Monday, May 16, 2005 | 8:06 a.m.
I heard more tambourine during Friday night's Stevie Nicks concert that I have at all the other shows I've reviewed for the Las Vegas Sun combined.
Not that Nicks or her band featured the jingling instrument much. Far from it, the headlining vocalist only brought hers out for a couple of numbers, and then used it mainly as a prop, hardly striking it at all.
The tambourine work actually came courtesy of a fan seated just to my left, dead center and about 15 rows back from the stage at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace.
I say seated, because technically the woman was in possession of a seat for the night. From the moment the lights dimmed, however, she stayed on her feet, dancing for the duration of the hour and 45 minute event and shaking her noisemaker almost continuously.
Though Ms. Tambourine was the most conspicuous fanatic in my area, she was hardly the only passionate Nicks devotee among the crowd of around 3,500 present for the third of a four-night Caesars Palace run that began Tuesday and wrapped up Saturday.
Since her early days in Fleetwood Mac in the mid-1970s, Nicks has been quite beloved, a fact attributable as much to her mystical persona as to her distinctive voice.
Until Friday, though, I'd never quite realized the full extent of the idolization.
The audience cheered every time Nicks twirled in place or returned from a costume change. Men shouted "I love you, Stevie!" during quiet moments. Pockets of fans stood for the duration, cheering vigorously and waving at Nicks whenever she looked their way.
A woman in front of me announced that Nicks looked great for 56 years old, then rattled off her exact date of birth -- May 26, 1948, in case you were wondering.
Near the end of the show, dozens of ardent supporters poured down the aisles toward the stage, gathering for an apparent Nicks tradition.
As her seven-piece band and three back-up vocalists extended the end of "Edge of Seventeen (Just Like the White Winged Dove)," Nicks slowly worked her way across the front of the stage, interacting with fans as she went.
Some shook her hand. Several tossed flowers. Others simply touched her. One man approached so vigorously, he had to be restrained by a bodyguard.
No doubt, those hardcore types went home feeling as though they had witnessed something miraculous, some probably for the second or third night that week.
For me, however, Friday's concert felt a bit lacking, failing to live up to the potential of matching a first-rate performer with an exceptional venue.
In pre-show interviews, Nicks promised to deliver a visually spectacular set, taking advantage of the massive Colosseum stage and giant LED screen.
Instead, she and her band grouped near the middle of the stage in a relatively bare arrangement and used a scaled-back video screen -- in the shape of a half-circle -- with mixed results.
During "Outside the Rain," giant digitized raindrops provided a suitable visual focal point behind Nicks and her mates.
Black-and-white images of ballet dancers superimposed over a color shot of running water made less sense during "If Anyone Falls," and that backdrop was made even weirder when six giant Roman columns descended from the ceiling for the same song.
Vocally, Nicks was impressive. Her unmistakable rasp has always had an aged quality to it, so it's no real surprise she can still deliver it so powerfully.
She no longer reaches for the high notes on "Dreams" or "Rhiannon," but both Mac classics sounded magical nonetheless, a tribute to Nicks' captivating, slightly ominous voice.
Other highlights included a fun, synthed-out version of the 1983 solo hit "Stand Back" and the gentle, acoustic "Landslide" -- dedicated to Nicks' mother, who the singer announced was in the crowd.
Several song choices seemed odd. After getting the crowd moving with well-known tunes "Gold Dust Woman" and "If Anyone Falls" back-to-back, Nicks reached for deep album cuts "Fall From Grace" and "How Still My Heart."
Then, instead of closing with the revved-up "Edge of Seventeen," Nicks returned with a most peculiar encore pairing: a cover of Tom Petty's "I Need to Know" and the rather bleak ballad "Beauty and the Beast."
Casual fans probably would have preferred to hear more of Nicks' best-known work, be it Fleetwood Mac favorites "Sara" or "Gypsy" or solo singles "I Can't Wait" or "Rooms on Fire."
Then again, a set list dominated by hits likely wouldn't have satisfied the diehards, who make it a point to remind Nicks of their presence every time she takes the stage.
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