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Stevie Nicks & Friends concert, America West Arena, September 23, 2000 (by Kelly A. Conroy) Well, it's been about a week and I'm still speechless!! I've sent some of my "observations" about this show to some of the many mailing lists I participate in because, frankly, I've been too exhausted to sit down and write a formal review. So, here are some of my notes: The evening began with a trip to a eatery near the America West Arena called "Jackson's on 3rd". There we walked around and ate against the backdrop of Fleetwood Mac/Stevie Nicks music. I was quite anxious to get to the arena and we didn't waste much time doing so. Upon entering the arena, we were greeted by the tickettakers and as mine returned my ticket, I tucked it in my purse for safekeeping. As we entered the turnstyles, we were handed long-stem roses, a brochure, and a little red penlight. It was exciting to see everyone dressed in their Stevie-attire and I had so much fun seeing others react to my "Tusk" era concotion. One thing I love about Stevie's concerts is that they're some of the very few times where women can transport themselves back into childhood and play "dress-up" in their own little fantasy world. I wish we had more opportunities to do this! Overall, it was a pretty long show, but it was over in a blink and I didn't have a camera or a recorder and, as my dear Nana likes to say: "My memory ain't too good anymore." I was more than a little preturbed that very few people were standing for the concert. If I can't comfortably stand and dance for a Stevie show, it takes away alot of the fun. After sitting for a relatively short while, the lights went down and Stevie's dad, Jess, introduced her and when Stevie came out to sing "Outside The Rain", she went to the wrong microphone and we couldn't hear the first two lines! I thought, "Oh, no, I hope this isn't an indication of things to come!", but I was reassured by her graceful handling of the situation. She is one remarkable lady! While this isn't the entire setlist, here are some highlights of this performance: 1) Gold Dust Woman - sounded great, but Stevie backed out of her typical long wail and gave like a peep of a wail and then cut it off by saying "Go Home" (bummer) 2) Stand Back - Stevie wooed the audience with her infamous "kick" in the air. Stevie wore a red shawl for this rather than her polka dotted one. 3) Leather & Lace - Stevie began to sing this and Don was nowhere on stage, then as she began singing, he ventured up the stairs and to the stage, at which point, everyone started screaming. 4) Rhiannon - the elaborate piano introduction was a mixture of songs. At one point, I was certain they were leading into "Rooms On Fire". At first, when I heard the piano, I said (instantly) "Rhiannon", but when they played it for a minute or so, it began to sound like the part of "Rooms On Fire" where she says "Somewhere out in the back of your mind.." Then I said "Rooms On Fire" and it ended up being "Rhiannon" anyway. (They were being a little feisty with us, weren't they!) 5) Boys of Summer was (in my opinion) slowed down a great deal. 6) It's Late - (As soon as Stevie introduced this song, before she even mentioned its name, when she said she sang it with her grandfather, I immediately said "It's Late") (I've know WAY too much about Stevie and have heard too many of her concerts ! It takes the surprise out of it a little.) I can't help but love this performance. Stevie was so happy and having so much fun - dancing and playing the audience. It was great! 7) Solitary Man - Chris was funny in that he started talking about how he met Stevie in the 70's when they were playing at the Tic Tac Club. He said she wasn't known as "Stevie" then, but as "Happy". He said his name was "Gail" then. (I don't exactly know what he meant by that..but I'd sure like to find out..it was obviously an inside joke because Stevie thought it was hysterical.) Perhap this is the point that I remember when Stevie bent over laughing (facing the back of the stage) and flipping all her hair (like she was blowdrying her hair upside down) and then flipped it back over her head. 8) I won't even discuss the Lindsey songs right now because that would be wayyyyy too long, but I will say that I was shocked at the end of "Go Insane" where he really strums the guitar FFFFFFAAAAAAASSSSSSTTTT. I cannot believe that his fingers weren't bleeding immensely at the speed and strength he was strumming (without a pick). 9) I was more than thrilled to hear "Gypsy", but was psyched out because when Stevie said the hadn't played this in a long time, I thought for-sure that it was going to be a Buckingham Nicks song - possibly "Frozen Love". I wasn't too disappointed though since I always wanted to hear "Gypsy" live. 10) Edge Of 17 - I think this is one of the BEST performances of Eo17 I've ever heard! When Waddy started out it was incredible. And they had some light show going on back by the drums. It was all black and there were these beams of light that flashed and it almost appeared as though the light system was somehow triggered by the various drums that Danny hit. The lights would flash in sequence with his drum strokes. It was pretty cool. (God that Danny is a hottie!!) In the middle, when Stevie wails, it was so long and so passionate and so growly that it sounded BETTER than when she was younger. Perfection! (Made up for the lack thereof in GDW and then some!) Oh, and I noticed that she wore a new shawl for this song. It was solid pale pink chiffon with fringes and was held closed at the top (by her neck) by a little button (I could see it through Carol's binoculars). The front of the shawl was shaped so that it formed into a point down her chest. In other words, if you laid it out on the floor, it didn't form a circle (if that makes any sense). I think it made her look much thinner than the typical shawls. In my head, right now, I can still see her as I did through the binoculars when she came to our side of the stage (audience's right) and waved and mouthed "Thank You". She was fabulous and I simply can't wait for the "Trouble In Shangri-La" tour. Well, that's more than I ever expected to write at this point! Now, I can't wait for the video/cd. ~ Kelly Anne |