Crush to Love Affair

August 3, 1998

Okay, I admit it. I was wrong.

I mean, I always liked Stevie. I’ve had a silly crush on her since high school. I liked her songs, her voice, her spacey lyrics. Of course, she’s beautiful. And her harmonies with Christine and Lindsey give me goose bumps.

But solo? I’ve never seen her own show before, and I figured, well maybe I’ll pass. Her voice must be getting rough after the Dance and most of Enchanted. Her range isn’t what it used to be. Lindsey isn’t there. Do I know that much of her solo stuff? I’m not a "Big 80s" fan, anyway. A four to five hour round trip. And after some unkind media reviews, and without the rest of the Dream Team, I had my doubts. So… I didn’t buy tickets.

Chili D, and then Susan, started working on me a week ago. I resisted for a couple of days, and then I said, what the hell, I want to meet all those Ledgies that were converging on Irvine anyway. I relented and bought ticketsfrom Silver through Chili. Okay, I thought, it will be okay. I started listening to Timespace, and my transformation began.

Like I said, I was wrong, wrong, wrong!

How do I find the words? Stevie is a more powerful performer than I had ever imagined! Not in the angry, loud way that is easy for an artist to achieve today. Stevie is just an unstoppable force on stage, and her voice was strong, clear, on-key, pure, yet infectuously happy!

I won’t give a song by song review. Others have done that in other reviews much that better than I can. But overall, I was just blown away by her singing, the percussion, and the arrangements she brought to this show. One of my "Big 80s" complaints has been that the drum synth sound is just too boring. But at this show, the combined works of Lenny Castro and Land Richards gave a VERY different feel to her hits. In fact, near the end of the show we were treated to an Ode to Mick the drummer’s equivalent of the "Deliverance" banjo/guitar duel. Solid, creative, and strangely full of melody, not just rhythm. I think that they made the difference in her sound. Some of their intros to her hits had me wondering where the heck they were going until the band dropped into the melody. And the awesome power of Stand Back and Edge of Seventeen were so much stronger with a new rhythm to keep them stepping.

Stevie was so happy looking through the show. She smiled almost non-stop, laughing at people in the front rows, reaching out. She had a girl-next door style to introducing songs, and almost apologized for her "acoustic- electric- acoustic" song set. "Thank you guys for letting me do this." You know, Stevie is the only performer I know who comes off as sincere to me when she says these things. It was so conversational, like we were doing her a favor by letting her do her own things, and in her own way, at this show.

She belatedly dedicated Landslide to Jim Ladd, the long-time LA deejay now with KLOS. "I was thinking of you, Jim, through the whole song." Jim, I now hate you.

As KE Gil pointed out, Stevie hit more high notes during Rhiannon than she did during the Dance. And speaking of high (and no, I don’t mean the great smelling smoke wafting around), Stevie did several leg kicks that nearly reached the top of her head! She must be taking her ballet practice again! I DID miss Lindsey’s guitar licks here, though. My only complaint of the night.

So how did this Ledgiefest come off? Well, KE Gil, Theresa, and I met up with Chili D, Rhapsody, Silver, Les and Kathy D at a local restaurant for dinner. We planned strategies for smuggling cameras in, mindful of the frisking and searches that were done at the Universal Amphitheatre. I will leave it up to the discretion of smugglers to discuss, but Rhapsody, you do a great Morticia Addams impression, honey!

After successfully infiltrating the gate, we grouped at the Beer Garden, looking for Ledgies. We found Samantha and her sister Yolanda, but we were there late, and early birds were probably already in their seats. If you were there, Jamie, Meri, Renee, Laura TN, Mayan, or David O please let us know! We are sorry we missed you! A cool banner made by Rhapsody drew interesting reactions from concert-goers! They walked slowly up to see what the hell a "Ledgie" is, and I must add, they walked away at a brisker pace than they approached! I think I heard one stoned fan say, "Hey man, is that the group Peter or Jeremy joined?" That did not help our image.

After the show, we got together for some photos. I want to say a few things about this group of fans. Rhapsody, you are out of control, and I doubt your husband has any success reeling you in, good for you! Kathy D and Les look so normal (or pretty normal, or well, just pretty, actually!) on the outside; but lurking inside are rabid fans who will follow you down until the sound of their squeeling tires will haunt you! Samantha never stopped smiling the whole time, a condition I think I had for the entire show, too. KE, you are an encyclopedia of Mac information and I hope to see you in Ventura for Peter’s show. Chili, I was wondering about you talking about the great necks and bodies and curves as you watched the show, until I realized you were checking out the guitars! And Silver, I can’t thank you enough for providing the tickets that made this special night possible! (And in absentia, Lauren, your concert review was the straw that broke the camel’s back and made me start to think that I simply must not miss this tour. Too bad you didn’t get the chance to join us in LA. You WILL make Lindsey’s tour!)

Stevie said at the end of the show that she wants to do this again, to the roaring approval of the fans. Since my crush has turned into a love affair, I will be there when she comes back, I assure you. I won’t make the same mistake twice!

Irvine Meadows Review

July 31, 1998

As you know, I'm still in the fine company of Silver, Les, and Kathy D. and I don't EVER want to go home. My intent was to go to an early Enchanted concert and attend a later concert to pick up any differences. Musically, not much has changed. Stevie still sounds excellent, but she was definitely here at home in Irvine. She talked more. She drew every song out as long as possible as if she didn't want to let go. We expected to feel melancholy as this was probably our last Enchanted concert. We had the tissues, but we didn't need them because it was impossible to feel sad in front of the Stevie we encountered last night. She laughed, made jokes, smiled (big smiles), and was so obviously happy it just didn't bring us down at all. We stole seats, took pictures, screamed and yelled, (at least I think I screamed, it was hard to hear over Silver). Four very happy girls! We didn't hear Michael McDonald as we were doing the Ledgie thing. We met Chili, Phil, K.E. and his "friend," Theresa, for dinner and then Chili packed us all into his van and drove us to Irvine. Chili was Chili, probably just what you would expect--a true delight for me to finally meet him. Phil, a gentleman and a scholar. K.E., dry as a gulch, cute as a button. My aspiration was to get this boy to laugh. Best of all, he brought Theresa who was a little daunted by us as anyone in their right mind would be, but very knowledgeable for one so young. A welcome addition.

Here are some more thoughts and comments on Stevie's Friday night concert at Irvine Meadows.... During the acoustic-electric trilogy, Stevie was trying to introduce "Garbo," but the audience was being loud and boisterous. Stevie paused, smiled and good-naturedly teased, "I'm serious!"

During "Outside the Rain," Stevie changed the lyrics from "It's one more link in the chain/I don't believe that" to "Mick says 'Stevie, it's another link in the chain'/I have to believe that."

Frank Simes had more guitar problems (as he did in San Diego on Tuesday night). At one point, he came onstage without his guitar and Stevie exclaimed, "Oh no, he's guitar-less!"

Stevie did several kicks and lots of twirls. She smiled sooo much during this concert. We all thought she looked extremely happy.

Stevie extended quite a few songs, as if she didn't want them to end. She added lines to "Rose Garden" (using lyrics from "Storms" again), "Edge of Seventeen" (using lyrics from "When Doves Cry"), and "Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You" (For that song, she did her usual spoken "poets, legends, priests of nothing...," but she also added a twist. She ended by saying "Yet they were legends of EVERYTHING really." In addition, when she sang "If not for me, than do it for the world," Stevie pulled back from the mike and sang softly, "Please....")

During "Rhiannon," Stevie started to drift into her classic frenzied freak-out, but reined it in at the very last moment.

"Gold Dust Woman" was sung with more authority and with far better range than on "The Dance." During "Sleeping Angel," Stevie worked her way around the stage, interacting with the members of her band. She played air guitar, air violin, air drums, etc... Very cute.

Les and Silver did Sharon's and Mindy's "Whole Lotta Trouble" boogie.

Stevie repeatedly thanked the audience for letting her sing these songs.

Rhapsody managed to smuggle her camera into Irvine Meadows in the most ingenious place. She somehow managed to turn it on--"Look, Ma! No hands!" Unfortunately, the zoom lens came out at the most unfortunate time. ;-) Phil also smuggled his camera in, but we won't go into the details, haha! Rhapsody jinxed Stevie. She was talking about how Stevie always gets tangled up in her microphone ribbons. Of course, that's exactly what happened to Stevie during "Stand Back." She tried to walk away and almost knocked her microphone stand over. She recovered nicely, though.

Well, that's it! Hope you enjoyed!

Silver, Les, Kathy D., and Rhapsody

An Incredible Experience

August 1, 1998

Hi Everyone I am just now at this very moment back from LA!! I am very tired, but I wanted to share my incredible experience with you all!! :)

First off, let me say I left Santa Monica at 4:00, and did not get to Irvine until almost 6:00. The 405 was UNBEARABLE. But, Isn't it always!! We ate first, and got to the Meadows at about 7:15. Got great parking too!! :)

Okay when we got in I headed straight for the souvenir stand. I had a damn hard time deciding what t-shirt to get. I finally decided on the blue lamp one. I also bought a key chain. I wish I could have got more, but I am flat broke!!!! We went to the ID check stand for buying beer, and I realized I had left my ID in the car!! DAMN!! So when we got to concessions I bought a bottled water for 3 bucks!!! Alright leave me with less money!! :( Can anyone please tell me why they remove the caps when you order a bottled water or soda. I have always wondered that. The cap is kinda useful you know?!?!?! "Oh Well"

Okay on to the concert!! I had great seats in the Orchestra!! I was pumped! Michael McDonald opened and he was really great. I believe he played for like 45 minutes to an hour!! People were really getting into it towards the end of his set. I like how he got the crowd into it. He is really cool!! And, Lenny played percussion for him too!! :)

I watched them transform the stage. How stunning it was!! I tried to stay away from any pictures of the stage, because I did not want to ruin it for my self. Seeing it......oh it is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO Stevie!! :) The crowd was growing impatient waiting for Stevie. Finally Chris (I assume, I swear it did not look like him, but people were yelling Chris!!! I did not have my glasses on, so what do I know!!) came out and read the definition of Enchanted. Well, he only read the first half, he closed the book and spoke the rest from memory. I got teary eyed when he said "to move so deeply to tears" (or something like that). Then........it started!!!

Outside the Rain/Dreams: The crowd went wild as Stevie came out. And let me just tell you she looked STUNNING!! Absolutely gorgeous!! I love the way these two songs flow together. I also think Dreams sounded better than on the Dance tour. Oh and she looked so happy!! :) After those songs, she welcomed everyone and explained the set she would be doing!!! She said because this is a tour supporting her boxset she was going to be doing songs she never had the opportunity to do before! She said something along the lines of: if you don't know a song that its not new, its been there all along, we just overlooked it. I thought that was really cute!

Enchanted: This song rocked. She just wailed on it! The crowd was sort of half and half on this song. Half seemed to be really into it, the other half didn't at all. Which, is too damn bad, because it was awesome!!! Then the shawl change for GDW Gold Dust Woman: WOW!! Just one word!! It was mesmerizing. Her scream kicked butt!! Everyone was into this song. I was doing the spider fingers, and my boyfriend looks over at me, his look was priceless. ;o) Her twirls were great!! Now, I cannot remember if she knocked the mike over in this song or Gold and Braid. She looked half embarrassed when she did it. It was ver sweet.

Gold and Braid: I, of course immediately thought of Hayley during this song!! It is so....just downright GREAT!!!!! I got real ticked though, because ALOT of people took this song as an opportunity to get up and do something else! How Dare They!!

Then a break for the acoustic setup!

After the Glitter Fades: Okay! Most everyone in the audience decided to sit for the acoustic set, because it just sort of gave off that kind of feeling. I sat because everyone else was and I didn't want to block the ladies behind me, who btw were real cool!! Well, unfortunately for me, the only person standing in the entire area was in front of me. I mean it, she was a damn wall!! Sorry if that is awful, but she saw noone else was standing. I guess it's only polite you know? Anyway I could not see Stevie for this whole song, but it sounded wonderful. It's kinda fuzzy though because I was so ticked we even ASKED her to sit. Did she? Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!! These two ladies sitting next to me moved, so I was able to move into their seats for the rest of the songs in the set! Garbo: Oh, I forgot to say Stevie said before she started the acoustic set that she thought we would appreciate these songs being they are about Hollywood and all. She said Garbo was written when she and Lindsey went to their BN photo shoot (big roar of applause from the crowd here) and they went to this huge castle like house. (I could not hear what else she said because this chick was SCREAMING "Stevie I love you Stevie right in my ear!) The song was beautiful I love how she sang Marleeeeennnnnaaaaa!!! She held that note for so long. Man, she kicks!!

Rose Garden: She said she wrote this when she was just 17, and if we listen to the words, that it is kind of creepy (not her word) that she was only 17, and a senior in high school!! This song was beautiful, but I am fuzzy on it, because by now people were screaming at this one girl to sit down. Sleeping Angel: Oh I love this song so much. It was just very very beautiful!! :)

Stand Back: OMG!!!!! This was just one of the highlights of the whole evening! Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, was on their feet singing and dancing. Even, my boyfriend. LOL!!! The audience response got Stevie more into the song than ever. She was dancing and spinning like crazy. Her leg kick was so high on this song. She just brought down the house on this one. She was breathless, and more than a little surprised, and pleased at the crowd. She said you guys are the best, or something like that, I could not really tell because the cheering and screams were so loud! I thought of Ava during this song. Ava, why did I think of you during this song?

Rhiannon: Rhiannon was great!! She sounded better on it than she did no the Dance. But, I did miss FM on this song a lot!

Whole Lotta Trouble: Very nice. I am not a big fan of this song, but it is great live!

Landslide: I think Stevie dedicated this to her road manager (?) because it was his birthday, and someone else. Damn, if I can remember! sorry!! Okay, not Lindsey, but Frank was very very good! I was impressed, and surprised I liked it so much! BTW, I think Frank is totally cute!! :)

Twisted: Very Cool!!! I loved the red shawl. And the lighting was very cool!! I think a lot of people got up during this song!! "Oh Well" :)

Edge of Seventeen: Bongo solo was awesome Lenny Kicked some serious butt on this. The man has so much energy, it is unbelievable!! I liked the dueling banjos thing with Land on the drums and Lenny on percussion VERY COOL!! BTW, everyone rushed the stage during Whole Lotta Trouble. And I was not watching so, by that time, it was way to late!! Oh Well!! :( Edge of Seventeen was truly awesome. I thought of Blackcat during this song of course! :) I loved it so much!! I was beamign during the entire song. She took quite awhile shaking everyone's hand which I thought was very very cool. I am not sure but I think she was shaking some guys hand and he wouldn't let go or something, she kept saying No, don't do that, and her bodyguard or whatever he is was growling at the guy. She was too cute!! Then she came back and sang some more of the song. For those of you there did she sing "I know what it sounds like when the doves cry" I could of sworn she did. Then it sounded like she sang "hey you in the way back do you know what it sounds like?" It was altogether very very cool!! After this she said she forgot to dedicate Landslide to Jim Ladd, and that she thought of him throughout E of 17!! They took their bows and left the stage. Then some people left. Why did they leave? Who doesn't do encores????

I Need to Know: She came back out and said whats a great Stevie Nicks performance without a Tom Petty Song. The Audience was very into this song!! :)

Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You: Wow! How beautiful!! She looked absolutely stunning for this song. I loved the ending when she says "And when they ask her about the men in her life, and they DO still ask her, she says well, they were poets, priests of nothing, and yet they were legends" She kept repeating the poets........ line. I loved when she said ".....priests of nothing, yet they were priests of everything......"

This was perhaps the most memorable concert experience of my life. What made me especially happy was when we were walking out my boyfriend said to me "That was awesome, I think that was the greatest live performance I have been to" He always used to tell me how much he didn't like Stevie. Now, he is changed forever! I am so happy, and proud!! What a beautiful night, and what a truly enchanting woman, I am already in anticipation of her next tour!! :)

Thanks all for reading, I know it was long!!