Monday, April 25, 2011

Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks - Seattle Key Arena (Photos by David Conger)

Stevie Nicks | Rod Stewart
Key Arena - Seattle
April 23, 2011
Photos by David Conger
David Conger Photos: Gallery | Slide Show


Lindsey Buckingham Unveils New Material at L.A. Show

Billboard.com
by Phil Gallo

Lindsey Buckingham unveiled the songs that will be on his September studio release, "Seeds We Sow," in an intimate concert Friday night (Apr. 22) that was filmed for broadcast and a DVD. Telling the audience at the 1,500-seat Saban Theater in Los Angeles, "I may have made my best work yet," Buckingham offered six songs from "Seeds We Sow" in a 19-song set that began with "Shut Us Down" and ended with the title track of the new album.

Throughout the evening, the Fleetwood Mac guitarist, singer and songwriter alternated between acoustic and electric guitar, playing solo and with his three-member band. There was never a moment, however, when his skills as a lead and rhythm guitarist were not the defining feature of a song, whether it was the still-hypnotic "Trouble," a grungy rendition of "Tusk" or a new tune with echoes of R.E.M. and the Psychedelic Furs.

"You must look for what is essential, what is the center, and that center is the guitar," he told the audience. "That child still lives within me."

Fleetwood Mac classics "I'm So Afraid," "Go Your Own Way" and "Second Hand News" made it into the set, alongside solo gems such as "Turn It On" and "Go Insane." In talking about his life as a father and husband, the 61-year-old Buckingham also drew a distinction between his hitmaking run in the 1970s and 80s and his self-financed new work.

"I live and work in two worlds," Buckingham explained. "On one hand, the big machine is Fleetwood Mac and other entities... and on the other hand, there's a small machine, the solo work." He went on to draw a comparison between studio movies and independent films, relating it to his world. "It is the small movies that feed the heart and allow us to take risks."

"Seeds We Sow" is Buckingham's third studio album in five years, a steady pace for a man who went nearly 14 years between solo releases. Formerly with Warner Music Group, Buckingham has not decided on how the new disc will be distributed.

Review Stevie Nicks and Rod Stewart Live in Seattle.

Photo by Ned Austin Brooks
The two rock stars performed a three-hour concert packed with classic hits, good vibes and plenty of nostalgia.

CONCERT REVIEW: Rod Stewart, Stevie Nicks show heart and soul at KeyArena
By Gene Stout
April 25, 2011

Rod Stewart may not be “Forever Young,” as one of his more famous songs suggests, but he could have fooled me.

At 66, the veteran rocker appeared trim, handsome and athletic Saturday night at KeyArena, kicking soccer balls into the crowd with the precision of a seasoned player and gliding effortlessly across a sprawling stage that looked like the set for a stylish, ’60s musical variety show.

The concert was part of the “Heart & Soul Tour” with Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac. The two rock stars performed a three-hour concert packed with classic hits, good vibes and plenty of nostalgia.

Nicks, also looking far more youthful than her 62 years, opened the show with “Stand Back.” The set included such favorites as “Dreams,” “Sorcerer,” “Gold Dust Woman” and “Rhiannon,” but “Landslide” was the most moving of her classic songs. Accompanying the beloved hit were photos of her childhood as well as images of her parents that certainly resonated with the middle-aged fans who filled most of the seats at KeyArena.

Before singing “Secret Love,” from her upcoming solo album “In Your Dreams,” Nicks talked about her latest connection to Seattle, via a niece who works here in radio. She called Seattle the “city of my heart.”

Dressed head-to-toe in black, Nicks closed her set with “Edge of Seventeen” and a touching version of the seldom-heard ballad, “Love Is.”

Nicks returned later for a couple of duets with Stewart, who opened his set with the O’Jays classic, “Love Train,” followed by “Tonight’s the Night” (which prompted an audience sing-along) and the rambunctious Sam Cooke hit, “Having a Party.”

Performing on a stylish, sumptuously appointed stage, Stewart defied age and gravity to put on a colorful, energetic and highly entertaining show, even if his voice was raspier than usual. Among those on stage were a bevy of women singer-musicians in red dresses. They recalled the fashion models in Robert Palmer’s 1980s “Addicted of Love” video.

The hits were delivered rapid-fire: “You Wear It Well,” “The First Cut Is the Deepest” (Cat Stevens), “Some Guys Have All the Luck” and “You’re in My Heart.” Stewart also performed such R&B, soul and rock ‘n’ roll favorites as Cooke’s “Twistin’ the Night Away,” Chuck Berry’s “Sweet Little Rock and Roller” and Eddie Floyd’s “Knock on Wood,” featuring his backup singers.

Stewart, who recently celebrated the birth of his eighth child, Aiden, showed photos of his beloved Celtic Football Club and displayed the team’s green-and-white logo. Stewart also saluted the 70th anniversary of the Dunkirk evacuation with a moving “Rhythm of My Heart.”

Stewart closed his colorful show with the big hits “Hot Legs” and “Maggie May,” followed by an encore of “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy,” his signature song.

Photos by Ned Austin Brooks - 14 Photos on Facebook HERE
Full Review at genestout.com

Key Arena Photo Gallery on Facebook HERE

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Australia, US, UK, Ireland - Album Charts Fleetwood Mac



Australia Top 50 Catalogue Album Chart - April 25, 2011
Fleetwood Mac rocket back up this chart re-entering at # 3 this week with "The Very Best Of".

Rumours also re-enters this week at # 11.

USA Top 50 Catalogue Album Chart - April 30, 2011
Fleetwood Mac's "Greatest Hits" re-enters Billboards Top 200 Album Chart at # 170. The album also re-enters the Top 200 Catalogue Chart at # 33.

Ireland - Top 100 Albums Chart - April 21, 2011
Fleetwood Mac "Greatest Hits" # 71 (last week:# 63)

UK - Top 40 Catalogue Chart - April 23, 2011
Fleetwood Mac "Rumours" # 37 this week.

(Review) Classic Nicks, no dream.... Stevie Nicks "In Your Dreams" Album Review










IN YOUR DREAMS
STEVIE NICKS
★★★
Sunday Herald Sun [Australia]
SCOTT PODMORE

SOME things need to stay the same to work best, especially when it comes to veteran rockers such as Stevie Nicks. Old fans don’t really want her to reinvent herself; they want the witchy look (check the album cover), the familiar folk-rock musical style that suits her distinctive nasally but charming vocals and, of course, the storyteller dishing up her tales of loss and loneliness, love and hope.

The album is classic Stevie Nicks, so that’s good news for patient fans who have waited for a decade. For someone who can lay claim to being involved in more than 140 million album sales and more than 40 Top-50 hits since she arrived on the scene in the 1970s with Fleetwood Mac, she deserves respect and age certainly isn’t affecting her musically. To top things off, In Your Dreams was handed to two wise heads in Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard for production duties, while Heartbreakers axeman Mike Campbell chipped in with some polish to co-write two tracks.

It’s the mid-tempo cruisy pop that instantly grabs you in album opener Secret Love and the racier title track, before Nicks reaches out tenderly in New Orleans, a song offering hope to the recovering folk from the Big Easy.

The Lindsey Buckingham/Stevie Nicks chemistry resparks a familiar sound and magic at the back end of the album in Soldier’s Angel, a moody reunion in which Nicks sings over the top of Buckingham’s deft touch on guitar as the pair hit some sweet trademark Fleetwood harmonies.

In Your Dreams sees Nicks on top of her game, producing music that takes you back to a bygone era. And while it won’t pull in many new fans, it will certainly give the older ones something to hold close to their chest.

File between: Fleetwood Mac, Bob Dylan.
Download: "For What It's Worth".

Saturday, April 23, 2011

(Review x 2) Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks - Vancouver April 22, 2011

Photograph by: Ian Lindsay, PNG
Friday night brought two legendary forces in music together at Rogers Arena
By Janelle Kidd
Rogers Arena

Between them, they have sold millions of albums, won countless awards, earned inductions into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and accumulated vast catalogs of classics that have shaped the direction of Rock & Roll.

Friday night brought two legendary forces in music together at Rogers Arena, for a show that the crowd of 12,000-strong won't soon forget.

The pairing of Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks was a perfect blend of veteran presence and youthful energy. The seasoned performers' passion for music is undeniable.

Making its second to last stop in Vancouver, the duo's Heart & Soul Tour celebrates the release of Stewart's latest album The Best of...The Great American Songbook, while building anticipation for Nicks' new album—her first album of new material in a decade—In Your Dreams, set for release on May 3.

Full Review of the show at the Rogers Arena website

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Rod Stewart shows he's still got it in Vancouver
Nicks kept the near-capacity crowd happy with her mix of Mac standards and solo hits
By Steve Newton
Straight.com

Who’d have thought that two Vancouver concerts in the same week by a couple of ancient rock headliners from the ‘70s would be so damned impressive? Rod Stewart’s hugely entertaining show at Rogers Arena Friday night was a real nice follow-up to Robert Plant’s impeccable performance at the Queen E. the previous Sunday. It came down partly to both singers choosing the right material and still being able to perform it well, but mainly to the fact that they surrounded themselves with some of the finest instrumentalists and vocalists on the planet.

Although what’s been dubbed the Heart and Soul Tour billed Stewart as coheadlining with Stevie Nicks, the former Fleetwood Mac member only sang about 10 songs to Stewart’s 20, and her stage setup wasn’t nearly as lavish. But the 62-year-old Nicks still managed to keep the near-capacity crowd happy with her mix of Mac standards (“Rhiannon”, “Landslide”) and solo hits (“Stand Back”, “Edge of Seventeen”). One the downside, when she draped herself in a frilly scarf and twirled around in her frilly dress all I could think of was that scene in Sid and Nancy where Nancy Spungen (Chloe Webb) sees herself wearing Sid’s grandmother’s clothes and freaks out with “Aaggh! I look like fuckin’ Stevie Nicks in hippie clothes!”

Full Review of the show at Straight.com