RECAP: Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival

Stevie Nicks performed at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee on Sunday. The popular four-day festival took place at Great Stage Park, a 650-acre outdoor event space located 65 miles southeast of Nashville.

Surprisingly, Stevie was the festival’s first female headliner in its 20-year history. “I am very honored to be the first girl to be the last person on tonight,” she said. “For the women! Yes! But of course, the girl in me says I’m also really glad that there’s a lot of cool men here tonight, too. So do not feel left out.”

Those other cool men included Robert Plant, Machine Gun Kelly, Herbie Hancock, Billy Strings, and Ludacris, among many others. The other top female acts were The Chicks, Alison Krauss, and Swedish electropop-star Tove Lo.

For the festival show, Stevie slightly modified her set list, swapping out deep cut “Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dream)” with an even deeper Buckingham Nicks-era cut “Crying in the Night.” She went on to share the latter song’s elusive history with the crowd and then encouraged them to stay the course when pursuing dreams. “It may take a while to get to your dreamy place,” she said, “but you will get there. I promise you.”

Stevie later shared the following video, shot from backstage, of her performing onstage during “Edge of Seventeen.” “What a night, Bonnaroo!” she exclaimed.

Videos

Thank you to Jim Miller and Melanie Berry for sharing these videos – much love!

Outside the Rain/Dreams (Jim Miller)

Gypsy (Jim Miller)

Landslide (Jim Miller)

Crying in the Night (Jim Miller)

“Thank you. Okay, so this is a really quick dreamy story, a dreamy story. So this next song, we actually did, I don’t know, before the pandemic. It’s like, who remembers? So this song I wrote in probably about 1973. It was on the Buckingham Nicks album, and it was supposed [audience cheers]… I know, I know, thank you. I was a cleaning lady at that point, and it was not that big of a deal, so. However, this song was supposed to be the single off of the Buckingham Nicks record. So when they put it out in 1973, in the summer of 19…, it didn’t really ever go out. So it was like, you know, it was great and then it was released and then the single was supposed to be… It was my song, it was going to be great. So it didn’t really go out.

“So anyway, this is just to tell you about your dreams. Okay, this is my ‘Just Ask, Stevie’ column. If and when you think your dreams are falling apart, just ask Stevie, and she will tell you that in 1973, I wrote the song that you’re gonna hear in one second. And it never even got played because Buckingham Nicks never even toured. So not only was it not a single, the whole record actually tanked. And I mean down the road, yes, everybody thought it was like this great, great record, but who knew? We certainly didn’t know. So if you think your dreams are just trashing out and you’re never gonna make it to where you wanna go, that’s not true because I’m standing here tonight singing the song that was never heard in the world — ever! In 1973! So it may take a while to get to your dreamy place, but you will get there. I promise you, I promise you [kissing sound]. It’s called ‘Crying in the Night'”

Edge of Seventeen (Melanie Berry)

Free Fallin’/Rhiannon (Jim Miller)

Rock and Roll (Jim Miller)

“I might just drop by to tell you some more stories at some point in the future. I’ll call it ‘Stevie 101’.

“Take care of yourselves. Be well, be safe. Don’t get sick. Don’t even, don’t think about it — never. You’re gonna all be wonderful. And me too. So take care, we’ll see you again soon. It’s been really wonderful. Thank you so much.”