A recording of Tom Petty’s “Runnin’ Down a Dream” brought Stevie Nicks onstage last Sunday night—and fittingly so. It was Petty, Nicks told a crowd of 15,000, who gave her a big single, “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” that launched her career.
The 77-year-old songwriter wedged the 1981 hit between an effortlessly cool medley of “Outside the Rain” and Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” at Benchmark International Arena where longtime guitarist Waddy Wachtel handled the late Petty’s vocals with ease.
Nicks evoked the Gainesville icon’s memory again in reviving her cover of “Free Fallin’.” The recorded version from a “Party Of Five” soundtrack is fine, but it was more than a singalong last Sunday, with Nicks’ clarion call of a vocal enchanting the sold-out arena.
That a Florida man made his presence known so prominently during the 15-song, two-hour and 15-minute set was apropos, too.
After the opening song (a cover of Buddy Holly and the Crickets’ “Not Fade Away”), Nicks turned small-talk about a Sunshine State deluge into magic.
“Lotta rain,” she said about the weather. “I made a fantastic six-minute recording of the rain on my hotel window…I’m gonna put it on loop and sleep to it.”
There wasn’t a lot of time to blink during last Sunday’s show, however, where fans came dressed in looks from Nicks’ many eras.
Nearly 45 years after Bella Donna hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200, its creator remains one of the world’s most enchanting pop stars. Enigmatic and accessible at the same time, Nicks holds audiences in the palms of her bejeweled hands.
A twirl after the Prince-inspired heavy-synth of “Stand Back” drew a big cheer and was a reminder of how Nicks can masterfully move between rock and pop (that Prince felt compelled to play keys on the lead single from The Wild Heart is a whole other story). That album’s title track featured a vocal that was somehow even warmer than it was on record 44 years ago. As the song bled into “Bella Donna,” it was clear that Nicks is aging just as well as her storied catalog—and capes, too, apparently.
“This is the original ‘Bella Donna’ cape. It’s never been mended, it’s stayed perfect all these years,” she said, showing it off.
Some of her most iconic tracks—”Edge of Seventeen” plus “Gypsy” and “Rhiannon” by Fleetwood Mac (which played the same room in 2019)—were also magnificent, especially in the hands of longtime guitarist Waddy Wachtel.
But of course, even precious metal fades. Despite “Gold Dust Woman” somehow being more anthemic than it is on Rumors, Nicks’ appearance in Tampa last Sunday was a return delayed after she suffered a fractured shoulder over the summer.
She addressed that accident in onstage banter, telling the crowd that she danced her way through rehab, but perhaps illustrated how she moves through life in showing off the cape from “Stand Back.”
“This is another original cape, but this one has been mended so many times,” she explained, but you’d never know—it’s perfect.”
As the world burns around us (just listen to “The Lighthouse,” making its live debut on Nicks tour), the queen of classic rock made everything feel pretty close to perfect last Sunday night.
Images of late Fleetwood Mac keyboardist and songwriter Christine McVie were shown on the big screen during acoustic set-closer “Landslide.”
Nicks, flanked by an eight-piece band, shows no signs of wanting to leave the road, and Tampa will undoubtedly get another chance to dance, but hearing her smoky vocal sing about climbing mountains felt especially poignant last Sunday night.
We’re all getting older, too, afterall.
Setlist for Stevie Nicks at Benchmark International Arena (Tampa, Florida) on Dec. 7, 2026
- Not Fade Away (Buddy Holly and the Crickets)
- If Anyone Falls
- Outside the Rain>Dreams (Fleetwood Mac)
- Stop Dragging My Heart Around
- The Lighthouse
- Wild Heart>Bella Donna
- Stand Back
- Free Fallin’ (Tom Petty cover)
- Gold Dust Woman (Fleetwood Mac)
- Gypsy (Fleetwood Mac)
- Edge of Seventeen
- Rhiannon (Fleetwood Mac)
- Landslide (Fleetwood Mac)
Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.
Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | BlueSky
This article appears in Dec. 04 – 10, 2025.