Tag: Sunrise

  • RECAP: Sunrise FL, BB&T Center

    RECAP: Sunrise FL, BB&T Center

    Stevie Nicks Ft Lauderdale, FL
    Stevie Nicks performed at BB&T Center near Ft. Lauderdale on Friday night. (Edward Stevens)

    Scroll down for videos, photos, the set list, fan reaction, and transcripts of Stevie’s stories!

    On Friday night, Stevie performed at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, FL (about 10 miles northwest of Ft. Lauderdale), the sixth show of the 24 Karat Gold Tour.

    The tour now heads northwest to Atlanta, where Stevie will perform at Philips Arena on Sunday night.

    Stevie shortened the set list at this show, dropping “Annabel Lee.”

    Videos

    Much thanks and love to Allen B, hartsfelder and hejiranyc for filming and sharing these wonderful videos!

    Gold and Braid (hartsfield)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2u9f5S-cuc

    Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around feat. Chrissie Hynde (hartsfelder)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eqAgHFLC9w

    “Chrissie Hynde from The Pretenders, my goodness! We’re some lucky girls up here.”

    Belle Fleur (hartsfelder)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2dD2hTEMGM

    Belle Fleur (hejiranyc)

    “This next song was one of many that was supposed to go on Bella Donna. It was about, it was the story of a rock and roll girl, who had a boyfriend and had to leave and say goodbye on a like year tour. It’s always hard to do — happens all the time. It’s never fun because, uh, it’s always hard to leave somebody behind. They’re not crazy about that idea, and really neither are you. So anyway, this is a song that I wrote all those many years — probably 1980, 81 — about that, and it’s called Belle Flower… ‘Belle Fleur’… Blue Flow-… Blue Flower… ‘Belle Fleur’!”

    “Thank you!”

    Outside the Rain / Dreams (Allen B)

    Wild Heart / Bella Donna (hartsfelder)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l7H2IYdWS8

    Enchanted (hartsfelder)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqubG0ZCYTg

    New Orleans (hartsfelder)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEF6sKZpjVE

    New Orleans (hejiranyc)

    “Thank you.”

    Starshine (hartsfelder)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJqimvfAvr0

    “This next song was written probably in around 1980 in Tom Petty’s basement. And I know somehow that you all wished that you had been there. And I wanted to be there so I can understand that.

    I would arrive at Tom’s house with my Hershey Chocolate powder, just in case I needed a glass of chocolate milk. I know, does that sound ridiculous? But it’s true, and my guitar, and who played guitar? I had really long nails then too, so he’d go like, ‘Are you moving in?’ And I would go, ‘Well, kinda. I’m here for the day.’ And, um, so we went down to the little studio in his basement, and I played this song, and as the day went by, the rest of the Heartbreakers kind of straggled in, and Tom says, ‘I think that’s a good song, Stevie.’ And I’m like, ‘Thank you!’

    And so we recorded it, and it came out great, and it was a real Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ track. And but just me sang, he didn’t sing, and um, at just then, I left with my cassette and so it just went into ‘The Vault’ with so many other songs, and there is has stayed until I did 24 Karat Gold a year and a half ago, two years ago. And so anyway, it’s uh, I’m so glad that some of these songs actually are here to be new for me now because otherwise they’d just be old, but now they’re new. I get confused about… So anyway, it’s called ‘Starshine’”

    Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dream) (hejiranyc)

    “For those of us who live in the world of the Twilight stories — which I do — that song was the whole reason that I even did In Your Dreams because I had given up, pretty much, on doing a record from Trouble in Shangri-La because I thought there’s no reason to. People don’t buy records anymore, it’s not, you know. So I didn’t for nine years and then I went to Brisbane (Australia) with Fleetwood Mac, and I saw the first two Twilight movies. And the second movie really really got me, took me back to something that I had happened to me a long time ago, and I sat down at the piano and I wrote ‘Moonlight’. When I was done with it, I said to my assistant (Karen Johnston) I’ma have to make a record because I can’t just put ‘Moonlight’ out by itself — ‘Moonlight’ by Stevie Nicks! So I’ma have to wrap a record, wrap the arms of a new record around this song in order to do this to give this song to the people because it’s really, it’s really my favorite song, pretty much, of all time. So thank you. I’m glad that you liked it. I’m so…that makes me so happy. Thank you, really, thank you so much.”

    Stand Back (hartsfelder)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSmpzM_kl9I

    Stand Back (Allen B)

    Crying in the Night (Allen B)

    Crying in the Night (hartsfelder)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO3kwZIUBCU

    “Well, this next song is the oldest song that we actually have on record, and this will make you laugh, so. In 1973, Lindsey and I made a record called Buckingham Nicks. But in 1971, we drove down to Los Angeles in Lindsey’s Skylark beauty, and were lucky enough to meet Waddy Wachtel. And there started a wonderful musical relationship where we worked for, it seemed, like years and years. In retrospect, it probably wasn’t years and years and years; it was a couple of years. And we made the record Buckingham Nicks out at Sound City — “the famous Sound City.” And this song was gonna be the single off the Buckingham Nicks record, which was released by Polydor and then dropped three months later, and we were heartbroken because we thought — we all thought — that we’d made the best record that we were ever gonna make in our life. And it really was a really good record so we kinda had to… We didn’t know…have any idea of what to do at that point. But the single was gonna be this next song we’re going to do for you. We’re not sure that this single actually ever even let out. But we always felt that it was like the single. And it’s a very strange little song so you’ll have to… After this, you’ll have to listen to the words of it, try to figure out what at 21-22-years old, what the hell I was writing about when I wrote this song because it’s very intriguing. Anyway, it’s called ‘Crying in t he Night’ from the Buckingham Nicks album, and there you go.”

    If You Were My Love (hartsfelder)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwpPTSBmJHM

    Gold Dust Woman (hartsfelder)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgCguJCk2CE

    Edge of Seventeen (hartsfelder)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXG57_TuYYI

    Edge of Seventeen (Allen B)

    “Thank you so much, everybody, um. This is like our 6th show, and this has been so wonderful. It’s like, the set is settling in. It’s moving faster for me, and I’m getting my sea legs up here, and you guys are doing that. So it’s like, what you give to me, I get to give back. So thank you so much. You’ve been awesome. And we’ll see you again, we’ll be back to Florida, no time lost. Much love, take care of yourselves, be well. I’m speechless, thank you.”

    Rhiannon / Leather and Lace (hartsfelder)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te-iIaPEoxw

    “So the interesting thing about that song is that old witch Rhiannon, she has been in every step we’ve ever done since 1975. You just can’t get rid of her. She just puts her wings on and flies in and takes over my world…sometimes.”

    Leather and Lace (Allen B)

    “So this next song, um, it’s funny, kinda. In 1976, I was going out with Don Henley, and he was my first boyfriend after Lindsey. And I got a call from Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter, and they were doing a record, and they wanted me to write a song called ‘Leather and Lace.’ And they wanted it to be about the fact that they were this married couple and they were like making it as a married couple in the business, and that was hard in 1976. It’s hard now. It’s hard always to be part of a couple in music. So I said, ‘OK, I’m up for that challenge. I will take it on.’ So I did, and I said, ‘I’ll do it, I’ll do it.’

    So I started writing this song and I would, and Don was, you know, he was around, and I didn’t want him to like help me write it because I wanted to write it. But at the same time, I respected him so much because he like in The Eagles, and I’d only been in Fleetwood Mac for a year at that point so, a year before that I was like a cleaning lady and I’m in a beautiful apartment and Don Henely’s just around so I’m like going like, ‘What do you think, Don? Is it good? And he’s like, ‘Not really. Um, it’s got soul, a little bit. It’s coming, but no.’ So I’d go back and I’d start over and I’d try it again and I’d go to play it again and I’d say, ‘Is this better? And he’d be like, ‘Well, it’s better, but it’s not there yet.’ So I’d go back to my bedroom and sit on the bed and I’d play again and I’d like write, you know, and I’d come out and say, ‘What do you think about this?’ I’d play it again, and one day, it was not a few days, it was like two weeks, and one day he said, ‘It’s good.’ And I said breathlessly, ‘So we’re done?’ And he said, ‘We’re done.’ And I said, ‘OK!’

    So I sent it off to Waylon and Jessi, and I was very proud of myself because people don’t usually say that, I want you to write a song about a certain thing. It’s like, tell me what to do. So I was so excited, and then I find out that Jessi and Waylon are splitting up. And I’m like, ‘Well, that’s not gonna work for me.’ So I called up Waylon Jennings, and I tell him, ‘You guys can’t do the song.’ And he’s like, ‘Why?’ And I said, ‘Because you’re splitting up and this song is about not splitting up. And I really spent a lot of time and I got a lot of advice from Don Henley from the Eagles so I need you to give me back my song.’

    So anyway, so they didn’t do it, and I said to Don, ‘If I ever have a solo career, which I probably never will, but if I ever do, would you sing this with me?’ And he said, ‘Of course, I will.” And so, you know, premonition 1976 to 1981, Don and I sang it. So we’re gonna it for you tonight, and we’re gonna do it the way, because obviously we couldn’t just take Don Henley on the road with us, so the girls had to do it by, we had to do it by ourselves. So this was the way that we first presented it to the world, um, in person, and uh so it’s interesting because it’s not a duet now, it’s a trio. So here it is, ‘Leather and Lace.’”

    Final Comments

    “I guess I don’t have to you that you have been an AWESOME, AWESOME Floridian audience! Because you have and like I said before, you give that to us, we try to give it back to you — it’s a real exchange. So thank you everyone. Stay safe, don’t watch TV, just put on your music and get in the car and drive up and down the coast. Think good things, pray for peace, change the world, you can do it! I love you. You are awesome! Good night!”

    Set List

    1. Gold and Braid
    2. If Anyone Falls
    3. Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around (with Chrissie Hynde & Waddy Wachtel)
    4. Belle Fleur
    5. Outside the Rain/Dreams
    6. Wild Heart/Bella Donna
    7. Annabel Lee (dropped from set)
    8. Enchanted
    9. New Orleans
    10. Starshine
    11. Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dream)
    12. Stand Back
    13. Crying in the Night
    14. If You Were My Love
      Band introductions
    15. Gold Dust Woman
    16. Edge of Seventeen
      Encores
    17. Rhiannon
    18. Leather and Lace

    https://twitter.com/BigOShow/status/794735016202878977

    https://twitter.com/theenvyadams/status/794712732394254336

    https://twitter.com/Lari_casillas/status/794711332176203776

  • REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac better than ever

    REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac better than ever

    Fleetwood Mac was better than ever at BB&T Center on December 19, 2014

    Fleetwood Mac
    BB&T Center, Sunrise
    Friday, December 19, 2014

    Better than: Anyone had the right to expect.

    (Photo: Sayre Berman)
    (Photo: Sayre Berman)

    All those who packed into the BB&T Center at the penultimate show of the much-heralded Fleetwood Mac reunion tour truly felt they were attending a landmark event.

    After some 48 years of slinging hugely successful albums and holding down a reputation as rock’s most notorious traveling soap opera, the sold out performance was testimony to Fleetwood’s longevity and durability. But the fact that the band still sounds remarkable — some might say better than ever — ensured its three hour, awe-inspiring show was one for the ages.

    And much was made of the fact that Christine McVie’s return to the fold after an absence of 15 years was a remarkable feat in itself.

    “She’s back!” Stevie Nicks noted at the outset. It was a feeling of euphoria that Lindsey Buckingham and Mick Fleetwood echoed at various points throughout the 24-song set, packed with hits, fan favorites, and even the occasional rarity. Indeed, it was well worth noting that at age 71, McVie looks at least twenty years younger, and her rich, riveting vocals showed no sign of diminishing whatsoever.

    (Photo: Sayre Berman)
    (Photo: Sayre Berman)

    In truth, the same could be said of each member of this tireless ensemble. Nicks retained her trademark quiver, her top hat, granny dresses, and a mystic fairy queen sensibility — not to mention the ability to literally spin in circles whenever the occasion called.

    Buckingham, at age 65, showed the dexterity of someone half his age, whether he was goose-stepping across the stage, adopting a reliable rock star posture, or proving, yet again, that despite the competition from predecessors like Peter Green or Jeremy Spencer, he remains one of the most nimble guitarists Mac has ever fronted.

    Fleetwood himself is far from a figure head, a remarkable time keeper whose tasteful flourishes, commanding rhythms and role as the band’s eternal cheerleader often puts him center stage. He offered a semi-unplugged interlude, a breathless drum solo, and heartfelt and humbling remarks as the concert came to a close.

    As for that other individual name-checked in the band’s handle, suffice it to say he played the role of the stoic bass player to a tee, yet his apparent lack of an onstage persona and reticence to join the others in sharing the kudos and commentary offered the impression he was basically along for the ride.

    It’s a remarkable thing that even now, the group’s voices and harmonies are as vibrant as they were back in the beginning.

    (Photo: Sayre Berman)
    (Photo: Sayre Berman)

    While many veteran bands need an army of support players to effectively convey their classic melodies, the Mac brings along a relatively sparse support team consisting of two extra musicians on guitar, occasional keyboards, and three subtle backing singers to, at times, flesh out the vocals. That leaves the main players to do the heavy lifting, a task they accomplish exceedingly well.

    Buckingham’s fretwork, as previously mentioned, is nothing short of astonishing, and on songs such as “World Turning,” “Never Going Back,” and the lovely “Landslide” — one of the concert’s most fragile interludes and one of its best — he demonstrated a remarkable dexterity that deserves all the kudos the critics have given. As Fleetwood noted during the band introductions, Buckingham is the one member of the group who literally never leaves the stage.

    As for the songs themselves, it’s the big band numbers that elicit the most enthusiastic response, and rightfully so. Opening number “The Chain,” perhaps an unintended homage to the group’s continuing trajectory, was greeted with a rapturous response, as was the well-heeled, more familiar fare like “Second Hand News,” “Rhiannon,” “Say You Love Me,” and natch, the irrepressible “Go Your Own Way.”

    It’s obvious that those who refer to them as the quintessential soft rock band are way off the mark. This group rocks hard, with a drive and determination that rivals any of its venerable contemporaries.

    Add to that already impressive presentation an amazing array of back projected images — ranging from magnified views of the band to scenes that look as if they were lifted from The Hobbit, to spectacular hallucinatory light displays — and the show was a total sensory experience.

    Still, it was another element that made it so special. There was the fact that the individual members — bassist McVie excluded — took time to expound on the band’s contentious history and complicated interpersonal relationships. Likewise, the band’s affection for the audience was clear.

    Noting a sign that said its holder had just had a stroke and that being at the concert was on his bucket list, Nicks not only dedicated a song to him but repeatedly assured him that he would be just fine. It was a kind gesture indeed. So too, Nicks’ and Fleetwood’s concluding homage to the fans and expressions of appreciation for their devotion throughout the years made that final send-off especially touching. While the song “Don’t Stop” implores its listeners, “Don’t you look back,” it’s all but impossible not to feel the love that makes that exhortation all but impossible to abide by.

    Critic’s Notebook

    Personal Bias: It was the first time I’d ever seen the Mac, and it was as fulfilling as it might have been back in the day. One of the best concerts this critic has ever seen.
    The Crowd: Totally enthused, wholly adoring, frequently standing, and smitten entirely.
    By the Way: With a band now well into its 60s and in Christine McVie’s case her 70s, there is definitive proof that age is all but meaningless as far as making music is concerned.

    Set List

    The Chain
    You Make Loving Fun
    Dreams
    Second Hand News
    Rhiannon
    Everywhere
    I Know I’m Not Wrong
    Tusk
    Sisters of the Moon
    Say You Love Me
    Seven Wonders
    Big Love
    Landslide
    Never Going Back Again
    Over My Head
    Gypsy
    Little Lies
    Gold Dust Woman
    I’m So Afraid
    Go Your Own Way

    Encore:
    World Turning
    Don’t Stop
    Silver Springs

    Encore 2:
    Songbird

    Lee Zimmerman / Broward Palm Beach New Times / Monday, December 22, 2014

  • REVIEW: Rocking Rumours at Sunrise concert

    REVIEW: Rocking Rumours at Sunrise concert

    With Christine McVie’s return, Fleetwood Mac’s musical chain is together, as good as ever at Sunrise concert

    Finally, 16 years after playing her last gig with Fleetwood Mac, Christine McVie is back in the band.

    Hard to tell who seemed happier for her return, the fans or the band members. Drummer Mick Fleetwood said in a pre-concert interview with the Miami Herald that this enduring band’s autobiographical music has served as a soundtrack for its audience’s own similar experiences. Love, loss, joy, heartache.

    “It’s astoundingly powerful that for the vast majority of that audience their lives are unfolding in their own world and we’re triggering that.”

    These fans have made the superstar group’s On With the Show Tour one of the year’s top touring attractions. At Sunrise’s sold-out BB&T Center Friday night, a crowd of 16,000 or so lustily cheered reinvigorated classics like Rhiannon, Go Your Own Way and Landslide.

    Immediately after the standard Fleetwood Mac opener, The Chain, fans got their first taste of McVie’s burgundy warm, bluesy alto, which, reassuringly, sounds much as it did on Rumours 38 years ago. “Sweet, wonderful you/You make me happy with the things you do,” she sang in the opening line of You Make Loving Fun, the fourth Top 10 single from the landmark Rumours album. Back then, the song was about her lover, the band’s former lighting director, whom she briefly turned to as her marriage to bass player John McVie ended. Now, the lyric seems directed at her fellow musicians, including her ex, as well as the fans.

    “Usually I’d say, ‘Welcome back, Christine,’” a genuinely friendly, chatty Stevie Nicks said, referring to her previous stage patter early in the tour’s run. “But since this is the 39th show, we can safely say, ‘She’s back!’’’

    Guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, Nicks’ ex and the subject of many of her songs like Dreams and Silver Springs — much as she is the subject of his biting numbers, Go Your Own Way, Never Going Back Again and Second Hand News — has always had a particularly symbiotic musical relationship with McVie. The chemistry in the way their voices intertwine — McVie’s out of British blues, Buckingham’s inspired by ’50s folk — on the blues-rock stomp of World Turning and the rock shuffle, Don’t Stop, proved intact.

    A couple hours earlier, just after McVie’s power pop charmer, Everywhere, and his own edgy rocker, I Know I’m Not Wrong, Buckingham delivered Fleetwood Mac’s State of the Union. He singled out McVie for providing a reason to think about tomorrow.

    “With her return I believe we begin a profound, poetic and prolific new chapter in the life of this band,” Buckingham said. Encouraging, and inspiring, given he’s 65, McVie’s 71, Nicks is 66 and the rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie are 67 and 69, respectively. Given how well these men and women performed, for nearly three hours, you fully believe Buckingham.

    Indeed, McVie’s contribution is the necessary sunlight amid Nicks’ and Buckingham’s darker ruminations. This additional voice made the harmonies on her Say You Love Me, Over My Head and Little Lies, the latter done with considerably more edge and kick than its stuck-in-the-’80s studio version, as well as Nicks’ Dreams and Rhiannon, ring with clarity. She also seemed to have inspired the others to deliver the best vocal performances we’ve heard from anyone in this outfit since the Reagan administration.

    Sure, Nicks has lost her top range on Dreams and Sisters of the Moon. Buckingham’s voice is deeper.

    But Nicks sang full-bodied and in-tune throughout, including on her showcase Gold Dust Woman and Seven Wonders, reintroduced thanks to its prominent use last season for Nicks’ witch character on FX’s American Horror Story: Coven. She dedicated Landslide to a fan who held a sign that said she’d had a stroke and that her bucket list wish was to see a Fleetwood Mac concert. Nicks responded, “I feel it in my heart. You’re going to be just fine.”

    Buckingham had a regained suppleness and adventure in his phrasing that gave fresh nuance to Never Going Back Again, Big Love and the anguished I’m So Afraid. His inventive lead guitar playing, Flamenco style on Big Love; blues on I’m So Afraid; or classic rock soloing on Go Your Own Way, all played without a pick, elevates him among the greatest to play the instrument.

    After an expertly paced 150-minute set, closed by McVie’s trademark promise of undying love, Songbird, a clearly grateful Fleetwood roared, “And remember, the Mac is most definitely back.”

    No doubt, at 100 percent.

    Fleetwood Mac returns March 21 at AmericanAirlines Arena in downtown Miami. Follow @HowardCohen on Twitter.

    FLEETWOOD MAC SET LIST

    The Chain

    You Make Loving Fun

    Dreams

    Second Hand News

    Rhiannon

    Everywhere

    I Know I’m Not Wrong

    Tusk

    Sisters of the Moon

    Say You Love Me

    Seven Wonders

    Big Love

    Landslide

    Never Going Back Again

    Over My Head

    Gypsy

    Little Lies

    Gold Dust Woman

    I’m So Afraid

    Go Your Own Way

    Encores:

    World Turning

    Don’t Stop

    Silver Springs

    Songbird

    Closing farewells from Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood.

    Howard Cohen / Miami Herald / Saturday, December 20, 2014