimming in her head.
Indeed, as strong as Nicks’ singing was, she was even better company between songs as she told funny, detailed stories about where the music had come from.
“Belle Fleur,” she said, had been inspired by all the times she’d happily left behind a boyfriend at the beginning of a Fleetwood Mac tour; “If You Were My Love” was about … well, she couldn’t place the name exactly.
She provided entertaining background on more familiar tunes too, including “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” her early-’80s duet with Petty that she said represented her attempt to worm her way into the Heartbreakers. (Here she shared the tune with Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders, who opened Sunday’s show with an assured set of punchy, no-frills rock.)
Nicks also did an extended homage to Prince, dedicating her recent piano ballad “Moonlight” to him and explaining that she’d written “Stand Back” after hearing his “Little Red Corvette” while in the car driving to Santa Barbara for her honeymoon.
Later, images of the late pop icon flickered across a video screen as Nicks, her voice wavering with emotion, appended a bit of “When Doves Cry” to “Edge of Seventeen.”
In Prince, she no doubt recognized a fellow traveler, someone as devoted to image as to sound. But what gratified about this straight-talking performance was Nicks’ willingness — her eagerness, really — to chip away at her outsize persona.
Like that $2,000 cape, it’s sturdy enough to withstand some wear.
Stevie Nicks and Chrissie Hynde are timeless in Forum show
While 2016 has seen more than its fair share of loss in the music world (David Bowie, Glenn Frey, Prince, Merle Haggard, Sharon Jones, Sir George Martin and Leonard Cohen for starters), two of classic rock’s most celebrated women showcased their distinguished legacies in a sold-out concert at the Forum in Inglewood on Sunday.
On the final night of their two-month 24 Karat Gold tour, Stevie Nicks and the Chrissie Hynde-led Pretenders seemed energized by the large and enthusiastic crowd, and the two icons were frequently able to acknowledge each other and the bond each has with her fans.
Over the course of more than two hours, headliner Nicks and her backing ensemble (six musicians and two female backing singers) showcased both Fleetwood Mac classics and solo hits. However, it seemed the Phoenix native was equally revitalized by material not well known, acknowledging some songs had not made it on her records despite the strength of the initial demo recordings.The 68-year-old songstress was in an especially introspective and reflective mood, often providing details on the genesis of her songs and celebrating the life of her late friend Prince.
Among the hidden gems performed was “If Anyone Falls,” a beautiful song enhanced by colorful and moody visuals projected on a large screen, including two ghostly ballet dancers. But Nicks could turn things around quickly; for the third selection she jump started the mood in the Forum when Hynde joined her on stage for the playful duet “Stop Draggin' My Heart Around” (originally recorded with Tom Petty). Other audience favorites included “Gypsy” with Nick’s seasoned soprano enticing while artful black & white images of rain and old city views appeared in the background, the propulsive rocker “Enchanted,” and a powerful song written in the wake of Hurricane Katrina (“New Orleans”) among other standouts in the first half of the night.
The last half of her run included the shimmering “Starshine,” driving “Stand Back” (when Nicks twirled during an instrumental break, the crowd cheered), a luxurious “Crying in the Night” (one of the oldest songs she performed, a track from 1973’s “Buckingham Nicks” album), the piano-anchored “Edge of Seventeen,” and sweeping encore featuring two of her most beloved Fleetwood Mac classics, “Rhiannon” and “Landslide.”
Chrissie Hynde’s hour-long set leading the Pretenders may have drawn the most cheers when radio hits were played, but there is little doubt the Ohio native is equally concerned with the here-and-now. The Pretenders’ 15-song outing featured a number of songs from her wonderful 2016 album “Alone,” one of the best discs of 2016. In fact, the Pretenders kicked off their set with the title track from the Dan Auerbach-produced effort, with lead guitarist James Walbourne unleashing some blistering guitar work, and the 65-year-young Hynde showcasing her distinctive vocals with the power of her early ’80s performances.
She also positioned her new album prominently with “Gotta Wait,” another guitar-anchored new track that immediately entices. Listening to the Pretenders (whose lineup includes original drummer Martin Chambers) was to be firmly reminded that Hynde’s songs never sound dated. If “Message of Love,” “Back on the Chain Gang,” “Mystery Achievement,” “I'll Stand By You” and “Middle of the Road” were released today, this writer’s guess they would still find favor with discerning modern-rock audiences.
Fans are likely divided on her position, but Hynde’s clear-cut admonitions to fans positioned near the stage to “stop taking pictures” and to “stop using your phones” was cheered by many in the crowd. A rocker at heart, Hynde still believes in the power of live music to sweep fans into another realm sans distractions that take the focus away from a powerful performance.
Indeed, this is one long-time fan who has seen many fans experience too much of their concert-going experiences through the distractions of their smart phone while missing out on the singular power of a great rock show.
Stevie Nicks And The Pretenders Perform At The Forum Decembe 18, 2016
Photos: Kevin Winter View Gallery
WITH UNFORGETTABLE OPENING NIGHT PERFORMANCE BY STEVIE NICKS AND THE PRETENDERS SATURDAY, DEC. 17
PR Newswire – LAS VEGAS (DECEMBER 18, 2016) – Last night, MGM Resorts International celebrated the milestone grand opening of its newest live entertainment venue on the Las Vegas Strip – Park Theater at Monte Carlo Resort and Casino. The dazzling theater came to life with inaugural performances by legendary singer-songwriter Stevie Nicks and renowned rock group The Pretenders.
The evening began with an unforgettable performance by The Pretenders, wowing guests with rousing renditions of their most beloved songs including “I’ll Stand By You” and “Back On the Chain Gang.” Then, prior to taking the stage, Nicks was presented with an honorary key to the theater and commemorated the unveiling of the venue by autographing a backstage wall, starting a tradition for all Park Theater performers to come.
Receiving a huge ovation upon her entrance, Nicks greeted the sold-out crowd, welcoming guests to the new theater. Nicks’ performance featured a variety of hits from her multi-decade career, including “Edge of Seventeen” and “Wild Heart,” while showcasing the venue’s industry-leading technology with stunning, immersive visual graphics throughout her set. The opening night crowd was treated to a surprise duet performance of “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” by Nicks and The Pretenders frontwoman, Chrissie Hynde.
The remarkable performance concluded with a powerful encore of “Landslide,” dedicated to MGM Resorts International executives Bill Hornbuckle and Richard Sturm for inviting Nicks to be a “part of history” as the first headliner to perform at Park Theater.
The premiere of Park Theater serves as the first step in the reimagination of Monte Carlo. The transformation, taking place over the next two years, will include two distinct hotel experiences – a Las Vegas version of Sydell Group’s famed NoMad Hotel and the launch of a new luxury hotel named Park MGM. Each will feature fully redesigned guest rooms and innovative food & beverage offerings, highlighted by Eataly, a vibrant Italian marketplace with cafes, to-go counters and full-service restaurants interspersed with high-quality products from sustainable Italian and local producers.
Stevie Nicks and The Pretenders are the first of many renowned artists who will take the stage at Park Theater. This New Year’s Weekend (December 30 and 31), the venue will welcome musical genius Bruno Mars for the launch of an extended engagement. In 2017, the one and only Cher will begin performances of her new show, “Classic Cher,” followed by international pop sensation Ricky Martin, slated to make his residency debut in April. Park Theater also will host comedians including Katt Williams, international music sensations such as Fish Leong and Il Volo and many others. Beyond live music, Park Theater will serve as a new home for MMA and boxing, among other sporting events still to be announced.
Park Theater will play a key role in MGM Resorts’ strategy to further evolve the entertainment landscape in Las Vegas, providing intimate exposure to some of the most celebrated artists and athletes. Featuring unparalleled audio and visual technology, luxurious décor and much more, the 5,200-seat venue will provide artists an exclusive space to create productions unique to the venue. Built with the audience in mind, the intimate seating allows guests to feel up close and personal for any and all events.
For more tickets or more information, please visit ParkTheaterLV.com.
Legendary Singer-Songwriter Stevie Nicks Autographs Wall Backstage at Grand Opening of Park Theater at Monte Carlo in Las Vegas - Sat., Dec. 17, 2016 - All above photos by Al Powers for Park Theater
Stevie Nicks, Pretenders shimmer at new Park Theater
The venue was christened with a double take, an old pro regaled by the new.
“Look, it’s us,” The Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde marvelled as she gazed at 20-foot-tall versions of herself and her bandmates, her voice a mix of awe and amusement as she gawked at the video screens bookending the stage and doubling as massive mirrors as they played.
We take for granted certain inevitabilities in life: the sun rises in the morning and sets in the evening, the world keeps on turning, and Stevie Nicks, clad in black platform boots and a billowy black dress, twirls along with it. The 68-year-old, flaxen-haired icon spun into the United Center Saturday night on her 24 Karat Gold Tour. Variously layered with song-specific shawls and capes (gold fringe for "Gold Dust Woman," crepe-like silk for "Bella Donna"), she assured a similarly dressed crowd—lots of middle-aged women draped in shawls and beads to channel the Fleetwood Mac front woman—that amid life's unpredictability, her bewitching brand remains unchanged.
For Nicks, however, this concert would be a bit of a departure. She informed the audience at the top of the show that rather than do "the exact same songs over and over again from every other tour," she would be reaching into a "dark gothic trunk of magical, mysterious things" and perform some material she's never toured with. "It's gonna be a party," she promised. Among those lesser-heard gems were "Gold and Braid," one of several killer demos dusted off for her 2014 album 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault; "New Orleans," a love letter to the city written in the wake of Hurricane Katrina; and "Moonlight (A Vampire's Dream)," inspired by the Twilight movies and necessitating an outfit change into a luxurious coat of faux fur. "Belle Fleur," also from 24 Karat Gold, about the difficulties of holding onto a relationship while living a rock 'n' roll life on the road, surfaced too, as did "Crying in the Night" from the 1973 album Buckingham Nicks, made before Lindsey and Stevie joined Fleetwood Mac.
Scattered among the never-before-played material, however, were plenty of fan favorites: "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," featuring the ageless Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders (the night's opening act) in the Tom Petty part, "Gypsy," "Gold Dust Woman," "Stand Back" (which Nicks revealed was inspired by Prince's "Little Red Corvette"), and an encore of "Rhiannon" and "Landslide." So the magical gothic trunk, the crowd discovered, is not exclusively home to obscure fare. Nostalgia, in fact, is a familiar presence at Fleetwood Mac shows and an undeniable part of Nicks's oeuvre. On Saturday, it was literally part of the backdrop. While the singer relayed anecdotes of various songs' origins (for example, going over to Petty's house with a can of Hershey's chocolate powder and a guitar "which I never played because of my nails," to write "Starlight") and tales about her former collaborators, animated images of said people would occasionally pop up on a screen behind her. During "Enchanted," the backdrop flashed with vintage photos of Nicks from early on in her solo career. As "Edge of Seventeen" galloped along, images of Prince appeared like apparitions while Nicks followed the song's "Just like the white-winged dove" refrain with lines from "When Doves Cry."
There were also familiar faces: Accompanying Nicks on guitar was her longtime musical director and collaborator, the frizzy-haired, bespectacled Waddy Wachtel, who looks like Larry David if he were in Spinal Tap. There were familiar fabrics too: Out came the same cape from a photo shoot for Bella Donna, Nicks's debut solo album recorded 35 years ago, when she was 33. It's so well-preserved, she explained, because she chose the perfect material: "If you're gonna invest in the stock market, my money is on silk chiffon."
After catching Fleetwood Mac twice on recent back-to-back world tours, and hearing the singer dish to the audience about love affairs from decades ago as if they happened yesterday, I've often wondered if such nostalgia is always at the forefront of her personality—"an attitude of romantic readiness," to quote F. Scott Fitzgerald—or if it's trotted out for performative purposes: the sign of a savvy entertainer who knows how to connect with fans. I suspect it's a bit of both. There's no way she could sing "Landslide" thousands of times and approach the same earnestness (if not the exact same notes—Nicks's powerful contralto voice has declined in range since the 90s) without being a deeply sensitive person but especially without the keen understanding that fans really, really want to hear it. One gets the sense that Nicks is most at home onstage and on tour, whether reinterpreting old demos or obligingly singing the hits.
Time makes you bolder, children get older, but onward she twirls, encircling arenas in songs and stories like a great glittering cape.
HBO has announced it will be airing a four-part documentary on Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine, which chronicles their divergent roots and their unlikely partnership as well as addresses the moguls' influence and impact on pop culture. Directed by Allen Hughes (Menace II Society), The Defiant Ones features in-depth interviews with Dre and Iovine along with many diverse artists including Stevie Nicks.
How Stevie Nicks Blinded You With Nostalgia
by KRIS MCDERMOTT Vancouver Weekly
Two years ago Stevie Nicks released her eighth solo album 24 Karat Gold: Songs From The Vault, to critical and commercial success. Online music database All Music dubbed the re-recorded set of demo songs ‘the best sounding record she (Nicks) has made since 1983’s The Wild At Heart’.
Fast forward to October of this year, where Nicks alongside her band and talented friends Waddy Wachtel (whom she met in the pre-Fleetwood Mac days of 1973) and backup singers Sharon Celani and Lori Perry (backup singer for Nicks since 1981) embarked on a 27 date 24 Karat Gold Tour in support of the album by the same name.
Now in the final stretch of the 24 Karat Gold Tour, Nicks found herself in Vancouver’s very own Roger’s Arena. Entering the converted hockey arena wearing a flowing but subdued black dress, Nicks let her accessory scarves do the flashy work for her on round one of her ever-shifting stage attire. The 68 years young Nicks has had no problem maintaining a legion of fans since her Fleetwood Mac debut 41 years ago alongside then partner Lindsey Buckingham, and this latest stop-off in Vancouver was no different.
As with all of her prior 24 Karat Gold Tour stop offs, Nicks’ opened the night with “Gold & Braid”, “If Anyone Falls”, and “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”, respectively.
The tambourine-wielding Nicks was joined on stage by The Pretenders front-person Chrissie Hinde for “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”, as she has nightly this tour.Whatever nostalgia felt by the crowd for having witnessed Hinde open the night with The Pretenders followed by Nicks headlining the very same stage was trumped by the sight of the two powerhouses of rock sharing the spotlight at the same time. It can be argued that the career of the 1998 Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame inductee Nicks has nothing left to prove. Though looking at Friday’s show as a snapshot, ignoring the over 40 top 50 hits, or the 140 million records sold Nicks was at times underwhelming.
The same fans that would sell Friday’s Stevie Nicks show as being ‘timeless’ or ‘flawless’ were among the many frequently checking their watches and peering about disinterested.
Though social media has largely dusted golden praise over the ‘reigning queen of rock ‘n roll’, what has widely gone underreported was the audio quality at Roger’s Arena Friday night. Early in the performance, the unaddressed concern about an audio mix saw long-time friend, touring guitarist, and backup singer Waddy Wachtel’s vocals overpower the conventionally (thought of as) powerful voice of Nicks. Tough to ignore for some, perhaps due to nostalgia many fans in the building seemingly did just that. However, it was not just a poor mix in the building responsible for a repetitive vocal tone that one wouldn’t quickly attribute to the legend had they not been there to see Nicks live.
Was fan-nostalgia to blame for the level of absurdity that came with the overjoyed cheering Nicks received simply for twirling in a circle? A move the artist has no doubt mastered since she could only pronounce her own name as ‘Tee Dee’, the origin of how Stephanie became ‘Stevie’ Nicks. Does this same overjoyed audience react with similar vigour when their three-year-old spins in the living room?
At the age of 68 and nearing the successful completion of an impressive tour, Nicks should be afforded some grace. The twirl move that was once saved for the crescendo of “Rhiannon” was in the defence of Nicks, resurrected due in part to her role as the White Witch on FX Network’s American Horror Story: Coven. Moreover, the move was often emulated by fan favourite character Misty Day, who played by Lily Rabe was infatuated with Nicks in the show.
After all, the public perception of Nicks has always been the rumoured witch’s most powerful spell. Numerous adulterous relationships, marrying her recently deceased best friend’s husband, multiple addictions and interband dramas have been the catalyst(s) to many an artist’s demise professionally; at least a dissolve in public opinion; not so, however for Stevie Nicks.
As evidenced Friday night, Nicks can twirl into the environmentally superconscious city of Vancouver wearing a fur jacket from head to toe, and not a peep of recreational outrage is heard out of the usually aghast (at such behaviour) Lotus Land.
The verbose and often erroneous explanations resulting in very little new information that took place between songs would be considered by any other artist to be the ramblings of a musician seeking relevance in the twilight of their career. With Stevie Nicks such long-winded loquacious tails were merely regarded as charming anecdotes.
What can never be taken away, however, is the ability of Nicks to write masterpieces both lyrically and musically in her songs. The pursuit for relevance need not extend beyond the innate ability Nicks has to write beautifully accessible music. With the sensitivity of Nicks to capture emotion even decades after having originally penned (the piece), the integrity of her song writing was never once lost Friday Night in Vancouver.
Whether the Reigning Queen of Rock n Roll continues to go her own way post 24 Karat Gold Tour, or she picks up the pieces to go home; the landscape of music will forever be changed for the better thanks to the enigmatic sorcery of Stevie Nicks.
Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks came through San Jose to perform at the SAP Center (commonly known as the Shark Tank), bringing with her Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders. The “Musical Journey” as Stevie called the show, brought some great tunes and some great stories as Nicks reflected on her work over the years.
Stevie Nicks and the Pretenders: rock 'n' roll's leading ladies at Golden 1 Center
by Paul Piazza Newsreview.com - View Photos
Two of rock ‘n’ roll’s longtime leading ladies held court at the Golden 1 Center earlier this week. Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac fame and Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders put on an epic rock show that showcased the enduring uniqueness of each of these women as songwriters and performers.
Midway through the raucous opening set by the Pretenders, Hynde paused and showed love to the locals when she said that she really enjoyed the “pretty view of all the trees outside [her] hotel window.”
“It reminds me of a place I grew up in the ‘50s,” she continued. With that, she and the band dramatically bounced into the familiar bass groove of the band’s iconic “My City was Gone.”
Naturally, the crowd knew the words to that song’s familiar refrain (“Ay, oh, way to go Ohio”), as well as the majority of the songs the band played. In fact, the audience, who mostly ranged in age from 45-75, seemed to have the majority of the Pretenders setlist embedded in their DNA. This is not ironic since most of the band’s biggest hits came out during the Reagan years, yet have more than endured the test of time with their wry socio-political-environmental bent that could easily be applied to the times we are about to enter.
Hynde, who turned 65 in September, reminded everyone why she has long been known as a badass as she strutted the stage with attitude and defiance. She blasted a group of cell phone wielding fans early in the show for ignoring her request for no video. When they put down their devices, some hard, punk-style dancing erupted on the floor as drummer Martin Chambers pounded out some hard-hitting beats.
While Hynde preferred to let her music do the talking, Nicks took a storyteller’s approach during her lengthy set. Among the many interesting anecdotes the 68-year-old told was a story about hearing Prince’s “Little Red Corvette” for the first time while driving down the highway as a newlywed. It inspired her to write the song “Stand Back” that same day. Later, when she called the Purple One to ask if he wanted to hear it, he came down to the studio and ended up playing an uncredited synth part that is essentially the catchy glue that propels the song.
Later, during “Edge of Seventeen,” images of Prince were shown on the backdrop. Nicks, 69, also had interesting tales about writing “Gold Dust Woman” as a teen in Arizona and also had a few about collaborating with Tom Petty. But perhaps her most amazing accomplishment that night was being able to twirl and do her signature scarf dance while wearing high heeled boots.
Hynde returned during Nicks’ set for the Petty-penned tune “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” a fitting moment as the pair belted out the tune side by side and further cemented their place as two perpetual paragons of rock ‘n’ roll in a year when many of the great ones of their era have fallen.
Fleetwood Mac is one of the most important bands in the history of modern music. When Christine McVie left many years ago fans gave up hope of the classic line-up reuniting. What an amazing surprise when McVie rejoined the fold in 2014.
It is widely known that four out of the five members of Fleetwood Mac are on board to record one final album with the classic line-up. The only person holding out is Stevie Nicks. In recent interviews Stevie stated how being in the studio could be very tense and how touring was more fun. She also stated that since records don't sell like they used to then what's the point of a new album?
Let's send the message - as fans - how meaningful it would be to us to have one final volume of new music from these five people whose art we cherish so very much. While there is already a legendary body of work featuring albums such as RUMOURS, TUSK, and TANGO IN THE NIGHT we sincerely ask Stevie, for the love of history and the fans of Fleetwood Mac, to take one final one for the team and help them finish this record.
It would mean the world to all of us.
- Jeremy Gloff
If you are interested... Please sign the petition HERE.
Most reviews so far on this tour have been favorable... Some reviewers get it... some reviewers don't, and that's totally fine, it's basically their personal opinion.
The unbreakable Stevie Nicks casts a spell on Vancouver (PHOTOS)
by Rob Feller Dailyhive.com
Roughly 5,000 classic rock fans braved a snowstorm to catch a “landslide” on Friday night, as the incomparable Stevie Nicks brought her 24 Karat Gold Tour to Rogers Arena.
The singer, whose raspy voice and crazy vibrato dominated radio during the second half of the Seventies, recently released 24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault, a stunning compilation of shelved demos that spans her five decade-long career. And even though she has a tremendous catalogue of songs to choose from, Nicks kept her canvas relatively small on Friday, mostly concentrating on her work as a solo artist.
After opening with a lovely take on 1981’s “Gold & Braid”, she warned us that the evening would be unlike any other Stevie Nicks concert we’d previously witnessed. After finishing two back-to-back Fleetwood Mac tours, “I really needed to do something else,” she explained. “I needed to break out.”
So armed with what she called her “dark, mystical, gothic trunk full of songs”, Nicks proceeded to take Vancouver on what she called “a journey…through the snow.” Fans expecting a Fleetwood Mac retrospective were forced to make do with just a handful of Mac tracks (“Gypsy” and “Rhiannon” both made the cut), but the gold dust diva’s repertoire is so huge that it was easy to forgive a setlist omission here and there.
Nicks’ performance was punctuated with lots and lots (and lots) of stories from her storied career. Some of them were fascinating, like how she wrote “Stand Back” as a companion piece to Prince’s “Little Red Corvette” and somehow convinced the Purple One to play most of the instruments on the song. But a lot of Nicks’ schtick fell flat, and one excruciatingly long monologue that involved a pregnancy, a dirt road, and an upright piano sent many fans to the bar for a break.
When it came to the music however, the singer captivated the crowd with her haunting vocals and heartbreaking lyrics. Highlights included “Edge of Seventeen” and encore “Landslide”, and although she doesn’t try to hit high notes of the original composition anymore, her smoky, husky tone nicely complemented the song’s world-weary lyrics.
Rock & Roll Hall of Famers The Pretenders opened the show and managed to run through 15 classic hits and album cuts in just under an hour. Fiery frontwoman Chrissie Hynde dedicated her set, which included a kickass version of “Brass In Pocket”, to her friend Nicks and said that performing with her “is like being on tour with Elizabeth Taylor, except she can sing.”
And like her touring buddy, Hynde was also a fan of the Vancity Blizzard of 2017. “My guitar has some cracks in it from the cold weather,” she said. “But I’m glad that it has some scars from Vancouver!” Hynde later surprised fans by joining Nicks onstage for a duet of “Stop Dragging My Heart Around” which probably sounded cool on the tour bus but was a hot mess when we saw it.
They missed notes, botched lyrics, and broke out into a full-on private conversation mid-song while their backup singers carried on without them. But the Vancouver crowd was so hot and bothered by the sight of two rock goddesses sharing one mic that they turned a blind eye (and a deaf ear) to the shaky performance.
Review: Pretenders Get Real while Stevie Nicks Drags in Vancouver
by Robert Collins CTVNews
On paper, last night’s double-header of Stevie Nicks and Chrissie Hynde’s Pretenders at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena seemed like a match made in Queens of Rock heaven. The reality, as is often the case, proved different.
The party pooper, it turned out, was Stevie Nicks. Promising a new type of set, featuring not just hits but personal favourites she’d unearthed and rerecorded for her most recent “24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault” album, the issue wasn’t the choice of songs, but the way she went about her performance.
It all started so promising. Nicks was accompanied by Chrissie Hynde singing the Tom Petty parts for “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” the Pretenders’ frontwoman unable to get all her words out after descending into giggles almost immediately. Hynde’s laughter was a rare moment of spontaneity. Instead Nicks chose to punctuate every song with a lengthy, egotistical and over-rehearsed anecdote about its creation. The music, when it eventually arrived, was well sung and polished; “Gypsy,” “Stand Back” and the timeless “Gold Dust Woman” all standing out. But by insisting on eating up endless minutes by trawling out irrelevant tales from her charmed life, what could have been a party often felt more like a series of history lectures.
“I’m not wasting your time, am I?” she asked audaciously midway through introducing her band, a process conducted in a musical vacuum sucking up time that should have been spent playing at least two songs. The Vancouver crowd, polite to a fault, mumbled “No,” but they were thinking otherwise.
It’s not that Stevie Nicks didn’t have an example of how it should be done. Two hours earlier Chrissie Hynde (still looking like she’d been poured into her jeans at 66) had stepped on stage, strapped on her Telecaster and ripped into a set effortlessly mixing high-octane recent tracks like “Alone” with new wave classics like “Message of Love,” “Private Life” and “Middle of the Road.”
There’s no substitute for authentic cool; a quality Hynde revealed in everything from how she wore her guitar to her ad-libs on sharing a stage with Stevie Nicks: “It’s like being on tour with Elizabeth Taylor.”
The songs were the stars. The chiming powerpop of “Back on the Chain Gang” (seriously, what a great song) was followed by ballsy ballad “I’ll Stand By You” and the dreamy Kinks cover “Stop Your Sobbing.” The delivery was relentless. Resistance was futile.
“Have we got time from one more?” asked Hynde at the show’s end.
She didn’t wait for a reply, launching immediately into “Brass in Pocket,” a perfect finale to a great rock and roll set. No stories. No narcissism. All killer, no filler.
Tom & The Heartbreakers are pleased to announce their performance at the iconic Hyde Park venue in London, on July 9, 2017. Stevie Nicks and The Lumineers will also appear, with more to be announced. This will be the band’s only European appearance in 2017.
Highway Companions Club members are eligible for a pre-sale which is currently underway, and should check their email for pre-sale information. Public on-sales begin December 16th.
.png)
.png)
