Reviews of the benefit concert on March 9, 1997

as seen by Amy Thompson ("Juliet")

It really should have been called Stevie Nicks and friends rather than Don Henley and friends. :-) Sure...Roger McQuinn, Bruce Hornsby, Don Henley all got a lot of applause..but Stevie sure got the most!! Don Henley introduced Stevie saying "a woman who has survived the 70's; and survived the 80's." The crowd went wild when beautiful Stevie walked out. She was in a long, black, velvet dress; wearing a very sparkly diamond bracelet and ring (which I'm sure were real). The bracelet was HUGE! I couldn't see her shoes (not even with binoculars) because her dress was covering them. (But at the end..she had another shorter black dress on, and she was wearing black platform tennis-like shoes..very cute). Her hair was long and straight. She really looked GREAT!! She began with "Dreams," then said a couple words...(I couldn't hear the words though because there was a lot of applause). Sharon Celani, Lori Perry-Nicks and Timothy B. Schmidt (from the Eagles) were her back up singers. Next, Stevie sang "Landslide." It was absolutely beautiful! Her voice sounded perfect in this song. During "Landslide," Stevie sang "But time makes you bolder, even children get older, And I'm getting "very much older" too" The crowd cheered for her! She smiled. Then, Stevie invited Don Henley onstage to sing "Leather and Lace." How cool is that! During the part that Stevie sang "I have my own life...and I am stronger than you know.." Don was behind her nodding his head. Both Don and Stevie sounded really good during the song. At the end of the song when Stevie was singing "Take from me..my lace. Take from me..my lace..." she gave Don her lace, and he put it on his head. Lastly, Stevie sang the classic slow, fast "Rhiannon." Stevie danced around a lot and did a great "tambourining" during the instrumental part of "Rhiannon." She really seemed to be enjoying herself. That was it for Stevie's songs! At one point during Stevie's show, some guy yelled out "I love you, Stevie." Stevie heard him, and the crowd cheered and laughed! It was a really great audience! Stevie came out one more time to sing a song with Roger McQuinn, Don Henley, and the others. She played tambourine, too. After the show, we went around back, but we didn't get to see Stevie. We even waited around for a couple of hours. Oh well..maybe next time!

as seen by Debbi Radford

I attended both shows. For the first show, I was dead center stage, fourth row. Roger McGuinn and Bruce Hornsby opened the show with MR. TAMBOURINE MAN and TURN, TURN, TURN. Bruce played the piano for an excellent version of MANDOLIN RAIN, followed by THE WAY IT IS and DOWN A LONG VALLEY ROAD. To be sitting so close and watch his fingers fly and his feet bouncing up and down was quite inspiring. He was acting just like the audience was an old friend; he seemed very down to earth. Don Henley came on stage and sang a series of his songs including THE END OF THE INNOCENCE, BOYS OF SUMMER and SUNSET GRILL. Timothy B. Schmidt joined him on stage for almost exact CD sounding versions of I CAN'T TELL YOU WHY and LOVE WILL KEEP US ALIVE. Security Guards allowed a man to hold up a little girl who handed Timothy a flower. I was used to seeing Timothy the way he looked prior to the HELL FREEZES OVER TOUR; long, full, straight dark brown/black hair. At the concert, his hair appeared to be a shade of beige/light brown, quite thin and permed. I was fairly surprised since this new look seemed to age him quite a bit. Vocally, he was in fine shape.

At this point, I was getting quite restless for Stevie. Where was she; was she even there? Fortunately, a friend had spotted her mother sitting about 5 rows behind and to the right of us or else I would have been panicked! Barbara Nicks was sitting with a heavy set, young man and some young women whom none of us recognized. Stevie came on the stage and was greeted with booming applause. Her hair was much as it was when I saw her at A CHRISTMAS CAROL a few months ago, straight, but it appeared much thicker. I certainly like this new look for her. She had on a very large, sparkling bracelet and a new black dress. She was beautiful; no doubt! The biggest surprise to me about her set was the lack of STAND BACK. It seems as if she never fails to include this classic when she is performing. Frankly, I did not miss it. I had hoped for a duet with Bruce Hornsby for a live TWO KINDS OF LOVE, but did not expect it due to the lack of group rehearsal time. I did expect LEATHER AND LACE and was not disappointed. She began with DREAMS and went quickly into the unanticipated and beautiful LANDSLIDE. The dedication to her mother was a nice touch and obviously, heartfelt, because Stevie did not dedicate the song to anyone in her evening performance. "Even children get older, and I'm getting older too, yes, very much older too" sang Stevie as the crowd seemed to empathize with her sentiment here. She smiled quite prettily at that moment. Stevie announced Don would be joining her and was signaled from backstage that he was no where around. Stevie told the audience it would "give us time to talk" and gestured that she is always "waiting on Henley". He came running on to the stage, embarrassed and it was just a nice moment for everyone. They affectionately sang LEATHER AND LACE. They embraced and talked intimately while the audience cheered. Stevie's final solo song was RHIANNON. She began it acoustically and was obviously into the song. She started inserting this little phrase that sounded like "she said" in places where there are normally no words. This was fun for me, reminding me of the Stevie of the old days. Stevie did this in the evening show as well; although not quite as much. "And still she cries out...don't leave me...don't leave me....don't leave me" intoned Stevie at the end. Stevie teared up to the point of wiping her tears away durng LANDSLIDE and RHIANNON. She seemed as moved as the audience was by the intense emotion of the songs. It was great! Her vocal clarity and quality were exquisite! And, I didn't want her to leave me, but she went off the stage at that point taking her back up singers, Sharon Celani and Lori Perry-Nicks with her. Lori was in a lot of shadowed light, so it was difficult to see her clearly; Sharon seems to be getting thinner each time I see her! Stevie joined the others for the finale, a version of MY BACK PAGES, mostly using the tambourine and singing only a line of the chorus each time it was sung.

There was lots of photo taking going on at the afternoon show; Security Guards at the evening performance were not as lax. For this show, I had a limited view of the stage. I was in the first row; but the section was over to the far right; making it impossible for me to see half the stage; including any back up singers. Photos from this angle would have been worthless anyway. I was delighted I attended this show in that the audience was much more participative in the program! What a difference! And the interplay between Stevie and Henley during LEATHER AND LACE was priceless! She draped him with some long black chiffon hanging from her arm as she was singing "take from me my lace" and he, looking somewhat surprised, mimicked chewing on it. That would have been a great photo! It was obvious they were enjoying being with each other. Other differences in the evening performance occurred: *When Henley followed Stevie with THE HEART OF THE MATTER he stated that it took him 42 years to write the song much like he did in the video of the HELL FREEZES OVER concert. *Henley sang ALL SHE WANTS TO DO IS DANCE and that's all the evening crowd wanted to do! People started dancing in the aisles and moving toward the stage and Security basically allowed it. Before you knew it, we were all out of our seats and at the stage floor (and I don't even know how to dance). Henley then put out excellent versions of HOTEL CALIFORNIA, LIFE IN THE FAST LANE and DESPERADO. The afternoon crowd was much more sedate, but not as much fun! *Stevie took flowers, a long, paper scroll and a white tambourine which fans put on the stage. *Women who were consuming alcohol, soda pop and water were in for a unappreciated surprise at the evening performance. All of the women's toilets were backed up according to Security, leaving two solitary handicapped toilets for the women. Women were barred from using the mens room and a nasty fight ensued. I was planning an escape route from the auditorium just in case a riot took place (which it did not).

At both performances, Stevie got more applause than the other performers. Radio reviews the next day were calling it "The Stevie Nicks Show". Even the Arizona Republic newspaper, known for its caustic Stevie reviews, described her performance as "her too-short time on stage". And truer words were never printed! Stevie is definitely back; back in a big way! Rock on...

Stevie Proves She is the ONLY Queen of Rock
by Melissa Loukas

Stevie Nicks performed at a charity concert, March 9th, at Phoenix Union High School. Stevie's music has always taken my breath away, but now that I've seen her in concert, I am in true awe of her. Don't get me wrong; everybody put on a fantastic concert, but judging from my response and the fellow audience's response, Stevie Nicks was the main reason why everybody was there. Let me first say that she looks amazing. She wore all black, and Sharon and Lori did the same. It gave me shivers to think that "it was like the old times". She gets onstage, and everybody just went nuts!! Mostly everyone gave her a standing ovation, and I noticed, it was the biggest ovation as far as any of the other ones from previous acts.

Stevie opened w/"Dreams", and again, everyone went crazy! Her voice was in fine tune, and she seemed really into the performance. She finished the song, and I can't remember how many times I heard her name being screamed, catcalls, and general "I adore you" comments being yelled out! I was so happy for her. She then thanked everyone for coming, and stated how important the charity was to her. She also said something like, "And we get to play music, which we don't have the chance to do very often." She then went to do "Landslide" which she dedicated to her mother who was in the audience. She also said to us something like, "You know the words..." I just can't convey how flabbergasted I was to see this woman who I love so much doing these songs I've been listening to for so long. She did a beautiful, soft rendition of "Landslide", and sang things like, "I'm getting older too...very much older too..." She then thanked everybody again for their applause, and then said she was waiting for Don to do the next song, which we all knew, was "Leather and Lace". It took him a while to come out, and Stevie humorously kidded that "she's always waiting for Don!" while she tapped her foot impatiently! It was very funny, and the crowd went nuts again, but nothing compared to the craziness of the audience recognizing the opening chords of "Rhiannon". I was in Heaven by this point! She did the slow piano version of it first, with the talk of "Rhiannon, please don't go...", and "Don't leave me....".

At this point, you couldn't have talked to me because I was concentrating on Stevie so much. It was like reliving a famous, beautiful history being there when she sang "Rhiannon". Then after the slow intro, the famous rockin' version started, and the theater reverberated with the thunderous claps to the music! She pulled no stops with this song, and I was so touched by everything. The audience lost it after "Rhiannon" finished, and she said "Thank you so much". Then like Rhiannon, "a cat in the dark", Stevie became the darkness as she left the stage. The crowd went ballistic, and everyone gave her a standing ovation. Mr. Don Henley himself had to tell us to sit down again. So Stevie continues to reign as the Queen of Rock, and I continue to be in awe of her and her unbelievable music. "These are the moments that I live for...."

Stevie Concert review for March 9, 1996 7:30 pm Show
by Marvin D. Stewart

A beautiful and warm Phoenix night was made even better at approximately 7:30 pm when Don Henley & Friends got underway right on time much to the delight of the packed Union Hall. As described in earlier reviews, Don's non-Stevie guests started the show off. The crowd was still not seated when the magical evening began. Ushers were still seating fans well into the second and third songs...Hornsby was excellent on piano and pleased the croud with a few of his standards from several years ago. For a more detailed review of the non-Stevie perfomers, see the above reviews.....onward to Stevies performance!!!!!!!!

Stevie entered from Stage-right after being introduced by Don as being one he had survived the 70's and 80's with. Stevie looked absolutely gorgeous in a verrrrrry classy black velvet sheath-gown with a chiffon under-dress. Stevie's hair was styled straight and went all the way down to the small of her back. The large sparkling bracelet Stevie wore on her right wrist captured the stagelighting with exsquisite radiance, this was surely a diamond treasure!!!!!! (or the most expensive cubic zirconions I've ever seen) HAD TO BE DIAMONDS from the was it exploded with fire!

As earlier reported, the song set that Stevie performed was rather short, However, FLYING DOWN FROM SEATTLE for the show was definitely worth it. Stevie sang DREAMS, LANDSLIDE, RHIANNON & a duet with Don, LEATHER & LACE. The old couple seemed to be having a great time on stage together. Previous reviews were very correct in telling of the playfullness the two shared on-stage.

The show ended with all of the performers onstage jamming together. I forgot to mention that HENLEY'S performance with former EAGLE band mate Timothy Schmidt was top-notch. The two guitar players that accompanied the band all night were right on time, jamming very intensely. Life in the Fast Lane and Hotel California were done very well. Henley did All She Wants to do is Dance twice, both times getting the crowd into the isles, the house was really rockin' !!!!

I enjoyed the night tremendously. To top it all off, after the show a bunch of us tried to get autographs. Much to our dismay we missed Stevie by moments, as they all left immediately after the show in white vans, roaring down side streets presumably off to Stevie's house in Paradise Valley, minutes away, north of downtown. I was happily surprised, as others were as well , when the infamous JOHN KINNEY announced himself to the rest of us waiting at the back stage entrance. We all had a great time talking about how we were staying 'till the stage door was locked by the roadies and security, not giving up the hope that our WHITE WINGED DOVE would appear, however she didn't, but we all got to know each other a little. John, his friend Amy and I went out for breakfast at IHOP where we pigged out and relaxed after a very intense evening. A great time was had by all. STEVIE< if you read this one way or another, THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS!!!!!!!!

P.S. Stevie's Stuff at her mother's antique shop in Payson was really cool, you must check it out if you go to Phoenix.

from Clayre in Tucson<><><><><>

It has been a week since I went to Phoenix from Tucson for the Henley, Nicks, Hornsby, McGuinn, & Schmit Benefit Concert. I still cannot believe that I was there! I had 4th row seats at the evening show. It was an incredible venue as it was a small place, so that everyone on stage seemed real close. Don Henley, Bruce Hornsby, Roger McGuinn, and Timothy Schmit were excellent---All the songs were absolute classics, and they sounded great!!!! BUT, STEVIE stole the show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She came out all aglow,and sang DREAMS right off---It is such an AWESOME song, and you know that she loves it!!!! Then, she did LANDSLIDE which was really touching........Next, Stevie called Don to come out and do LEATHER & LACE...... Absolutely Incredible---I bet that they have never been on a stage together to sing that song since it was recorded on BellaDonna---It takes all of us back......... And, then RHIANNON---Slow intro and then the fast, hot, killer rocker that it is!!!!!!! STEVIE NICKS brought the house down!!!!!!!!!!SHE IS THE QUEEN OF ROCK!!!!! For the encore songs, we went right up to the stage!!!! I will NEVER again be that close to Stevie!!!!! She is just a fabulous person!!!! I consider myself VERY LUCKY to have had the opportunity to be there!!!!!!!!!!! I HOPE THAT SHE KNOWS HOW MUCH WE ARE HERE FOR HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! UNTIL THE NEXT CONCERT WITH STEVIE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

from Sandy Deane (with Windy and Sheldon)

I thought I was going to cry when I heard the first chords of Rhiannon. Stevie sang "..And then she is your darkness.." instead of "and then she is THE darkness.." She did not sing the "Oooh" parts of Leather and Lace when Don Henley has his solos. She (in my opinion) took the grace and stepped back a couple steps to let Don have the spotlight. Also in Leather and Lace Stevie sang "...IT'S my city or mountain..." instead of just "my city or mountain.." I thought that was cute. She was absolutley beautiful and I will never forget that night as long as I live. I (like Marvin) flew from Seattle to see Stevie. I really enjoyed meeting John and Amy and Marv after the show. The Hard Rock Cafe in Phoenix had a little set up of one of Stevie's stage costumes and tambourine? A local after the concert was telling us about it... but we never made it. Also..a little note on the last song...we too ran up to the stage (well, as close as we could get) and we saw Don bend the microphone down so that Stevie could reach it. I can't wait for the next show! I want to bring my kids..even though they're under the age of 6, they know alot of her songs already. Their favorite this week is "Free Fallin'".