REVIEW Stevie Nicks Live on Halloween in Huntsville, AL

 A night at The Orion with Stevie Nicks

“Welcome, Huntsville!” Nicks said after her first couple of songs. “We all know it’s Halloween, right?”

By Anna Mahan

TVLiving.com

Photo: Josh Weichman

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (TENNESSEE VALLEY LIVING) - There are many reasons why Stevie Nicks is considered the queen of rock and roll. If you caught her show at The Orion Amphitheater in Huntsville, you know why.

It was October 31st, a sold out show on Halloween under the night sky. What could be more Stevie Nicks than that?

If the crowd wasn’t already excited enough, the lights dimmed and Tom Petty’s “Runnin’ Down a Dream,” kicked off the show as an introduction to the witchy woman’s highly anticipated arrival.

Tom Petty’s voice faded and was replaced by the familiar notes of “Outside the Rain.” Nicks walked on stage in her black boots with a long black skirt and corset top to match. She clutched the mic draped with ribbons sparkling along the side.

The audience met her with a warm, loud welcome. From “Outside the Rain” she made a smooth transition to Fleetwood Mac’s iconic “Dreams.”

The way she sings these songs and tells the stories behind them, it’s evident the music is part of who she is at her core.

“Welcome, Huntsville!” Nicks said after her first couple of songs. “We all know it’s Halloween, right?”

The crowd, decked out in shawls, top hats and Halloween costumes responded with a loud cheer and wide-eyed wonder. The new amphitheater was filled with fans around Nicks’ age, to a new generation of music lovers.

Eight-thousand people in the crowd together, we all seemed to fall under a trance as the band played.

Throughout the night, Nicks took time in almost every song to turn her attention to her eight band mates on stage.. She would look at them in awe, dancing and rocking out alongside of them. Nicks, 74, spent a lot of time next to lead guitarist, Waddy Wachtel, 75, who played plenty of mean licks to go round.

Nicks shared many stories with the audience that night. One of them was about how when she isn’t quite feeling herself, she takes the mattress off her bed and covers it in old quilts and paper flowers and becomes old Stevie, the gypsy that remains. Cue the song.

That night, the crowd got a glimpse into Nicks’ gypsy, and our very own.

Because she’s Stevie Nicks, she wore four different shawls throughout the night. One of which was the original shawl she wore on the back of the 1981 album, “Bella Donna.” She joked about how she throws it around like an old blanket, yet it’s still in perfect condition. Must be some kind of Stevie magic.

As the night went on, the queen of rock and roll continued to open up. When the first chords of “Soldier’s Angels” began to play, Nicks spoke about how hurt she was for the people of Ukraine. She dedicated the song to the country as the their blue and yellow flag was shown on the screen behind her along with QR code to donate.

When she sang “Gold Dust Woman,” Nicks, the crowd and myself all went wild. She danced and whirled around the stage in a gold shawl, not letting go of the audience for one second.

“Edge of Seventeen,” is the first song of Nicks’ I ever heard thanks to Jack Black’s iconic movie, “School of Rock.” Hearing her sing it live was a dream come true along with “Landslide.”

With another nod to her late friend Tom Petty, Nicks gave a lot of energy to “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” and her beautiful rendition of “Free Fallin” as photos of the two old friends danced along the video-screen behind her.

Before any of us knew it, Nicks had been playing for a little over an hour and a half and the night was beginning to wind down.

The lights went dark as Nicks told everyone not to leave just yet, but to wait for a special Halloween gift she had for us. A minute went by and the band walked back on stage all in witch hats.

We all heard the opening notes to “Rhiannon,” before Nicks floated back on stage in a purple cape and a witch hat to match. The whole amphitheater, Nicks, her band and everyone in the audience was dancing along in a dreamy trance.

The band played for a while before they began to say their goodbyes. Nicks twirled around stage with her cape following every move she made. The band came together and bid us all adieu with a couple of bows.

“Well, that’s the best Halloween I can ever remember having,” Nicks said as the audience cheered in agreement.

The lights came back on and we all realized what we just experienced. If you were there, you know what I’m talking about. And if you ever get the chance to see her, do it.

Stevie Nicks closed out The Orion’s first season and I can’t imagine anyone better for the job.

Until we can see her again, we pick up the pieces and go home. Rock on, gold dust woman.

REVIEW Stevie Nicks was triumphant in Tampa

Review: Stevie Nicks stupefies and hypnotizes in very sold-out return to Tampa

With some heavy tributes to Tom Petty, too.

Photo and Review By Josh Bradley

CL Tampa

“I want you to know that I don’t know how hard that hurricane hit you, because I don’t live here, but we all worried. All over the world, we worried about you every day,” Stevie Nicks admitted to an almost brimful MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre on Tuesday night.

It goes without saying that against all odds, Tampa Bay got off fairly easy from Hurricane Ian. But even the 74-year-old Fleetwood Mac frontwoman knows that Ian is only a fraction of what made 2022 such a shitty year in the news.

Nicks was angered enough to release a cover of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” earlier this year—penned by Florida boy Stephen Stills—which she  apparently wanted to record from a young age. “It’s always really fun to be a woman, and sing a man’s song, so I did that, and I tried to be very loyal to his version, but to sing it from my heart also,” she explained.

She also reminded us that voting season has arrived, and that we had better not sit the midterms out. “I never voted until I was in my mid-‘60s. What a shame, oh the shame,” she added, citing tour and studio schedules as her excuse.

Then there was the time she was gifted a hand-painted box for her birthday last year, crafted by a Ukrainian artist named Julia. Days after her birthday, Nicks—who had befriended Julia—got a text from her, saying that she was in the process of escaping the country and preparing to seek refuge. In honor of her—and her entire country—Nicks then dedicated a heartfelt rendition of “Soldier’s Angel” to Julia, while graphics of the ailing country flashed behind her. Once done, she encouraged the packed crowd to donate a few dollars to Save Ukraine.

Other than said moments of solemnity, every other ounce of Nicks’s performance was triumphant. Clad in her standard black dress and wiccan-esque regalia, her nine-piece band—not featuring ex-Heartbreaker Benmont Tench III due to scheduling—kicked things off by launching into “Outside The Rain,” which oh-so-smoothly segued into “Dreams,” the latter of which featured no cranberry juice, or, in Nicks’ case, roller skates. Just the majestic twirls and fringed-up microphone she's embedded into our minds.

That didn’t mean that there would be no wardrobe adjustments, though. She had three different cloaks and capes in her vicinities. She sported one drenched in gold sequins that went down like a scarf on “Gold Dust Woman,” and another black one with gold hearts on “Stand Back.” Most notably, however, Nicks was draped in the exact cape she wore on the back cover of her 1981 Bella Donna album.

“It is in perfect condition,” she bragged after twirling around to prove it. “I really don’t get it, but it just keeps on truckin’.”

Twice did she remember her old friend—and ours—Tom Petty, who died five years ago this month. While introducing “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” Nicks told the story of how her at-the-time boyfriend Jimmy Iovine managed to get Petty and the Heartbreakers—who he had produced Damn The Torpedoes for a few years prior—to help spawn a hit for Bella Donna by duetting on the Petty-Campbell-penned track.

The second remembrance came at the start of the encore, in the form of a “Free Fallin’” rendition. If you didn’t shed some tears or at least take off your hat for that one, are you even a true Floridian?

She didn’t skip over “Edge of Seventeen,” which everyone going up to the packed lawn knew was about to be performed based on the tempo of the drums that opened the song. She also didn’t forget to salute the Fleetwood Mac songs that put her on the map in the first place. “Landslide” was a strange way to follow the 10-minute-long epic that was “Gold Dust Woman,” but guitarist Waddy Wachtel provided the acoustic accompaniment for the one tune that has been performed just about every time Nicks has hit a stage, which was penned in a really dingy house belonging to her friends.

“Rhiannon” was presented as one final witchy spectacle at the tail end of Nicks' all-too-short 105-minute set.

“It’s almost Halloween!” She announced afterward. “I’m just getting myself ready.”

Nicks may take a bit longer to prepare herself, but I’m certain that everything majestic about her has a few thousand witches and wizards of Tampa Bay fully ready.

REVIEW Stevie Nicks Puts a Spell on Charlotte, NC

Stevie Nicks puts a spell on Charlotte at the PNC Music Pavilion

A packed house saw Stevie Nicks perform songs pulled from her acclaimed career as a musician.

Author: Nathaniel Puente

WCNC Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — After nearly a half-century of releasing music with the likes of Fleetwood Mac, and Tom Petty, and on her own during her illustrious solo career, Stevie Nicks has just about done it all.

At 74 years old, Stevie could call it a career and be remembered as a wonderful performer who made some tremendous songs. But Stevie Nicks is not done wowing audiences and releasing musing just yet.

Nicks made a stop in Charlotte at the PNC Music Pavilion on Saturday as part of her 2022 United States tour that was canceled in 2021 due to COVID-19 cases.

The 2022 shows are Nicks's first performances since before the COVID-19 pandemic began. She told the audience that the gap made her appreciate her music even more.

That appreciation was on full display as Nicks gave it her all on some of her most beloved songs.

Nicks and her band opened with "Outside the Rain" from her solo debut album Bella Donna (1981). The song faded into "Dreams," one of the most popular songs Nicks made with Fleetwood Mac.

Songs were pulled from both her time in Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist. "Gypsy," "Stand Back," and "Edge of Seventeen" were some of the most prominent songs of the night that got the raucous crowd even further amped up.

Every twist and twirl Nicks made on stage brought exuberant cheers from the crowd, which filled up just about every seat and lawn spot the PNC Music Pavilion had to offer.

In between songs, Nicks would tell stories about the track's origin and how she felt at the moment writing the lyrics.

Before "Landslide," Nicks told a story about her early days as a struggling musician when she was in a relationship with Lindsey Buckingham, who would join her in Fleetwood Mac just a year later. 

Before "Soldier's Angel," Nicks pleaded with the audience to donate to the Ukraine war effort. She also requested for people in the crowd to vote in the upcoming midterm election, noting that she voted for the first time in her mid-60s.

Throughout the night, Nicks paid tribute to Tom Petty, who died in 2017. She played the acclaimed duet she recorded with Petty, "Stop Dragging My Heart Around" and covered Petty's "Free Fallin'" as photos of the pair flashed on the concert monitors.

Those in attendance were beyond thrilled watching the "high priestess," as opening act Vannesa Carlton dubbed her, in action. The show proved why Nicks is a premier entertainer even to this day. 

Nicks told the Charlotte crowd she plans to come back to the area for a future tour.

FLEETWOOD MAC AUCTION From The Lives and Careers of John McVie, Christine McVie and Mick Fleetwood

 

JULIEN’S AUCTIONS ANNOUNCES “FLEETWOOD MAC: PROPERTY FROM THE LIVES AND CAREERS OF CHRISTINE MCVIE, JOHN MCVIE AND MICK FLEETWOOD” AN EXCLUSIVE AUCTION TAKING PLACE IN BEVERLY HILLS SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3RD AND SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4TH AND STREAMING ONLINE AT JULIENSLIVE.COM

An auction celebrating three members of the iconic band Fleetwood Mac, that includes the personal items of John McVie, Christine McVie and Mick Fleetwood. This collection represents over fifty years of stage-played instruments, wardrobe, touring gear, memorabilia, jewelry, furniture, and more.

A Portion of Proceeds will Benefit MusiCares

Highlights from John McVie’s collection include…

• A 1976 Rumours Photo-Matched Custom Alembic “Continuously Fretted” Stainless Steel Fingerboard Electric Bass Guitar.
• A 1976 Prototype Alembic Series 1 Graphite Neck Through Electric Bass Guitar.
• A Peter Green Gifted 1962 Fender VI Six-String Electric Bass Guitar.
• A Royal Albert Hall Stage-Plated 1960 Fender Precision Electric Bass Guitar.
• A Stevie Nicks Gifted Surfboard.
• A 1953 First-Year Gibson EB1 Violin Body Electric Bass Guitar.
• A 1965 Hofner Club Electric Bass Guitar acquired by John McVie during the Peter Green era of Fleetwood Mac.
• A Rare 1970 First-Year Fretless Fender Precision Electric Bass Guitar.
• A “Songbird” Stage-Played Photo-Matched Ernie Ball Earthwood Acoustic Bass Guitar.
• A Black “Little Lies” Music Video Played Video-Matched 1980s Kramer Ferrington Electroacoustic Bass Guitar.

Highlights from Mick Fleetwood’s collection include…

• The Rumours stage-and album cover-worn hanging balls and signed art print.
• An iconic stage-played Talking Drum.
• A 40-inch Stage-Played Zildjian Traditional Gong.
• A “Bare Trees” RIAA “Gold” Record Award.
• A Bill Clinton Signed Drumhead and Farewell Concert Setlist.
• A Harry Styles Pleasing “Shroom Bloom” Campaign Ensemble.
• A vintage 1967 Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac Debut “7th Annual Jazz and Blues Festival Windsor” Poster.
• A studio-played DW Collector’s Series Rumours Snare Drum.
• A black felt crow top hat custom-made for Stevie Nicks by Mick Fleetwood with two attached taxidermy crows featuring a wide black ribbon hat band.
• A 1998 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Award.
• A stage-worn ensemble worn by Mick Fleetwood on various tour stops.

Highlights from Christine McVie’s collection include…

• A Rumours photo-matched album cover-worn dress.
• A 1960s stage-played, chopped, and customized touring Hammond B-3 Organ.
• A Stage-Played Yamaha C3 Baby Grand Piano.
• A Yamaha E3 Series Disklavier Electric Piano with custom “Christine F*cking McVie” slipcover.
• A 1969 Christine Perfect Melody Maker “Pop Poll Awards Top Singer” award.
• A circa 1960s stage-used Hammond Leslie Rotary Speaker.
• A stage-and event-worn naavy and green polka dot Thea Porter dress.
• A “Gypsy” American Video Award.
• A black Four Seasons of London hooded coat.
• A stage-played Weltmeister LM-25-12 Bandmaster Accordion.
• A rust-colored, Velvet Blazer worn by Christine McVie to the 1998 Brit Awards.
• A black velvet biker-style “Songbird” patch jacket ensemble stage-worn by Christine McVie during a live concert performance at First Direct Arena, Leeds.
• A pair of black, lace-up Zadig & Voltaire combat boots worn by Christine McVie to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at Barclays Center on March 29th, 2019 and throughout the 2018/2019 Fleetwood Mac Tour.
• A 2018-2019 “An Evening with Fleetwood Mac” dressing room road case with portable Yamaha Keyboard and accessories.
• A 2018-2019 “An Evening with Fleetwood Mac” tour traveling vanity case.

Fleetwood Mac: Property From the Lives and Careers of Christine McVie, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood Limited Edition Catalogue Box Set.

For more information visit Juliens Auction

Stevie Nicks Reschedules Phoenix and Woodlands Shows

Stevie Nicks postponed her October 6th show in Phoenix, AZ and rescheduled it to November 5th. All tickets will be honored for the new date.

The Woodlands, TX show scheduled for October 9th has also been rescheduled to November 2nd.

The two shows were postponed due to a non-covid respiratory illness and Stevie's Doctors have advised that she needs vocal rest.

Stevie Nicks enjoyed two triumphant nights in Southern California

Stevie Nicks Current Tour A Joyous Celebration Of A Rock Icon By Both Fans And Artist

by Steve Baltin

Forbes

At the time of his death from cancer in 2016, David Bowie was widely and rightly regarded as arguably the greatest rock star of all time. Certainly, he is very high on the short list. However, Bowie did not have a top ten studio album in the U.S. from 1983's Let's Dance to 2013's The Next Day.

Fame is an insanely fickle game. And you can take all the top scientists and statisticians in the world, lock them in a room for a year and they would never be able to figure out the algorithm for fame. It does not exist.

Take the case of the iconic Stevie Nicks. This past weekend Nicks enjoyed two triumphant nights in Southern California, first headlining night one of Eddie Vedder's Ohana Festival Friday night. She followed that with a sold-out show Monday before an adoring crowd at the Hollywood Bowl.

So, what changed? As stated, it's hard to know for sure since fame is determined by so many moving parts. But one can point to quite a few factors and speculate. There was the insane TikTok "Dreams" phenomenon that catapulted that Mac song back to the top of the charts. Then there was Nicks induction into the Rock Hall as a solo artist in 2019. And, maybe most of all, the incredible admiration she has received from a new generation of stars, from Harry Styles and Taylor Swift to HAIM. So between TikTok and Harry Styles billions of fans under 20 have had a chance to discover Nicks and her status as a true rock and roll queen. On Friday, at Ohana, Pearl Jam frontman Vedder joined Nicks to sing the Tom Petty portion of "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around."

Maybe far more important than what brought about the well-deserved renaissance is that, as she showed at both shows, Nicks is thriving with the adulation. Nicks has been very careful touring as a result of COVID so in the last few years she has done only a handful of appearances.

It was very evident watching her last weekend how much she missed the road. During a show-stopping "Gold Dust Woman" she twirled and danced around the stage with the reckless glee of a 20-year-old in a mosh pit. Between songs she engaged with the audience so much that during the Bowl show, before the beautiful "Soldier's Angel," dedicated to the people of Ukraine, she joked with the crowd about being on a script so as not to run too long and go over.

She told stories about why she chose to cover Buffalo Springfield's 1967 classic protest anthem, "For What It's Worth," as her latest single, and about the creation of "Landslide." That she could make the crowd laugh as she told a story about writing it in a random millionaire's mansion, then bring the crowd to tears with a perfect version of one of the 10 most poignant songs ever penned in rock was just part of the magic of these shows.

So maybe the better question is what makes these shows so special to Nicks, who is clearly at the absolute pinnacle of her performance because she is so clearly loving being on the road.

Again, this would be speculation, though I did speak to the forthcoming and captivating Nicks for 90 minutes in 2020. At that point she offered a profound tribute to fallen friends like Tom Petty, who she honored multiple times at the Bowl. She came out to Petty's "Running Down A Dream" and covered "Free Fallin,'" in the encore. At the time of our talk she spoke about losing so many friends.

So maybe having suffered so much loss, Nicks is appreciating being on the road and the rapport with her friends with a renewed vigor. Or maybe she just missed touring. Whatever the case may be Nicks showed at both shows the admiration and love between her and her growing legion of fans is very mutual and appreciated by all. The result is an incredibly joyous evening celebrating a true rock icon.