Hollywood Bowl thoughts?
 

Went to the show last night. The Heartbreakers were great - as usual.
I thought Tom seemed like he's slowed down a bit. Definitely shyed away from the high notes and has mellowed a lot with his delivery. Still a great band nonetheless. There were some fantastic Grateful Dead moments that I loved.
Stevie sounded great. Insider was phenomenal. I do wonder though, if her presence takes away from the purity of the Heartbreakers. I wonder if it would have been better if she just did the two songs (Stop Draggin and Insider) rather than I Need To Know and the other songs she does back up on.
It almost felt like she was drawing too much attention to herself.
Just my thoughts. It was great to see them together again. It had been 25 years since I saw them on the Hard Promises tour.

I'm not trying to be critical for the sake of being critical - I just wonder if
within the context of the Heartbreakers, Stevie might be better off just standing at the mic and singing (as she does on Insider) instead of busting out the hat w/ the feathers and the shawls, and the spins, etc. The crowd was riveted - not a soul was talking in the entire Hollywood Bowl (except for the drunk asshole in front of me who decided to deconstruct the history of Fleetwood Mac during the entire song). And I wonder if all the Stevie Nicks cliche stuff detracts from her stellar singing. Her secret weapon is her gifted vocals. And sometimes I think it would be refreshing to just see her use her voice for what it is - argueabely the strongest rock voice we've heard since Janis Joplin. I think it's quite astonishing that Stevie still has such command of her singing - it might be better and stronger these days then it ever has been.

Since this tour is about Tom Petty's "highway companions," I think it's fine to give the guests a little more stage time than usual. Since all of the songs Stevie sings on are written by Petty, I'd imagine his fans wouldn't mind too much seeing that they are still Petty songs. Stevie and Tom came up together in the music scene, so I would hope that people would appreciate the history they have and not view her as an outsider. :shrug:

I agree. I don't get what anybody has against an extra superstar performing and adding to the show. Here in Dallas, a radio personality that went to the concert had problems with Stevie being on stage for the last few songs.

I was surrounded by people who were completely surprised by her appearance - and were thrilled! It seems to me that Tom Petty has always had the laid back sort of personality and appeal that lends itself well to a "guest" addition.
Personally, I was so happy to see Stevie so lively!

It just amazes me how clueless people can be. She was in the LA Times ads for the show that she'd be "special guest", KLOS was announcing ALL day as they were giving away tickets that she was "special guest"...and still people were stunned that she was there?!? :shrug:

a lot of people don't read the newspaper.
look what happened with the last two elections!

One person behind us said he didn't realize he was at a Stevie Nicks concert. But he was thrilled, and all he talked about before she showed up was if she would be there or not. Her presence was fine. She did her Stevie thing, and added to the show.
We had this girl next to us who had the loudest, sharpest, most blood curdling scream I have ever heard in my life. Murder victims make less noise. And when she did it she balled up her fists, tilted her head down, squinted, and tensed up her whole body. It was like having an ice pick driven into my ear. During the first song, this drunken bitch was jumping up and down on the stairs and fell flat on her inebriated ass. I howled with delight. She just sat there, as if it had been planned and kept with her carrying on. Now, I am hardly one to complain about someone else's having fun. She was cleary in a state of joy. Like the joy I would have felt if I could have snapped her neck and tossed her down the steep concrete stairs. An act that would have elicited applause and grateful sighs of relief from everyone within 50 feet of her screeching.

Ahhh, concerts.

thank you for 2 full minutes of incapacitating laughter. :xoxo:

Man, some of yer posts make ME howl. :lol: :laugh: :lol:

Thanks fer the laff. :thumbsup:

Am I the only one that saw Mr.Fleetwood there?! I just figured since it hasn't been mentioned - I'd throw it in......

People did go nuts when he intrduced her. I was getting a beer.



I can so see all of this. The Vegas stairs, keep in mind, are for the blue hairs who go see Screechine and Elton.

It was a good concert and a fun time. But, no, I wasn't particularly moved by it. I've seen them onstage together before. And, frankly, Frank, I have seen Homegirl sing SDMHA and INTK countless times. Insider was cool to see.
Maybe if I had been in the pit or if I had been drunk I would have been moved.

Oh, pretty much, I am nonchalant about it.:laugh:

The boys do put on a good show. I did have a hard time looking at Mike and constantly thinking he looked like a gene splice of Whoopi Godberg and Big Bird. But the music was awesome, and it was an interesting set list. That "Mystic Eyes" cover in the encore was suspect. With such a vast catalogue of great songs, why they chose that cover is beyond me. Especially for the encore. Minor quibble. It was a hoot. I am super excited about meeting Paula for drinks tomorrow night.

Oh, Sparky...how I DO love your posts...:xoxo:

rbs

I had to pee. And I was losing what little buzz I had.


I don't know that I am jaded in general. There is no doubt I am a Stevie veteran, which has a specific set of complications.



I am glad to hear it. You are right, I am world weary. And difficult to impress.

I like that he does covers. He always does them well. My only issue with that was that is was song 2 of a 3 song encore. Since very few people seemed to know it, the energy went down. It was a pacing problem. The encore should build like a bone crushing orgasm, not have a hiccup in the middle.


Rebels would have been a fun choice. Or The Apartment Song. I also like "One Story Town" quite a bit.

Oh, full on. For donkey's years. I have every record. Well, except for the greatest hits and the box set, anyway. I dig Tom.

Hey Mister. So bummed still that I missed you and Liv when I was in yer neck of the woods. :wavey:

It just occured to me why the show felt a little "off" to me:


It was pretty much hits. And I tend to not be a big fan of hits and singles.
There are SO MANY album tracks by the Heartbreakers that are perfect -

(All of Hard Promises, A few gems on Echo, etc.)

And what happened to The Waiting? - the best Tom song ever!

You're right ! Maybe he wanted to give it a break. Like he did with Breakdown.

Here's another one... listening to a Portland radio station this morning, a ticket package winner called in to give her review of the show... the DJ asked what she thought of TP and she replies "Oh he was great, it was a great show. The really neat thing is Stevie Nicks showed up and sang a few songs. Everybody was very surprised."

i'm not surprised at all.
if you work a 12 to 14 hour work day or if you have kids - or if you live in a city like me where there is no worthwhile commercial radio, it makes sense that a lot of people weren't aware of Stevie's appearance.
Her name isn't on the tickets and it's not on any of the marquees at the venues.

You have to remember that most of us are obsessed Fleetwood Mac fans.
You're average TP fan probably can go either way when it comes to Stevie.
So - I think it's nice that she's a surprise for most people.

When I saw Tom + Stevie in 81 on the Hard Promises tour it was a complete unannounced surprise and everyone was bowled over. It's nice to know that
it's still happening for some folks.

Mick was there???!!! Where did we see him?? ;) I don't know about you guys, but I LOVED LOVED LOVED Stevie's background vocal on Learning to Fly, American Girl and Don't Come Around Her No More...during which I threw my blonde head around like crazy, as she did!!!! :] :] My friends and I thought she had a little trouble with Insider since it was early and she wasn't warmed up...AAAND, it was cold out there!! Cold in L.A.??!! LOL :D

We saw Sharon in line picking up her tickets!! LOL We got our tickets from Will CAll and Sharon was in line with us!! LOL SHe actually sat by us LOL We waved to her and said Hi, and she waved back, looking a tad confused LOL

funny because i thought the harmonizing was fantastic on Insider.
i do remember something like a false start in the first verse - but it was a timing thing, which i thought was funny.

But other than that I was really excited by the time they got to the end -
to me it was like the same way I felt when I first watched Silver Springs on tv in '97.
The person I was with hates Fleetwood Mac (and Stevie) and she stood up and clapped and leaned over to me to say that she had to admit that they sound great together.

Have u heard from him recently?

I was in the second row..center..A TOTAL BLAST!

Mick was in the first row of boxes - to the left if you were facing the stage!
I was in the pool circle in front of him!

I saw him!!!:D