Stevie needs to step it up!!!
 

Don't get me wrong, I worship this woman, and I'm sure after you all read this, you will give me a million reasons why she can't do it...

...but seriously, last week I saw 68 year old Paul McCartney play for 3 and a half hours. 38 SONGS!!!

Now, I'm not saying that Stevie should play for 3 1/2 hours or 38 songs (although I would die if she did)...but her setlist of late has only consisted of roughly 15 songs.

Wouldn't it be great if she would step up her game and perform 25 songs? Heck, I'd be happy with 20. Think of some of the rare gems she could bring back, or play for the first time ever (as evidenced by last night's "Love Is").

But I don't think it will ever happen. I know Stevie wouldn't be Stevie without the wardrobe changes, but I'd be just as happy if there were no wardrobe changes at all and more time spent on music.

Follow Paul's example, Stevie! We know you are capable of more!

Maybe she doesnt want to?
I go with the same theory...we all have opinions. I respect all opinions but I dont complain because I attend the shows. Would I like to see her sing every song from every CD yup! Do I complain about the same setlist year after year no. Its about support. Let her do what she wants. Its time to get over it people really.

just remember that stevie has been touring both solo and with FM fairly regularly since the Dance. i think Paul takes a lot of time off between projects.

but i agree about maybe stretching out the concerts a bit and shaking up the set a bit more. but, am glad she's still around performing. paul too, for that matter. i caught him on Letterman a few weeks ago (or was it Leno?) and I really liked his new song.

You're the second person this week I've heard rave about the McCartney tour, my best friend for decades saw him in Charlotte, NC and she said he was amazing, no maybe about it, she was amazed. Said he looked damned good for 68, too. (Though the audience depressed her!)
Who knew? I didn't-- that Sir Paul was such an impressive force, rocking out royally, live in concert, still!

I personally think that Stevie's 15 song setlist, as of last night, is long for her. I'm pleased.
One thing to consider is something most fans wouldn't want to even think of-- If not for the prolonged 'Edge of 17' and Edge-walk, we could seriously get another 4 songs in that time.
The Live 'Edge' from the long intro to the walk tends to run a good 16 minutes. In that time, we could get 'Candlebright', 'Kind of Woman', 'Sable on Blonde' and 'Sister Honey' and probably have time left for a real swift 'Imperial Hotel'- I'd love to hear her do all of those songs! That would bring her closer to a 20 song set, but it's unthinkable for her not to do 'Edge'.
Even in her 30s, Stevie never gave long solo concerts, I read a comment once where she said something like " From the time I first started, before Fleetwood Mac,I never wanted to be alone on the stage and sing 25 (?) songs a night" - though I don't remember the exact quote.
I think the most we'll ever get out of her will be right "on the edge of 17"--sixteen if we're lucky, songs in one night, and that's fine. It's Stevie Nicks!
For her to be doing 15 now is good, for her. A few years ago I saw a 12 song set at the flood show at Jones Beach, and the tide had shifted and gone out by her 3rd song, but it was a very cold and windy night. I think Stevie's stamina is quite good, but she simply may not have the physical strength to do a mega-long set. Singing is physically hard, and it is tiring, unless you have this super-strong constitution I don't think she's ever had, though she does well. To expect more than 16 songs out of her, I think we'd have to see her cut 'Edge' all-together, or not do the Edge walk, and then there'd be some disappointed people in the front rows. Hell, a short song like 'Imperial Hotel' could probably be sung for how long the intro alone to 'Edge' lasts!' But it builds drama and gives her time for a shawl change and a gargle before 'the walk' :)
Sir Paul doesn't do a 16 minute 'Helen Wheels' with a "wheels walk", does he? Har...

I'd much rather see 15 well-performed and sung songs than 30 songs where she looks miserable and sounds atrocious the entire time. The woman's 62 and those pipes aren't as durable as they were during the 70s. She's giving us what she can without compromising quality.

If you think older means not quite as good look at the carole king and james taylor tour this year..every show is a sell out pretty much.

Precisely. Stevie's voice is a brittle instrument. She's already done SO much damage to it over her career. I'd have to have it degraded further. Plus, she's decent about peppering in different songs through her various Mac and solo tours (notice I said peppering, not radically changing). If you don't like what you hear one year, wait until the tour the following year (Mac or solo).

Why does a topic like this ALWAYS pop up after opening night of a Stevie/Mac show?? It never fails.

Anyway, I don't think it's possible for her vocally to sing 25 songs in a night.

You also have to consider that the vast majority of Paul's hits with the Beatles have been in the 2-3 minute range, whereas Stevie's songs average around 5-6 minutes. And to be fair, Paul hasn't been sounding so great in concert lately- he's got that wobbly vibrato and he doesn't quite hit the notes like he used to. I suppose it's okay since he is a Beatle. But if Mama had a wobbly vibrato and didn't hit the notes, she would be trashed into oblivion. So, yes, quality over quantity, I say.

Stevie's set is at the very least average length and its longer then a lot of people's sets I've seen or heard of. The best comparison was in 07 I saw Stevie and Lynyrd Skynyrd in the same week. Now you'd think that a big tough southern rock band (with most members actually incredibly young now)would play much longer. But Stevie played much longer the LS. And Edge of 17 was way more epic then Free Bird.
Neil Young's show was about 2 and a half hours but there was a long intermission, something I'm gonna guess Paul Mcartney did. Stevie and Fleetwood Mac both don't do that break thing.

Now I'm not downgrading what people like Paul Mcartney, Bruce Springsteen and a few others do, with these 3 hour sets, 30+ songs. That would be a dream for any band I like to do that. But a 1 and a half to 2 hour show with 15 songs is not a short show. Stevie does not need to "step it up"

How is waiting until the next tour going to help when she basically doesn't change it? I wouldn't even call what she does to the set list peppering - I'd call it one shake of the shaker.

I'm feeling mixed about this. One part of me wants her to completely change her touring, and have a new set, longer set, etc.. The other part of me accepts everything, and I'm feeling much more this way after last night. She, imo, changed it up drastically in her own way. FFG as the opener, You Wreck Me :D, and even doing Love Is! I think after last night, we don't have too much to complain about.

lI agree. Let's go even further back in time and look at this past decade or so, too. Stevie HAS pulled out some big surprises and rarities none of us EVER thought we'd hear/hear again:

1) Sara
2) Beautiful Child
3) Storms
4) Love Is
5) Garbo
6) Gold & Braid
7) Rose Garden
8 ) Insider (with Tom Petty)
9) Sleeping Angel
10) I'm gonna include Silver Springs... who could have seen that one coming before The Dance?

And whether we like it or not (the overwhelming majority of us detest it), we never thought we'd hear Stevie do covers, especially some of them:

1) Crash
2) Rock And Roll
3) Face The Promise
4) Circle Dance
5) You Wreck Me

Stevie has also rotated in and out new and classic songs such as:

1) Sorcerer
2) Fall From Grace
3) Twisted
4) Has Anyone Ever Written
5) Beauty and the Beast
6) If Anyone Falls
7) After The Glitter Fades
8 ) Bombay Sapphires
9) Sorcerer
10) Planets of the Universe
11) Too Far From Texas
12) Goodbye Baby
13) Say You Will
14) Destiny Rules

Not to mention some of the duets/backing vocals she's done with her "famous friends" such as:

1) Stop Draggin My Heart Around w/ Tom Petty
2) New York Minute w/ Don Henley
3) Hotel California w/ Don Henley
4) Last Worthless Evening w/ Don Henley
5) Leather And Lace w/ Don Henley
6) I Need To Know w/ Tom Petty
7) American Girl w/ Tom Petty
8) Learning To Fly w/Tom Petty

I'm sure there's plenty I'm forgetting. Point is, Stevie truly DOES pull a rabbit or two out of her hat every year when she tours. She's still got plenty of songs I know many of us would LOVE to hear, but it's not fair to say she never does anything different, either.

I don't understand the hatred of the cover songs by the vast majority. I've never heard anything but praise when a band like Heart chooses to play a large amount of covers throughout their career. In fact fans expect there to be some Led Zep cover every concert. Tom Petty is to Stevie as LZ is to heart. Speaking of Tom Petty, theres another one who loves his covers. I can see people being upset over her doing specific covers over and over, but I juts don't get the anomosity towrds her wanting to do a few covers in her set. Especially since they all rock hard and 2 of the three are new for her. Thank god she isn't still doing Crash.

Another thing to consider with Stevie are her ankles, yes her ankles. There is a reason why she doesn't wear the boots all show long anymore. When I saw her last year with Fleetwood Mac she was moving around very tentatively, at one point she appeared to be supporting herself with her hand as she went back for a water. Now, I'm not implying that she should have a life alert bell around her neck ("I've fallen and I can't get up!") but she is a woman in her 60's and that's the same age my mom was when she started having arthritis problems, like Stevie my mom is just over 5 feet tall. My mom worked in an off ice and used to wear 5 inch heels every day. Today she can't wear a heel at all because her ankles and feet are so messed up from years of wearing high shoes.
Overall Stevie's in great health moreso when you consider the drug history. But I think her feet/ankles bother her more than anything else. Hey I'd love to see Stevie run and jump over the monitors on stage like she does during the '83 US Fest show, but not doing coke and 30 years of living will slow a person down.

it's not that we hate the cover songs but if stevie can do those songs that are clearly out of her vocal range and feel very out of place then why can't she do those songs of hers that she has not done in awhile like bella donna,talk to me,angel,sisters of the moon. she has to know that as fans those are the ones we want to hear.

I'm loving the current trend of artists performing albums in their entirety. I just saw Concrete Blonde do "Bloodletting" and it was fabulous. Last fall, Butch Walker did 4-night stints at different clubs around the country - performing his last 3 solo albums in their entirety and the final night of each run were songs chosen by his fans via Twitter.

Bella Donna front to back (back to front) with a few more solo/Mac songs and a kick-ass cover tune for the encore is at the top of my wish list!

I want to hear all her songs that she's NEVER performed before. Preferably the rockin' songs like Nothing Ever Changes, Sister Honey, Long Way To Go, Love Is Like A River, If I Were You, Straight Back, Freedom, Everybody Finds Out and bring back Running Through The Garden which only got performed live one time. Calmer songs I would love to hear are The Highway Man, Kind of Woman, Sable On Blond, Rock A Little, I Sing For The Things(as a show closer), Ghosts, That's Alright, One More Big Time Rock and Roll Star, Trouble in Shangri-La(the whole song, not the snippet she gave us in 2001). You get the picture?

Damn... I think you just created my dream set list! :woohoo:

I concur. On that note (no pun intended), I think with her current vocals Straight Back would sound amazing.

If I had my preference my setlist for her would go a little like this;

1. Sisters of the Moon
2. Rhiannon- Either the H.B.O.special slower and emotional, or the legendary midnight special- faster and angry charged aggression
3. Long Way to Go
4. Free Fallin- Petty
5. Illlume
6. At Last- James cover
7. Twisted
8. Smile at You
9. Outside the Rain
10. Dreams
11.Gypsy acoustic
12. Sara
13. Silver Springs
14. If you ever did believe
15. Fall From Grace
16. Nightbird
17. Goodbye Baby

Liking this setlist a lot too! However, and I thought I've heard every Nicks/Mac song available but somehow, although it might be slipping me but I've never heard freedom from her. Do you know where I can listen to this song or what album it is on?

Thank you!

Freedom was on Fleetwood Mac's Behind The Mask album from 1990. DAMNED good song. go to www.grooveshark.com and do a search for it. You can play the song for free and listen to it as many times as you'd like.

Thanks Louie! New to the board and I have read a lot of posts. It seems like a nice tight knit community here :D

Welcome to the fold! We're a fun, diverse, rowdy group. The Ledge has been around for over a decade, so it's kinda like a big extended family... squabbles and all. As long as you can roll with the punches, throw them back, and keep laughing you'll have a great time here.

And by the way, do let us know what you think of Freedom... that's one of my favs from Stevie. I love the fiery passion and snarkiness of it. Especially given the fact Stevie had enough tranquilizers in her system to take down a pregnant blue whale when she recorded it... :laugh:

Dude, "Freedom" is also one of my major favorites! I can still remember the first time I borrowed my Dad's copy of Behind The Mask and listened to that song. It grabbed me immediately and still hasn't let go.

I play this online roleplaying game called NationStates. And guess what? "Freedom" is my country's national anthem! :lol:

I reallly enjoyed the song Freedom... It has that attitude that speaks and appeals to the masses I think. What I like the most about the song is that it is the whole Stevie talking to you song; sort of like -this is the lesson for today; live and learn that everything has it's price including "Freedom." It is also one of her slower and muted yet totally rock and roll songs that I've heard! Great pick for a setlist. With her vocals as mature as they are now,this song would totally fit the bill in her set! Also thank you for the warm welcome!

hi im new and really lost on this website /: BUT i think it would be really cool if she did a little bit more. But im just happy that she's doing her "this is not a tour" tour :D & She's doing a new album, which is even more amazing. I cant wait til' she come to Atlantic City! Even if she does do 15 songs :)