Stevie Nicks announced today (August 10, 2021) that she was canceling her upcoming performances. The Fleetwood Mac legend had booked appearances at several festivals in September and October. In a statement posted on her Facebook page, the singing star cited “challenging times” amidst “the rising Covid cases [that] should be of concern to all of us.”
The decision of one of Nicks’ appearances – the delayed 2021 edition of Jazz Fest in New Orleans – wasn’t her call. The annual festival announced two days earlier (Aug. 8) that they were scrapping the entire slate which had been scheduled from Oct. 8-17. (It’s the second straight year that the popular festival had been canceled altogether.)
Other headlining appearances that Nicks and her band had booked in May and June: the BottleRock Napa Valley expo in California, that’s scheduled to take place Sept. 3-5, Austin’s annual ACL Festival that runs over two October weekends (Oct. 1-3 and 8-10), and the Oct. 22-24 Shaky Knees Music Festival in Atlanta. As of August 10, each of those festivals are still scheduled to take place.
Nicks’ complete statement reads, “These are challenging times with challenging decisions that have to be made. I want everyone to be safe and healthy and the rising Covid cases should be of concern to all of us. While I’m vaccinated, at my age, I am still being extremely cautious and for that reason have decided to skip the 5 performances I had planned for 2021. Because singing and performing have been my whole life, my primary goal is to keep healthy so I can continue singing for the next decade or longer. I’m devastated and I know the fans are disappointed, but we will look towards a brighter 2022.”
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2 Comments
Saw her with FM in the spring of 2019. Sorry to write this but she was way off. Her voice just didn’t seem strong or on key all the time. She sang lead on only 5 songs. Christine carried the band that night singing 10 of her biggest hits. Finn and Campbell handled Lindsey’s parts with ease. Good show, but Stevie was not up to par. Even her demeanor was off, saying to the crowd “hi South Carolina” only one problem the concert was in Charlotte.
Yup, if it was a “him or me” choice for Fleetwood Mac, they made the wrong decision kicking Lindsey out of the band to retain Nicks. I’m a fan of both Neil Finn and Mike Campbell, but Buckingham is the heart of the modern day Fleetwood Mac, and has been their engine on stage for decades. Without him, it’s like watching a painting play on stage. As far as Nicks goes, they could have had one of those life-size cardboard cutouts of her made — front and back — adorned it with a feather boa, and mounted it on a spinning turntable on stage, and voila! — you’d have had the complete band. She’s been a one-trick-pony for some time, but even that’s gotten tired and played.