(Review) Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks - Chicago 4/9/11

With a wink and a smile, Rod Stewart delivers polished soul at United Center
By Bob Gendron
Chicago Tribune
Photo Gallery

It takes certain moxie for a 66-year-old man to strut around in an electric purple suit, surround himself with pretty young women and sing "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy." Rod Stewart had nerve to spare Saturday co-headlining with Stevie Nicks at a packed United Center, where he didn't miss any chance to add pomp to campy circumstance. Ignoring his recent Great American Songbook guise for a turn as a dapper nightclub crooner, the British vocalist filled out a 100-minute set with polished renditions of soul standards served up with a wink and a smile.

Stewart made a name for himself decades ago with gritty interpretations of folk and blues. So it's natural that he performed tunes by the likes of Sam Cooke ("Having a Party"), Persuaders ("Some Guys Have All the Luck") and the O'Jays ("Love Train"). Yet along with the sandpaper rasp in his voice, all traces of rawness and poignancy are gone. In their place resides a smooth, soft timbre and humorous flair that suit his showman glitz. Heavily stylized and glossed, it's difficult to tell whether or not Stewart takes himself—or even any of his adult-contemporary ballads—seriously.

With his diamond bracelets, loud sport coats, exaggerated dance moves and visual shtick, he came across as a combination of Las Vegas-era Elvis, Liberace and "Married…With Children" character Al Bundy. A trio if female background singers and three other female instrumentalists, all wearing short dresses, looked loosely modeled after the women in Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love" video. About the only old-school entertainer cliché Stewart lacked was calling out an assistant to wipe his brow with a handkerchief; he did that himself, and with elaborate effect.

Musical merit aside—Stewart's tame readings of classics such as Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Rock & Roller" sounded like the sanitized covers of R&B singles that dominated mainstream radio in the late 1950s—at least he had fun. Ironically, the only times Stewart appeared stiff occurred during two duets with opener Nicks. Strictly a crowd-pleasing endeavor, the pair's brief collaboration revealed little chemistry. On Nicks' "Leather and Lace," Rod the Mod seemed to be reading lyrics off a screen.

Nicks' uneven 70-minute set got off to a sleepy start before surprise guest Sheryl Crow joined her for "Sorcerer" and gave the vocalist reason to invest more toughness in the songs. Too bad her mellow nine-piece band never received the message.

Resembling a mystical gypsy, Nicks demonstrated hallmark traits—dramatic arm motions, ice-princess stares, cautionary nasal tones—while using scarves and shawls as props. But given she's preparing to release her first new record in 10 years, Nicks' decision to focus on Fleetwood Mac gems (including "Landslide," harmonized with Crow) and old solo hits reeked of the nostalgic shelter sought by artists with nothing left to prove.

(Video) Sheryl Crow Joins Stevie Nicks in Chicago For Landslide Duet

Sheryl Crow joined Stevie during her set tonight (4/9/11) in Chicago at the United Center duetting with Stevie on "Landslide", which I think is the first time anyone has ever sang the song with her as a duet. Sheryl also sang with her on "Sorcerer" and came back out during the encore for "Rock & Roll".

They sound beautiful together!

The Oprah-palooza Photo...

Miley Cyrus, Sister Sledge, Stevie Nicks, Salt-N-Pepa, Oprah, Pat Benatar, 
Sheryl Crow and Avril Lavigne... Where's Joan Jett?
photo by: Oprah.com

TUNE in on APRIL 13, 2011 to watch the show!

It’s an “Oprah-palooza!” Some Details From The Musical Icons Appearing on Oprah

WEDNESDAY - 4/13/11 All New! Stevie Nicks, Joan Jett, Salt-N-Pepa, Pat Benatar: Rock Goddesses Of The 70s & 80s (PG) 

It’s an “Oprah-palooza!” Today’s once in a lifetime television event features some of the greatest rock goddesses, hip hop legends and disco divas ever, including Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Stevie Nicks, “Godmother of Punk” Joan Jett, hip hop legends Salt-N-Pepa, and rock icon Pat Benatar! These trailblazing music legends are here to rock our world as they sing some of their biggest hits with some of the music superstars they’ve inspired along the way. Plus, don’t miss the grand finale performance you’ll be talking about for days to come! Today’s “Oprah!”

Not mentioned in the above show description, but also appearing are Sister Sledge, who along with all the other ladies reportedly closed the show with "We Are Family".  The next younger generation of music superstars that have been inspired by the featured guests and who also appear on the show are: Sheryl Crow, Avril Lavigne and Miley Cyrus.  Miley and Joan Jett were spotted out to dinner the night before in Chicago at former Oprah Chef's restaurant Table 52, they possibly could be collaborating or performing together... 

For Stevie's part: According to various sources, Stevie sang two songs one with Sheryl Crow plus her new single "Secret Love"... Stevie was also interviewed by Oprah, and apparently the only one interviewed by Oprah during the taping...  Reports have Stevie closing the show or the taping with "Secret Love" but with "We Are Family" reportedly being sung by all the ladies, and by the description above, the "grand finale" Stevie's Secret Love performance will likely be sliced in during her segment.

So it looks like it's going to be a pretty exciting show next Wednesday...Hopefully, nothing is cut for time.

Can I get a show of hands on who's taking the day off work or rescheduling their day so not to miss the show?

WOW!... Next week is starting to look really full:

• April 11th (Monday) we are expecting some sort of announcement to come via Stevie's Facebook Page or her Twitter account regarding the special pre-sale ticket opportunity for a show she's putting on at Websters Hall in NYC May 4th the day after her reported Today Show appearance on May 3rd.
• April 12th (Tuesday) Dave Stewart let all his fans know on Twitter to expect something special from him and Stevie to appear on itunes.
• April 13th (Wednesday) Stevie on THE OPRAH SHOW!

[update]

Great News for UK Fans

Matt Denison who was one lucky fan flown in from Ottawa, Canada had a back stage meet and greet with Stevie {his story is here} just reported that Stevie confirmed she IS playing the Glastonbury Festival in the UK in June...No specific date given.  She also said she's looking to play places she hasn't been to in awhile... The bad news about Glasonbury is the festival usually sells out months and months in advance, so those that don't have tickets now may be left out.  Hopefully she will add more to her UK Itinerary!    Glastonbury info here

Also... The Secret Love performance was filmed but will be an Oprah.com exclusive... What does that mean?  Do you need to be a forum member?

Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks -- a tale of the hair

How well do you know your '70s hell-raisers?
By Allison Stewart, Special to the Tribune
Chicago Tribune

Back in the day, Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks were two of rock's biggest hell raisers — battle-scarred, road-tested, scandal-prone superstars who battled addictions to cocaine and prescription drugs (her) and leggy blondes (him).

With a combined 80-plus years of music-making between them, Stewart, 66, and Nicks, 62, have embarked on the Heart and Soul tour. Nicks, whose first disc in a decade, “In Your Dreams,” drops in May, will open, playing a set of Fleetwood Mac and solo songs, then will briefly join Stewart during his set.

It’s been a bumpy road so far: Before the tour began, Nicks complained to a reporter about Stewart's lack of interest in pre-tour preparation, saying in the Guardian newspaper, “He's not a rehearser. He. Is. Not. …. He doesn't care. He's just not like me.” The tour's opening date was later cancelled (according to organizers, Stewart had the flu); subsequent dates have gone off without a hitch.

In honor of the tour's Saturday night United Center stop, we've assembled a partial guide to Nicks’ and Stewart’s colorful pasts, provided in harder-than-you-think quiz form.

Take The Quizz

(Review) Rod Stewart & Stevie Nicks - New York Times

Two Rockers, Old Hits And Reasons to Believe
By BEN RATLIFF
New York Times Review

Two Rockers, Old Hits And Reasons to Believe
By Ben Ratliff
The New York Times
April 8, 2011

The “Heart & Soul” tour, a pairing of Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks, is pure nostalgia, a valentine for the middle-aged and what they listened to from 1976 to 1978. Not a judgment, just a fact. But the really outmoded part about the concert is that the link between them is the radio.

Remember the radio? We submitted to it completely. It made the connections for us. Besides Los Angeles, teased blond hair and a tremendous talent for the exaggerated courtly stage bow, what Mr. Stewart and Ms. Nicks really have in common is that they are singer-songwriters, articulating consciousness through words and melody, and they are fundamentally different at that job.

Ms. Nicks, 62, who performed first at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night, is the goddess of indirection. “Do you know what this is?” she sang in “Love Is.” “No I don’t/but whatever it is/it’s very powerful.” This could be her organizing principle. The referents of her lyrics flicker in and out; she suddenly omits the subject of a sentence, asks a rhetorical question or moves from first to third person without warning. Most pop songwriters don’t do this anymore. But Ms. Nicks is a woman who can put on a black shawl, raise her arms and spin, and the audience roars. Whatever that is, it’s very powerful.

Wednesday’s set was a tight group of greatest hits, so there was “Edge of Seventeen”: “Just like the white winged dove/sings a song, sounds like she’s singing.” And “Sorcerer”: “All around black ink darkness/and who found the lady from the mountains?” Who or what is like the dove? Who did find the lady? Essentially it’s you: the listener and her own experiences fill the gap between what is to be understood and what is not.

Ms. Nicks’s voice narrowed a long time ago, forcing her to write melodic detours away from the upper register, but her sound and phrasing remain the same. She drones and under-enunciates, the better to be misunderstood, and with several band members who have been a constant for decades — the guitarist Waddy Wachtel and the percussionist Lenny Castro — she fitted the songs to the audience’s memory.

People forget that Mr. Stewart, now 66, is a songwriter: he’s been privileging people’s material for so long and so effectively — not just the last decade of his “Great American Songbook” albums, but also his previous covers of the Rolling Stones, Van Morrison, Tim Hardin, Tom Waits, Bob Dylan and others. Let’s treat it all as one project. He seems to.

As opposed to Ms. Nicks, there’s usually a straight-forward narrative in Mr. Stewart’s songs and the ones he chooses to cover; there’s also very little wondering or regret. As for love, he hungers, consumes, dispatches. Sometimes he fails: oh, well. (He’s good at cheery leave-takings: “Maggie Mae,” “Forever Young.”) He sees no crystal visions.

Mr. Stewart’s voice is pretty damaged, too, sometimes dropping beneath the line of audibility as his longer set wore on, swerving away from high notes and turning to a wheeze. But of course he’s had a rough voice forever, and the whole point of Rod Stewart is finessing a light engagement with one’s own material. In a succession of bright raw-silk jackets, he swiveled and high-stepped just enough to convey that he was having an all-right time, while his band and production provided the rest: a rugged rhythm section, tall female soloists in red dresses (on trumpet, tenor saxophone and fiddle), and a stage like an enormous mid-’60s television show set, clean and beautifully lit.

The stars performed two songs together, unexcitingly, during Mr. Stewart’s set — his “Young Turks,” her “Leather and Lace.” But whereas Ms. Nicks remained her own entity, Mr. Stewart traced his enthusiasms to and connections for what came before and around him. He sang songs by Sam Cooke and Chuck Berry and Hardin and Mr. Waits, and repped once again for the Celtic Football Club, as he’s been doing since the early ’70s. It’s unclear who’s heart and who’s soul. But it is clear who’s an idol and who’s a fan.

The “Heart & Soul” tour continues on Saturday at the United Center in Chicago and on Sunday at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit; rodstewart.com.

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