How Rod Stewart aided Stevie Nicks’ career: “One of my big influences”
When Stevie Nicks was occupied with Fleetwood Mac duties, she viewed her solo career as a passion project that was largely swept to the side. It was nothing more than a vehicle to exercise her songwriting skills outside of the band’s remit, and it allowed her to express herself freely without having to worry about compromise.
For many years, touring was on a much smaller scale than she was used to with Fleetwood Mac, and Nicks was content with playing theatres as a solo artist. Although she’s created hits such as ‘Edge of Seventeen‘, ‘Leather and Lace’, and ‘Talk to Me’, Fleetwood Mac’s number of beloved songs far outweighs how many she’s made in her own right.
Fleetwood Mac retired following Christine McVie’s sad death in 2022, and seeing Nicks live is the next best thing for fans. As a result, in 2024, the singer-songwriter sold out BST Hyde Park in London, where Harry Styles joined her and thrilled the crowd with a career-spanning set.
However, it was only a short time ago that Nicks could not headline events of that magnitude. In 2017, she played the same London venue as the main support act for Tom Petty, and six years prior, she was the special guest ahead of Rod Stewart’s performance at Hyde Park.
During Stewart’s show, Nicks joined the former Faces frontman for a rendition of ‘Young Turks’, which rounded off a celebratory year for the duo. They’d recently returned from a tour of the United States, and Nicks was highly grateful to Stewart for inviting her to share a bill alongside him.
While it now seems somewhat absurd that Nicks couldn’t headline arenas across the United States by herself, this was her reality. In an interview with American Songwriter, Nicks explained why she saw the opportunity as an honour, stating, “I was able to go out on the road just now and feel very good about opening for Rod Stewart, because Rod Stewart [is] awesome; one of my big influences.”
Despite being one of the most recognisable faces in rock music over the last several decades, Nicks didn’t feel that her name value was enough to warrant her playing arenas. She also felt a kinship with Stewart, which made the joint tour make perfect sense to the Fleetwood Mac singer.
Nicks said of the tour: “It went great. He’s trippy, he’s charming. I’m used to English people so I’m very comfortable with the English people. They are very witty and very funny and charming. You can’t not like Rod Stewart because he’s darling, and he was very good to me and he gave me a chance to take my new album around the United States and do 18 arena gigs, which, by myself, I could not command. I can’t play the arenas that Rod Stewart and Fleetwood Mac play.”
At this stage in her solo career, she recently released her seventh studio album, In Your Dreams, which marked her first LP in a decade. This tour allowed Nicks to restart this part of her artistry and remind people that she was more than just Fleetwood Mac’s singer.
She concluded: “He gave me a wonderful platform for that. On the last night I said to him, ‘If this record really does well Rod, I’m going to be sending you a cashmere blanket.’ He really helped me in giving me that platform.”
In Your Dreams started a new dawn for Nicks as a solo artist and was met with a warm welcome. While Stewart’s role in facilitating her comeback is difficult to quantify, Nicks was extremely grateful for the invitation nevertheless and took pleasure in reminding each individual in the audience of her brilliance. As a solo artist, she’s now selling more tickets than ever before, and thankfully, the days of Nicks acting as a support act are firmly in the past.
