INTERVIEW: Stevie Nicks to return to PNC Bank Arts Center
 

Published: Friday, June 22, 2012, 7:00 AM
By Tris McCall/The Star-Ledger The Star-Ledger
http://www.nj.com/entertainment/musi...rn_to_pnc.html

Just before she died in January at 84, Barbara Nicks had parting words for her daughter.

"She told me to get back on the road," Stevie Nicks says. "She said ‘Don’t give up on your album. This is your little masterpiece.’ "

She was talking about Nicks' 2011 album "In Your Dreams," her first full-length in a decade, and one that plays as a tuneful summary of her career. Many of the singer-songwriter’s famous collaborators appear on the record: guitarists Mike Campbell and Waddy Wachtel both co-wrote songs with her, and her Fleetwood Mac bandmates Lindsey Buckingham and Mick Fleetwood make cameos.

Lovingly produced by Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics, "In Your Dreams" had all the hallmarks of a comeback set. When it debuted in the Top 10, it seemed likely that Nicks was headed for a big year.

Then fate intervened.

"I only really got to tour for two months," says Nicks. "That isn’t that much for a release like this."

She was supporting the album in Australia when she got the news that her mother, who always supported her desire to share her music and poetry with the world, was seriously ill. Nicks flew back to the United States at the conclusion of the tour to be by her side.

She remembers that she was apprehensive but confident. Women in the Nicks family, she explained, are long-lived.

"We knew she had pneumonia and emphysema, but we did not expect her to die. It wasn’t even on the table that we could lose her. When we did, everybody went into shock. I went home and basically went underground for five months."

Even though she knew her mother would have wanted her to keep playing, Nicks was paralyzed with regret. She hadn’t called home very much during the month she’d spent in Australia, and try though she did, she couldn’t absolve herself.

"I felt terrible. My mother always told me never to be guilty, but I couldn’t help it. I was not ready for her to go. And I couldn’t talk to anybody about it, either."

Instead, Nicks coped as she always has: She picked up her pen.

"I wrote about our relationship. Eventually, I’ll be able to share what I wrote, but I really went into her world. I went through scrapbooks of my mother and father, and found out about and thought about the people they were before they got married."

The encounter with her mother’s past recharged her. This summer, Nicks is doing what her mom told her to do: She’s back on the road, taking her new songs to amphitheaters and concert halls, including the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel and the Event Center at Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City.

"I have emerged from my cocoon," Nicks says. "Last year was when I made ‘In Your Dreams,’ and this is the year of telling people how much it means to me."

"In Your Dreams" returns to favorite Nicks themes: complicated relationships ("For What It’s Worth"), ghosts, hauntings, magic spells ("Moonlight") and romantic American literature (a rock version of Edgar Allan Poe’s "Annabel Lee.")

She also tackles more terrestrial subject matter. In "Soldier’s Angel," she wrestles with the profound emotions prompted by a trip to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. She’s been performing all these songs, plus others from the new album, alongside her classic material.

Unlike most big summer shows, though, hers is not a "greatest hits" concert.

"Whether it’s been in Fleetwood Mac or our solo tours," Nicks says, "we have all tried to put new songs into our summer shows. This is the first time it’s ever worked."

Nicks attempted something similar after the release of "Trouble in Shangri-La," her 2001 set. She found it unsustainable. By the end of the tour, almost all the new songs had fallen out of the set.

It is, she believes, a testament to the quality of "In Your Dreams" that audiences have been accepting the new material.

"I get to stand up there and be a creative artist," she says. "I get to be a new songwriter and throw some of that new magic out there, and marvel at how well these songs fit with the old ones.

"I can no longer ask people to buy records, because nobody buys records anymore. All I can do is say, ‘This is where I am right now, these are new songs. I want you to love them and feel them and listen to them. And whether you get the record or not, you’re going to hear them tonight.’ "

Thank you.That was a nice writeup.I wonder how did the ticket sales go for these shows.

Very nice. I don't actually believe those were Mrs. Nicks' very last words to Stevie though.

I like what she says about not telling people to buy the album, because they don't buy records anymore. That's not exactly true. But don't be afraid of people stealing your music, because I actually think that some free music will sell more albums or downloads. So, it's very nice that she's getting over that fear.

It's nice to see a batch of pictures -- and even letters -- from our parents from before we were born. I did that with my father and grandmother. I made scrapbooks and digital albums. If Stevie makes music from her discoveries it will be great.

Michele

I have not see tv ad's yet on her shows.Channel 4 WNBC runs the PNC and Jones Beach ads sometimes.Yes I"ve noticed the comment about she said about nobody is not buying music anymore.

It is nice to have an up to date interview with Stevie. Thanks for posting, Ed.

I LOVE that last paragraph. I love that Stevie has just accepted that her goal isn't to sell tons of CD's with this tour. Just us hearing her new songs live and enjoying them is victory enough for her. So lets all cheer extra hard at the first chords of the IYD songs and at the end.