Anyone go to the Cleveland show tonight?

[michelej1]

Cleveland Plain Dealer
http://www.cleveland.com/popmusic/in...e_nicks_t.html

Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks team up for a crowd-pleasing tour opener at The Q in Cleveland, despite rough edges

Published: Saturday, July 21, 2012, By John Soeder, The Plain Dealer

Between them, Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks have two of the raspiest voices in show business.

So perhaps it was to be expected that a double bill featuring these Rock and Roll Hall of Famers was a little rough around the edges.

Nonetheless, the old pros delighted a middle-aged audience Friday night at The Q in Cleveland, where Stewart and Nicks -- baby-boomer reality check: they’re 67 and 64, respectively -- launched the 2012 installment of their Heart and Soul Tour. Reported attendance was 10,000, although the top sides of the arena were curtained off.

Following a warm introduction by Stewart, Nicks got the ball rolling with a surging rendition of Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” -- a bold and inspired choice. Between verses, Fleetwood Mac’s resident sorceress rattled a tambourine, kicked up her high-heeled boots and let it be known that she can still work a shawl like nobody’s business.

To her credit, Nicks didn’t take the easy way out by simply coasting on past glories. She sang four selections from her latest album, 2011’s “In Your Dreams,” some of which worked better than others.

“For What It’s Worth,” which Nicks said was inspired by a cross-country bus trip, was a pleasant, country-tinged highway song. Less impressive was “Soldier’s Angel.” Its heart was in the right place -- Nicks wrote it after visiting wounded veterans -- but the music itself was droning.

Nicks has lost some of her vocal range (which was never too expansive to begin with), although it didn’t stop her from belting out “Gold Dust Woman” and “Rhiannon” with panache.

Predictably, the loudest cheers during her set were reserved for those ’70s Fleetwood Mac standbys and the ’80s solo hits “Edge of Seventeen” and “Stand Back.” Guitarist Waddy Wachtel, a longtime Nicks sideman, embellished the latter number with some wonderful slide work. He also expertly provided finger-picking accompaniment on “Landslide,” which made for a poignant encore.

Stewart sounded wobbly on his opening number, the O’Jays oldie “Love Train,” but quickly hit his stride for “Some Guys Have All the Luck” and “Having a Party.”

He soon brought Nicks back onstage to join him on a couple of duets. Unfortunately, they didn’t quite click.

Nicks was out of her element on Stewart’s “Young Turks,” whose breathless swagger wasn’t particularly well-suited to her style. “The First Cut Is the Deepest,” which Stewart crooned by himself later, would’ve been a better fit.

For his part, Stewart appeared lost during Nicks’ “Leather and Lace.” Still, he got a big laugh when he pantomimed wriggling out of a pair of panties while Nicks sang: “Take from me my lace.”

You might blame opening-night jitters, except Stewart and Nicks did the same two songs together on the road last year.

Stewart fared better on his own during an “unplugged” segment that included charming, string-laden versions of “Have I Told You Lately,” “The First Cut Is the Deepest” and “Ooh La La.”

He proved fully capable of rocking out, too, to the tune of Chuck Berry’s “Sweet Little Rock ’n’ Roller.” As for the tried-but-true bit during “Hot Legs” where Stewart kicked soccer balls into the crowd, it never gets old.

By the time he wheezed through “Maggie May,” his voice was shot, although it rebounded sufficiently in time for him to call it night with a rambunctious “Shake Your Moneymaker.”

Even when he couldn’t hit the notes, his charm and sense of humor never failed him. Toward the end of the show, the video screen flashed an old quote from Stewart about how he didn’t still want to be singing “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?” when he was 50, lest be become a parody of himself.

And there was, well into his 60s, still singing it.

Self-parody? Maybe. If you can’t laugh at yourself, though, the joke’s on you.



STEVIE NICKS SET LIST:

Rock and Roll

Secret Love

Dreams

Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dream)

Gold Dust Woman

Stand Back

Soldier’s Angel

Rhiannon

For What It’s Worth

Edge of Seventeen


ENCORE:

Landslide



ROD STEWART SET LIST:

Love Train

Some Guys Have All the Luck

Having a Party

You Wear It Well

Rhythm of My Heart


Young Turks (with Nicks)

Leather and Lace (with Nicks)


Forever Young

Downtown Train

Have I Told You Lately

The First Cut Is the Deepest

Tonight’s the Night

Ooh La La

Sweet Little Rock ’n’ Roller

Proud Mary (band only)

You’re in My Heart (The Final Acclaim)

Hot Legs

Maggie May


ENCORE:

Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?

Shake Your Moneymaker