Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks kicked off their highly anticipated nine-date “Two Icons, One Night” tour headlining at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, March 10, and the night featured not one but two surprise duos between the Gold Dust Woman and Piano Man who cheered the crowd of 70,000.
But it was Nicks’ tributes to two other rock icons that brought the crowd to tears – and Nicks’ name trending on twitter.
Nicks played first, delivering a hit-packed set that included solo songs like “Stand Back”, “Edge of Seventeen” and “If Everyone 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 A pretty woman single that she said her late friend Tom Petty ‘gifted’ her in 1981 – and SoFi audiences absolutely erupted when Joel unexpectedly emerged from the backstage stage during the second verse to take on the role of Petty. Later, during Joel’s main set, Nicks returned the favor by inviting on his song “And So It Goes”.
Nicks also covered her crowd-pleasing cover of Petty’s “Free Fallin'” which she had previously played on tour with Fleetwood Mac when Mike Campbell, former guitarist for Petty’s band The Heartbreakers, played in the lineup. Mac 2018-2019. “Free Fallin'” provided a powerful moment on Friday, but it was Nicks’ encore of Fleetwood Mac’s coming-of-age ballad “Landslide” – dedicated to his late friend and bandmate Christine McVie, while a slideshow of vintage Nicks/McVie photographs played on the room’s wall-sized video screens – which resonated most deeply.
When “Landslide” ended, Nicks stopped and lowered his head against his mic stand, his eyes filling with tears. “I have to imagine that she is still there. That’s all I can do,’ she said, choked up, as members of her group surrounded her in support to take their last salute. Friday marked 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 April 8 in Arlington, Texas, followed by dates in Nashville, Philadelphia, Columbus, Kansas City, Foxborough, Baltimore and Minneapolis. Both artists’ launch setlists were:
Stevie Nicks
out of the rain
dreams
If someone falls
Stop dragging my heart
fall out of favor
For what it’s worth
Gypsy
wild heart
A pretty woman
To move back
Free fall’
Woman with gold dust
Sarah
edge of seventeen
Rhiannon
Landslide
Billy Joel
The natural (the end title)
My life
Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)
vienna
Zanzibar
an innocent man
don’t ask me why
Just the way you are
Allentown
And so on
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 light the fire
Uptown Girl
It’s still rock and roll to me
big hat
You may be right
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