Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks kicked off their highly anticipated nine-date “Two Icons, One Night” co-headlining tour at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium on Friday, March 10, and the night featured not one but two surprise duets between the gold Dust Woman and Piano Man that had the 70,000 capacity crowd cheering.
But it was Nicks’ tribute to two other much-missed rock icons that brought the audience to tears – and Nicks’ name trending on Twitter.
Nicks played first and delivered a hit-packed set that included solo songs like “Stand Back,” “Edge of Seventeen,” and “If Anyone Falls,” as well as Fleetwood Mac classics like “Dreams,” “Gypsy,” “Rhiannon,” and “Sara” and a cover of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth.” Four songs into her set, the two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee performed “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” the Beautiful woman single, which she said her late friend Tom Petty “gifted” to her in 1981 — and the SoFi crowd erupted when Joel unexpectedly emerged from the wings during the second verse to take on the Petty role. Later, during Joel’s headlining set, Nicks returned the favor by guesting on his tune “And So It Goes”.
Nicks also reprized her crowd-pleasing cover of Petty’s “Free Fallin'” — which she previously performed on tour with Fleetwood Mac when Mike Campbell, former guitarist for Petty’s band The Heartbreakers, played the 2018-2019 Mac lineup. “Free Fallin'” provided a powerful moment Friday, but it was Nicks’ encore of Fleetwood Mac’s coming-of-age ballad “Landslide” — dedicated to her late friend and bandmate Christine McVie, while a slideshow of vintage Nicks/McVie photographs ran along the venue’s wall -sized video screens – that resonated deepest.
As “Landslide” ended, Nicks paused and bowed her head toward her microphone stand, her eyes filling with tears. “I have to imagine she’s still here. That’s all I can do,” she said, choking up as her band members supportively surrounded her to take their final bow. Friday was the first time Nicks had performed a public concert since McVie’s death in November 2022.
Joel and Nicks’ Two Icons, One Night tour continues on April 8 in Arlington, Texas, followed by dates in Nashville, Philadelphia, Columbus, Kansas City, Foxborough, Baltimore and Minneapolis. The two artists’ kick-off setlists were:
Stevie Nicks
Out of the rain
Dream
If someone falls
Stop pulling my heart around
Fall out of favor
For what it’s worth
Gypsy
Wild heart
Beautiful woman
Give space
Free fall’
Gold dust woman
Sara
Edge of Seventeen
Rhiannon
Landslide
Billy Joel
The Natural (End Title)
My life
Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)
Vienna
Zanzibar
An innocent man
Don’t ask me why
Just as you are
Allentown
And so it goes
Say goodbye to Hollywood
Sometimes a fantasy
Only the good die young
The river of dreams
Scenes from an Italian restaurant
Piano man
We didn’t start the fire
Uptown girl
It’s still rock and roll to me
Big shot
You may be right
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