Awhirl in Shawls

Stevie Nicks told the audience she was pulling out songs and trinkets and stories from her “gothic box.” She’s always struck me as someone who has an entire treasure trove of memories stored away someplace and it all came out last night.

The most striking thing about the concert was all the stories. Stevie had one for almost every song, casually dropping in names and anecdotes: “Don Henley and I wrote this for Waylon Jennings … when Lindsey Buckingham and I lived together … I was working with Tom Petty … Prince gave me a demo version of ‘Purple Rain’ on a cassette,” etc. It was fascinating to hear. The woman has been everywhere.

Stevie was awhirl in various shawls and capes all night, even bringing out the original shawl from her Bella Donna days. Can you imagine what else she has in her treasure chest?

The show leaned heavily on solo material, including my favorite, “Stand Back,” all driving synths (originally played uncredited by Prince) and cocky attitude. There was a lovely rendition of “Leather and Lace” to close out the show and a duet with Chrissie Hynde on “Stop Dragging My Heart Around.”

We had seen Hynde earlier as the Pretenders opened the show. Shaggy haired, trim and with a voice exactly as it sounded 35 years ago, Hynde and the band put on a substantial set of hits like “Back on the Chain Gang,” “Don’t Get Me Wrong,” the rollicking “Middle of the Road” and the attitudinal “Brass in Pocket.”

Stevie told the audience she was mixing up the setlist, bringing out some unreleased tracks and rarities. I didn’t know a lot of these but I did enjoy them. She even sang a song from her Buckingham Nicks album and a fan gave her a vinyl copy (very rare since the album has never been reissued in any form) to autograph.

There was just a smattering of her Fleetwood Mac material. I loved hearing “Gypsy,” a song about remembering your humble beginnings in that first apartment, with a delicate guitar parabola. Stevie saved the primal stuff for the end, including a commanding “Gold Dust Woman” performed in a gold shawl, the mystical standby “Rhiannon” and of course, “Edge of Seventeen” with that deathless guitar riff.

I could’ve listened to a lot more of her stories.