The Ledge - Rock goddess Stevie Nicks can still keep crowds on edge

CONCERT REVIEW - Rock goddess Stevie Nicks can still keep crowds on edge
By JAY N. MILLER
For The Patriot Ledger

Stevie Nicks, at 59, is still a galvanizing rock queen, her bandleader/guitarist Waddy Wachtel is an overlooked national treasure, and in or out of Fleetwood Mac, Nicks wrote some of the most enduring rock songs of the past 30 years.

Those were the major impressions after last night’s two-hour tour de force concert by Nicks and her 10-piece band - seven musicians and three backup vocalists - and better than 12,000 fans at the Tweeter Center danced, sang along and roared in approval every step of the way.

Nicks’ 13-song setlist covered most of her solo and Mac signature songs, with a couple of surprises tossed in. Most were extended with dramatic arrangements, the longest being a 20-minute ‘‘Edge of Seventeen,’’ which closed the main set, with Nicks spending the last five minutes shaking hands with every front row fan she could reach. Nicks’ superb band, and especially Wachtel’s inventive guitar leads, made most of those excursions quite compelling, but a little editing might have allowed for more songs.

Before beginning her second song of the night, ‘‘Dreams,’’ Nicks thanked the audience ‘‘for sticking with me through all the years,’’ and she seemed touched by the crowd’s warm response. Most of all on this sultry night, Stevie Nicks was reveling in the spotlight, happy in her work.

A piano solo intro to ‘‘Rhiannon’’ soon gave way to the rocking tune about a mythical Welsh witch that is her signature, and Wachtel’s jagged guitar leads gave the old chestnut new edge, as Nicks belted it out with elan.

The musical highpoint may have been ‘‘Gold Dust Woman,’’ with began with a long Wachtel guitar solo, and rode a guitar/keyboard drone effect that made the raw emotion in Nicks vocal that much more effective. A feverish race through Tom Petty’s ‘‘I Need to Know’’ was one surprise.

Nicks explained that ‘‘Landslide’’ is about family ties, and on this Father’s Day she dedicated it to her dad, Jess, who died in 2005. She sang the song with just Wachtel on acoustic guitar as photos of Nicks and her parents flashed on the video screens.

That marathon ‘‘Edge of Seventeen’’ was a killer, but the first encore of Led Zeppelin’s ‘‘Rock and Roll’’ was even better, wild and raucous fun where Nicks seemed like a kid again.

Chris Isaak’s 70-minute opening set was equal parts roots-rock ’n’ soul, tart comedy and rock star parody. During the South of the Border ballad ‘‘Return to Me,’’ Isaak strolled up the aisle, all the way to the lawn seats, collecting handshakes and kisses. Tunes like ‘‘Somebody’s Crying’’ and ‘‘Wicked Game’’ showcased Isaak’s vocal chops. Wachtel joined the Isaak band for a romp through Cheap Trick’s ‘‘I Want You To Want Me,’’ and Isaak even made James Brown’s ‘‘I’ll Go Crazy’’ into blue-eyed soul in that four-song acoustic set. And who could top his encore of the surf-rock noir song ‘‘Blue Hotel’’?

Stevie Nicks
At Tweeter Center, last night.