When Dave Grohl joined Stevie Nicks to play ‘Landslide’ live
In the ultimate combination of leather and lace, Stevie Nicks’ ethereal ways once collided with the gruff leather of Dave Grohl for a cover of ‘Landslide’ back in 2013. Fans at the Sound City Players concert in Los Angeles were graced with a moment of sumptuous reflection as the duo came together for the mellow classic.
Although ostensibly about a father and daughter, Nicks has often said in interviews that this song has overtones of her feelings toward Buckingham. Nicks had penned this track pre-Fleetwood Mac, a time when the couple had each other and very little else. Buckingham took a payday touring with Don Everly and prior to departing, he dropped Nicks off to spend three months on her own in the “snow-covered hills” of Aspen.
The resulting piece of music is a thing of introspective beauty that captures something deeply spiritual. The star tackles independence and the isolated feeling of those early mid-twenty years, with profound poetry and a poignant melody to boot.
“Well, I’ve been afraid of changing ’cause I’ve built my life around you / But time makes you bolder, even children get older, and I’m getting older too,” is a simply gorgeous lyric with bountiful lived-in authenticity that we can all relate too. Over the years, this sincerity has rendered the song timeless. Thus, even at booming rock concerts, the mellow interlude gets eyes a little dewy.
Grohl and Nicks have become somewhat of an unlikely creative pair. The Foo Fighters frontman has even co-written songs with her since this performance. Upon release of that track, Nicks commented that she “couldn’t be happier” to have “a good friend” and “one of the best drummers in the world” helping her out.
Clearly the duo have a lot of chemistry. Granted, it would take a lot to diminish the unbridled spiritualism of the anthemic ‘Landslide’, but on this occasion its majesty remains as bittersweet as ever. It is a thing of beauty from two of your favourites.
