Veteran rockers still fresh in 70th show
THE headline artists were 60somethings; so were many in the near 12,000strong crowd.
But there was enough energy at last night’s Stevie Nicks and Chrissie Hynde Dunedin concert to show there’s plenty of life in the legs of older musicians and fans yet.
Following a set full of hardon rock tunes from Hynde (66) and her band The Pretenders, Fleetwood Mac songstress Nicks (69) took to the stage to rapturous applause.
This was the last show of a lengthy tour, but there was no sign of roadweariness.
‘‘This is the last of 70 shows, and we have chosen to share that 70th show with you and your city,’’ Nicks said.
She said her spirits were high despite the recent death of close friend Tom Petty.
She told the crowd the concert setlist had been designed to tell the stories behind her songs, and Petty would have wanted her to celebrate his part in her musical story.
That was no more evident than when Nicks dueted with Hynde on ‘‘Stop Draggin My Heart Around’’ — a song from her 1981 debut solo album Belladonna, which she and Petty had a worldwide hit with.
Each song was preceded by an anecdote or an explanation of how it came to be written.
‘‘It’s like writing a book on stage,’’ Nicks told the crowd.
Among the readers in the audience were a strong contingent from Christchurch.
This was a Dunedin show, but it was hard to find a local among the early arrivals.
The front rows filled up within minutes of the gates opening at Forsyth Barr Stadium — and everyone spoken to had come from Christchurch for the show.
‘‘The roads were really busy coming down,’’ Nigel and Dierdre Bratten said.
The Brattens are dedicated Nicks fans: Mr Bratten was wearing his Fleetwood Mac Tshirt from the band’s previous Dunedin visit and the couple had also seen Nicks in New Plymouth — and they saw Hynde on her last New
Zealand tour, too.
‘‘Absolutely we wanted to see her again — she’s brilliant,’’ Mr Bratten said.
Fellow Christchurch devotees Liz Nichol and Steve Grant — the first fans seated in the front row — were savouring their view of proceedings.
‘‘We were watching a documentary about her on television and I said to Steve ‘can we go see Stevie Nicks?’ and he said ‘yes’,’’ Ms Nichol said.
Nichol, a former singer in a country rock band, said she loved Nicks’ music and the couple had bought her CDs for years. Last night they had as good a view as a fan could possibly get of their idol.
Two of the younger fans at the front were Christchurch’s Andrew Te Groen and Brienna Henderson, who had no intention of missing last night’s show, having grown up with Nicks’ music.
‘‘I’m a really big fan of both Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks,’’ said Mr Te Groen.
‘‘I sort of sneaked out from work and made sure we got good seats.’’
Hynde and The Pretenders took no prisoners in their opening set, firing out hardrocking tunes like Alone and
Gotta Wait as an opening salvo, before playing fan favourites like Don’t Get Me Wrong and
Brass In Pocket.
Hynde told the crowd she had spent a couple of days in Dunedin and loved the town. Highlights included seeing the Cirkopolis show and First Church.
‘‘It really is just like the north of Scotland, if they had daylight up there.’’
SWEETNESS thrown in with a bit of sassiness. They may be the age where they could both pick up gold cards, but Stevie Nicks and Chrissie Hynde can still deliver the goods.
The two hooked in the crowd at Forsyth Barr Stadium last night. It was a mixed crowd of young and old and most got up on their feet.
The Pretenders kicked it off and they were of top quality.
The voice is the thing that matters at the end of the day. Many of these veteran rockers can still thrust the hips and have the hair standing on end but the voice has long departed the building.
But Hynde and her great vocals came through. She launched into all her hits and got the crowd up on their feet.
This girl is a rocker with the best of them and she played to the crowd, showing her worth.
She bounced around the stage and showed there is plenty of energy despite this being the 70th and last concert of the tour.
Hynde has had a bit of press of late which has not put her in the best of light but she was in a relaxed mood last night.
She skipped through more than a dozen songs and yes, Hymn to Her is still one of the bestpenned songs around.
Nicks came in chatty and friendly and she combined with Hynde in Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around early on.
From there she outlined a few of her songs and also belted out some Fleetwood Mac numbers, Gypsy the highlight.
It would be fair to say Nicks is no Michael McIntyre. The yarns seemed to go on a tad too long when we all come to hear that voice to her songs — the voice that shines through even at 69.
But let’s not nitpick — this was a quality show.
As a prelude to other acts coming later in the summer, the bar has been set high.
Now come on lads, rock up and reach it.