Stevie Nicks
Stevie Nicks
Home » Original rock chick

Original rock chick

Stevie Nicks

By Nui te Koha
The Sunday Mail (AU)
Sunday, February 8, 2004

THERE was a time when their unspoken backstage demand was a showbag of illicit drugs. Those were, Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks says, the brandy and cocaine days.

“I am happy to say we are over the ridiculous,” Nicks chuckles. “However, it is still pretty fabulous. “There is beautiful red wine, if you drink red wine. I don’t. If you want Cristal champagne, it’s there. There are roses and flowers in all of our dressing rooms.

“We bring our own furniture with us. We try to make everything warm and cosy.”

Welcome to Rock Royalty Lifestyles 101, a course written by the band that adhered to and then rewrote the manual for fast living.

All that has changed, of course. Fleetwood Mac are older, wiser and sober.

Still, Nicks purrs happily through a list of must-haves she and the Mac are enjoying on their US tour.

A customised 737 jet is treat No. 1. Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham (vocals, guitar), John McVie (bass) and Mick Fleetwood (drums) are collected on the airport tarmac in separate limousines.

“Whenever I’m on that massive airplane, I have to tap myself on the shoulder and go, ‘Where is Led Zeppelin? They must be here somewhere’,” Nicks says.

“That is my fun memory of the old days. I think of Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, and the fact that we still get to do what they did, today. That is definitely a rock-star perk.”

Nicks, 55, is the original rock chick, poetic soul and do-or-die survivor in an extraordinary career of surreal highs and soulless lows.

She battled cocaine addiction after Mac’s defining album, Rumours, and its follow-up, Tusk. But a retreat into Klonopin, an anti-depressant drug, led to a social and creative vacuum from 1986 to 1993.

“In comparison to the eight years I spent on Klonopin, the cocaine and brandy wins hands down.”

It is now her mission to get Klonopin banned. “If you are ever in a drugstore and they put you on Klonopin, run out of there screaming.”

Today, 11 years after she snapped out of her medicated haze, Nicks is in a good place. Her latest album, Trouble In Shangri-La, marked a stellar return to form.

And the good chemistry in the historically turbulent Mac has warranted several happy reunions. But the Mac dynamic is different for this tour.

Christine McVie, a singer-songwriter equal on Rumours, is not in the line-up. She is chasing a solo career. Her absence, however, has seen the band revert to a guitar sound that Nicks and Buckingham refined before joining Fleetwood Mac in 1975.

Famously, Nicks’ and Buckingham’s real-life love affair ended spectacularly a year later. Every conflicting emotion ended up on Rumours, then years of silent animosity.

“We are in a very good place now,” Nicks says. “We are having a lot of fun on stage and for those 2½ hours we get up there and belong to each other. And we get to enjoy all the things we have worked for all these years.”

Nicks is still incredibly prolific. When she felt her songs for the latest Mac album, Say You Will, were not up to scratch, she asked for 30 days to write a new batch.

She returned with a cassette demo. By the fourth song, Buckingham was in tears. For Nicks, it was the ultimate compliment.

“I just write about what I see, and, coming back to the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle, I see a lot. I go home, and when nobody sees me I get my journal and I write for hours. A year later, or two years later, I’ll go back to that prose and pull the poetry out of it.”

Nicks has been storing notes for an autobiography.

“I have journals all the way back to the beginning of Fleetwood Mac. The Klonopin journals,” she laughs, “are not so good.”

What would the first lines of Nicks’ autobiography say?

“It would go all the way back to when I was in fourth grade and my grandfather brought home a trunkload of 45s,” she says.

“He and I sat on the floor in my bedroom and listened to song after song after song. That, really, is when I started singing.”

But, even after all these years, she still suffers from stage fright.

“If you have stage fright, it never goes away. But then I wonder: is the key to that magical performance because of the fear?”

Luckily, Nicks still knows what she is capable of. “I walk on stage, I’m very strong, I’m still pretty cute – and I rock.”

Fleetwood Mac, Brisbane Entertainment Centre, February 19 (sold out) and 20. Tickets: 13 19 31.

stevienicks

LIVE IN CONCERT (2024)

Stevie Nicks

MAY 3, 2024 – MAY 5, 2024
Lovin’ Life Fest
Charlotte, NC
TICKETS

MAY 7, 2024
Enterprise Center
St Louis, MO
TICKETS

MAY 10, 2024
WinStar World Casino & Resort
Thackerville, OK
TICKETS

MAY 14, 2024
Bridgestone Arena
Nashville, TN
TICKETS

MAY 18, 2024
Frost Bank Center
San Antonio, TX
TICKETS

MAY 21, 2024
Yaamava’ Resort & Casino – Yaamava’ Theater
Highland, CA
TICKETS

MAY 24, 2024
BottleRock Napa Valley
Napa, CA
TICKETS

MAY 27, 2024
Delta Center
Salt Lake City, UT
TICKETS

MAY 30, 2024
Ball Arena
Denver, CO
TICKETS

JUN 4
Gainbridge Fieldhouse
Indianapolis, IN
TICKETS

JUN 9 
Mohegan Sun Casino
Uncasville, CT
TICKETS

JUN 12
MVP Arena
Albany, NY
TICKETS

JUN 15
Hersheypark Stadium
Hershey, PA
TICKETS

JUN 18
Van Andel Arena
Grand Rapids, MI
TICKETS

JUN 21, 2024 (with Billy Joel)
Soldier Field
Chicago, IL
TICKETS

JUL 12, 2024
BST Hyde Park
London, England
TICKETS

^ Non-Live Nation show


Previous 2023 dates

March 10, 2023 – BILLY JOEL
Los Angeles, CA
SoFi Stadium

March 15, 2023
Seattle, WA
Climate Pledge Arena

March 18, 2023
Las Vegas, NV
T-Mobile Arena

May 12, 2023
Raleigh, NC
PNC Arena

May 16, 2023
Knoxville, TN
Thompson-Boling Arena

May 19, 2023 – BILLY JOEL
Nashville, TN
Nissan Stadium

May 22, 2023
Atlanta, GA
State Farm Arena

May 25, 2023
Orlando, FL
Amway Center

June 16, 2023 – BILLY JOEL
Philadelphia, PA
Lincoln Financial Field

June 20, 2023
Toronto, ON (Canada)
Scotiabank Arena

June 23, 2023
Chicago, IL
United Center

June 27, 2023
Louisville, KY
KFC Yum! Center

August 5, 2023 – BILLY JOEL
Columbus, OH
Ohio Stadium

August 8, 2023
Milwaukee, WI
Fiserv Forum

August 12, 2023
Houston, TX
Toyota Center

August 15, 2023
Austin, TX
Moody Center

August 19, 2023 – BILLY JOEL
Kansas City, MO
Arrowhead Stadium

September 23, 2023 – BILLY JOEL
Foxborough, MA
Gillette Stadium

September 27, 2023
Pittsburgh, PA
PPG Paints Arena

October 1, 2023
New York, NY
Madison Square Garden

October 4, 2023
Buffalo, NY
KeyBank Center

October 7, 2023 – BILLY JOEL
Baltimore, MD 
M&T Bank Stadium

October 28, 2023
Memphis, TN
FedEx Forum

November 1, 2023
Savannah, GA
Enmarket Arena

November 4, 2023
Allentown, PA
PPL Center

November 7, 2023
Detroit, MI
Little Caesars Arena

November 10, 2023 – BILLY JOEL
Minneapolis, MN
U.S. Bank Stadium

November 29, 2023
San Diego, CA
Viejas Arena

December 2, 2023
Inglewood, CA
The Kia Forum

December 5, 2023
Palm Desert, CA
Acisure Arena

December  8, 2023 – BILLY JOEL
Phoenix, AZ
Chase Field

December 12, 2023
Sacramento, CA
Golden 1 Center

December 15, 2023
San Francisco, CA
Chase Center

FEB 10, 2024
Mark G Etess Arena
Atlantic City, NJ

FEB 14, 2024
UBS Arena
Belmont Park, NY

FEB 17, 2024
CFG Bank Arena
Baltimore, MD

FEB 21, 2024
Bon Secours Wellness Arena
Greenville, SC

FEB 24, 2024
Hard Rock Live
Hollywood, FL

FEB 28, 2024
Smoothie King Center
New Orleans, LA

MAR 3, 2024
CHI Health Center
Omaha, NE

MAR 6, 2024
Simmons Bank Arena
North Little Rock, AR

MAR 9, 2024
AT&T Stadium
Arlington, TX
Billy Joel

 



2022 Tour

Stevie Nicks

Jazz Aspen Snowmass
Snowmass, CO
Labor Day 2022

Ravinia Festival
Highland Park, IL
September 8, 2022
September 10, 2022

Pine Knob Music Theatre
Clarkston, MI
September 13, 2022
w/ Vanessa Carlton

Sea Hear Now Festival
Asbury, NJ
September 17, 2022

Xfinity Center
Mansfield, MA
September 19, 2022
w/ Vanessa Carlton

Maine Savings Amphitheatre
Bangor, ME
September 22, 2022
w/ Vanessa Carlton

Sound on Sound Festival
Bridgeport, CT
September 24-25, 2022

Ohana Festival
Dana Point, CA
September 30, 2022

Hollywood Bowl
Los Angeles, CA
October 3, 2022
w/ Vanessa Carlton

POSTPONED
Ak-Chin Pavilion

Phoenix, AZ
October 6, 2022
w/ Vanessa Carlton

POSTPONED
Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

The Woodlands, TX
October 9, 2022
w/ Vanessa Carlton

Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
Alpharetta, GA
October 12, 2022
w/ Vanessa Carlton

Ascend Amphitheater
Nashville, TN
October 16, 2022
w/ Vanessa Carlton

Credit One Stadium
Charleston, SC
October 19, 2022
w/ Vanessa Carlton

PNC Music Pavilion
Charlotte, NC
October 22, 2022
w/ Vanessa Carlton

MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
Tampa, FL
October 25, 2022
w/ Vanessa Carlton

iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre
West Palm Beach, FL
October 28, 2022
w/ Vanessa Carlton

Orion Amphitheatre
Huntsville, AL
October 31, 2022

RESCHEDULED SHOWS

Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
The Woodlands, TX
November 2, 2022
w/ Vanessa Carlton

Ak-Chin Pavilion
Phoenix, AZ
November 5, 2022
w/ Vanessa Carlton