Stevie Nicks still a force enthrals Sydney

STEVIE Nicks has rocked her way into the hearts of fans in her first Sydney concert.

Stevie Nicks performing at Adelaide’s Botanic Park earlier this week. Picture: AAP

THAT witchy woman Stevie Nicks bewitched her way into Sydney’s heart with a lifetime of songs and stories at her 24 Karat Gold concert at the ICC Theatre on Tuesday.

Opening her “gothic trunk of songs”, the Fleetwood Mac goddess of the twirl and tambourine enveloped her audience in the warm embrace of memories.

Stevie Nicks performing at Adelaide’s Botanic Park earlier this week. Picture: AAP

The poignancy of this tour struck an emotional chord early in the set when she explained the genesis of her debut solo hit Stop Dragging My Heart Around and paid tribute to her friend and musical partner throughout the decades Tom Petty.

As she has been on each show of this world tour, she was joined by her new best friend Chrissie Hynde to sing the famed Nicks/Petty duet.

Chrissie Hynde and Stevie Nicks perform Tom Petty’s Stop Dragging My Heart Around in New York earlier this year. Picture: Getty Images

She quickly segued into the title tracks of her first two solo records Bella Donna and Wild Heart.

“Wild Heart proved Bella Donna was not a fluke and that girl from Fleetwood Mac got to have a solo career,” she said.

Four decades later, it seems inconceivable to imagine Nicks without a solo career even as irreplaceable and inextricable she is in the Fleetwood Mac firmament.

Her two musical identities entwined in an enchanting mix. We sang as joyfully and loudly to Gypsy, Dreams, Gold Dust Woman and Rhiannon as we did to Edge of Seventeen and Stand Back.

The songs were the only delights. At one stage she draped on the midnight blue silk chiffon cape she wore on the cover of the Bella Donna album cover. That magical material belongs in a museum for crying out loud.

If her distinctive voice and presence wasn’t enough reason to celebrate her return to the Australian stage, her survival after battles with addiction and her defiance of the arbitrary use-by date the music industry would thrust on her are an inspiration in themselves.

Add to that her generosity of spirit and humour and Nicks is a classic entertainer.

Although she does defy the laws of gravity and walking in those stratospheric heels.

Girlfriend has earned the right to skip in flats.

Stevie Nicks and Chrissie Hynde at Botanic Park Adelaide earlier this week. Picture: AAP

As an opening act, you don’t get a hotter outfit than The Pretenders.

Chrissie Hynde is one of the most powerful and versatile frontwoman in the history in rock’n’roll.

Whether letting her voice take centre stage on the signature ballads Hymn To Her and I’ll Stand By You, ripping into rockabilly or any of her rock classics from Back On The Chain and Brass In Pocket, Hynde was pitch perfect.

Her rock swagger and hilarious banter with an adoring audience made the Pretenders set feel less of a warm up and more like a fully fledged gig.

Like she sings, there is no one like her.

Stevie Nicks perform at the ICC Sydney Theatre again on Wednesday.

Originally published as Stevie Nicks still a force enthrals Sydney