Timespace Concert Reviews

[michelej1]

[I didn't know if the fan experiences would get lost, if I put the media reviews in that thread, so I made a separate one]

Chicago Tribune, August 23, 1991


CHICAGO TRIBUNE,

WITHOUT FLEETWOOD MAC, STEVIE NICKS` POSE LACKS PASSION

Bruce Britt, Los Angeles Daily News.

Pop stardom is tremendously unpredictable nowadays, and anyone requiring
proof need only examine the case of Stevie Nicks. The former Fleetwood Mac
singer has built a sizable following with her quavering voice, rambling
melodies and incomprehensibly mystic lyrics.

Nicks brought her show to the Greek Theatre the other night for her first Los Angeles performance since departing Fleetwood Mac. An emcee pretty much
summed up the tenor of the performance during an introduction. To wit:
``Tonight there is magic in the air.``

Apparently fans believed Nicks` performance was magical. The capacity
crowd sang along on many tunes and cheered the singer`s slightest movement.

Not that fans had a real choice in the matter-slight movements were all
Nicks offered. A half-baked, gypsylike twirl proved to be the extent of the
singer`s performing abilities.

Of course Nicks isn`t alone in being a one-trick pony performer. But
Nicks seemed incapable of delivering her one movement with any feeling.

Indeed, there was little palpable passion in Nicks` performance. One
didn`t get the sense that this mystical, spiritually minded woman was consumed by the music. That made her Stevie the Friendly Witch persona seem like an
ugly affectation.

The show might have been more successful had the ancillary elements been
stronger. That way it may have been possible for one to turn his or her
attention away from Nicks and concentrate on the lyrics, the music or the
band.

But the show was mediocre in virtually every aspect. Nicks` band couldn`t decide if they wanted to be Foreigner, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers or
Fleetwood Mac. So instead of forging their own unique identity, the band
offered up reheated imitations of all those bands.

The band`s indifferent performance shed light on the shortcomings of
Nicks` music. The singer-songwriter tends to take one melody and stretch it
the length of an entire song. Many of her tunes-``Edge of Seventeen,`` and
``Talk to Me,`` just to name two-didn`t even have choruses to speak of.

The show was equally lacking in lyrical profundity. Nicks` lyrics are so
personal and ethereal, they`re almost like inside jokes. The singer delivered lines like ``there is no beauty without my beast`` with a straight face.

Now that takes talent.

[michelej1]

Los Angeles Times, August 19, 1991

Pop
Stevie Nicks Outclasses Herself at the Greek
NIS HUNT

What's gotten into Stevie Nicks?

On Saturday at the sold-out Greek Theatre, she sang like a woman possessed. None of the area performances she's given over the years--both solo and with Fleetwood Mac--approached the high quality of this one.

Attending a Nicks' show has always been a gamble. Notoriously temperamental, she could be awful, her voice cracking and taking on an annoyingly nasal, bleating quality. Even when she was mostly good, she'd occasionally drift off-key or sing half-heartedly on some material.

On Saturday, though, Nicks' vocals were dramatic and full-bodied. Her husky voice has deepened with age, losing that tendency toward screechiness. She emphasized music from her solo career, which is generally superior to her material from her Fleetwood Mac days--though she did her strongest singing on her moody signature song "Rhiannon," which was recorded with Fleetwood Mac.

Nicks has come down to Earth somewhat, playing down her mystery-woman persona while retaining a vulnerable, tortured, little-girl-lost quality that endears her to audiences. She's also been bitten by the glamour bug: Nicks has turned into a Diana Ross-like clothes horse, changing costumes what seemed like every 10 minutes.

[michelej1]

San Jose Mercury News, August 17, 1991


NOT THE SAME YOUNG NICKS, BUT THE OLD SPIRIT COMES THROUGH

BRAD KAVA, Mercury News Staff Writer



YOU could kind of imagine Stevie Nicks' worst nightmare as you watched her perform at Shoreline Thursday:

It's been 10 years since your last hit record. Your voice doesn't drive the way it used to; its bearings have loosened up, like a VW bug with 150,000 miles on it. You once graced the cover of Rolling Stone, a sex symbol. Now your sex life is being discussed by Don Henley in the new GQ and by Mick Fleetwood in his new book -- and it doesn't feel very flattering.

You look out into the audience of wanna-be's and they are looking a little peaked. Their hair is stringy from too much peroxide; they look a little chunky, a lot older, a little jowly. The trademark black leather and lace that once looked so cool, so '70s, looks more like something from a thrift store.

And who is it they wanna-be? That isn't me they are trying to look like, is it?

Sorry, Stevie. But you know Madonna has the same nightmare. It's what keeps her doing aerobics four hours a day and looking for a second career in films.

Nicks handled it differently during her hour-and-45-minute performance Thursday. She got back to her roots, she rocked more than a little, and despite what may be diminishing talents, she gave her fans the best show she's put on in years.

She made up for what she's lost in her voice by backing it up with a great 10-piece band that included standouts Les Dudek on lead guitar, Mark Andes (from Heart) on bass, Scott Crago on drums and Peter Michael (Sheila E's brother) as drummer and musical director.

Two female backup singers, Sharon Celani and Lynne Mabry, hit a lot of the high notes that Nicks laid off. But even though she was buried under the mix in parts, Nicks' voice was sharper and clearer than it was on the last Fleetwood Mac tour, when it never rose beyond a growl.

She didn't waste a lot of time with the costume changes or dreamy dancing of past shows. She seemed to be concentrating on hitting the notes.

The band brought life to her solo songs "Outside the Rain," "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" and "Whole Lotta Trouble," as well as the Fleetwood Mac revivals "Dreams" and "Rhiannon."

Two of the best songs were "Landslide," her last encore, which was moving, simple and seemed pertinent, as she sang about getting older; and Tom Petty's "I Need to Know," which was played early in the set and quickly showed that the band knew how to rock.

For Nicks, who grew up around Palo Alto, this was a homecoming of sorts. She has a strong fan base here. Even though Shoreline was only about half full, those who came out loved it. A lot of them dressed up, as they have at her shows for more than a decade, imitating Nicks' style.

"It would be like going to a Halloween party without a costume," said Ginger Cunningham, 28, a property manager from Fremont who wore a black Spanish-style lace dress. "This makes the mood. You feel a part of it. I like her style, her lyrics. She seems to be a caring person."

Cunningham said her outfit this night didn't rival a beaded one she paid $250 to have designed for a Nicks show two years ago. The trouble was, it was several days after the Loma Prieta earthquake, and Cunningham said she was the only one to show up for the canceled show.

"It's magical," said Renee Jojola, 22, who wore a black bikini top with a jacket, and earrings through her pierced eyebrow and lip. "She's a very spiritual person. She's beautiful, the way she flows. She's really into spirituality, like I am. It's not a set religion; it's flowing and beautiful. There's a lot of love in it."

Jojola, who said she works as a stripper at San Francisco's O'Farrell Theater, was insulted when asked if the earrings were clip-ons.

"Of course not," she said. "I'm getting my tongue done next week."

Speaking of nightmares, Billy Falcon, who opened the show with a 40-minute set, was a mid-level record exec's worst one:

"I got this guy who can really write a nice song and who sings like a combination of Elvis Costello and Jackson Browne," you can hear him say to his bosses. "The more I hear him, the better he sounds. I can remember each song."

But the audiences think he's bland. They just don't hear it. He should be a superstar, but they think he's just another of the talented songsmiths who flock to the petri dish of L.A. like bacteria to slime mold.

The best part of Falcon's set was when he called a woman from the audience to sing along with his single, "Power Windows." She wasn't a great singer, but she had heart as she sang a fun lyric: "He's got no power windows, no power brakes. Got no power nothing, but he's got what it takes."

Kind of reminded me of Stevie on this night.

[michelej1]

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA), August 6, 1991

Section: ENTERTAINMENT

FANS LOVE NICKS, BUT WORK FORMULAIC

ERIC DEGGANS, THE PITTSBURGH PRESS



In many ways, Stevie Nicks' name has become synonymous with classic rock.

Though she's had a solid solo career since the early '80s, Nicks' style always has smacked of the same formula that made her band Fleetwood Mac such a success.

Her dreamy, introspective vocals combined with lush keyboards and angular guitars have equaled an easily identifiable sound familiar to listeners who grew up hearing the Mac blaring from every radio in the '70s.

Perhaps that's what explains her popularity and the turnout for her concert last night at Star Lake Amphitheatre. Though she hasn't released an album in more than a year, 5,846 devoted fans came to hear Stevie crank out the hits.

And she didn't disappoint them.

Backed by an impressive, nine-piece band that included percussionist Pete Escovedo (Sheila E's brother) and former Prince saxman Eddie M., Nicks offered letter-perfect renditions of her most popular material.

Chugging like a well-oiled machine, the band added power and heft to formulaic hits like "Rooms on Fire" and "Talk to Me," while roaring through uptempo rockers like "I Need to Know" and "Whole Lotta Trouble."

She even pulled out a few Fleetwood Mac chestnuts, like the appropriately titled "Dreams" and "Rhiannon."

A dynamic light show splashed a river of dramatic colors across the stage, heightening the drama of Nicks' already theatrical material.

At the center of this whirlwind of light and sound, Nicks stood calmly, almost impassively. Never known as a particularly dynamic performer, she simply stared into space and wrapped her oddly entrancing voice around every song.

But the performances were often hollow, shallow efforts -- plastic exercises in perfection with no real heart. With few exceptions, the band members brought nothing new to their work, preferring instead to simply ape the recorded versions.

Even the concert's highlights, "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" (featuring an uncanny Tom Petty impersonation by her keyboard player Cat), and a particularly raucous "Edge of Seventeen" lacked a certain soul -- like the group was going through the motions.

Rarely did the band muster enough energy to move about the stage. The sole exception was a stellar solo from Escovedo that prompted a roadie to throw a pile of fluorescent-colored drumsticks at the percussion rig.

But none of that mattered to the audience, which leapt to its feet from the first note and stayed there for most of the night.

For them, the familiarity of the songs and the star were enough. I just wish it had been enough for me.

[michelej1]

Cleveland Plain Dealer, August 2, 1991

Section: FRIDAY

NICKS WOWS BLOSSOM CROWD MICHAEL SANGIACOMO PLAIN DEALER REPORTER

She's not quite the lithe, young girl who graced the jackets of the early Fleetwood Mac albums, but Stevie Nicks can still knock 'em dead.

Nicks, older and wiser, started out a bit slow at the Blossom Music Center Wednesday night, but she soon got into the rhythm of the evening. She sang clear and sweet with a kind of sincerity not often seen among performers at her strata of success.

She did not pick the bones of Fleetwood Mac clean. She did perform a fair share of Mac hits, but she largely relied on her solo songs; some new, some old. Speaking of Nicks' former band, there was a tall gentleman who looked a lot like Mick Fleetwood sitting right in front of the stage who caused a big stir before the show. If it was Fleetwood, and I believe it was, it's a shame he didn't get his tail on stage for one or two songs.

Nicks didn't have to do much to impress the audience. A smile here, a whirl there, and they were screaming in the aisles. Even so, she worked her nine-piece band into a frenzy of sound for the heavy numbers like her buddy Tom Petty's "Stop Dragging My Heart Around."

She really proved her ability with the more delicate, slower tunes like "Beauty and the Beast," "Landslide" and a wonderful version of "Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You?"

When it came to the heavier rocking songs, she and her band (which included former Boz Scaggs lead guitarist Les Dudek) could hold their own with the best of them.

They did an amazing version of "The Edge of Seventeen" as the last song of the show before the two encores. The song lasted a full 15 minutes, and Nicks spent fully half of that time reaching out and touching audience members who crowded close to the stage. She took their gifts of flowers and stuffed animals gratefully, and tried to listen to their words. At least she tried to look like she was listening. While she was doing this, the band was still playing "Edge" and it's unlikely she could hear anything.

After Nicks allowed her fans to pay homage, she returned and sang a final verse of the powerful song. She skittered offstage, but no one was fooled. After all, she hadn't performed "Rhiannon," and there was no way she would get out of Blossom alive without doing it.

She did it, and it was great.

I'm always amazed at the effect certain performers have on fans. Not content with just coming to the show, they feel a need to become part of it. Wednesday night there were an incredible number of Stevie Nicks wannabes in the audience, with permed, flowing blond hair wearing layers upon layers of lacy, diaphanous clothing.

The opening act of the show was a New Yorker named Billy Falcon, who will forever be burdened with comparisons to John Cougar Mellencamp and Bruce Springsteen.

Opening acts at the Blossom have a tough time. Often, no one even knows who the opening act is; they certainly didn't at the box office. While the opening act is performing, part of the audience is still hiking in from the parking lots. The rest of the audience is making the beer-bathroom-beer loop or getting settled on their blankets on the lawn.

I have yet to see an opening act at Blossom called back for an encore. Falcon was no exception, but I clapped hard for one.

If given a chance, I would have gladly sat through another hour of Billy Falcon. As much as I enjoyed Stevie Nicks, I couldn't say the same for her.

Sometimes a little goes a long way.

[michelej1]

Boston Globe, July 20, 1991


Section: ARTS AND FILM

NICKS: EMPTY ROCK WITHOUT THE MYSTIQUE

Jim Sullivan, Globe Staff

MANSFIELD

Stevie Nicks hasn't had a run on the pop charts in years, but about 11,000 Nicks fans thought they'd go living in the past. They had their memories and dreams, and they trekked out to Great Woods last night to try and stoke the old fires and check out the new costume changes. Fires? A few, as in "Dreams" and "Rhiannon," maybe the duet she recorded with Tom Petty "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around." Costume changes? Well, she was on and off stage at least seven times for alterations and changes prior to the encores, at which point deadline-prone writers were manning the computers.

Mostly, there was a weird vibe about this nearly two-hour concert: A big, diverting light show, a lot of big, booming, empty rock, semi-buried lead vocals, little communication with the crowd -- save one interesting "My brain is somewhere else" during a band introduction -- a large, 9-piece, over-busy band. An emotional black hole. A lead singer whose monitors were set halfway back from the stage front, so that she was anchored to the middle-rear of the stage until the last song of the regular set, when she (and two male helpers) edged along the front rows, accepting flowers, drawings and stuffed animals. She wore a frozen smile, and a surfeit of rouge, framed by her trademark spiral blond tresses. She boasted ample cleavage.

With Fleetwood Mac, Nicks was once in the epicenter of the pop mainstream, and mid-'70s mainstream rock didn't get much better than when the Mac did it. "Fleetwood Mac," "Rumours" and "Tusk": three albums that should be part of any fan's collection.

But, the Stevie Nicks of today -- one quarter of Mac's creative team -- is currently estranged from the band, working the solo turf again, as she has off and on for the past half-decade. She's touring behind an old album; she'll have a greatest-hits (complete with tell-all liner notes) in the fall.

How does it feel? Well, she looks like "The Wizard of Oz's" Glinda the Good Witch as cast in "The Stepford Wives," after she has downed a few doughnuts. Occasionally, she jerked to life; mostly, she was rigid, stiff. (This Glinda look, by the way, was more pronounced at the end when she traded her black garb for white, to perform "Edge of Seventeen," a song that would have lost all meaning had she remained in black.)

Music? Nicks' solo stuff sounds like Bon Jovi or Cher. Or, really, any of those innumerable, interchangeable arena-rock singers who stress pompous melodies, play-to-the-back-of-the-room arrangements and lowest-common-denominator melodrama. If you loved the suppleness, the subtlety or the sexiness of Mac in their prime, you'd have felt adrift here. This was corporate rock overkill. The rockers ("Whole Lotta Trouble," "Stand Back") were bombastic; the ballads ("Beauty and the Beast," "Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You?") were treacly. Petty's "I Need to Know" was fun only because the band, keyed by ace guitarist Les Dudek, zipped along at 90 m.p.h., leaving a frozen Nicks to enter when needed to deliver a verse or chorus.

"She looks a lot better and sounds a lot better than she did in 1989. Honestly," said a woman behind me, who still wouldn't go quite so far as to call herself a fan. Maybe. I wasn't there. But this looked and sounded like the semi-pathetic refuse of overindulgent LA rock, washed up on our shores for one last tired, go-around. The much vaunted Nicks' mystique? Absent. Vacant. Out to lunch. Backstage. Whatever.

Opener Billy Falcon served up his version of empty bombast, running also on Bon Jovi fumes. (Jon Bon Jovi is one of his backers, as well as a Nicks' songwriter. Hmmm.) This was sub-Springsteen, sub-Mellencamp working man's rock, replete with we-will-survive cliches and crescendos.

[michelej1]

Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA),
July 20, 1991


Section: ENTERTAINMENT

STEVIE NICKS FAILS TO DELIVER THE GOODS AT GREAT WOODS
Ariel Lipner; Telegram & Gazette reviewer

MANSFIELD MANSFIELD - Perhaps Stevie Nicks could have earned a thunderous ovation if she hedn't been 20 minutes late - but, no matter. She received a heartfelt welcome from her fans who showed up at Great Woods last night - almost 11,000.

Those included a healthy contingent of Stevie Nicks wanna-be's - more than two dozen in black lace, flowing chiffon, and lavished makeup.

After years of choppy sailing, there's still an appeal. But what is it? What's the pull? A kind of mystical, feminine mystique-imagery? Perhaps.

But there needs to be a time of reckoning. As a performer the goods need to be delivered, by Stevie Nicks or anyone else in her position.

And, in front of a crowd that would have made many envious - with a production budget nothing short of lavish (considering the current recession) - Stevie Nicks didn't (really) deliver.

OFF STAGE DIVERGENCES

As usual, she took perhaps three-quarters of her set to get rolling. She indulged in a half dozen or so costume changes and off-stage divergences.

But perhaps they didn't have a negative effect.

As time wore on, she appeared increasingly vigorous. Magically so.

By the end of her set - when she performed "Edge of Seventeen" and "Rhiannon" - she exhibited the kind of energy that one would expect from the start.

Nonetheless, time hasn't necessarily treated her well. She appeared almost like a Dolly Parton apparition, with inches of rouge and pancake. What she couldn't conquer with natural charisma she attempted to win over with professional talent and nostalgia.

AN LA-PERFECT BAND

Her seven-piece band, with two backing vocalists, was nothing short of LA-perfect. Les Dudek was lead guitarist. He seemed almost forlorn, on stage, at the prospect of playing parts that didn't require his skill.

Even with all the hoopla, the show never caught an organic groove. It was professional showmanship, with little in the way of spontaneity or creative arranging.

Perhaps the most daring moment was three songs in, when the ensemble attempted to tackle one of Tom Petty's best songs - "I Need To Know." It was done with the spirit you would expect of a Marriott bar band.

Ms. Nicks snapped her fingers and twirled her flowing dress - sound vigorous? Maybe not. But it was early in the show.

[michelej1]

Baltimore Sun (MD), July 18, 1991


Section: Features

NICKS' BAND ADDS PUNCH TO HER HITS

Nestor Aparicio Evening Sun Staff



If there is one thing that Stevie Nicks has learned during her travels as a solo artist and as a member of Fleetwood Mac, it's that the power of the band makes all the difference.

Especially, in her case, when she is on stage without as much as a tambourine to lend a hand.

So for her latest solo tour, which landed at Merriweather Post Pavilion last night, Nicks outdid herself, employing a crack seven-piece band of hired guns that made even her most lackluster songs come vibrantly to life.

Delivering a greatest hits package of 14 songs -- including three dusty Fleetwood Mac killers -- all Nicks needed to bring for success was her wispy, raspy howl and a couple of shawls.

The band -- which featured Peter Michael (Sheila E.'s brother) as musical conductor and percussionist, Heart bassist Mark Andes and a superb rhythm guitarist named Michael Lennon, among others -- seemed to revive Nicks' rock 'n' roll heart, pouring the volume and crunch into hard-edged songs like "Stand Back" and "Edge Of Seventeen."

As for Nicks, she smiled perhaps more on stage during the 90 minutes last night than at any time during her career.

Still carrying some of the extra weight that first became evident during last fall's Fleetwood Mac tour for "Behind The Mask," Nicks didn't lack for her sex appeal of the 1970s. Several times during the show she stepped back, twirling about in dreamy trance, reaching for the trademark scarves that cover her microphone stand.

While the power of the band was immediately evident in the opening songs, "Outside The Rain" and Mac's "Dreams," Nicks, with help from back-up singers Sharon Celani and Lynn Mabry, easily soared above the music.

But Nicks was at her best handling the mid-tempos and ballads.

For "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," originally a duet with Tom Petty, Nicks sang both of the verses brilliantly while keyboardist Cat Gray held his own with the male chorus segment.

The crowd of more than 8,000 sat captivated during numbers like "Beauty and The Beast," "Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You" and "Rhiannon," the first encore.

During the overblown ending to "Edge of Seventeen," the final song of the main set, Nicks stepped to the edge of the stage and took dozens of gifts (flowers, pictures and stuffed animals) from the mass gathered in the first three rows. Much to the crowd's delight, it seemed as if she shook every hand and had a personal word with everyone.

Nicks' insistent emphasis on old material comes as no surprise, as she will release a greatest hits package called "Time Space" in September. The album will contain virtually every solo song she performed last night as well as three new songs -- "Desert Angel," "Sometimes A Bitch" and "Love's A Maid Gone To Play" -- that she omitted from the set.