Kayden Anderson

Last friday, may 10, i had the best night of my life! my dad and i went to a stevie nicks concert in thackerville, ok. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and i know i’ll be sharing the story for years to come.

first of all, we didn’t think we would get to go. i had seen a tiktok of stevie nicks singing landslide, and i wondered “is stevie nicks on tour?” i immediately googled it, and she is! and she was coming to oklahoma!! unfortunately, though, she was coming here on may 10, and i had to work my college’s graduation. i wasn’t going to be able to go to her concert.

a couple weeks later, i found out i wouldn’t have to work graduation this semester. i texted my dad as soon as i heard the news. an hour later, we had tickets. i was ecstatic and started counting down the days!

a week and a half later, we were on our way to thackerville. we listened to fleetwood mac the whole drive, and i had looked up her set list from previous shows to prepare.

four hours pass, and we finally arrive at the casino. it should be noted, winstar casino is the most massive casino i have ever seen in my entire life. we drove in a complete circle trying to find the concert venue. once we went inside the building, we had to ask where the restaurants were and grab a map.

we ate at a sports bar and had ten minutes to spare before the show started. we weren’t going to miss it for the world, so we walk/ran to the venue! after the whole crowd trickled in, it was time.

stevie nicks appeared on stage, and i was in complete and utter awe. you know when you’re a little kid, and you visit disney world for the first time? you see your favorite princess, and you simply can’t breathe because she’s here, and she’s in front of you, and you don’t think you’ve ever seen someone so magical in your life. that was me staring at stevie nicks. i didn’t stop smiling the entire show.

she sang some original songs, some covers and five fleetwood mac songs: dreams, gypsy, gold dust woman, rhiannon and landslide. she went from the first song seamlessly into dreams. gold dust woman and gypsy were in the middle of the show and rhiannon and landslide were the last two.

between songs, stevie gave background. she told us how fleetwood mac came to be from her perspective, talked about her and lindsey and even made jokes about him and explained what inspired her songs. stevie is a storyteller, and i could’ve gone to the concert just to hear her tell stories and never sing at all.

she brought out her shawls she wore in the past and discussed their history. she even did her classic pose, raising her arms and spinning around. it felt like a conversation with an old friend.

the coolest part was hearing my dad be just as excited as i was. she would play a song, like “for what it’s worth,” and I would ask if he knew it. he would reply: “i couldn’t tell you what it’s called, but i know it,” as he began to sing every word! it’s crazy how songs and words never leave us even if we haven’t listened to them since we were teenagers decades before.

my dad and i joked about the classic back-up singers, something shows today lack. we tuned into the phenomenal guitar player, and I listened as my dad reminisced. I took videos and sang and was as present as possible. it was one of those moments that you know will become a closely-held memory.

the last song of the show was landslide, and i cried. i knew i was going to, but i couldn’t help it. suddenly, i was nine years old as my dad drove me to guitar lessons. i had my headphones on, listening to the landslide cover by the chicks. i was 19 listening to records on my grandparents old record player (that even has a place for cassettes) with my dad before leaving for college again. Then, I was 20, newly heartbroken and freshly adult, but i was still next to my dad, he was still there for me, and we were still listening to music.

i left with not one, but two stevie nicks t-shirts. more than anything, i left with a story.

keep living the dream,

kayden and her dad