Saturday, December 17, 2016

Friday, December 16, 2016

'The Defiant Ones' Doc features Stevie Nicks - HBO 2017


HBO has announced it will be airing a four-part documentary on Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine, which chronicles their divergent roots and their unlikely partnership as well as addresses the moguls' influence and impact on pop culture. Directed by Allen Hughes (Menace II Society), The Defiant Ones features in-depth interviews with Dre and Iovine along with many diverse artists including Stevie Nicks.

Documentary to air on HBO at some point in 2017.

Rollingstone

Review Stevie Nicks Live in Vancouver Dec 9, 2016

How Stevie Nicks Blinded You With Nostalgia
by KRIS MCDERMOTT
Vancouver Weekly



Two years ago Stevie Nicks released her eighth solo album 24 Karat Gold: Songs From The Vault, to critical and commercial success. Online music database All Music dubbed the re-recorded set of demo songs ‘the best sounding record she (Nicks) has made since 1983’s The Wild At Heart’.

Fast forward to October of this year, where Nicks alongside her band and talented friends Waddy Wachtel (whom she met in the pre-Fleetwood Mac days of 1973) and backup singers Sharon Celani and Lori Perry (backup singer for Nicks since 1981) embarked on a 27 date 24 Karat Gold Tour in support of the album by the same name.

Now in the final stretch of the 24 Karat Gold Tour, Nicks found herself in Vancouver’s very own Roger’s Arena. Entering the converted hockey arena wearing a flowing but subdued black dress, Nicks let her accessory scarves do the flashy work for her on round one of her ever-shifting stage attire. The 68 years young Nicks has had no problem maintaining a legion of fans since her Fleetwood Mac debut 41 years ago alongside then partner Lindsey Buckingham, and this latest stop-off in Vancouver was no different.

As with all of her prior 24 Karat Gold Tour stop offs, Nicks’ opened the night with “Gold & Braid”, “If Anyone Falls”, and “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”, respectively.  

The tambourine-wielding Nicks was joined on stage by The Pretenders front-person Chrissie Hinde for “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”, as she has nightly this tour.Whatever nostalgia felt by the crowd for having witnessed Hinde open the night with The Pretenders followed by Nicks headlining the very same stage was trumped by the sight of the two powerhouses of rock sharing the spotlight at the same time.  It can be argued that the career of the 1998 Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame inductee Nicks has nothing left to prove. Though looking at Friday’s show as a snapshot, ignoring the over 40 top 50 hits, or the 140 million records sold Nicks was at times underwhelming.

The same fans that would sell Friday’s Stevie Nicks show as being ‘timeless’ or ‘flawless’ were among the many frequently checking their watches and peering about disinterested.

Though social media has largely dusted golden praise over the ‘reigning queen of rock ‘n roll’, what has widely gone underreported was the audio quality at Roger’s Arena Friday night. Early in the performance, the unaddressed concern about an audio mix saw long-time friend, touring guitarist, and backup singer Waddy Wachtel’s vocals overpower the conventionally (thought of as) powerful voice of Nicks. Tough to ignore for some, perhaps due to nostalgia many fans in the building seemingly did just that. However, it was not just a poor mix in the building responsible for a repetitive vocal tone that one wouldn’t quickly attribute to the legend had they not been there to see Nicks live.

Was fan-nostalgia to blame for the level of absurdity that came with the overjoyed cheering Nicks received simply for twirling in a circle? A move the artist has no doubt mastered since she could only pronounce her own name as ‘Tee Dee’, the origin of how Stephanie became ‘Stevie’ Nicks. Does this same overjoyed audience react with similar vigour when their three-year-old spins in the living room?

At the age of 68 and nearing the successful completion of an impressive tour, Nicks should be afforded some grace. The twirl move that was once saved for the crescendo of “Rhiannon” was in the defence of Nicks, resurrected due in part to her role as the White Witch on FX Network’s American Horror Story: Coven. Moreover, the move was often emulated by fan favourite character Misty Day, who played by Lily Rabe was infatuated with Nicks in the show.

After all, the public perception of Nicks has always been the rumoured witch’s most powerful spell. Numerous adulterous relationships, marrying her recently deceased best friend’s husband, multiple addictions and interband dramas have been the catalyst(s) to many an artist’s demise professionally; at least a dissolve in public opinion; not so, however for Stevie Nicks.

As evidenced Friday night, Nicks can twirl into the environmentally superconscious city of Vancouver wearing a fur jacket from head to toe, and not a peep of recreational outrage is heard out of the usually aghast (at such behaviour) Lotus Land.

The verbose and often erroneous explanations resulting in very little new information that took place between songs would be considered by any other artist to be the ramblings of a musician seeking relevance in the twilight of their career. With Stevie Nicks such long-winded loquacious tails were merely regarded as charming anecdotes.  

What can never be taken away, however, is the ability of Nicks to write masterpieces both lyrically and musically in her songs. The pursuit for relevance need not extend beyond the innate ability Nicks has to write beautifully accessible music. With the sensitivity of Nicks to capture emotion even decades after having originally penned (the piece), the integrity of her song writing was never once lost Friday Night in Vancouver.

Whether the Reigning Queen of Rock n Roll continues to go her own way post 24 Karat Gold Tour, or she picks up the pieces to go home; the landscape of music will forever be changed for the better thanks to the enigmatic sorcery of Stevie Nicks.

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Thursday, December 15, 2016

Photos - Stevie Nicks with The Pretenders Live in San Jose - December 14, 2016

Stevie Nicks & the Pretenders – San Jose (PHOTOS)
Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks came through San Jose to perform at the SAP Center (commonly known as the Shark Tank), bringing with her Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders. The “Musical Journey” as Stevie called the show, brought some great tunes and some great stories as Nicks reflected on her work over the years.

Photos by Clayton Lancaster - View Gallery


Review Stevie Nicks Live in Sacramento with The Pretenders - December 13, 2016


Stevie Nicks and the Pretenders: rock 'n' roll's leading ladies at Golden 1 Center
by Paul Piazza
Newsreview.com - View Photos

Two of rock ‘n’ roll’s longtime leading ladies held court at the Golden 1 Center earlier this week. Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac fame and Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders put on an epic rock show that showcased the enduring uniqueness of each of these women as songwriters and performers.

Midway through the raucous opening set by the Pretenders, Hynde paused and showed love to the locals when she said that she really enjoyed the “pretty view of all the trees outside [her] hotel window.”

“It reminds me of a place I grew up in the ‘50s,” she continued. With that, she and the band dramatically bounced into the familiar bass groove of the band’s iconic “My City was Gone.”

Naturally, the crowd knew the words to that song’s familiar refrain (“Ay, oh, way to go Ohio”), as well as the majority of the songs the band played. In fact, the audience, who mostly ranged in age from 45-75, seemed to have the majority of the Pretenders setlist embedded in their DNA. This is not ironic since most of the band’s biggest hits came out during the Reagan years, yet have more than endured the test of time with their wry socio-political-environmental bent that could easily be applied to the times we are about to enter.

Hynde, who turned 65 in September, reminded everyone why she has long been known as a badass as she strutted the stage with attitude and defiance. She blasted a group of cell phone wielding fans early in the show for ignoring her request for no video. When they put down their devices, some hard, punk-style dancing erupted on the floor as drummer Martin Chambers pounded out some hard-hitting beats.

While Hynde preferred to let her music do the talking, Nicks took a storyteller’s approach during her lengthy set. Among the many interesting anecdotes the 68-year-old told was a story about hearing Prince’s “Little Red Corvette” for the first time while driving down the highway as a newlywed. It inspired her to write the song “Stand Back” that same day. Later, when she called the Purple One to ask if he wanted to hear it, he came down to the studio and ended up playing an uncredited synth part that is essentially the catchy glue that propels the song.

Later, during “Edge of Seventeen,” images of Prince were shown on the backdrop. Nicks, 69, also had interesting tales about writing “Gold Dust Woman” as a teen in Arizona and also had a few about collaborating with Tom Petty. But perhaps her most amazing accomplishment that night was being able to twirl and do her signature scarf dance while wearing high heeled boots.

Hynde returned during Nicks’ set for the Petty-penned tune “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” a fitting moment as the pair belted out the tune side by side and further cemented their place as two perpetual paragons of rock ‘n’ roll in a year when many of the great ones of their era have fallen.