Stevie Nicks was in attendance for the Canadian Premiere of In Your Dreams.
April 15 2013 – Tonight the TIFF Lightbox theater had a very special guest in attendance for the Canadian premiere of In Your Dreams. The movie is a documentary about a year in the life of Stevie Nicks (of Fleetwood Mac), the special guest was none other than Stevie Nicks herself. Nicks was in Toronto because Fleetwood Mac is playing the Air Canada Center (ACC) the following night (April 16, 2013) in a show that T-Mak World has declared one of our “Must See Gigs of 2013“. There were two showings of the film – 7 pm and 7:30 pm and Nicks was present at the end of both for some audience Q&A. This presented the best possible compliment to the actual movie screening. Needless to say both showings were completely sold out. Although the “real” film critics in the city’s newspapers had their (genearally negative) reviews up already on the weekend, this was the first public showing, and we bought our tickets the moment they went on sale.
In Your Dreams is essentially a video chronicle of Nicks latest solo record (also entitled In Your Dreams) which was produced, as the movie was, by Dave Stewart (the dude in the Eurythmics). The viewer gets an inside look at a year in the life of Nicks in 2010 and spends minimal time with her back-story and even less time documenting her sex symbol days as the lead singer of one of the world’s biggest bands. The heyday of 70’s arena rock is not relevant in this movie and with the knowledge of what not to expect lets take a look at what you can expect.
Nicks lets her house (which we find out in the Q&A she actually doesn’t live in) “somewhere in Southern California” be the setting for a large part of the movie which starts with Stewart and herself working on making her poems into fully produced songs. Her first album in 10 years was widely praised by fans and the movie spends time on each one of the 13 tracks on the record. Each one of the songs is presented in a mini chapter format with the name of the song first, some background info on the particular song, an explanation of how the song gets recorded, and a performance of part of said song. Quite a linear formula, it works great to draw interest into the record and its story.
The stories of some songs are quite interesting – for example; Annabel Lee whose lyrics is from an Edgar Allan Poe poem, or Soldier’s Angel which features Nicks’s ex-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham on guitar are both featured and cast with an interesting story. Buckingham is show on the film and we hear from Nicks that this was the official end of the war between herself and Buckingham. A beautiful segment in New Orleans and one in Italy give great insight on how caring and romantic Nicks is. Interspersed in the interview parts of the movie are musical performances with all the songs from In Your Dreams.
Overall the movie itself is an excellent reminder of the massive rock star allure that Nicks has even at 61 years old. The constant reminder is that real stars have the ability to persevere and break the media rules that only youth is beautiful, alluring and marketable. Nicks has the charisma, charm, mystery, voice, looks, mysticism and past glory that continue to make her such a unique draw. Toronto is acknowledging this fact by selling out her movie screenings as well as her band’s ACC concert appearance. The movie lets the viewer become familiar with Nicks – all the way from what type of lamps she has in her house, to how she knows exactly what she wants from her records. She claims in the movie she does not like to be told what to do musically but she sure has no problem telling others what they must do. Go Stevie!
The Q&A started with thunderous applause from the adoring attendees and Nicks hung around for about half an hour talking about various topics such as what it was like in a typical day of Rumours, how the music industry is dead (she told us that she sold a grand total of only 300,000 units of her latest CD), her plans for a unique solo tour after Fleetwood Mac tour is done, and how she dealt with the loss of her beloved mother. She made everyone laugh by talking about the state of the music industry. She said that if it was today and the band’s follow up to Rumours was Tusk “the double album from Africa ” Warner Brothers would in the present day say “get out and take your african tusks with you”.
She was a fantastic speaker that captivated the audience with her stories and her talent as a song writer has clearly made her an incredible story teller. Nicks was inspiring, funny and extremely interesting to listen to.
Verdict 4 out or 5 – The ultimate voyeuristic trip into the world of a bonafide rock star. This is not a biography of Nicks that focuses on her epic stardom years but simply a window in one year of her life in her 60’s. The movie works for me as I am a Fleetwood Mac fan and thus by default a Stevie Nicks fan. I value having the opportunity to have insight into the life of rock icon and as far as rock star legacy goes Nicks is as good as it gets. Very compelling insight regardless of whether you are a die hard Nicks fan or not!
Genre: Documentary Running Time: 112 Minutes Director(s): Dave Stewart, Stevie Nicks
Review, Photos and Video – Terry Makedon
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