The world, whether we like it or not, is constantly and consistently impacted by the music and sounds that we hear everyday. From the drums to the electric guitars to the violins, our ears process and retain music that gives us pleasure. The sounds that we love and adore drive us to listen more and more to the tunes that make us happy. This is why we pay money to attend concerts. Stevie Nicks is one of those artists. She recently visited Pittsburgh and performed the calm notes of Dreams, the plucking of acoustic guitar in “Landslide”, and the unique rhythms and lyrics of “Edge of Seventeen” to wild applause. 

At 76, Stevie Nicks has a life full of twists and turns in the rock music culture. At an age when most people decide to retire – relaxing and taking a break from work – Stevie Nicks decided to tour America, stopping in around 40 cities across the country to share her extraordinary talent. 

The music and sounds of Stevie Nicks are not the only aspects that make her such an interesting figure. She held a central role in Fleetwood Mac, which contributed to her road to success as a solo artist. Fleetwood Mac released the album Rumours, which hit Number Four on Billboard’s rankings Top Album Sales and spent 31 weeks on Billboard’s 200 Chart. After Stevie Nicks left Fleetwood Mac, she was inspired to write her own songs. She joined words and sounds which clicked and pieced them together into some of her most famous songs. She came up with some of her biggest hits, like “Bella Donna”, “Edge of Seventeen”, and “Leather and Lace”. And now, decades after releasing these songs, Stevie Nicks came to Pittsburgh to perform her songs and show off her musical talent. 

After the audience sat impatiently waiting, Stevie Nicks dove into a set that included her most well-known songs, tribute songs to her old friend, Tom Petty, and covers like “For What It’s Worth”, originally written by Stephen Stills. She played “Gypsy”, “Gold Dust Woman”, “Rhiannon”, and “Landslide”. Most of the night was filled with loud rock music, but she also played some acoustic songs that helped calm broken ears and vibrating bodies from the bass. For every song, cover or not, her unique voice echoed across the room. 

Manysongs she played as a tribute for Tom Petty’s death, on October 2nd, 2017. She sang “Stop Draggin ‘My Heart Around”, which she had sung with him when she was younger, “Free Fallin’”, and various other Tom Petty covers. Despite the fact that she and Tom Petty were close, too many of the songs performed were not her own. This concert was for Stevie Nicks, by Stevie Nicks, and the main reason for being there was to hear Stevie Nicks’s songs. At any concert, not just Stevie Nicks, the audience will experience a variety of enhancements that make the songs even more intriguing and stunning. A perfect example was how Stevie Nicks and her band extended the opening guitar riff of “Edge of Seventeen” for several minutes. The drummer began with the beat, which made  the song unrecognizable at first. But after patient curiosity, the crowd then heard the guitarist bring in the opening riff of “Edge of Seventeen”. As the backup band prolonged the opening sequence, the energy in the stadium grew. By the time the vocals chimed in, the crowd was going crazy. When listening to the creative and powerful live song, the typical Apple Music or Spotify recording seems bland and boring. 

Society may seem like it is completely put together and figured out without music, but the truth is that every step we take, every word we speak, and every movement we make is impacted by the sounds around us. Without music, there wouldn’t be the kid that sits on the bus with headphones, jamming out to rock music. There wouldn’t be the cheerful tunes of “Happy Birthday” as you turn a new age. And there definitely wouldn’t be the theme songs of your favorite shows that you watch each night, or the sounds from the radio to ease boredom on long car trips. Every note, every beat, every song gives an emotional soundtrack to the events of our life. 

With three encores, it’s clear that Stevie Nicks moves many of us.