Mick Fleetwood on Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Overlooked’ Smash ‘Mirage’ | Rolling Stone

By Richard Bienstock
20th Sept, 2016
Rolling Stone

Ahead of new reissue, drummer talks “wild and romantic” France sessions, opulent video shoots and more

In advance of Fleetwood Mac's new 'Mirage' reissue, Mick Fleetwood recalls making the comparatively modest 'Tusk' follow-up. Neal Preston
In advance of Fleetwood Mac’s new ‘Mirage’ reissue, Mick Fleetwood recalls making the comparatively modest ‘Tusk’ follow-up. Neal Preston

“I don’t think it would be wrong to say it sort of got overlooked,” says Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood, reminiscing about his band’s 1982 album, Mirage, which will be reissued in a deluxe package via Warner Bros. on September 23rd. It’s something of an odd statement to make about a record that charted at Number One on the Billboard 200, spawned multiple hit singles and went on to sell more than three million copies. Of course, when you’re in Fleetwood Mac, the definition of what constitutes success is relative.

The album, the band’s 13th studio effort overall and fourth to feature singer Stevie Nicks and singer/guitarist Lindsey Buckingham alongside longtime members Fleetwood, bassist John McVie and singer/keyboardist Christine McVie, came on the heels of one of the more impressive runs in rock: the lineup’s smash 1975 “debut,” Fleetwood Mac; the now-more-than-40-million-selling follow-up, Rumours; and the sprawling and sonically adventurous Buckingham-helmed double–LP Tusk (a commercial “failure” that still managed to move several million copies). By the time the band reconvened for Mirage in May 1981, they had been off the road for close to a year, during which time three members had recorded – but not yet released – solo albums (Buckingham’s Law and Order, Fleetwood’s The Visitor and Nicks’ eventual chart-topping, multi-platinum Bella Donna). That time apart, combined with the tensions that had been brought on by the experimental nature of the Tusk album, left them ready to recapture a bit of the old Rumours magic, so to speak. Continue reading Mick Fleetwood on Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Overlooked’ Smash ‘Mirage’ | Rolling Stone

10 Questions for Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac | theartsdesk

The peacemaker of Fleetwood Mac on Mirage, Maui and missing the buzz

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theartsdesk meets Christine McVie on a sunny Friday afternoon in September; the Warner Brothers boardroom (with generous hospitality spread) is suitably palatial. We’re the first media interview of the day, so she’s bright and attentive. McVie was always the member of Fleetwood Mac who you’d want to adopt: the most approachably human member of a band constantly at war with itself. Readily admitting that she’s the “peacekeeper’ in the band, the singer/songwriter behind such Mac classics as “Everywhere” and “You Make Loving Fun” is as sweet and serene as you’d hope she would be.

She’s here to promote the new deluxe remaster of 1982 album Mirage – the follow-up to the somewhat deranged 1979 Tusk, which was recorded and released as Christine and John McVie, the band’s bassist, were divorcing. She quit the band in 1998 after the hugely successful live album The Dance, after which she started a fairly solitary life of her own in the English countryside for the best part of 16 years. The first four of those, she says, were simply spent working on the house. It was only therapy and the canny, persuasive hand of Mick Fleetwood that coaxed her into returning after a trip to Maui, Hawaii, where Mick lives close to John McVie, his lifelong partner-in-crime.

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The former Christine Perfect had a severe fear of flying that she’s now completely beaten, and as we speak, it’s clear that she’s fairly perplexed about having left the fray for so long in the first place. So what was she doing in all that time exactly? “A lot of people ask me that question!” With a brand new album (their first since 2001’s Say You Will) and a new world tour in the planning stages, it’s clear that the Fleetwood Mac story still has several enthralling chapters ahead. Somewhere near Fleetwood’s on Front Street – Mick’s fancy restaurant in Maui – the drummer must be feeling pretty smug that the ragged band of brothers and sisters he founded are finally back together.

Continue reading 10 Questions for Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac | theartsdesk

Stevie Nicks Talks About Empowering Women, Fleetwood Mac and her Next Tour | Huffington Post

Kyle Stevens
The Huffington Post
19th Sept, 2016

Legend. Icon. Storyteller.

Photo Credit: Kristin Burns
Photo Credit: Kristin Burns

“I have a super loud voice,” Stevie Nicks said with a laugh. The world is thankful for it. Her voice is necessary in times like these. The future is up in the air and Stevie Nicks has stepped up to the plate to be the heroine will we need. She is taking the show on the road and it will be unlike anything anyone has ever seen before. The 27-city tour starts on October 25th in Phoenix and will travel to places like Atlanta, Toronto, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York City and more. “The 24 Karat Gold Tour” is the next chapter in the mythical career of Stevie Nicks.

In an exclusive interview with The Huffington Post, Nicks went into detail about what fans should look forward to when “The 24 Karat Gold Tour” comes to town. “I made a list. I went all the way back into my full catalog because the 24 Karat Gold record has a lot of songs. It also does encompass in many ways all the songs from all my solo records. So I’m having to pick. My list ended up to be 31 songs, it’s really ridiculous. I have an amazing opening act in The Pretenders. It cannot be a three hour set like I just finished doing with Fleetwood Mac and I asked, ‘But Why?’ My musical director and lead guitarist asked if I cut down the set at all yet and I went, ‘Nope.’ So I said, ‘Just hand out the 31 songs to the band and tell them they don’t have to learn them all perfectly. They just have to be aware that we need to play these songs because sometimes the songs that you think are going to be the best aren’t and sometimes the songs that you think will never work ends up being some of your favorite things,’” she told me. It was quite clear that Stevie Nicks created an adventurous and exciting air around her latest undertaking. Continue reading Stevie Nicks Talks About Empowering Women, Fleetwood Mac and her Next Tour | Huffington Post

Watch Stevie Nicks’ Flawless Performance of ‘Landslide’ on America’s Got Talent | TIME

Stevie Nicks on Secret to Fleetwood Mac’s Longevity, Touring Like Prince | Rolling Stone

By Brittany Spanos
September 14, 2016
Rolling Stone

Ahead of 24 Karat Gold solo tour, singer-songwriter talks set lists, “sex, rock & roll and drugs” songs, and more

Steve Nicks discusses how her solo career helps keep Fleetwood Mac stable, and why she can no longer write "sex, rock & roll and drugs" songs. Kristin Burns
Steve Nicks discusses how her solo career helps keep Fleetwood Mac stable, and why she can no longer write “sex, rock & roll and drugs” songs. Kristin Burns

Stevie Nicks has been having trouble sleeping. The Fleetwood Mac vocalist wrapped up a year-and-a-half long tour with her band last November, but even as she’s begun rehearsing for a solo tour in support of 2014’s 24 Karat Gold that will launch in October, Nicks has yet to find herself on a better schedule.

“I’ve gotten into the habit of not going to sleep until somewhere between five and seven, and when I’m not working I can sleep until four [in the afternoon],” she reveals, blaming the tour routing schedule that had the band jumping between cities and time zones every other day. “I wish I had worked harder on it because now it’s gonna be harder for me to, but I’ll figure it out because I always do.”

Even though she doesn’t necessarily need to, the legendary vocalist and songwriter felt determined to get back on the road even after touring for so long with the Mac, who reunited with Christine McVie after a 16-year break. Just before McVie’s return, Nicks had finished recording 24 Karat Gold, based on a collection of demos from throughout her career that she had personally cut from the various Fleetwood Mac and solo albums they were originally intended to be on. She spent two and half months in Nashville with friend and producer Dave Stewart recording the songs, and the same day she turned the album into Warner Bros., she entered a rehearsal room with one of rock’s most iconic, formerly tempestuous line-ups. Continue reading Stevie Nicks on Secret to Fleetwood Mac’s Longevity, Touring Like Prince | Rolling Stone

Stevie Nicks to honour Prince during upcoming US tour | Daily Mail

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHED: Daily Mail
13:49, 13 September 2016

Stevie Nicks is trying to whittle down the set list for her upcoming solo tour, but one song that definitely made the cut is her 1983 hit “Stand Back” with Prince. Originally written as a compliment, now it will be a tribute.

FILE - This May 13, 2014 file photo shows Stevie Nicks, winner of the BMI Icon Award, at the 62nd Annual BMI Pop Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif. Nicks’ two-month tour kicks off Oct. 25 in support of her 2014 album “24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault,” her sixth top 10 album on the Billboard 200 chart. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
FILE – This May 13, 2014 file photo shows Stevie Nicks, winner of the BMI Icon Award, at the 62nd Annual BMI Pop Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif. Nicks’ two-month tour kicks off Oct. 25 in support of her 2014 album “24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault,” her sixth top 10 album on the Billboard 200 chart. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

The Fleetwood Mac singer, who heard Prince’s “Little Red Corvette” on her car radio and loved it so much she decided to write an answer song, hasn’t played “Stand Back” since Prince died in April.

“I will be singing it for the first time without Prince being on the planet,” she said. “That is going to be horrible, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t want to pay homage to my ‘Little Red Corvette’ friend. I’ll sing it forever for him now.”

Nicks’ two-month tour with The Pretenders kicks off Oct. 25 in support of her 2014 album, “24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault.” She never got a chance to promote the CD since she spent most of the last three years on the road with Fleetwood Mac.
Nicks promises songs from “24 Karat Gold” as well as old favorites like “Dreams,” ”If Anyone Falls,” ”New Orleans,” ”Bella Donna,” ”Rooms on Fire” and “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.”

“Stand Back” will be there, fueled by the memory of her having lured Prince into the recording studio to play keyboards on the song he inspired. She said one of her deepest regrets is never getting him to join her onstage for a live version.

Though Nicks and Prince were friends, the two didn’t hang out much. One thing they disagreed on was drug use. “He hated them. And he hated that I did drugs and that’s probably why we didn’t hang out more,” she said. Continue reading Stevie Nicks to honour Prince during upcoming US tour | Daily Mail

Stevie Nicks on Crafting a Setlist for 24 Karat Gold Tour, Possible Fleetwood Mac Album & Wishing She’d Performed With Prince | Billboard

8th Sept, 2016
Billboard Online
by Keith Caulfield

Whenever I play ‘Stand Back’ from this day forward, Prince will be standing next to me.”

Stevie Nicks, photo by Danny Clinch
Stevie Nicks, photo by Danny Clinch

““I’m hoping that this will be as much fun for the audience as it’s gonna be for me,” Stevie Nicks tells Billboard about her just-announced 24 Karat Gold Tour. The two-month trek — launching Oct. 25 in Phoenix, with the Pretenders opening — supports her 2014 effort 24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault, which marked her sixth top 10 album on the Billboard 200 chart.

The album was comprised of tracks Nicks had written and made demo recordings for decades ago but had never been included on any of her previous albums. Then, in 2014, she and producer Dave Stewart headed to Nashville with the demos and recorded entirely new versions of the songs to produce 24 Karat Gold. “I think this [tour] is going to be great,” Nicks says. “I think that all the fans are gonna have a ball. And I hope that they totally just dress up — as Wendy Williams would say, ‘Dress to the nines.’ And come to party, and sing.”

Nicks says the setlist for the tour is still being shaped (it’s “about at 30 songs right now”) but will feature songs from 24 Karat Gold and possibly title cuts from some of her older albums, like “Bella Donna,” “Wild Heart” and “Trouble in Shangri-La.” She wants the show to “have its little explosions of fun” from the various parts of her career. Nicks also gives a hint to fans: “You know what, you might want to come to two shows, because you never know: There might be an alternative [set]list.” Continue reading Stevie Nicks on Crafting a Setlist for 24 Karat Gold Tour, Possible Fleetwood Mac Album & Wishing She’d Performed With Prince | Billboard

Fleetwood Mac: The Complete Illustrated History Book

Live In Limbo Literature
Mark Milner
September 6, 2016

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Few bands, if any, can lay claim to as colourful a history as Fleetwood Mac. Their founding guitarist went off the deep end, another quit to join a cult. Marriages splintered and relationships crumbled. And, just at the band looked to bottoming out, they literally stumbled on two performers who’d send them to their biggest successes.

Really, you’d think there’d be a Fleetwood Mac movie by now.

There’s about 50 years of Fleetwood Mac history to cover and in his new large-format book, Fleetwood Mac: The Complete Illustrated History, writer and music critic Richie Unterberger (Allmusic, Mojo, Uncut) tackles their long, twisting career.

There’s a lot to cover, both stylistically and historically. For example, you could argue Fleetwood Mac is something closer to three bands. They started as a straight up blues band, playing Chicago-style electric blues in mid-60s England. Later, as the band’s personnel became a revolving door, they turned into a fairly standard classic rock band. And finally, with the addition of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks in 1975, they became a commercial juggernaut whose infighting could fill another book. Each period has it’s own merits and drawbacks; each is really only tied to the other by the band’s rhythm section. Continue reading Fleetwood Mac: The Complete Illustrated History Book

Stevie Nicks regrets taking drugs | Female First

6th Sept 2016

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The Fleetwood Mac star is disappointed that, in the past, she didn’t know she “had the energy to do an entire set totally sober”.

She said: “Yes, it [doing drugs] was a lot of fun between 1975 and 1990 – until it wasn’t. I walk onstage every night now and do a three-hour show with Fleetwood Mac, and I have a great time up there.

“I wish I had known that I actually had the energy to do this entire set totally sober and get just as excited. On one hand, that makes me feel great and on the other it makes me sad that I ever did my first line of coke.”

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Asked which other female artists she looks up to, she said: “I have so many favourites. I love Katy Perry and Adele.

The Fleetwood Mac legend loves the ‘Roar’ singer and admires the ‘Hello’ hitmaker – who has three-year-old son Angelo with her partner Simon Konecki – for being so successful that it doesn’t matter how long she takes to write an album, she will always be in demand.

And I’m so happy for Adele right now. And the 68-year-old musician has praised ‘Hello’ hitmaker Adele for believing in herself and feeling confident enough to take a hiatus.She’ll do what I did – she’ll figure out a way to stay in the business.

She told The New York Times newspaper: “If she needs to go away for three years, she doesn’t feel like somebody’s going to take her place. When you believe in yourself that much, you can take as long as you want.”

“The big difference between her and me is that she has a child, and that will change things for her, but I think Adele knows what she wants and I don’t think she’s in a hurry.

Meanwhile, Adele, 28, previously admitted she ended up “sobbing all over” the ‘Landslide’ hitmaker when they first met.

She shared: “I was sobbing all over her, oh my God. I don’t really like crying in front of famous people because it’s awkward and it can make them feel really uncomfortable. But I couldn’t contain myself.”

 

Stevie Nicks – 24 Karat Gold Tour: Press Release

STEVIE NICKS ANNOUNCES 27 CITY NORTH AMERICAN 24 KARAT GOLD TOUR WITH PRETENDERS

LOS ANGELES (September 6, 2016) – Singer Stevie Nicks, the multi-platinum, Grammy® Award Winning-music icon today announced The 24 Karat Gold Tour. Produced exclusively by Live Nation, the 27-city tour with Pretenders, will begin on Tuesday, October 25 in Phoenix, Arizona and will see the legendary Nicks perform throughout North America this Fall with shows scheduled in New York City, Los Angeles, Toronto, Vancouver, Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta and more. A full list of tour dates follows this release.

STEVIE NICKS ANNOUNCES 24 KARAT GOLD TOUR WITH PRETENDERS (PRNewsFoto/Live Nation Entertainment)
STEVIE NICKS ANNOUNCES 24 KARAT GOLD TOUR WITH PRETENDERS (PRNewsFoto/Live Nation Entertainment)

American Express Card Members can purchase tickets before the general public beginning Wednesday, September 7 at 10:00 a.m. through Sunday, September 11 at 10:00 p.m. Tickets go on sale beginning Monday, September 12 at www.livenation.com.

Nicks, a multi-platinum selling artist – dubbed “the reigning queen of rock and roll” by Rolling Stone Magazine has had six Top Ten albums and 8 Grammy nominations. Her 2014 album 24 Karat Gold – Songs From The Vault debuted at No. 7 on Billboard’s Top 200 Charts. As a member of Fleetwood Mac, Nicks recently performed 122 sold out shows around the world during 2014-2015. Collectively as a solo artist and Fleetwood Mac band member, Nicks has sold over 140 million albums and won several Grammys.

The Pretenders cross the bridge between punk, new wave and Top 40 pop music more than any other band, with hit songs like I’ll Stand By You, Back On The Chain Gang and Don’t Get Me Wrong. The band has sold over 25 million albums and founder & leader Chrissie Hynde is one of contemporary music’s greatest songwriters. Chrissie most recently released the album Stockholm and a 2015 memoir, Reckless: My Life As a Pretender, hailed by the New York Times upon its release as “honest and distinctive…first and foremost, a love letter to rock and roll.”

24 Karat Gold Tour with Pretenders
*all dates, venues and cities below subject to change.

SN 24K Tour

Tour Dates

Oct 25, 2016 – Phoenix, AZ – Talking Stick Resort Arena Continue reading Stevie Nicks – 24 Karat Gold Tour: Press Release