Reviews Stevie Nicks with The Pretenders - Minneapolis December 6, 2016

Review: Stevie Nicks and Chrissie Hynde empower each other
Hall of Famers rock St. Paul with familiar and obscure songs.
by Jon Bream
Startribune.com - includes Photo Gallery

At first blush, Stevie Nicks teaming up with Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders seems about as odd as, say, Joan Baez and Cher touring together. Same era (and enduring careers) but totally different vibe. But on Tuesday at Xcel Energy Center, ethereal, super-feminine Nicks and snarling, boyish Hynde proved that sisterhood is powerful.

Full review

Stevie Nicks enchants audience at the X with songs, stories and the spirit of Prince
by Ross Raihala
Twincities.com

Stevie Nicks is now 68, but there’s always been a sort of timeless quality about her, like her soul has been kicking around for centuries, wrapping its hosts in shawls, lace and fringe. Remember, this is a woman who crafted the nostalgic, contemplative “Landslide” when she was just 25.

Nicks spent Tuesday night flipping through the back pages of her history at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center during an engaging and emotional two-plus hour performance for about 10,000 fans. She took full advantage of not having to share the spotlight with Fleetwood Mac and spent plenty of time between songs chatting with the crowd and sharing the secrets behind her many hits.

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Review Stevie Nicks Lincoln, NE December 5, 2016

Stevie Nicks tells the stories, then sings the songs at arena Monday
BY: L. KENT WOLGAMOTT
Lincoln Journal Star - Photo Gallery

Photo: Kristin Streff, Journal Star

For more than two hours Monday, Stevie Nicks hosted an episode of the old VH1 show, “Storytellers” at Pinnacle Bank Arena, spinning out tales of how and why songs were written, before and after they were performed.

And many if not most of those songs weren’t instantly recognized by the 6,500 in the hall as Nicks, eschewing the usual “greatest hits” superstar show, mined some deep tracks from throughout her career -- dating back to “Crying in the Night,” a song she wrote in 1971 -- and mining “24 Carat Gold: Songs from the Vault,” her 2014 album made up of what she called her “trunk of gothic musical mysteries.”

Performing with her superb six-piece band, led by guitarist Waddy Wachtel, along with a pair of backing singers, Nick’s husky but pure voice was at its finest and she was engaging and often funny telling her stories.

So, we learned that “Starshine” the lead track of the new album was written in Tom Petty’s basement, that “Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dream)" was indeed inspired by Bella and Edward and is her favorite song and both “Stand Back” and “Edge of Seventeen” were responses to songs by her “strange little friend” Prince.

The latter was among the hits “Gold Dust Woman,” “Rihannon” and “Landslide” that brought the show to the close. But the first hit out of the box was “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” on which she was joined by Chrissie Hynde, who along with Wachtel did Petty’s part on the duet.

Hynde and her band The Pretenders opened with a bracing, hour-long set that, once the sound got dialed in, found her at peak vocal form -- she flat nailed the ballad “Hymn for Her” and the band ripped through a few songs from “Alone,” the new album and lots of hits. It was, simply put, one of the best sets I’ve seen at the arena.

Nicks, by the way, did not mention her previous appearance at the arena at the Fleetwood Mac show that was cut short by Mick Fleetwood’s illness. Instead she told stories and really sang her songs.

Stevie Nicks Wants a New Fleetwood Mac Tour, Not a New Fleetwood Mac Album

Stevie Nicks is currently out on her 24 Karat Gold tour, promoting her recent solo album. But as far as recording a new album with Fleetwood Mac , Stevie believes the band shouldn't waste their time.

Before Fleetwood Mac launched their most recent tour, they worked on some new tracks without Stevie. While Mick Fleetwood suggested the tracks might be released with just Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie singing, Stevie doesn't buy it. "You can never say never, but I don’t think that will happen," she tells ABC Radio.

That doesn't mean Stevie's ready to join her bandmates in the studio, though.

"The only reason that I don’t really wanna do a record is because I think that, in a year and a half, we’ll probably go out and do another Fleetwood Mac tour, since Christine has come back," she explains. Christine McVie rejoined Fleetwood Mac in 2014 after a 16-year absence.

Stevie thinks touring is the better plan, simply because of Fleetwood Mac's dynamics.

"Do we want to go and close ourselves up in a studio for a year, [and] make a record that’s really good but that probably won’t sell, because records don’t really sell that much?" she asks. "And then we'll have been stuffed together for a year in one room, and...when you come out of that room, we may notwant to go on a tour!"

The logical solution, Stevie says, is to skip making a new record, and simply hit the road.

"I think that we should choose the tour over the record," she tells ABC Radio. "Because touring is much more fun than making a record when you don’t have any idea how that record’s gonna come out."

Copyright © 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

Stevie Nicks Announces NEW 2017 Shows

Stevie extends her 24 Karat Gold Tour into 2017 with 20 new dates beginning February 23rd in Reno, NV. Amex Presale begins Dec 7th. General on sale Dec 12th. Info at www.stevienicksofficial.com

FEB 23 - RENO, NV
FEB 25 - Salt Lake City, UT
FEB 28 - Portland, OR
MAR 2 - San Diego, CA
MAR 6 - Tulsa, OK
MAR 8 - Memphis, TN
MAR 10 - Bossier City, LA
MAR 12 - Austin, TX
MAR 15 - New Orleans, LA
MAR 17 - Columbus, OH
MAR 19 - Raleigh, NC
MAR 21 - Orlando, FL
MAR 23 - Jacksonville, FL
MAR 25 - Charlottesville, VA
MAR 26 - Baltimore, MD
MAR 29 - Indianapolis, IN
MAR 31 - Pittsburgh, PA
APR 2 - Newark, NJ
APR 5 - Manchester, NH
APR 6 - Long Island, NY

Review Stevie Nicks and The Pretenders - Chicago December 3, 2016

Stevie Nicks dazzles at the United Center
by Althea Legaspi
Chicago Tribune - View the Photo Gallery

Photo: United Center

Stevie Nicks' recent musical forays may find her mining the past to cast songs in a new light, but in so doing, she's forged a strong path forward, filtered through the wisdom she's gained. At United Center on Saturday, the icon breathed new life into decades-old songs, revisited early underrated treasures and peppered in megahits to satisfy superfans and recent acolytes alike in a two-hour set that reinforced that timeless songwriting endures.

Nicks is currently on her "24 Karat Gold Tour," which features live takes on newly recorded, previously unreleased demos culled from her storied, 40-plus-year career, which appear on 2014's "24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault." The set also featured material from her first two solo records, 1981's "Bella Donna" and 1983's "The Wild Heart," which were reissued last month, as well as some of her Fleetwood Mac songs.

And though the latter material, which included an affecting "Gypsy" and a rousing, extended "Gold Dust Woman," were fan favorites, there was a certain freedom to be found in her solo work. Nicks is a perpetual role model: a trailblazer who's had a valiant career alongside her trials, from overcoming substance abuse to tangled relationships, and come out stronger.

Nicks' mystique and bewitching charm permeated the show, from her signature flowing black dress paired with shawls and capes to her trademark twirls and sultry rasp with its enchanting, indelible hue, though time may have slightly compressed her range. She also pulled back the curtain on the origins of many songs, which added a rare, welcomed intimacy to the set.

This gave insight into tunes such as the standout "Starshine," which she wrote in Tom Petty's basement, and the disco-fueled "Stand Back," which was inspired by the late Prince. Her humorous admission about the oldest song in the set, 1973's Buckingham/Nicks song "Crying in the Night" ("At 22, I don't know where these words came from") showcased that her poetic musings don't have to be literal to evoke emotion. "Wild Heart" and a sterling "Rhiannon" were also highlights.

Songs such as the affecting set closer "Landslide" and "Edge of Seventeen" sagely referred to the passage of time. Though written three decades prior, these songs' themes of love and loss seemed to resonate more deeply with age. The soothsaying chanteuse's gifts extended to her choice of collaborators. Chrissie Hynde — whose stunning voice buoyed her rocking opening set with The Pretenders, which also included timeless hits ("Brass in Pocket") and newer gems ("Alone") – joined Nicks for the awesome "Stop Dragging My Heart Around." Hynde also discussed religious tolerance, the only political statement of the night, before performing "Holy Commotion."

In an era that can be rather antagonistic and ageist, particularly towards women, both Nicks and Hynde's performances were empowering. Beyond surviving, they've persevered, and continue to excel at their craft. "Crazy as life is," Nicks advised at the end of the show, "Stay in the path of love."

Review Stevie Nicks and The Pretenders at MSG New York City December 1, 2016

Stevie Nicks and The Pretenders Rise Above the Fray at Madison Square Garden
by Andrew Unterberger
Billboard

Embed from Getty Images

The legendary rock acts paired for a night of musical perserverance during Nicks' 24 Karat Gold Tour stop in New York.

"It's a pleasure to be back in New York with a message of love!" declared Chrissie Hynde, legendary frontwoman for Rock and Roll Hall of Famers The Pretenders, as her band indeed launched into the martial swing of their 1981 classic "Message of Love" on Thursday night (Dec. 1). After beginning their opening set with two riotous numbers off the group's fine new LP Alone, "Message" properly jolted the packed crowd at Manhattan's Madison Square Garden to life, and Chrissie & Co. took it from there, captivating with an expertly paced set that reminded why the group still has to be included in any discussion of the greatest active rock bands.

Despite leading with some new songs and making a couple early deep-cut detours (Hynde's 2014 solo single "Down the Wrong Way," Get Close paean to femininity "Hymn to Her"), the band mostly kept to the hits and the fan favorites afterwards -- even indulging the crowd with a singalong of 1994 power ballad "I'll Stand By You." But the now-quintet kept it tight throughout, and though Martin Chambers -- the only original member remaining besides Hynde -- may no longer quite live up to Chrissie's billing of him as "The World's Greatest Rock Drummer," the group still shredded their way through ragers new and old with typical Akron-via-U.K. muscle. (Appropriately, Hynde got some of the biggest cheers of the night when she rolled up the sleeves on her Elvis T-shirt.)

The Pretenders stayed mostly apolitical throughout their set, though perhaps inevitably for a show by a punk-bred band in the year 2016, there was a sense of desperation throughout, as songs like "My City Was Gone" took on extra significance, and even the group's more personal numbers felt as hefty as hymns. Hynde introduced their latest single "Holy Communion" as a song about "religious tolerance," but then shortened that to just "tolerance," declaring hopefully: "If you're answering to him" -- pointing skyward -- "You're probably going to be all right."

Of course, the real figure of worship for Hynde on stage was her touring partner, the iconic singer/songwriter and Fleetwood Mac frontwoman Stevie Nicks, who Hynde gushed about throughout her set ("It's like being on tour with Elizabeth Taylor!"). The Church of Stevie was definitely in session from the opening songs of her headlining set, and her lead disciple even came back on stage to serve as her Tom Petty on a stellar duet of Nicks' breakout solo hit, "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around." "I'm gonna marry her," declared an ecstatic Hynde after the performance. "So don't get any ideas."

Even with that early moment of fan wish-fulfillment, Nicks made it clear early in her set that crowd-pleasing wasn't going to be her primary goal for the evening. "It's not gonna be the same show that you're used to seeing," she warned of her gig to come, instead promising "magical gothic things from my gothic trunk of secrets and mysteries." What followed was a set full of little-heard rarities like "Starshine," a reject from 1981 solo debut Bella Donna that eventually ended up on 2014's 24 Karat Gold - Songs From the Vault and "Crying in the Night," a Buckingham-Nicks-era favorite that Nicks rarely played live before this tour.

The centerpiece of the performance was undoubtedly "Moonlight (A Vampire's Dream)," the dramatic power ballad whose recording reinvigorated Nicks' solo career in the early '10s, and which she now calls "my favorite song I've ever written." The singer/songwriter, cultivating a family atmosphere throughout the evening with her convivial storytelling -- even the introduction of her band, which she promised to keep brief, was deeply felt enough to take ten minutes -- explained the origins of the song as having been inspired by the doomed romance at the heart of the Twilight film franchise. "There's nothing like a tragic love affair," Nicks concluded.

For most of her set, Nicks kept Fleetwood Mac material to a minimum, only including 1982's "Gypsy" among her first 14 songs. It was enough delayed gratification that when her drummer launched into the arid, cowbell-led clomp of the Rumours closer "Gold Dust Woman," the building erupted in release. That rapture that only built through set closer "Edge of Seventeen" -- with a "When Doves Cry"-cribbed outro, paying tribute to Nicks' late friend Prince, who she'd previously talked about building early hit "Stand Back" with -- and first encore, the witchy-woman all-timer "Rhiannon."

The night closed with the Mac perennial "Landslide," and 40 years and hundreds of covers later, there's still nothing that properly prepares you for the sound of Nicks' simultaneously gravelly and feathery wisp intoning that first "Took my love, and I took it down..." In a time of national tumult and insecurity, the song can't help but take on a "Hallelujah"-like resonance, and its healing powers were on full display at MSG as the crowd belted every word along with their leader. "Rise above the fray," Nicks advised as her band exited. "Get in your car, and turn it up."

SETLIST

The Pretenders:

Alone
Gotta Wait
Message of Love
Private Life
Down the Wrong Way
Hymn to Her
Back on the Chain Gang
I'll Stand By You
Holy Communion
My City Was Gone
Stop Your Sobbing
Don't Get Me Wrong
Mystery Achievement
Middle of the Road
Brass in Pocket

Stevie Nicks:

Gold and Braid
If Anyone Falls
Stop Draggin' My Heart Around (w/ Chrissie Hynde)
Belle Fleur
Gypsy
Wild Heart
Bella Donna
Enchanted
New Orleans
Starshine
Moonlight (A Vampire's Dream)
Stand Back
Crying in the Night
If You Were My Love
Gold Dust Woman
Edge of Seventeen

Encore:
Rhiannon
Landslide

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