Pop : Stevie Nicks Outclasses Herself at the Greek

What’s gotten into Stevie Nicks?

On Saturday at the sold-out Greek Theatre, she sang like a woman possessed. None of the area performances she’s given over the years--both solo and with Fleetwood Mac--approached the high quality of this one.

Attending a Nicks’ show has always been a gamble. Notoriously temperamental, she could be awful, her voice cracking and taking on an annoyingly nasal, bleating quality. Even when she was mostly good, she’d occasionally drift off-key or sing half-heartedly on some material.

On Saturday, though, Nicks’ vocals were dramatic and full-bodied. Her husky voice has deepened with age, losing that tendency toward screechiness. She emphasized music from her solo career, which is generally superior to her material from her Fleetwood Mac days--though she did her strongest singing on her moody signature song “Rhiannon,” which was recorded with Fleetwood Mac.

Nicks has come down to Earth somewhat, playing down her mystery-woman persona while retaining a vulnerable, tortured, little-girl-lost quality that endears her to audiences. She’s also been bitten by the glamour bug: Nicks has turned into a Diana Ross-like clothes horse, changing costumes what seemed like every 10 minutes.