[The Nicks Fix]

Tom Petty with Stevie Nicks 2006 - FAN REVIEWS

9/26/06 Hollywood Bowl Los Angeles, CA




Chris
Well I made it to the Hollywood Bowl show last night in time, I was worried since I wasn't leaving work until 5 that I might not make it with the LA traffic. But I did make it, and I even took my seat before the Strokes took the stage. First off all I will say that the Hollywood Bowl is a phenomenal venue, the sound and ambiance is incredible. It was just a great venue, with a very lively crowd. The Strokes took the stage around 7:45 I believe, and surprisingly they were actually quite good. The lead singers' dancing was really entertaining (if you want to call it dancing!) he was very casual and very laid back, he didn't even have a spotlight on him throughout the entire set. Which MAY have been due to him requesting that because of smoking the Bob Marley before the show I'm sure! Anyway, they were awesome, and I'm going to definetely have to check out their stuff a little more. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers took the stage at 9:05 to a roaring audience. The show was completely sold out, and the Hollywood Bowl holds just under 18,000 people. Before the show there were a lot of murmurings of "I hear Stevie Nicks may be here." The people next to us we told Stevie would be doing a few songs, and totally did not even believe us until she stepped foot onto the stage. They thought we were crazy! Tom Petty was vibrant and full of energy. I had never been to a TP show, but this one was incredible. He did seem very excited to be at "home," mentioning all of their families were in the audience and even saying probably "all of our ex girlfriends are backstage." The whole crowd pretty much stood throughout the show, even the boxes (which is were I was, I had a very front box seat, which I loved not being elbow to elbow with anyone...probably if you put it in terms of rows, like 7 rows from the stage! Great seats, although VERY expensive!). Surprisingly a lot of the crowd knew, and if they didn't know, were digging the new songs from his new album "Highway Companion." I have to say when I knew Stevie was about to take the stage, my heart started pounding, and I was getting VERY excited. Afterall it HAS been over a whole YEAR since I've seen her live, and as you Stevie fans all know that can be difficult! So Tom introduced her as an honorary Heartbreaker and she came on the stage walking very fast, looking vibrant, and literally smaller than I've seen her in years now. She was so tiny, and looked so great in her black ensemble with boots! The crowd erupted into madness when Stevie took the stage, I would say probably 80% had no idea she would be there, and were all really excited to see her. I took note of the crowd, with people pointing and saying "OH MY GOD STEVIE NICKS!" So it was really nice to see her get a good reception from Tom's fans. "Stop Draggin My Heart Around" was awesome. She was singing it much higher than on the Gold Dust Tour, and really getting into it. I know there were atleast 4 kicks during that song a lone. A lady behind me even commented that she was "doing really well for her age, rocking out." "I Need To Know," really brought the house down, and I felt that the crowd really dug her version. She and Tom were very interactive last night, lots of smiles, hugs, handshakes, and playfulness. "Insider," was touching, Stevie was singing it very delicately, although most of the crowd didn't seem to know this one, they atleast stayed and watched, instead of using it as a bathroom break, so that was good. Other highlights in the show for me were, my fav Petty song "Last Dance with Mary Jane," "Refugee," "American Girl" (a young couple from LA joined our box during the end of the show, and we all rocked out to this one, I figured the more the merrier so we let them in, and rock out!), Don't Come Around Here No More (Stevie TOTALLY rocked on this, hair flying, body shaking, etc), Learning to Fly, Oh Well (of course!), Free Fallin, and so many more. Jeff Lynn took the stage with Tom on a Travelin Wilburys song, and I thought that was pretty cool! Tom Petty truly is a gifted performer and talent. It will definetely rank as one of my all-time favorite shows. After the show was over and Tom was saying goodbye, Stevie walked behind him and put her big feathered hat on his head, he seemed a little surprised, and after that they proceeded to throw the hat at eachother trying to force the other to take it, it was very funny and the crowd loved it. Great happy close to a phenomenal show! One fan even commented after the show when we were exiting that he felt this show was kind of "historical." I think I agree!

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