Nicks steps onstage and back in time on new tour

[MacMan]

Boston Herald

Some stars reflect on past mistakes and claim they wouldn’t change a thing. Not Stevie Nicks.

The rock goddess, who plays the Tweeter Center tomorrow with Chris Isaak, may weave layers of ambiguity through her songs, but she’s straightforward about her desire to erase almost two decades of drug abuse.

Nicks battled a cocaine habit from 1977 to 1986, and almost immediately after, an eight-year addiction to the tranquilizer Klonopin.

“I would absolutely do it differently,” Nicks said from a tour stop in New York City. “Cocaine almost ruined my life. And if I hadn’t done Klonopin, I would have made two or three more fantastic albums. I lost most of my 40s to Klonopin and that really makes me mad, because your 40s are great. Maybe that’s why I see through 40-year-old eyes, because I lost my 40s, so I’m trying to get a little of my 40s

If Nicks is making up for lost time, she’s doing it in style. For her Crystal Visions Tour, the singer/songwriter has a girly new wardrobe that helps her slip into the persona of an ageless rock star even as she creeps toward 60.

“I think you really can feel the age that you want to be depending on where you are, what clothes you’re wearing, what boots you’re wearing, how your hair is. You can really keep yourself in a very youthful place if you want to. And I don’t really want to be 59. I want to be like 40, so I look at my life through 40-year-old eyes when it comes to going on the stage.”

Nicks’ tour supports her new “Crystal Visions” CD/DVD, which celebrates her solo work and with Fleetwood Mac.

Though the Mac roared back with 2003’s “Say You Will,” the groups future hangs in the balance with the departure of keyboardist/singer Christine McVie.

“I was very not inspired by not having Christine on the last tour,” Nicks said. “I miss her more than you could imagine, more than I could have even imagined. So I hope that one of these days, Christine’s going to get up in her English castle and say, ‘I’m bored. I’m going to call Stevie and I’m going to do this Fleetwood Mac thing one more time.’ Because I don’t know if I’ll be happy doing it again without her. It just doesn’t seem right to me.

While another solo album is also a possibility, Nicks is also interested in turning the Welsh mythological stories of Rhiannon into a movie, and making a cartoon out of a story she wrote at age 17 - “So that was like 100 years ago,” she said.

But while Nicks pokes fun at her age and escapes into a younger version of herself onstage, she also embraces growing older.

“In my real life I’m very much aware that I’m 59, because my life’s experience is based on 59 years,” she said. “And that part I really like, because I feel like I’m very wise now. I see mistakes coming and I avoid them. When I was 40, I didnt.”

[danax6]

Originally Posted by MacMan

“I was very not inspired by not having Christine on the last tour,” Nicks said. “I miss her more than you could imagine, more than I could have even imagined. So I hope that one of these days, Christine’s going to get up in her English castle and say, ‘I’m bored. I’m going to call Stevie and I’m going to do this Fleetwood Mac thing one more time.’ Because I don’t know if I’ll be happy doing it again without her. It just doesn’t seem right to me.

This is starting to piss me off more and more. First it was only an album, now she's bitching about a tour also. You know, when you think about it, a solo tour is not all that different from a Mac tour. Solo she still has a male guitarist (two even), a male keyboardist and a male drummer. Both times the only girls on stage are the back-up singers. So her whole 'it was too much of a masculine environment - too much testosterone' is not going to fly.

[Musicman408]

Originally Posted by danax6

This is starting to piss me off more and more. First it was only an album, now she's bitching about a tour also. You know, when you think about it, a solo tour is not all that different from a Mac tour. Solo she still has a male guitarist (two even), a male keyboardist and a male drummer. Both times the only girls on stage are the back-up singers. So her whole 'it was too much of a masculine environment - too much testosterone' is not going to fly.

I don't know if I agree about the bitching, but it is nice to see such a positive review of the tour and such.

[jannieC]

Originally Posted by danax6

This is starting to piss me off more and more. First it was only an album, now she's bitching about a tour also. You know, when you think about it, a solo tour is not all that different from a Mac tour. Solo she still has a male guitarist (two even), a male keyboardist and a male drummer. Both times the only girls on stage are the back-up singers. So her whole 'it was too much of a masculine environment - too much testosterone' is not going to fly.

Maybe what she's saying is that Fleetwood Mac, not touring itself, doesn't feel right without Christine. I can completely see why she would feel that way.

[Kelly]

Originally Posted by danax6

This is starting to piss me off more and more. First it was only an album, now she's bitching about a tour also. You know, when you think about it, a solo tour is not all that different from a Mac tour. Solo she still has a male guitarist (two even), a male keyboardist and a male drummer. Both times the only girls on stage are the back-up singers. So her whole 'it was too much of a masculine environment - too much testosterone' is not going to fly.

Just an excuse.

She knows full well that Christine won't tour..
At least she isn't blaming Lindsey directly this time.

[Musicman408]

Originally Posted by Kelly

Just an excuse.

She knows full well that Christine won't tour..
At least she isn't blaming Lindsey directly this time.

Yeah, it's just a clever diversion.

[SuzeQuze]

I'm happy that she's finally admitting that she would do things differently. No more bullsh*t about not changing a thing or she'd be a different person. Losing 20 years of your life to addictions isn't fun and it's good for her to admit that. Maybe she'll discourage someone from picking up by being so candid. Psychologists do say that addicts don't mature while using so Stevie probably really is only 39 emotionally.

[vermicious knid]

Note to Stevie: stop speaking fondly of Christine. Nobody wants to hear that kind of "bitching".

[Johnny Stew]

Originally Posted by danax6

This is starting to piss me off more and more. First it was only an album, now she's bitching about a tour also. You know, when you think about it, a solo tour is not all that different from a Mac tour. Solo she still has a male guitarist (two even), a male keyboardist and a male drummer. Both times the only girls on stage are the back-up singers. So her whole 'it was too much of a masculine environment - too much testosterone' is not going to fly.

The difference being... which fans seem to forget... is that a solo tour is a very different animal.

On a solo tour, if Waddy or Carlos want to do something that Stevie isn't on board with, she gets the final say. She's the boss.
In Fleetwood Mac, and without Christine, if the boys all want to do something a certain way, Stevie's completely outnumbered.

Sure, Sharon & Jana are there on stage with Fleetwood Mac, too -- but they're just hired guns. They're just there to flesh out the sound -- they don't get to have an opinion, and they're certainly not a part of the band dynamic. So they have absolutely nothing to do with whether the atmosphere of the shows is more "masculine" or more "feminine."

Christine, on the other hand, is an EQUAL, and obviously pulls more weight in the band than Stevie does -- otherwise, Lindsey wouldn't have gone on and on about how much more they could "rock out" and "be guys" without Christine there.

Stevie's certainly not the only one in the band who said that everything was far more "testosterone-driven" without Christine.

[Serrart]

Originally Posted by danax6

This is starting to piss me off more and more. First it was only an album, now she's bitching about a tour also. You know, when you think about it, a solo tour is not all that different from a Mac tour. Solo she still has a male guitarist (two even), a male keyboardist and a male drummer. Both times the only girls on stage are the back-up singers. So her whole 'it was too much of a masculine environment - too much testosterone' is not going to fly.

This is a rockstar who toured mostly with men for all her life. I really don't think what she misses is chatting about girlie topics with Christine McVie (even If I'm sure it must be great to see them chatting) but the fact that Christine's presence brings a balance in the egos battle during a Mac tour. Obviously last time she didn't have a great fun.

Romy

[Hawkeye]

Originally Posted by danax6

This is starting to piss me off more and more. First it was only an album, now she's bitching about a tour also. You know, when you think about it, a solo tour is not all that different from a Mac tour. Solo she still has a male guitarist (two even), a male keyboardist and a male drummer. Both times the only girls on stage are the back-up singers. So her whole 'it was too much of a masculine environment - too much testosterone' is not going to fly.

I think it's more of who's NOT on stage for her solo tours!

[GarboSpeaks!]

^^ What you all said. haha. I think when Stevie is on tour w/ Fleetwood Mac, that when Chris was around, if the guys rubbed her the wrong way, she could confide in Chris and Chris would get it. And the opposite I am sure. Though I am also sure Chris takes no s*** from anyone on a tour. But still. When SN is on tour solo, I specualte it's Waddy that's her confidant or rock. I don't think she has the relationship she used to have w/ her girls. I think they are still friends and all, but that "sisterhood" overwhelmingly felt in prior tours etc., seems long faded. I think what it all boils down to is that Stevie's nostalgic, and the SYW tour just wasn't like all the others. If there is another go round to be had, I think she really wants it to include Christine...like old times.

[danax6]

Originally Posted by vermicious knid

Note to Stevie: stop speaking fondly of Christine. Nobody wants to hear that kind of "bitching".

Thank you for twisting around my words, but that's not what I was saying.

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

On a solo tour, if Waddy or Carlos want to do something that Stevie isn't on board with, she gets the final say. She's the boss. In Fleetwood Mac, and without Christine, if the boys all want to do something a certain way, Stevie's completely outnumbered.

Of course, but then I still stand by what I said, stop coming up with excuses and just say that you feel outnumbered, not that it's no Fleetwood Mac without Christine. Just blame Lindsey again.

[Johnny Stew]

Originally Posted by danax6

Of course, but then I still stand by what I said, stop coming up with excuses and just say that you feel outnumbered, not that it's no Fleetwood Mac without Christine.

She already has said that. She said it in some of the Australian interviews, and she said it in a radio interview prior to the first Vegas shows.

So she has articulated both feelings... that it's too much of a boy's club without Christine, and that it also just doesn't feel like Fleetwood Mac without Christine.

Several years ago, she also said that she realized back in the late '80s and early '90s that it just wasn't Fleetwood Mac without Lindsey either.

Certainly other people see it differently, but, for Stevie, her Fleetwood Mac, is the Fleetwood Mac that she first played with. Anything else... to her... just doesn't feel like Fleetwood Mac.

I don't see how she could say it any clearer.

[RockALittle250]

One thing that happened on the SYW tour, as i recall it, was that Lindsey had told Stevie she shoudn't be dressing up in her costumes or girly clothes (something to that effect) and she should just be casual on stage...and Stevie was NOT pleased by this (as you all can imagine). If Chris was there, Lindsey would have kept his mouth shut about that...