Stevie Nicks Live at Royal Farms Arena – Baltimore, MD 3/26/17 (Part 1)
No need for introductions. Stevie Nicks graced Baltimore with her presence at the Royal Farms Arena a , performance that will definitely remembered by all who attended. Regarded by many as the Queen of Rock N’ Roll, Nicks, almost 69 mind you, showed us why she has earned that title for life. Honestly, the only bad moment of the night was not being able to see Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders as the openers (Chrissie unfortunately fell ill and was not able to perform). So other than that little setback, Nicks gave a performance I shall remember for a long, long time. A bucket list item of mine for a long time, Nicks started the evening off with “Gold and Braid,” a fan favorite which is not on any album if you already didn’t know. “Stunning” was the word that immediately came to mind. “If Anyone Falls,” off of 1983’s The Wild Heart was next and just as good. Now I had heard Nicks likes to tell stories associated with songs she performs, and those in attendance got a good dose of that, with the first of many tales being how the next song,”Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” came to be, with her friend Tom Petty way back in 1980. After “Belle Fleur,” the first Fleetwood Mac song finally was played with the popular “Gypsy” bringing the crowd to its feet for the duration. Towards the end, Nicks began to twirl in a circle just like she did in the video in 1982 and the roar from the audience was deafening. Now this being a solo tour, I was hoping she would play some obscure songs from her immense catalog, and I would get my wish as “Wild Heart,” “Bella Donna,” “Enchanted,” and “New Orleans” all came next in that order. The biggest surprise of the evening was still yet to come in my opinion, but the rocker “Stand Back” was played before that happened. Again the crowd was at attention dancing in their seats. Another story on why the next song was being played on this tour preceded it and then Nicks performed “Crying In The Night” off of the 1973 album Buckingham Nicks. I would have bet money this wouldn’t have ever happened and I would have lost, as Nicks has not performed songs off of this album for a long time, but here I was witnessing this mesmerized. Stevie then saved the best songs for last as she broke out the Mac tunes everyone patiently waited for. “Gold Dust Woman” was first and that lasted twelve minutes. “Edge of Seventeen,” an iconic song for her off of the quadruple platinum Bella Donna, ended the set list before the rest of the Fleetwood Mac songs “Rhiannon” and “Landslide” completed her show as the encores.
Now I wasn’t the only Shockwave representative there as our own Robin Ervolina flew up from her Florida home to see and photograph this incredible show and saw first hand just like me, what we had been missing all these years with not seeing Stevie perform. From a different perspective, here is a brief observation on the show.
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“I’m usually completely happy photographing a show, then sitting back and enjoying the music without the pressure of writing a review. That being said, I found myself spellbound (yep, I said it) so much so that I went home with a fist full of notes. You can read some of my observations in the captions of the photos below.”
Stevie Nicks ended the concert with an edict. One of the most inspiring people I’ve ever stood in a room with. “People thought I was someone and I acted the part because I believed it. I painted the picture. I built the field. Go out there and get your dream.”
Stevie Nicks was a soundboard shoot, meaning all photographers stood at the back of the arena by the soundboard. We were blessed with a four-song set to shoot, which would have been ample had the audience sat down at any point during those first four songs. I can’t blame them, but they did present a challenge. Here’s Nicks and someone’s blurry head.
At some point this thought entered my head and never left: Now I believe in witchcraft because this is magical.
You will thank me and curse me for telling you that “Little Red Corvette” is the song that inspired “Stand Back.” Stevie states upon hearing she immediately penned her tune, then called Prince to get his permission. He drove to the studio and played on the mix. Go on and play it now. You’ll never be able to unheard it.
