After Bruce Springsteen very publicly spoke out against the big Live Nation-Ticketmaster tie-up, no other major artist has come out to defend the deal, even though supposedly Jay-Z, Bono or Don Henley was going to. What happened, Shawn?

But, finally, someone is defending high ticket prices. It's Stevie Nicks, who happens to be represented by Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff.

During a teleconference this week to promote an upcoming Fleetwood Mac tour, Nicks explains why ticket prices are so gosh darn expensive. It's the economy, stupid!

"The price of life in general is a gazillion dollars more than it was four years ago," she said.

But she feels the pain of poor Fleetwood Mac fans: "We wish we didn't have to charge anything," Nicks added. "We wish we could go out and play. That's what we do; we're performance artists."

But they have to charge what the market demands: $50-$150 a ticket. Their hands are tied.

Elsewhere in the Live Nation-Ticketmaster universe: