RATING: **** (4 outta five)
Rod Stewart/Stevie Nicks - Air Canada Centre, April 2, 2011
The Toronto Sun
By JANE STEVENSON, QMI AGENCY
Two raspy-voiced, blond-haired rock legends for the price of one
Not bad for an evening of music at the Air Canada Centre on Saturday night as Fleetwood Mac vixen Stevie Nicks - still looking and sounding great at 62-years-old - co-headlined with rockin’ Rod Stewart, now 66, who was also in good voice and great flaxen hair.
Stewart, ever the British gentlemen, popped out on stage early to introduce Nicks, who he called “one of the greatest rock voices of the era and the 21st century.”
Nicks’ 80-minute set was composed of solo, Fleetwood Mac and Buckingham-Nicks hits plus Secret Love, the first single from her new solo album, In Your Dreams, due May 3.
“Welcome Toronto - I’m so glad you’re here,” said Nicks, backed by a nine-piece band. “We don’t get to come up to Canada that often. It’s so exciting to be up here in this beautiful city.”
Nicks, in a sequined, corsetted and ruffled black dress, and wedge-heeled black boots - a downgrade from her signature black suede platforms of the ‘70s - could also still move, if more gingerly, as she performed a signature twirl just minutes into her set opener, Stand Back.
And with her interpretive dance moves, long hair, and numerous accessory changes in a little black tent at the back of the stage that saw her work her way through two gold shawls - including one for set highlight, Gold Dust Woman - she conjured up her image from Fleedwood Mac’s heyday, especially when she hovered around guitarist Waddy Wachtel with her arms outstretched.
Other set standouts included Fleetwood Mac’s classics Dreams and Rhiannon - which included a video of unicorns and produced the first crowd clap along of the night - the poignant Landslide, which featured pictures of Nicks family including her late father, and Edge of Seventeen with a loving, long walk around the stage by Stevie, waving to her fans and paying tribute to her musicians.