Charlotte Show

[SisterNightroad]

Review | Stevie Nicks reminds me: We’re strong

I can never remember a time that I didn’t consider myself a feminist. Even as a little girl, I never considered myself “less than.” I never doubted that I could do what I wanted to do. So this week I wonder: Why is that?

Part of it was probably that my mother was often the main breadwinner in our house, devoted to a job she didn’t always like but that kept us insured while my dad floated from psychology and social work to construction jobs.

The other part, I think, was growing up watching women such as Stevie Nicks, Debbie Harry, Chrissie Hynde and Madonna – women who wrote their own songs, headlined their own shows, and worked with men but didn’t rely on them for their success. This was normal to me.

Watching Nicks and Pretenders frontwoman Hynde on Thursday at Spectrum Centre, I was reminded of that early female power. The endurance of Nicks’ friendship with backup singer Sharon Celani, who has been with her since the start of her solo career, plus her obvious generosity as a boss whose band members have been with her for decades, and her witchy-earth-mother persona, were reminders of her strength and ours.

I’d been worried by reports of the 24 Karat Gold Tour’s “VH1 Storytellers”-style vibe that the show would be a low-key one, heavy on ballads and adult-contemporary songs.

But the format was what made it so special.

Nicks seemed stiff her last time through town, with Fleetwood Mac. This night, freed of having to squeeze in Mac’s plethora of hits, she was physically looser, vocally stronger, and spoke at length and off the cuff.

She and her eight-piece band – coming on after a Pretenders’ set where Hynde sported an Elvis tee and a smoky voice that’s still perfection – reveled in lesser-known tracks. Those included “New Orleans,” which she wrote as Hurricane Katrina loomed, and “Starshine,” which she cut from an album because she didn’t like the label-approved version.

“Because I can do that,” she said. “Girl Power.”

Her stories about writing the encore “Leather and Lace” for Waylon Jennings and Jessie Colter, and its evolution – on the advice of then-boyfriend Don Henley (who would tell her, as she was writing it, when the song wasn’t working) – were precious and funny.

She performed “Bella Donna” and “Wild Heart” – title tracks to her first solo albums – in the same silk chiffon shawl she donned on the back cover of “Bella Donna.” The garment is intact after 35 years, she said: a testament to the fabric.

The most emotional performance was “Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dream),” a song inspired by the second “Twilight” film that launched Nicks back into recording after a self-imposed, nine-year break. And “Crying in the Night” was a treat for fans of the pre-Mac “Buckingham/Nicks” album: It stood up, 45 years after being written.

Nicks performed expected hits, from “If Anyone Falls” and “Dreams” to “Stand Back,” “Rhiannon” (“that brat, she joked) and the set’s pre-encore capper, “Edge of Seventeen.” That featured photos of Prince – “the white-winged dove” – projected above the band. Nicks ended the song with a line from “When Doves Cry.”

“Gold Dust Woman” served as a showstopper, with Nicks dancing and shaking her hair, then challenging the audience – many of whom were in her age bracket – to do the same when they got home.


Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/ent...#storylink=cpy

The article has nice pictures.

[singertobe]

The Charlotte show was awesome but they needed to do something about her mic at the end

[SisterNightroad]

Stevie Nicks & The Pretenders ~ The Spectrum Center ~ November 10, 2016 ~ Charlotte, North Carolina

Stevie Nicks rolled in Charlotte, North Carolina on November 10 and she brought the Pretenders along with her on her 24 Karat Gold Tour. Now, just stop for a moment and process something. Those two acts have almost 100 years of musical experience between them. Just take a few minutes to think about how amazing that it and of all the amazing music that they have given to us. With that in mind, we knew that we were in for a treat at this show because we were about to witness musical royalty up on that stage.

Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders opened up the show and they hit the stage will guns a blazin’! They kicked off their set with a two-fer from their latest album with the title track and “Gotta Wait.” The house really got fired up when they ripped into “Message of Love.” They included all the staples including “Back on the Chain Gang,” “I’ll Stand by You” and closing with “Brass in Pocket.” The band was very tight and sounded great! I’ve known for a long time that Chrissie Hynde is a bad-ass, but you don’t truly get to appreciate that at its fullest until you see her perform live. She can definitely school a lot of up and coming artists on the right way to do things.

Stevie Nicks came out after a short break and may I start off by saying that she looked absolutely stunning. Not only was she visually stunning, she was also vocally stunning as she was spot on with all of her songs. The setlist did lean heavily on her solo work (“Edge of Seventeen,” “Leather and Lace” and “Stand Back”), but she did include several Fleetwood Mac songs (“Dreams,” “Gold Dust Woman” and “Rhiannon”). Although it wasn’t a huge surprise to many who were there (thanks to the internet) Chrissie Hynde joined Stevie for “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” and took on Tom Petty’s part. Stevie delivered a very impressive mix with her setlist and props to her touring band that were absolutely phenomenal. One of the coolest things that we saw happen, more than once, was when she would start a song and someone would turn to the person next to them and say ‘oh my god; I forgot about that song!’

I don’t think that you’ll be having tours like this one thirty years from now with the caliber of talent that this one has. Artists like Stevie Nicks and Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders are in very short supply in the younger, up and coming bands in today’s industry. We may never see artists with careers spanning 30 to 40 years anymore and the industry needs special artists like that. I think everyone walked out of the Spectrum Center knowing that they had just witnessed something very special. If this tour is due to make a stop in your hometown, then we highly encourage you to get there and check it out. We guarantee you that you will not leave disappointed.

Check out our pix from the recent Stevie Nicks and The Pretenders show at The Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina on November 10, 2016. Click on the image for a larger view!



http://www.immusicmag.com/2016/11/st...orth-carolina/


(The picture are actually gorgeous, so take a look at them.)