As Stevie Nicks arrived on stage at Manchester’s Co-op Live on Tuesday (July 16) to her 1981 ‘Bella Donna’ track Outside The Rain, she cast a spell over the packed crowd as she launched into a two-hour set of solo and Fleetwood Mac classics.
A week after her planned appearance was postponed due to an injury, it didn’t hurt the turnout for the concert, which saw the 23,000-capacity venue filled with adoring fans of all ages – some who’ve been there from the start, many of whose parents weren’t even born when she joined the legendary group in 1975.
Segueing into Dreams – the only Fleetwood Mac song to top the US Billboard Hot 100, written solely by Nicks, for the classic ‘Rumours’ (1975) – it provided the first of many singalong moments in a show that, in the artist’s words, celebrated her “halcyon days” with a focus on her first two records.
Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around – her first solo single outside of the band – saw guitarist Waddy Wachtel step up for Tom Petty’s parts, after Nicks introduced the track by detailing its origins and crediting her producer and ex-boyfriend Jimmy Iovine for making it happen, during one of several anecdotes throughout the evening.
Radiating warmth and laced with humour, there’s an innate charm to her storytelling that had the crowd hanging on her every word, whether introducing her quasi-political cover of Buffalo Springfield’s For What It’s Worth, or recounting her early years with Lindsey Buckingham in San Francisco ahead of the Mac’s Gypsy.
Having pointed out her tendency to ramble and the venue’s “strict curfew”, a sizzling Stand Back brought the crowd to its feet and Nicks – adorning the original ’80s black and gold cape – barely let up, with a non-stop run of anthems: a tribute to Petty with his own Free Fallin’ led into an enigmatic Gold Dust Woman (another shawl moment) and the Don Henley duet Leather And Lace, with Steve Real.
It was the iconic opening bars of Edge Of Seventeen that garnered the biggest reaction of the night so far, with longtime backing singers Sharon Celani and Marilyn Martin (yes, the same Marilyn Martin that sang with Phil Collins on Separate Lives) showcasing the flawless blend that’s become integral to Nicks’ live shows over the years.
Returning for a two-song encore, it was Fleetwood Mac classics Rhiannon and Landslide – both lifted from the group’s 1975 self-titled album – that closed the show, the latter featuring a poignant tribute to her bandmate Christine McVie, with a images of the pair through the years flashing across the screens.
Thirty-five years since her last European tour, on the back of her 1989 album ‘The Other Side Of The Mirror’, Nicks’ return to the UK stage is long overdue, but having filled the country’s largest arena – days after drawing 60,000 fans to London’s Hyde Park – there’s plenty of demand for one of music’s all-time legends over here.
Happily, a return looks to be on the cards with Nicks sharing her love of England – “[I’m] probably going to live in Harrods… in the jewellery department!” – and teasing: “We like it here. We just might stay.”
Setlist: Stevie Nicks, Co-op Live, Manchester
1. Outside The Rain
2. Dreams
3. If Anyone Falls
4. Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around
5. Gypsy
6. For What It’s Worth
7. Free Fallin’
8. Wild Heart / Bella Donna
9. Stand Back
10. Gold Dust Woman
11. Leather And Lace
12. Edge Of Seventeen
Encore
13. Rhiannon
14. Landslide
