Thursday, July 03, 2008

Stevie Nicks - Jones Beach Photos 2008 Tour

Jones Beach Amphitheater - June 28, 2008

Photos by: Wayne Herrschaft

Lindsey Buckingham maps summer road trip

Lindsey Buckingham has lined up a headlining tour this fall as the Fleetwood Mac singer/guitarist continues to work out distribution details for his next solo album.

Buckingham, who mounted his first solo tour in almost 14 years last spring behind his 2006 release, "Under the Skin," will kick off the fall trek Sept. 7 in Saratoga, CA.
The 27-date outing includes a lengthy West Coast leg through much of September before heading on to the Midwest and eventually ending in the East. Details are included below.

Buckingham's most recent studio set, "Under the Skin" follows 1992's "Out of the Cradle." The singer said he was inspired to get to work on his latest solo effort after reuniting with Fleetwood Mac for 2003's "Say You Will."

The musician told Billboard.com earlier this year that he's planning another solo album for release later this summer, one that he recorded with members of his touring band along with Fleetwood Mac bandmates Mick Fleetwood and John McVie.

The forthcoming album "has a little more of a rock feel to it" than "Under the Skin," Buckingham said. "It's just another group of tunes that hopefully will translate to stage, and hopefully we can get some more [solo] dates this summer." The singer has also told various interviewers in recent months that he hopes Fleetwood Mac will mount a tour behind a new studio album next year.

Earlier this year, Buckingham released "Live at the Bass Performance Hall," a live DVD documenting the musician's performance last year at the Fort Worth, TX, venue. The package is available in a bonus set that includes more than 45 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage, and an accompanying audio CD with the same track listing as the DVD.


September 2008
7 - Saratoga, CA - Mountain Winery
9 - Seattle, WA - Moore Theatre
10 - Portland, OR - Newmark Theatre
12 - Lake Tahoe, CA - Harrah's Casino
13 - San Francisco - Venue to be announced
14 - Los Angeles, CA - Royce Hall @ UCLA
16 - San Diego, CA - Humphrey's Concerts By the Bay
18 - Phoenix, AZ - The Orpheum Theatre
19 - Anaheim, CA - The Grove of Anaheim
20 - Las Vegas, NV - The Joint
22 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Depot
24 - Denver, CO - Opera House
26 - Tulsa, OK - Brady Theatre
28 - Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theatre
29 - St Louis, MO - Pageant

October 2008
1 - Cleveland, OH - House of Blues
2 - Chicago, IL - House of Blues
4 - Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theatre
5 - Indianapolis, IN - Eygptian Theatre
8 - Toronto, Ontario - Music Hall
10 - Reading, PA - Sovereign Performing Arts Center
11 - Atlantic City, NJ - Trump Taj Mahal
14 - Northampton, MA - Calvin Theatre
15 - Ridgefield, CT - Ridgefield Play House
17 - Boston, MA - Berklee Performing Arts Center
18 - Glenside, PA - Keswick Theater
19 - New York, NY - Nokia Theatre

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Shots of Holmdel, NJ show.

Pics from the last show... Holmdel, NJ - June 29, 2008.

Photos Courtesy of: john214x (the ledge)

Friday, June 27, 2008

Nicks lacks spark

Nicks lacks spark
By Bill Thompson
June 26, 2008


Stevie Nicks brought a treasure trove to National City Pavilion Thursday night.

It included a handful of legendary songs (“Rhiannon,” “Dreams,” “Gold Dust Woman” and “Edge of Seventeen”), a dazzling array of shawls, vintage video that chronicled her career since she joined Fleetwood Mac in 1975, and photographs that paid homage to her late father, Jess.

She also brought a talented 10-piece band and more than 30 years of experience as a big-time rock star.

What she didn’t bring, however, was a spark; that certain something that sets a concert apart from a rote reading of greatest hits.

The majority of the 3,000-plus fans didn’t seem to mind. They stood and cheered from the first notes of “Stand Back,” yelped when she went into her patented twirling dervish moves (made even ... twirlier ... by silhouette lighting), and waited patiently during extended instrumental breaks while she changed from a black dress to a white one, then a different white one.

Folks love their Stevie, and it’s not surprising. She’s the real deal, a bona-fide Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer-songwriter who was at the core of one of the most popular bands of all time.

But that’s precisely the reason she should be held to a higher standard. Even though Nicks turned 60 last month (she’s closer to the edge of seventy than seventeen), she’s still in fine voice. But the stage show settled for ritual -- an interminable trip across the front of the stage to shake hands with every member of the front row of the audience while a security guard held her from behind -- instead of a passionate performance of those classic tunes, which had women in the crowd high-fiving each other despite the lackluster delivery.

Nicks has settled for a comfortable niche instead of searching for that inner vixen that helped to fuel the phoenix that was Fleetwood Mac in its heyday. In a way, it’s understandable. She’s worked hard, and if the rumors are close to true, lived hard as well. She deserves to enjoy her success.

But it would be great to see some of the fire in her eyes that you hear in her voice on songs such as “Silver Springs” and “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.”

Ironically, it was during the simplest song of the night that Nicks allowed a peek behind the scripted banter. After dedicating “Landslide” to her father, she sang loud and clear accompanied by longtime compadre Waddy Wachtel on acoustic guitar, as the photos of her life flashed across the background.

Moments like those are what gives one hope that she will dig deeper to uncover her treasures next time around.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

“Our lipstick and boots are on!” (Toledo Show Review)

Nicks battles storms during late show at Toledo Zoo
By DAN FIRESTONE
BLADE STAFF WRITER

Stevie Nicks has a powerful song, “Storms,” from the Fleetwood Mac album, “Tusk.”

Perhaps she should have added that to her set Wednesday night while performing at the Toledo Zoo Concert Series.

A rain and lightning storm blew through the area just before the scheduled 7:30 p.m. concert and pushed back the start of the sold-out show until nearly 10.

Nicks will never doubt the faithfulness of her fans in Toledo, who waited the two and half hours in unpleasant weather to see the rock legend at only her second performance here and the first since 1986.

“Our lipstick and boots are on!” that familiar voice said over the loudspeaker near the end of the long delay, explaining she’d be out as soon as she was allowed. “We’re sorry about this damn rain!”

Soaked and more than ready to rock when the legendary singer finally took the stage, the crowd roared with the first beat of “Stand Back,” and stood for the next two hours as she carved through hits from her solo career, some of her finest tunes with Fleetwood Mac, and adding three songs from other artists.

In her traditional black dress draped by a red shawl, she followed with the perfectly fitting, “Outside the Rain,” from her solo debut album “Bella Donna,” then went right into “Dreams,” her No. 1 hit with Fleetwood Mac.

“Thunder only happens when it’s raining,” Nicks sang in the chorus as the crowd loudly joined in while getting drenched and basking in the irony of the lyrics. Nicks and her band were getting rained on to, but they seemed to go with the moment and never missed a beat as she was handed a large umbrella to perform under.

Again and again she thanked the audience for waiting, seeming genuinely appreciative of their patience. By then they didn’t seem to care and as the rain slowed and finally stopped, their energy rose.

For those familiar with seeing Nicks alone or with Fleetwood Mac, it’s on her solo tour she gets to engage the audience more with anecdotes about each song, her career or her life.

“We were all sitting around and someone said, 'If anyone falls in love, I hope it’s one of us,’ and I went home and wrote this song,” she said, then performed “If Anyone Falls,” a hit from her second album, “Wild Heart.”

It was also a refreshing change for those who have seen Nicks multiple times to see her change things up and add cover songs by Dave Matthews (“Crash”) and Bob Seger (“Face the Promise”). The former she said is part of her upcoming PBS special, and after hearing the latter, fans probably wish it was to.

Nicks is backed by an outstanding band, led by guitarist Waddy Wachtel, and backup singers, most whom she said have been with her since beginning her solo venture in 1979.

At age 60, Nicks showed she still has the vocals to rock with the best of them.

Maybe equally amazing is Nicks looks nowhere near her age. If that’s 60, God bless 60 (or at least He did with her.)

She started “Rhiannon,” with a delicate, slow version, just her haunting voice backed by a piano, then launched into a pulsating finish, one of the best songs of the night.

“Sorcerer,” was a song from her last solo album (“Trouble in Shangri-La,” 2001) but she harked back to the time it was actually written.

“It was 1973. Lindsay [Buckingham, her Fleetwood Mac bandmate and former boyfriend] and I were angst-ridden and we were poor. You know, great songs are written when you’re poor.”

“Gold Dust Woman” time-warped the baby-boomer audience right back to the ‘70s, as Nicks still delivers an amazing, stirring rendition of the song from the Mac’s mega-selling “Rumours” album.

“Landslide,” was especially moving, as Nicks dedicated the song, as she always has, to “my dad,” who died three years ago. The giant screen behind her displayed a photo tribute to him, taking the audience on a visual ride of her childhood and the final years with her father. Nicks was nearly drowned out by the audience who sang along to every single word.

After exiting for a moment, Nicks returned with her familiar top hat and ripped into “Edge of Seventeen,” finishing by reaching out to the audience, touching as many hands as she could.

It was still a full house when she came back for an encore, performing Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” and you can probably count on one hand the number of female singers who can do that justice. Nicks, of course, is one of them.

That was it because the long delay and a curfew didn’t allow her to showcase with a second encore, “Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You,” as ballad she has been doing on this tour and dedicating to the U.S. soldiers she’s been supporting with gifts of iPods and visits.

But it had been a long night, and most didn’t even know that, and it had been a long wait for Toledo to have Nicks here again.

Rain or shine the tickets say.

It rained, and Nicks shined.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

GIFT OF SCREWS TOUR!

If the title of the tour wasn't coming from his own website, I would not have believed it!.... GIFT OF SCREWS TOUR! How appropriate!!

Lindsey Buckingham's website indicates these are the dates for his Sept/Oct shows:

Sun, Sept 7 - Saratoga, CA - Mountain Winery
Tue, Sept 9 - Seattle, WA - Moore Theatre
Wed, Sept 10 - Portland, OR - Newmark Theatre
Fri, Sept 12 - Lake Tahoe, CA - Harrah's Casino
Sat, Sept 13 - San Francisco - tbd
Sun, Sept 14 - Los Angeles, CA - Royce Hall
Tue, Sept 16 - San Diego, CA - Humphreys
Thu, Sept 18 - Phoenix, AZ - The Orpheum Theatre
Fri, Sept 19 - Anaheim, CA - The Grove of Anaheim
Sat, Sept 20 - Las Vegas, NV - The Joint
Mon, Sept 22 - Salt Lake City, UT - Depot
Wed, Sept 24 - Denver, CO - Opera House
Fri, Sept 26 - Tulsa, OK - Brady Theatre
Sun, Sept 28 - Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theatre
Mon, Sept 29 - St Louis, MO - Pageant
Wed, Oct 1 - Cleveland, OH - House of Blues
Thu, Oct 2 - Chicago, IL - House of Blues
Sat, Oct 4 - Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theatre
Sun, Oct 5 - Indianapolis, IN - Eygptian Theatre
Wed, Oct 8 - Toronto, ON - Music Hall
Fri, Oct 10 - Reading, PA - Sovereign PAC
Sat, Oct 11 - Atlantic City, NJ - Taj Mahal
Tue, Oct 14 - Northampton, MA - Calvin Theatre
Wed, Oct 15 - Ridgefield, CT - Ridgefield Play House
Fri, Oct 17 - Boston, MA - Berklee Performing Arts
Sat, Oct 18 - Glenside, PA - Keswick Theater
Sun, Oct 19 - New York, NY - Nokia Live

Also, this must be the title of the new cd coming in August otherwise why use the name? Finally after all these years, a cd that was being put together and worked on in the 90's as a solo release which ended up being shelved is finally going to see the light of day...

The track listing will have to be drastically different then the bootleg copies floating around since a couple of the tracks ended up on his last cd Under The Skin and on the last Fleetwood Mac cd Say You Will.

Soundstage.... Season 6 - Stevie Nicks

I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!

After six years of incredible shows, Soundstage is proud to present one of our best line-ups yet with a diverse roster of legendary and chart-topping performers worth staying in for.

Liven up your summer and tune in each week as Grammy nominated Josh Groban kicks of a phenomenal season with performances by Bon Jovi, Kenny Chesney, Matchbox Twenty, REO Speedwagon, and Stevie Nicks!

Check your local PBS station listings for Stevie's airdates beginning in July. SOUNDSTAGE