Stevie Nicks - St. Louis (Review)

Stevie Nicks
By Daniel Durchholz
SPECIAL TO THE POST-DISPATCH
06/14/2008

Midway through her concert at Chaifetz Arena Friday night, Stevie Nicks showed a side of her persona rarely seen during her decades onstage as a member of Fleetwood Mac and as a solo star: that of barroom rocker.

Nicks cut loose with a rip-roaring version of Bob Seger’s “Face the Promise,” a song she identified as a “highway driving song.”

Such a tune wouldn’t be that much of a stretch for most singers. But consider that only moments before, Nicks, clad in a lacy shawl, was twirling with abandon in front of a giant video screen depicting gamboling unicorns.

That was Nicks’ two-hour, 15-song set in a nutshell: It dealt with things both earthy and ethereal, from love and loss to the singer’s dreams and “crystal visions.”

Nicks is the third Fleetwood Mac principal to visit here in recent times. Lindsey Buckingham packed the Pageant last year, and Mick Fleetwood brought his blues band to the Sheldon a few months back. But Nicks remains the Mac’s biggest solo star and she got to play the biggest room, even though the place was far from full.

That didn’t stop her from performing a crowd pleasing greatest hits revue that included the Mac hits “Rhiannon,” “Gold Dust Woman,” “Dreams” and “Landslide,” plus solo smashes “Stand Back,” “If Anyone Falls in Love” and “Edge of Seventeen,” among others.

She paused after “Dreams,” which contains lines about rain and thunder, and wondered aloud how she could perform that song in Iowa, given the recent floods there. “I’m serious,” she said. “Pray for ‘no rain.’”

Meanwhile, “Landslide” contained a nice twist, with harmonies added by two of her backup singers transforming Nicks’ version of the song into the Dixie Chicks’ countrified cover.

An even better moment was equally unlooked for: Nicks did a lovely take of Dave Matthews’ “Crash into Me,” gesturing expressively as she lost herself in the libidinous lyrics.

The singer brought the show home on a heart-tugging note, performing “Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You” in front of video images of American soldiers. As the band took a final bow, Nicks asked that her audience look to music for peace and solace in a time of war.

Pianist/vocalist Peter Cincotti opened the show with a brief set that tried mightily to turn his naturally jazzy and pop-oriented material into arena rock. But even his successes, like “Goodbye Philadelphia” and “Make It Out Alive” were pyrrhic victories at best, as they trod the same path worn deep decades ago by Billy Joel.

Stevie Nicks at the Chaifetz Arena (Review)

Stevie Nicks at the Chaifetz Arena
Friday, June 13

I'm just going to come right out and say it: Stevie Nicks must have a magical coochie. That's all I could think about last night while watching her perform at the new Chaifetz Arena. That isn't to discredit her ample musical talent, but her feminine gravitational pull is apparent, even in a large music venue. She's got that something. And whatever it is, it's magnetic and irresistible.

Over the years her lady parts have served her well: the source of most of her song writing material has come from her love affairs. Most of these episodes were well documented, even in the pre-paparazzi days of 1970s celebrity. Successful rock-and-rollers lined up around the block back in the day for a crack at Miss Nicks. She supposedly gave quite a few of them a spin, from Don Henley to Mick Fleetwood to Jimmy Iovine, and her long relationship with uber-sexy band mate Lindsey Buckingham was a main topic in Rumours, the classic Fleetwood Mac album.

Even now, at the age that most people retire, Nicks still knows how to work it. She's still all high-heeled platform boots, gothic Lolita dresses, long blond mane and sparking shawls. Her static, uncompromising image is shockingly stubborn. Imagine a '70s punk who still sports a mohawk as an old man on the golf course. Still, Nick's image doesn't feel contrived- it's just as if she found a good thing an stuck with it.

And the fans? They love it. When she opened with "Stand Back" one would have never known that the arena was only about half full, as every older lady in the place got up out of her seat and cheered while mentally reliving her glory days.

What followed was a string of hits (including "Dreams," "Rhiannon," "If Anyone Falls in Love," "Sorcerer," Gold Dust Woman" and "Landslide") and a couple of surprising covers (Bob Seger's "Face the Promise" and a torturous version of Dave Matthews Band's "Crash").

To her credit, Nicks basically excused these covers by explaining that she and her band need to do something fun every now and then. By "fun," I'm guessing she means "sing a song that I haven't already sang 873,421 times in my life." It's cool. She's forgiven for that. She is still under the gun, however, for one part in her stage show.

There was a huge video screen behind the stage that showed mostly innocuous, appropriate swirling art (a rain shot during "Dreams," a yellow haze during "Gold Dust Woman," etc.) but during "Rhiannon" it featured a pair of cheesy white unicorns frolicking in the freaking forest. I shit you not. It was distracting and I laughed for nearly the whole song with sympathetic embarrassment for everyone on that stage. Lest you think I am a cynical party-pooper, those unicorns garnered snickers from quite a few people near me and pretty much ruined the song for us all. Lose the unicorns, Stevie, that's pushing the "mystical" and "enchanting" thing just a little too far.

This was the first "rock concert" hosted at the Chaifetz, and aside from the poor attendance (due, no doubt, to the high ticket cost), the management can certainly call it a success. The place is much smaller than an average arena, creating a cozy feeling even at a big show. It's a clean white space accented with SLU blue, but it doesn't feel cold, just new. There were helpful ushers, food and drink and a kind employee even offered to escort me to my car. Yes, the parking situation is kind of wack, but you've dealt with worse. There's just nowhere to park that feels close. I paid $10 and went for the SLU garage. It was a bit of a hike from the garage to the arena, but it's nice scenery with small ponds, bridges and sports fields to watch along the way.

Jaime Lees

photos by: alicia bailey; todd owyoung

Fleetwood Mac Recording New Album in October, 2008

Stevie Nicks performs tonight in St. Louis
BY SCOTT KIEFER - Fri, Jun. 13, 2008
Special to the News-Democrat
bnd.com

Rock icon, artist, songwriter, aunt and inspiration to millions, Stevie Nicks just reached the milestone of turning 60 years old on May 26. She sees it as a defining moment in her life that has brought about some realizations about her personal life, her career and what she needs to maintain and to change.

"It's been a wonderful, hectic, glamorous, miserable, exciting, tumultuous life," said Nicks in a telephone interview from Florida last week. "Who could ask for more?"

Nicks will perform at 8 p.m. tonight at the Chaifetz Arena at St. Louis University.

Although Nicks has this persona of being mysterious, elusive, mystical, and hard to reach, she has always been an open book during interviews ... which aren't granted often.

"My life has been such an open book anyway, so when I do interviews, there's really nothing to not talk about," said Nicks jokingly. "Sometimes I even get to set the record straight."

Nicks isn't really bothered by her recent birthday.

"Really, it is just a number," said Nicks, "but an important one. Better that the alternative. I would say. I've never been one to be obsessed with my numerical age. I really do believe you are as young as you feel, and as long as you are happy within yourself and good to others, your youth shines through, no matter what your age. It's all about change.. in lifestyle, diet, and emotionally. Age is about learning and growing, not your number."

Nicks shows no signs of slowing down.

She is currently working on writing the story for the production of a movie based on the hit Fleetwood Mac single of 1976, "Rhiannon."

"I have been working on this for quite some time," said Nicks. "It's really been a work in progress for 30 years. This is it, though. As soon as this tour is finished, I'm off to a secluded place in Europe (she didn't disclose where) to finish the writing, and do some tweaking on the finished product. After that, we are meeting with people like HBO or Showtime to hopefully do a mini-series type of movie. It is such a wonderful story, and there is so much more to be told about Rhiannon."

After that, Nicks will sign on for the all-original Fleetwood Mac tour.

"Yes, we are going to do it, at least once more," said Nicks. "All of us except Christy (Christine McVie). She is just so 'over' that whole thing. She has done it, again and again, she just doesn't want to do the touring anymore."

Nicks stated that the group will start working on material and recording probably in October, and finish an album.

"We should be getting into tour rehearsals in January or February, and get out on the road in the spring of next year."

Asked about the rumors surrounding the replacement of McVie by Sheryl Crow, Nicks said it would not be happening.

"Actually, Lindsey and I will be taking some of the songs that Christine sang on record, and we will be sharing the vocals," said Nicks. "After all, we wrote most of them anyway, and we feel it was best for us to do them instead of bringing someone else in to take her place. We want to show her our respect, and include her in the show, because she was such an important part to our group."

The lives of the members of Fleetwood Mac were definitely the rock 'n' roll soap opera of the late '70s and '80s, but Nicks doesn't like to dwell so much on the negativity and the hype that surrounded the group.

"We definitely had our moments in the spotlight," said Nicks, "and some hellatious ones out of the spotlight too. But, it's all good now. In fact, Lindsey and I are really doing good, we are friends ... for now at least."

Nicks attributes much of the high drama within the band to the creativity each member possesses.

"When you have creative people such as we are, and we are all artists, you have high emotions and feelings, and that is how we expressed ourselves -- and still do really," said Nicks. "It's hard to live with, work with and be constantly around someone who has such creativity and emotion spilling out of them all of the time, and not have conflict. It's just the way it is. But we're all fine right now."

With the movie script and the band reunion, you would think that Nicks has enough on her plate.
"I also will be working on some of my paintings, and I'm always writing new songs, poems, things like that," said Nicks.

Will there be a new solo album soon?

"That's something that I can't say will or will not happen," said Nicks. "As I said, I am constantly writing, but not just for me. Some of the stuff I do may turn up on a Mac album, or maybe I will have a solo album, I'm not ruling out anything."

Nicks has just moved into a large apartment on the oceanfront in Santa Monica, where she lives alone.

"I am in 'Stevie's Place' now," said Nicks, "all by myself. I loved my large home in Phoenix, but it was more of a bother than it was enjoyable to me. I was always wondering about redecorating this room or that room or the landscaping or the kitchen or whatever. Kind of a pain in the a--, really."

"See, that's what I mean about the creativity flowing," said Nicks. "Where I am at now, I am by myself, and can concentrate on the movie script ideas, my paintings, and my songwriting. I can get up in the middle of the night and see the moonlight on the water and watch it make a glisten on the waves, and work on whatever it is I need too, until I can watch the sun rise over the ocean. Or, I can just do whatever the h--- I want."

Nicks sees this as an advantage to herself and her family.

"I can do these things when they come upon me, and I can be in my world," said Nicks. "This is why, I realize, that I never had children, and that I will never be married. Things in my life are kind of like coming together, and yet starting over, all at the same time."

Nicks is currently on a short tour of only 15 dates in North America in promotion of the "Crystal Visions" CD and DVD project.

Nicks is also appearing this season on the PBS Soundstage music series in a two-episode concert.

"Doing the show for PBS was a thrill, and an honor," said Nicks. "Public television is something that is very important, not only for it's entertainment value, but for the educational opportunities it provides.."

During this tour, Nicks is doing all of the expected hits such as "Rhiannon," "Stand Back" and "Edge of Seventeen," but has thrown in some exciting covers as well.

"We have to do the hits that the fans expect," said Nicks, "but, we've thrown in a Dave Mathews song, and a Bob Seger song, plus a couple of other surprises."

"This is gonna be more of a rock and roll show," said Nicks. "I can't wait to perform at St. Louis, because it was one of the better shows I did last year with Tom Petty.

"Tom asked me to come out and do six shows, and do just six songs on each date," said Nicks. "And I was thrilled. I've always had this fantasy about being a member of the Heartbreakers. Tom helped me to make that dream come true. It was so much fun that we ended up doing 23 days. And for Tom to foot the bill for my expenses for that many dates -- and believe me it ain't cheap -- says a lot about my friend.

"After the tour was over, he gave me a gold, five-point sherriff's badge with five diamonds on each point with an inscription on the back that read 'To Stevie, our honorary Heartbreaker.' That was one of my most special moments in life, and I will probably never get the chance to do something like that again."

Nicks is really looking at a new lease on life.

"With all that I have going right now, it seems as though I have just started my life all over again. To h--- with counting my birthday numbers, who needs 'em anyway?"

Quick hits

1. Coke or Pepsi: Coke. Coke Zero, actually.
2. Favorite Dessert: Red Velvet Cake
3. Religous or Spiritual: Spiritual
4. On your Ipod: Madonna to Justin Timberlake, Motown to Classic Rock.
5. By yourself or with others: By Myself.
6. Obama or McCain: Wouldn't you like to know.
7. Worst part of touring: The hectic schedule.
8. Best part of touring: Playing for my fans.
9. Passion: Music and painting.
10. Marriage: Never.
11. Landscape: The ocean.
12. Best friend: Lori Nicks. (background singer and sister-in-law).
13. Paparazzi: Not an issue.
14. Tour bus: Hate 'em. That's why I fly only.

At a glance

Who: Stevie Nicks with Peter Cincotti
When: 8 p.m. today
Where: Chaifetz Arena at St. Louis University
How much: $65 and $45
How:www.metrotix.com, or 314-534-1111.

Mick Fleetwood uncorks passion for wine

Rock legend and winemaker advocates a more accessible wine experience
The Aspen Times

ASPEN — Some decades ago, Mick Fleetwood had little interest in wine. And who could blame him? Several times a year, on his early visits to the U.S. — he says the experience was very different in Europe — the British-born Fleetwood would subject himself to the discomfort and degradation of ordering wine to go with dinner. No matter how good the bottle may have been, the process left him with a bad taste in his mouth.

“It was people sitting in a restaurant, quivering in their boots, thinking, ‘What are we going to order?’” said Fleetwood. “In truth, they were just told what to like. And I remember sitting there drinking, and thinking, ‘Oh, I’m supposed to like this — and not necessarily liking it.’”

Fleetwood turned his attention away from oenology, and focused instead on music. It proved to be a wise decision; he has never seemed to need outside prodding to know what sounded good to his ears. In his earliest days, it was blues-rock — first with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, then, beginning in the late ’60s, with the earliest incarnation of Fleetwood Mac. In the mid-’70s, with the addition of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, the band’s sound took a sharp turn, toward radio-friendly pop-rock. It was an assured stylistic change, however, as Fleetwood Mac turned out such essential ’70s works as 1975’s eponymous album and 1977’s “Rumours.”

A decade and a half ago, Fleetwood had another abrupt about-face, this time in his offstage life. It was almost certainly a good thing; Fleetwood Mac was one of the primary symbols of rock ’n’ roll excess, mid-’70s-style, and Fleetwood himself was never known to exclude himself from the party. His 1990 memoir, “Fleetwood: My Life and Adventures with Fleetwood Mac,” recounts his cocaine addiction and bankruptcy. And in looking to switch things up, Fleetwood decided on a new beverage to go with his new ways: wine.

“Probably about 16 years ago or so,” said Fleetwood, by phone from his home on Maui. “That was a journey that started really from a change in lifestyle. My crazy rock ’n’ roll lineage wound down a bit; my home life changed. I started entertaining at home, not going out so much.”

(An aside: The life change apparently did not include going any easier on his drum kit. Not long after this adjustment, Fleetwood played a New Year’s Eve gig at the old Double Diamond in Aspen, on a bill with rockabilly singer Billy Burnette, a member of the latter-day Fleetwood Mac, and then little-known singer, Sheryl Crow. I happened to be backstage in the company of Fleetwood, and we had a pleasant drink and conversation. He was then called to his drum set, and started playing the show while we were still sharing our moment together. Standing a few feet from the six-foot, six-inch Fleetwood as he played, I was shaken by the force of his drumming, and his near-manic energy.)

Continue to full article

Rock legend Nicks mixes her music with Mac’s

By DAVID DORSEY • news-press.com • June 13, 2008

HOLLYWOOD, FLA. — Her blond hair waving and her costumes flowing — and oftentimes spinning — Stevie Nicks mesmerized a sellout crowd of 5,000 fans with her mystical blend of classic rock.

Nicks, who celebrated her 60th birthday May 26, opened at the Hard Rock Live venue with “Outside the Rain” as she launched into an hour and 50 minutes’ worth of songs.

Nicks covered a mix of her own material and that of the band that made her famous in the 1970s — Fleetwood Mac.

But she also put her own spin on the works of others, playing the Dave Matthews Band song “Crash,” a Bob Seger cover and Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll,” the first song of the encore.

Performing with nine others on stage, Nicks took to the center, flanked by a guitarist, a rhythm guitarist, bass player, drummer, percussionist (he banged on African-style drums among other instruments), a keyboardist, piano player and three background vocalists, including her sister-in-law.

The two drummers came in handy, teaming for a drum duet that energized the crowd before being rejoined by Nicks and the rest of the band for the final song of the set — and her best song — “Edge of Seventeen.”

As the drummers showed off their skills, Backstage, Nicks changed into a white gown. When she came out and turned around and stretched out her arms, her back to the crowd, her arms resembled wings. She transformed herself into the image of a white-winged dove.

“Stand Back,” and “How Still My Love,” were included in her set along with Fleetwood Mac’s “Rhiannon,” “Gold Dust Woman,” and “Landslide,” the latter of which she dedicated to her late father, with snapshots of her and her dad flashing on the big screen behind her.

The emotional moment drew a standing ovation, as did the final song of the evening, “Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You,” a song she dedicated to injured U.S. troops who were stationed overseas.

Stevie's revolving door of opening acts.

Mandy Moore will be opening for Stevie in Boston on June 22nd and in Toledo on June 25th. Myspace

Mandy is the third act to be opening for Stevie on this short June tour. Shawn Colvin and Peter Cincotti are the others.