Tuesday, April 30, 2013

REVIEWS: "Angular and propulsive, “Miss Fantasy” has the nervy attitude of Buckingham’s best tracks on the sprawling Tusk"

FLEETWOOD MAC, ‘EXTENDED PLAY’ – ALBUM
REVIEW
by Michael Gallucci
Ultimate Classic Rock
Rating: 7/10

The last time Fleetwood Mac made an album together, they were minus Christine McVie and enough good songs to fill its 75-minute running length. They’re still without McVie on their new four-song EP, but they fixed ‘Say You Will’’s biggest problem by keeping ‘Extended Play’ at an economical 17 minutes. And if it sounds more like a Lindsey Buckingham record than an actual band one at times, at least ‘Extended Play’ is the best thing released under the Fleetwood Mac moniker since 1987’s ‘Tango in the Night.’

In fact, ‘Extended Play,’ which is available exclusively on iTunes, sounds a lot like Buckingham’s recent solo albums, but with a punchier rhythm section and Stevie Nicks’ backing vocals. All of which give the music way more life than if Buckingham – whose insular approach to his solo records often make them sound thin and narrow – would have recorded them himself.

The opening ‘Sad Angel,’ propelled by acoustic guitar and a killer hook, crackles with more energy than anything the band or Buckingham, who wrote and sings lead on all but one of the EP’s four tracks, has done in years. It doesn’t hurt that Nicks and Buckingham still make a great singing team, chiming in on the choruses like it’s 1977 again. The song is the highlight of ‘Extended Play’ and its only real uptempo track.

But the remaining three songs are almost as good, especially the closing ‘Miss Fantasy,’ a shuffling pop number featuring a whispered vocal by Buckingham, with Nicks pushing along the choruses. The hushed piano ballad ‘It Takes Time’ is mostly Buckingham until the final minute, when strings swell around the spare melody. And Nicks and Buckingham share lead vocals on ‘Without You,’ a leftover cut from the pair’s pre-Fleetwood Mac duo days written by Nicks.

Fleetwood Mac have been performing a couple of the songs on their current tour, so in a way, ‘Extended Play’ doubles as a show souvenir for fans wanting new material from the band. It’s not essential Mac by any means, but after all these years, and all these years apart, it’s nice to know that they’re still capable of making some sweet music together.


Fleetwood Mac - Extended Play EP (2013)
by Nick DeRiso
Somethingelsereviews.com

The center point of this new Fleetwood Mac EP is a track thought lost from the Buckingham-Nicks era, a song that once might have just been about being in love but now billows with a very mature sense of acceptance.

“Without You,” presented again as a stripped-down pairing, peels away the recriminations of “Go Your Own Way,” the sad laments of “Dreams,” the lost years when they couldn’t speak to one another, much less work together. What’s left is a friendship forged through a shared history in music, a creative endeavor that Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks can do apart but, yet, always seems more fully formed, more complete, when they are together.

Who can blame Mick Fleetwood, then trying to transition Fleetwood Mac from its first life as a blues-rock outfit, for snapping these two up? Now back on tour, though alas again without Christine McVie, they’ve released a zippy four-song cycle that certainly cures the biggest problem with their overstuffed most recent effort Say You Will, a 2003 long player that went way too long.

None of it will make you put Rumours aside but there’s a renewed spark to Extended Play — available now through iTunes — that’s been missing forever. “It Takes Time,” for instance, finds Buckingham in a darkly contemplative mood, whispering over a ruminative piano figure — vulnerable in a way that he never could be with Fleetwood Mac back at their commercial zenith. As he looks back, the track makes stark admissions about the mistakes we only see after a relationship is over.

Maybe they’re better like this, in bite-size morsels.

Angular and propulsive, “Miss Fantasy” has the nervy attitude of Buckingham’s best tracks on the sprawling Tusk, and may be the most perfect pop song Fleetwood Mac has completed since the sad departure of McVie — who always served as a leavening element in the torrid emotional script being written between the ex-lovers Nicks and Buckingham.

“Sad Angel” begins with a staccato guitar signature, as Buckingham launches into one of his patented hurtful yodels, only to be joined by a completely reinvigorated Nicks. Despite its plaintive title, however, this thing rocks — with a muscular rhythmic counterpoint from Fleetwood and John McVie, and one of Buckingham’s most propulsive solos since “Holiday Road,” back in 1983.


FLEETWOOD MAC, ‘SAD ANGEL’ – SONG REVIEW
by Dave Lifton
Ultimate Classic Rock

Earlier today (April 30), Fleetwood Mac released a four-song EP, ‘Extended Play,’ their first new studio material since 2003′s ‘Say You Will.’ While the EP is available for purchase exclusively at iTunes, you can stream the lead track and first single, ‘Sad Angel,’ below.

Written by Lindsey Buckingham, ‘Sad Angel’ opens with some typically kinetic, percussive Buckingham rhythm guitar before his vocals come in, and joined later by the whole band. The rhythm section of John McVie and Mick Fleetwood chug along in typical no-nonsense, muscular fashion, with some keyboards and a few layers of guitars to fill it out.

Even though she sings in tandem with Buckingham for all but the opening 15 seconds, Stevie Nicks is largely invisible. She takes her lines well and the two still blend together very well, but there’s little of her trademark personality on display. Maybe that’s a little harsh, but for a band that has traded so frequently on the duo’s history together, ‘Sad Angel’ doesn’t offer much in the way of tension between its two lead singers.

Not that that’s a bad thing, of course. Throughout the run-up to the release of ‘Extended Play,’ we’ve heard about how those past issues are behind them – note how they’re posed in the press photo above – so what better way to prove it than with a nice, poppy song that is, lyrically, light years removed from their famously autobiographical work.

Or is it? The ambiguous lyrics could be Buckingham acknowledging that he and Nicks need each other, and are never better than when they’re together. “We fall to Earth together / The crowd calling out for more / Hello, hello sad angel / Have you come to fight the war?” they sing in the chorus. It’s hard to tell, because we usually associate Nicks with gypsies or witches, not angels.

If ‘Sad Angel’ is about her, then it’s a nice peace offering as the two of them prepare to write the newest chapter in their incredibly long history together. If not, then it’s still a welcome return to form for one of rock’s most enduring bands.


Read More Press at Extended Play - EP

INTERVIEWS: Mick Fleetwood on the Release of Fleetwood Mac's "Extended Play" and Touring

Mick Fleetwood On Fleetwood Mac: 'It Would Make A Great Play'
NPR.org
April 13, 2013


Not long ago, the idea of Fleetwood Mac ever touring again seemed far-fetched at best. But as of this spring, not only is the band back on the road — according to drummer and founder Mick Fleetwood, they're having an easier time filling seats than in the past.

"We seem to have a band of angels up there organizing what we do down here. ... I don't know; maybe people think we're never gonna do this again, or we're all gonna drop dead or something," Fleetwood says. "But on a positive note, I think it's indicative of Fleetwood Mac's extremely interesting story — that just when you think it's sort of going into a ditch, it comes out the other side."

This week, Fleetwood Mac unveiled another surprise: a four-song EP of brand-new music, released digitally via iTunes and simply called Extended Play. Mick Fleetwood spoke with NPR's David Greene about the band's uncommon staying power. Hear the radio version on Morning Edition tomorrow (the audio will then be archived at the link on this page).

There have been drugs; there have been relationship ups and downs in the band. Does that mean you almost have to come to the edge, and then kind of come back from the edge to keep doing what you're doing? Is that necessary?

God knows I don't know whether it's necessary, but the fact is it happened. And without getting artsy-fartsy or therapeutic, the reality is you have to take responsibility — not only as a person within the group of people, but then you look at it as a collective, which is the band known as Fleetwood Mac. And we have.

A lot of your fans, I think, see you still out there — after all the roller-coaster and the soap opera — and a lot of fans are like, "Wow. Fleetwood Mac, through all the changes, all the years, different faces — they're still here." Are you surprised that you're still here as well?

[Laughing] Hmm ... no. I'm not. I think what I have to confess to is that I had nothing else to do apart from keep this band going. So I'm sort of not surprised.

It sounds like you're almost a prisoner to the band and the idea.

Well, that's an interesting phrase. And in truth, just as of late — the last few years, really — I've had to work at just not being this creature that almost gets obsessed: "It's gotta continue," and "What if ... ?" And I've truly done pretty good at letting go. And it's truly appropriate: We've done way too much, all of us, to be herded into my world of, "At all costs, Fleetwood Mac."

So now, what you see is really pretty much a version of a bunch of people that happen to want to do something. And they haven't been coerced or crafted, or sold their soul to the company store. ... All of that stuff is gone. Which makes this, again, a really, really clear vision of what we're doing. And I can't think of any other band that I know that has gone through the arc of all of these [changes], even before Stevie and Lindsey. It would make a great play, and I hope one day that we somehow do that.

And of course, you've played a role in the play. You've had the struggles that we all know about with drug addiction; there was a relationship with you and Stevie Nicks that a lot of people read about. Is there a song from Fleetwood Mac that you feel like kind of captures your role in the whole play?

I'd say "The Chain." [That song's message should] be written on my grave: "That's what he did. He half-killed himself keeping this bunch together."

Are you playing that song out on the tour right now?

Yeah. It's one of the songs, I think, that if we didn't play, we'd be lined up and shot.


Mick Fleetwood The Fleetwood Mac drummer talks about the band's new EP, tour & more


Fleetwood Mac releases new EP today, plays Tulsa’s BOK Center Wednesday
Newsok.com
by: Brandy McDonnell

Fleetwood Mac debuted its first new music in a decade today, dropping an EP appropriately titled “Extended Play” on iTunes. Click here to download and listen.

The EP includes four songs: the poppy tracks “Sad Angel” and “Miss Fantasy,” the wistful piano ballad “It Takes Time” and “Without You” and a previously unreleased track that singer/songwriter Stevie Nicks penned about singer/songwriter/guitarist Lindsey Buckingham back in their pre-Fleetwood Mac Buckingham Nicks duo days.

The majority of Fleetwood Mac’s most famous lineup — drummer Mick Fleetwood, bassist John McVie, Buckingham and Nicks — is touring North American to mark the 35th anniversary reissue of their most iconic album, “Rumours,” as well as celebrating the release of new music.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers are bringing their “Fleetwood Mac Live 2013” trek to the BOK Center on Wednesday night. The legendary band previously played the Tulsa venue the last time it hit the road together, on 2009′s sold-out “Unleashed Tour.”

Fleetwood spoke enthusiastically about the planned EP in a phone interview prior to the tour’s April 4 launch in Ohio. Hopefully, the EP will herald the coming of a full-length follow-up to 2003′s “Say You Will,” he said.

Continue to the original site for the rest.

Monday, April 29, 2013

Fleetwood Mac Extended Play EP - Now Available Everywhere!

"EXTENDED PLAY "
OUT NOW!

1. Sad Angel
2. Without You
3. It Takes Time
4. Miss Fantasy


Now Available in the U.S. and Canada Plus
UK | Ireland | Australia | New ZealandBelgium | France | Denmark | NetherlandsGermany | Norway Sweden | SwitzerlandFinland | LuxembourgAustria | Greece | Italy| Portugal Japan | Spain.


Check your countries iTunes for availability.

Released through LMJS Productions LLC (Lindsey, Mick, John, Stevie Productions)

Fleetwood Mac released on Tuesday, April 30th without much fanfare their four song EP with songs “Sad Angel”, “Without You” "It's Takes Time" and "Miss Fantasy".  All four songs are expected to also be released on CD, though no date has been announced. This could possibly lead to a full album from the band depending on how this does - so GO BUY IT!

Fleetwood Mac has been performing “Sad Angel,” and “Without You” on their tour. The latter track dates back to the early ’70s and Buckingham-Nicks. 

"Sad Angel" I've loved from the beginning and it doesn't disappoint.  John's bass is dancing all over this track, in fact on all of them his bass really stands out which is great... LOVE IT!   

WOW! "It Takes Time" is beautiful! and so un-Lindsey with only piano and strings... 

"Without You"... Who could go without?  Loved the old demo.  Nice redux!  Warm sounding guitar.

"Miss Fantasy"  Like this one... so great to hear the full on band sound for a change on a Lindsey song. Stevie's vocals could have been a little more prominent on this, but its cool just happy to finally hear new music.

Thanks Fleetwood Mac!

PRESS RELEASE:


LOS ANGELES, April 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Fleetwood Mac, currently on a hugely successful 48 city concert tour of North America, have confirmed that they are releasing an EP of new material today titled "Extended Play" exclusively for purchase on iTunes at  http://smarturl.it/FleetwoodMacEP. "Extended Play" includes three new songs "Sad Angel," "It Takes Time" and "Miss Fantasy" written by Lindsey Buckingham and produced by Lindsey Buckingham and Mitchell Froom.  A fourth cut, "Without You" was written by Stevie Nicks and co-produced by Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.  "Without You" was a lost song from the Buckingham/Nicks days which had been missing and happily rediscovered when someone posted an early demo of it on YouTube.  The first single, "Sad Angel" is also being released to radio today.  "Extended Play" is the first recording of new Mac music since the release of "Say You Will" over a decade ago.

"We all felt that it would be great to go into the studio and record new material before embarking on this tour and the result has been remarkable – our best group of songs in a long time.  It's a work in progress but we're so enthused by what we've done that we thought we'd share some of it with our fans in the form of an EP now... We're performing two cuts, 'Sad Angel' and 'Without You' in the show and the response has been terrific," commented Buckingham. 

Fleetwood Mac are multi-Grammy winning Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees. Their classic Rumours album released in 1977 is one of the most successful albums in recorded history with sales exceeding 40 million.  It planted itself at the top of the pop charts for over 31 weeks and had four top ten singles.  A special edition of Rumours celebrating its release 35 years ago was recently released on Warner Bros. Records.

For further information and tour schedule:   fleetwoodmac.com

Press Contact:
Liz Rosenberg Media
liz@lizrosenbergmedia.com
karenmoss@lizrosenbergmedia.com
nadia@lizrosenbergmedia.com
212-991-4290

REVIEW - Uncasville, CT: Fleetwood Mac appears to have at least a few good years left as a top-flight destination for concertgoers

Concert Review: After 38 Years, Fleetwood Mac Is Still Going Their Own Way And Sounding Fine
By John Voket
The Newtown Bee
Photo by Brad Joblin

UNCASVILLE — After enjoying modest success as a hard rocking blues band throughout the late 1960s and early ‘70s, Fleetwood Mac catapulted its presence to the center of the rock-and-roll radar screen in 1975, after acquiring the talents of a pair of musical star-crossed lovers – Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.

While the rhythm section of band co-founders Mick Fleetwood and John McVie continues to anchor the band’s material — including a brand new song ­— the talents of Buckingham and Nicks were a driving force behind the band’s satisfying 2½-hour show April 20 at Mohegan Sun Arena.

Review: Fleetwood Mac Live in Pittsburgh "He thrashed and smacked his guitar strings like a man gone mad"

Review: Fleetwood Mac Live in Pittsburgh - April 26, 2013
by Nicole Chynoweth
pghcitypaper


Three years have passed since Fleetwood Mac’s last tour, but their performance at Consol Energy Center last night proved their on-stage spark is hardly exhausted. For about two and a half hours, the band sent the crowd on a nostalgic journey through their back catalog with many of their greatest hits, as well as a long lost demo and a new track from their upcoming EP. While the band as a whole put on a great show, the musical chemistry between Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks could not be ignored.

“Second Hand News” opened up the show, presenting Buckingham’s awe-inspiring fingerpicking skills almost immediately. As soon as the last chord sounded, Mick Fleetwood, seated atop an impressively large drum kit, rattled his shimmering chimes and broke into “The Chain.” John McVie’s dark, ominous bass solo hypnotized the squealing audience. Both songs set the tone for the evening: the Mac is back.

After “Dreams,” Buckingham took to the mic to discuss Fleetwood Mac’s return to the road.

Sunday, April 28, 2013

REVIEW | PHOTOS: Fleetwood Mac - Live in Minneapolis / Saint Paul - April 28th

Fleetwood Mac Live 
Saint Paul, MN - Xcel Energy Center
April 28, 2013


Top and bottom left Photo by Jefferson Wheeler - View gallery at Star Tribune.
The Fleetwood Mac Poster is an original design by Adam Turman commissioned by Xcel Energy and given to Fleetwood Mac as a gift.

Photo by: Scott Takushi - View Gallery at Pioneer Press



















Fleetwood Mac review: Wait, this is starting to sound familiar
by Ross Raihala

Something felt rather familiar about Fleetwood Mac's Xcel Energy Center show Sunday, April 28, and it wasn't just the band's songs, which remain some of the biggest-selling, most widely known of the rock era.

Instead, it was the set list -- the very order in which the group played those songs -- that was secondhand news. Four-fifths of Fleetwood Mac's most famous lineup last headlined the downtown St. Paul hockey arena in March 2009, and Sunday they performed a whopping 17 of the same songs. Of course, with a band like this, there are hits they're always going to play ("Don't Stop," "Go Your Own Way," "Landslide"). But this wasn't just hearing the same old numbers four years later, but hearing them largely in the same sequence.

Just like in '09, "The Chain" led into "Dreams" early in the show and then "Big Love," "Landslide" and "Never Going Back" occupied the same three-song stretch at the midway point. And once again, the sequence of "I'm So Afraid," "Stand Back" and "Go Your Own Way" wrapped things up and opened the door for virtually the same encore, with "Say Goodbye" added to "World Turning," "Don't Stop" and "Silver Springs."

So what was different this time around? Well, most notably, Stevie Nicks was much more present and didn't let her energetic frenemy Lindsey Buckingham steal the spotlight quite as much (even though the crowd cheered at nearly everything he did). At 64, her voice has lost much of its power, but she still looks terrific and she seemed to be enjoying herself much more Sunday night than four years back.


Buckingham reportedly wanted to record a fresh disc for 2013, but Nicks couldn't get her act together in time. They did manage to work in one brand-new track, the upbeat and poppy "Sad Angel," and one number they dug out from the vaults, "Without You" (an unreleased snoozer from the pair's pre-Mac band Buckingham Nicks).

They also upped the total number of songs drawn from 1979's "Tusk" -- the expensive, Buckingham-led flop that derailed the band's career -- from three to four. In addition to Nicks' ballad "Sara" and Buckingham's monstrous "Tusk," they worked in "Not That Funny" and "Sisters of the Moon," with Buckingham taking the opportunity to once again harangue the crowd about the album's initial failure. (Dude, it's been 34 years. Let it go already!)

Beyond that, the band kept to the oldies, with the vast majority of the songs originally written and recorded in the mid-to-late '70s. It was a nice surprise to hear "Eyes of the World," a deep cut from 1982's under-appreciated "Mirage" album, although almost any one of the other album cuts from that era would've been a better choice. As always, Christine McVie was missed. She retired in 1998 and while she was always a distant third behind Buckingham and Nicks, her softer, more romantic songs lent the band a certain humanity they've been lacking in the years since.

Lindsey Buckingham, not croaky Stevie Nicks, carried Fleetwood Mac Sunday night at the X.
by: Jon Bream
Star Tribune

Lindsey Buckingham wore the exact same outfit again. Black leather jacket, black V-neck T-shirt, black boots and, presumably, the same bluejeans.


That’s what the rock star sported when he performed a solo concert in November at the Dakota Jazz Club, the most impersonal (and loudest) performance probably ever in that intimate space. On Sunday at the sold-out Xcel Energy Center, he gave one of the most impassioned performances ever in a Twin Cities arena, this side of Bruce Springsteen.


Oh, sorry, it wasn’t actually a Lindsey Buckingham show. It was Fleetwood Mac, the band that made him famous. But singer/songwriter/keyboardist Christine McVie retired in 1998 and Stevie Nicks — Buckingham’s former lover whose romance and breakup has been the subject of many of the band’s songs — needed a good half of Sunday’s 2 ½-hour show to warm up her voice.

Granted, her voice is lower, harsher and less fluid than before, but her versions of “Rhiannon” and “Sara” were so croaky and lifeless that she couldn’t have placed in the top 5 in a Stevie Nicks sound-alike contest.

Nicks, 64, finally found her voice for “Landslide,” a duet with Buckingham, his voice and acoustic guitar. After saying she usually dedicates the song each night to a family member, Nicks said on Sunday, it would be a rare dedication to her “one and only husband,” Minnesotan Kim Anderson, who was in the audience and, of course, is no longer her husband (they divorced after a short marriage; he was the widower of her best friend, who died of leukemia).

Nicks’ incurable romanticism has fueled her art and Fleetwood Mac. She got so inspired during “Landslide” on Sunday that at song’s end she and Buckingham blew kisses at one another. Of course, they followed that with a scorching “Never Going Back Again,” during which Buckingham sounded maniacally determined on vocals and guitar and Nicks offered credible vocal harmonies.

Although she did only a few slow-motion revolutions of the famous Stevie Nicks dervish dance, she hit her vocal stride, delivering “Gypsy” with conviction while facing drummer Mick Fleetwood (another of her exes).

She finally became the bewitching Nicks of yesteryear on “Gold Dust Woman,” investing the song with mystery, passion and her trademarked accouterments of shawls and scarves (the top hat would come later, thank you).

But while Nicks clearly was a favorite of the 16,000 fans on Sunday, it is Buckingham who elevates Fleetwood Mac into an exciting arena attraction 36 years after the blockbuster “Rumours” album made them one of the biggest bands of the 1970s. On Sunday, he was a live-wire ringmaster, a guitar monster, a heartfelt singer, a hammy performer and, as Mick Fleetwood put it, “our inspiration.”

With all of the Buckingham/Nicks soap-opera songs, the comforting, buoyant tunes (and sweet vocal harmonies) of McVie were missed. The band did her “Don’t Stop,” with Buckingham and Nicks alternating as lead singer on the verses. But this really was the Lindsey Buckingham Show.

Buckingham, 63, tried to provide context with his introductions to songs. For instance, he explained that “Big Love” was written as a “contemplation on alienation” but now he sees it as “a meditation” on change. Indeed, his transformation to de facto frontman of Fleetwood Mac has helped the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group maintain its magic.

A set list & a few more thoughts about Fleetwood Mac at the X

Lindsey Buckingham claims Fleetwood Mac has recorded a bunch of new material. He promises an EP to be released in days. On Sunday at the sold-out X, 16,000 fans heard only one new number – plus one obscure Buckingham Nicks song.

Despite its title, “Sad Angel” was peppy rocker, asking the sad angel if she’d “come to right the war.” The vocal harmonies between Buckingham and Stevie Nicks felt different, and the song had almost an Americana vibe, with guitars ringing like Springsteen.

As for “Without You,” the Buckingham Nicks rarity was an un-dynamic slice of dated folk-rock with pretty straightforward lyrics.

Although Nicks wasn’t in acceptable voice for the first half of the show (as chronicled in my review), she, like Buckingham, was fairly chatty. She was certainly friendlier than at Big Mac’s last St. Paul gig, in 2009.

At the end of the evening, after Buckingham and everyone else had left the stage, Nicks told the crowd that “it’s all your fault. We throw the songs out and you catch ‘em with dream catchers and throw them back at us.” OK, discuss amongst yourselves.

The surviving Fleetwood Mac quartet was augmented by two female backup singers (including Nicks’ sister Lori Nicks), a guitarist and a keyboardist/guitarist, all of whom were introduced. There also was a second drummer behind Fleetwood’s kit who was anonymous.

Fleetwood Mac’s set list on Sunday:
Second Hand News/ The Chain/ Dreams/ Sad Angel (new) / Rhiannon/ Not That Funny/ Tusk/ Sisters of the Moon/ Sara/ Big Love/ Landslide/ Never Going Back Again/ Without You (Buckingham Nicks outtake)/ Gypsy/ Eyes of the World/ Gold Dust Woman/ I’m So Afraid/ Stand Back (Nicks solo hit)/ Go Your Own Way ENCORE 1 World Turning/ Don’t Stop ENCORE 2 Silver Springs/ Say Goodbye



Fleetwood Mac at Xcel Energy Center, 4/28/13
By Tony Nelson
Sunday, April 28, 2013
City Pages + Photo Gallery (Photos by Tony Nelson)

More than 35 years since their mega-platinum Rumours album, Fleetwood Mac reconvened for another

major tour, which came to Xcel Energy Center Sunday night. Since keyboardist and vocalist Christine's McVie's retirement, their shows have become very much the Lindsey Buckingham/Stevie Nicks show, of course backed by the most solid rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, and a few additional musicians. Sticking mostly to their peak period of mid-'70s to mid-'80s, the two alternated between their many hits, relying on their long and storied history of romance and breakup, using that tension to fuel their strong chemistry. The two traded places in the spotlight with Nicks occasionally leaving for wardrobe changes -- mostly variations on her trademark flowing gowns suitable for twirling.

Two big exceptions to the predictable "best of" set included a brand new tune, "Sad Angel." The upbeat, almost country-ish acoustic shuffle will be part of a new EP to be released in a few days, according to Buckingham. The second, "Without You," while new to most everyone was actually a very old tune Nicks explained they'd literally forgotten about and only rediscovered when it popped up on YouTube and sparked their interest in reviving it.

While their stage set included the now customary multiple jumbo screens and choreographed digital animation, the focus was always on the four bandmates, who occasionally slowed the tempo for the quieter numbers but never seemed to let up on their intensity over the two-and-a-half hour show, much to the delight of the capacity crowd.

Songs from each of the band's albums of the Buckingham-Nicks era were featured, but some of the loudest cheers came for the brief acoustic set midway through the show with Buckingham's insanely frenetic solo version of "Big Love", Nicks's "Landslide," and Buckingham's "Never Going Back Again," which was drawn out for a little extra drama. One of rock's most innovative, versatile (and occasionally overlooked) guitarists, his playing was continually and appropriately in the spotlight as was his energetic presence as band leader and all-around driving force, something Fleetwood acknowledged during the band intros at the end of the night.

The drama continued with a powerful version of the '75 classic "I'm So Afraid", followed by Nicks's solo hit "Stand Back" and the rousing closer "Go Your Own Way" -- for which Nicks donned her classic top hat. The last encores brought an emotional end to the evening with Nicks's Rumours-era b-side "Silver Springs" and ending with the bitter sweet "Say Goodbye" from the 2003 Say You Will LP, an acoustic song Buckingham wrote about finding closure to his relationship with Nicks and sung as a tender duet directly to each other. After the last song, both Fleetwood and Nicks came out for a final curtain call and to thank the audience for both a wonderful night and possibly a wonderful career as it's obviously possible that this could be the last visit by the iconic group.

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Photos by Tommy Williams Photography


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Saturday, April 27, 2013

REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac Newark, NJ - Stevie Nicks "rode the wind like a kite" Mick "a marvel throughout the show"

Fleetwood Mac Live at Prudential Center - Newark, NJ April 24, 2013
Still restless, Fleetwood Mac goes deep at Prudential Center
By Tris McCall - The Star-Ledger + Photo Gallery


Guitar in hand, Lindsey Buckingham crouched as he walked, approaching the microphone like a cat on the prowl. Mick Fleetwood gave him a heavy downbeat on a tom and he pounced, barking out the verse to “Not That Funny,” an abrasive deep cut from “Tusk,” the 1979 experimental-pop double album on which he spent the capital Fleetwood Mac had earned with the blockbuster “Rumours.”

Fleetwood Mac has frequently been a band of complementary voices without a clear leader. But “Tusk” was Buckingham’s baby, and the Mac set at the Prudential Center in Newark on Wednesday felt very much like Buckingham’s show.

The band is famous for interplay between huge personalities. Christine McVie, the electric pianist and songwriter who acted as a serene counterbalance to Buckingham’s spastic energy, has spent the last decade in retirement from the group, and wasn’t present. Stevie Nicks remains a commanding onstage force, but her voice is diminished — she no longer tries to reach high notes that once seemed to come effortlessly to her. Bassist John McVie is dedicated to self-effacement; drummer Mick Fleetwood remains a powerhouse, but pointedly called Buckingham the band’s musical mentor. Funny, that: it was Fleetwood who, in 1974, invited Buckingham and Nicks to join a group half-named after him, and whose thunderous backbeat holds the group together.


Fleetwood Mac is celebrating the 35th anniversary of “Rumours” with a reissue and a tour. The band played seven of its cuts, and each one drew an ecstatic response from the packed house. But the group seemed more energized by other material.

Buckingham introduced four straight songs from “Tusk” with fighting words about artistic independence and the importance of creativity. Later, he held the stage alone for his flashy solo reading of the 1987 hit “Big Love,” and closed the evening with the quiet, acoustic “Say Goodbye.” He took some chances with the “Rumours” material, too, slowing down “Never Going Back Again” to a crawl, and punking up “Go Your Own Way.” “I’m So Afraid,” the brooding final cut on the band’s self-titled 1975 album, became a launching pad for a guitar solo that, while spectacular in its dexterity, flirted with self-indulgence.

Buckingham and Nicks dissolved their romantic partnership more than 30 years ago — yet the concert kept reminding us of it. The stars emerged hand in hand, beaming like a presidential couple getting off Air Force One, for the encore set. Earlier in the show, Nicks concluded “Sara” with a turn at Buckingham’s microphone and a sweetly flirtatious dance with him. “Without You,” a love song from the pair’s early years as Buckingham Nicks, was presented as evidence of their initial romantic illusions.

A cynic, or even a passionate fan, might reasonably ask why the two continue to poke the embers of a relationship that cooled ages ago, and if that is threatening to eclipse the manifold dimensions of one of rock’s most fascinating groups.

In the late ’70s, Fleetwood Mac was singular. Here was a successful rock band where men and women engaged in musical and lyrical dialogue on equal footing; their stories of love and betrayal bore a stamp of authority that comes from lived experience and mutual respect between romantic partners. Christine McVie’s work was an indispensable part of that dialogue. It is a testament to the depth and quality of the Fleetwood Mac catalog that the band could play for nearly 2½ hours while swerving around McVie’s rapturous songwriting. Nevertheless, she was missed like a lost limb.

The band did not lack energy. Stevie Nicks took a few songs to warm up, and her performances thereafter were often inexact, but when she lost herself in an outro, as she did during a strong reading of “Gypsy,” she rode the wind like a kite. “Stand Back,” a lively but mechanical Nicks solo hit from the ’80s, was made organic by McVie’s bass and Fleetwood’s fills.

The drummer was a marvel throughout the show: His martial intro to “Eyes of the World,” steady stomp during “Tusk” and dramatic build-up before the climax of “Sisters of the Moon” added drama to songs that might otherwise have flatlined. He is the rapid, healthy pulse of a group that, 50 years into its run, remains restless.

Photos Brian Killian

REVIEW | VIDEO: Fleetwood Mac Live in Pittsburgh 4/26

Nicks, Buckingham take center stage at Fleetwood Mac show
by Kellie B. Gormly
Two things that struck the audience at Fleetwood Mac's show at Consol Energy Center on Friday night were how great Stevie Nicks looks and sounds at her age, and how peculiar and intriguing her relationship with co-star Lindsey Buckingham remains.

Nicks and Buckingham gave a stellar concert at Consol, where the other members of the classic band were relegated to the background and, often, even out of sight. Nicks and Buckingham performed more as a duo, although the British drummer and founding member Mick Fleetwood got in a few appearances with a drum solo and dialogue with the audience toward the end of the show.

Nicks sports her signature thick, long, blonde hair, along with a frilly black top and skirt, and her popular shawl — which she spreads out with her arms, as she twirled to “Gypsy” on stage in a favorite move. Her distinctive voice often eerily sounded exactly like it did in the radio classics of three decades ago. Nicks' vocal range has decreased, though, as she avoids the higher notes and sometimes sings at a lower octave.

Although Nicks' and Buckingham's tumultuous romantic relationship ended years ago — a devastating split that drove Nicks to avoid Fleetwood Mac for a long time — the two send mixed messages now that they have reunited as bandmates. They often stood way apart on stage and didn't interact much, but at other moments, they showed affection toward each other. The two ended their encore with “Say Goodbye,” a song that Buckingham wrote about Nicks, and the emotion between the two was undeniable, if anything for old time's sake.


Although Fleetwood Mac played for two and a half hours with no opener or intermission, and we heard plenty of classic hits, most songs from Christine McVie didn't make the set list, except for “Don't Stop” in the encore. This created a notable void, since so many of the band's biggest hits came from McVie, who left the band in the late ‘90s. Fans miss her, but Nicks and Buckingham have made the best of her absence. Nicks included some of her solo work, including “Stand Back,” with complementing video images of a younger, glamorous Nicks twirling in a red outfit.
The audience included mostly middle-aged fans, but also a big crop of younger-generation 20-somethings who love Fleetwood Mac's music.

Almost the entire show from last night by clubdoc can be found here... Looking and sounding awesome!

1. SECOND HAND NEWS
2. THE CHAIN
3. DREAMS
4. SAD ANGEL

MORE VIDEO BELOW (hit the 'Continue Reading' link)

Friday, April 26, 2013

REVIEWS: Fleetwood Mac Live in Pittsburgh, PA - Consol Energy Center 4/26

FLEETWOOD MAC LIVE
PITTSBURGH, PA
CONSOL ENERGY CENTER
APRIL 26, 2013

Fleetwood Mac show is powered by hits and rarities
By Scott Mervis

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Fleetwood Mac obviously has some issues playing nice with each other in a studio, as its last release was a decade ago and there have been a combined four solo albums from its dynamic duo up front since then.

On stage, though, FM still has the golden touch.

The band, which started as a British blues outfit in 1967 but practically defined mid-'70s pop-rock, turned up at Consol Energy Center tonight three weeks into its first tour since 2009. Once again, it's a foursome with a few sidemen and backup singers, as Christine McVie, out of the picture since 1998, has chosen to steer clear, taking with her the earthy harmonies and such hits as "Over My Head," "Say You Love Me" and "You Make Loving Fun."

They were missed, as usual, but even without that, Fleetwood Mac has no shortage of beloved classics. The hit parade started energetically with a galloping beat from the ageless Mick Fleetwood launching Lindsey Buckingham into "Second Hand News" (a sly, self-deprecating statement?), joined on the chorus by his former flame Stevie Nicks, still striking at 64.

Mr. Buckingham isn't often mentioned with rock's guitar heroes, clearly an oversight if you've seen him live. Those heroics started in earnest on the second song, "The Chain," with its tense riffage and piercing solo going over top John McVie's rumbling bass.

Ms. Nicks remains a vocal enigma, as there's no one way to describe her instrument, other than expressive. It's still nasal and husky ranging somehow to clear and girlish, as we heard on "Dreams" and a powerful "Rhiannon." As you'd expect, she runs around the occasional high note.

There's no new album to freshen the set -- or perhaps get in the way of a casual Mac fan's good time -- but there is a promised EP on the way.

They teased it with "Sad Angel," a vintage-sounding Buckingham-Nicks collab that was more up-tempo than the title suggests.

The band's other creative twist on this tour is its four-song mini-set from "Tusk," the 1979 curveball that Mr.
Buckingham described as "a line in the sand" creatively for the band. It included the cacophonous title track (with the USC marching band on the screen) and the lovely "Sara," during which Mr. Fleetwood sounded more like competition. They also added Mr. Buckingham's quasi-punk freakout "Not That Funny" and Ms. Nicks' bewitching "Sisters of the Moon," which sounded a little chaotic, too.

They also revived the long-lost Buckingham Nicks song "Without You," which could have stayed lost, and offered a few old deep cuts: rumbling rocker "Eyes of the World" and "I'm So Afraid," with a killer guitar jam that explored the high end of the neck to the furthest extreme.

The stripped-down mid-section, one of the best parts if the night, brought Mr. Buckingham's frantic acoustic workout on "Big Love," a dramatic, finger-picked "Never Going Back Again" and a beautiful "Landslide" with the emphatic and always warmly received line, "I'm getting older, too."

Even more well received was Ms. Nicks' shawl dance at the end of a "Gold Dust Woman" that toed the line in the sand between plodding and mesmerizing.

For the closers, they tapped the Nicks solo catalog for a hard-driving "Stand Back," with the singer spinning in circles, followed by one of rock's best fist-pumping breakup anthems, "Go Your Own Way," ecstatically played.

The encores started with a pummeling "World Turning" and "Don't Stop," the one Christine McVie song they can't skip, and ended with a gentle "Say Goodbye" ??? that's only goodbye for now.

"You'd think there'd be nothing left to invent," Mr. Buckingham said at one point, "but there apparently are some new chapters to be written for Fleetwood Mac."

With a 50th anniversary on the way -- at least for the band name and esteemed, cranked-up rhythm section -- they can't very well stop now.

(not mentioned, but Silver Springs was back in the set)




PHOTOS: Fleetwood Mac Live in Newark, NJ (by Gabrielle Dragan)

FLEETWOOD MAC LIVE 
NEWARK, NJ - April 24, 2013
Prudential Center
(Photos sent in by Gabrielle Dragan)






The video below isn't Newark, it's at Mohegan Sun Arena - but the footage is incredible!... Shot right at the stage.
GO YOUR OWN WAY:

Mick Fleetwood Reveals Setlist Change For Euro Fleetwood Mac Shows

Fleetwood Mac Concert Review 2013
VIP Experience With Mick Fleetwood
Full details at T-Mak World


Thursday, April 25, 2013

Fleetwood Mac at Prudential Center is enjoyable, but...


By Tris McCall/The Star-Ledger
NJ.com

Last year, Hear Music -- that's the label run by Starbucks -- released a tribute disc to Fleetwood Mac. There wasn't a single cover of a Christine McVie song on the collection. Maybe she gave the okay for that, and maybe she didn't want to negotiate with Hear; in any case, it felt like she'd been written of a story in which she's a central character.

Last night, the Mac held the stage at the Prudential Center for nearly two and a half hours. There was only a single Christine McVie song on the setlist -- "Don't Stop," which is mostly sung by Lindsey Buckingham. McVie wasn't present for the concert, which is nothing new: She hasn't been performing with the group in more than a decade. Mick Fleetwood mentioned in an interview that the door is always open, and he'd love it if she'd walk through. Some fans have high hopes for the upcoming London gig; in Newark on Wednesday, she didn't walk through.
Check out these Photos by Jon Gregory - The Click Studio Photography - View The Gallery

I love Lindsey Buckingham. He's something of an onstage megalomaniac, and he'll solo all night and day if you let him, but he's endearing, he's a magnetic frontman and a dexterous guitarist, and his restlessness and taste for experimentation was put to good use by the rest of the group. I love Stevie Nicks, too; her songs are smart, tough, and intoxicating, and get her going in an extended outro and she's likely to guide you to places that few singers ever visit. John McVie and Mick Fleetwood are the rare rhythm players with indelible personalities; push play on a Fleetwood Mac recording and within seconds, you'll know it's them.There are days on which I am convinced that there has never been a greater British-born rock group than Fleetwood Mac -- not the Beatles, not the Kinks, not Led Zeppelin, not the Attractions, nor any of the other boys', boys', boys' bands who never seemed to want to let the girls get a word in. 

But that version of Fleetwood Mac is impossible without Christine McVie. She provided the serenity that made Buckingham's frenetic approach palatable, the earthiness that kept Nicks grounded, and the trancelike electric piano parts that added mystic resonance to the thump and throb of the rhythm section. Most of all, she added terrific songs to the repertoire: songs of romance and warmth, stories that added to that distinctive Fleetwood Mac feeling of men and women in conversation. She did not demonstrate Buckingham's imagination or Nicks' urgency. But no songwriter in a band of great songwriters understood the architecture of pop melody better than she did.

Christine shown here in this recent
photo supports Trevor's Law!
Years before Mick Fleetwood had the bright idea of enlisting Buckingham and Nicks, Christine McVie was
writing and singing great songs for Fleetwood Mac. She was writing good songs when she was still Christine Perfect, singer and pianist for British blues act Chicken Shack. After "Rumours" became a smash hit, pre-Buckingham-Nicks material dropped out of setlists, and because of that, an unfair percentage of Christine McVie's finest work has gotten lost in the Dark Ages of Mac history. She joined the group in 1971 (she'd drawn the children's book-like cover for the "Kiln House" set the year before) and immediately became a major contributor. "Believe Me," the leadoff cut from the 1973 album "Mystery to Me," is first-rate Fleetwood Mac and as delicious as anything on "Rumours." "Come a Little Bit Closer," from 1974's "Heroes Are Hard to Find," anticipated the major-league pop moves the band would make a year later. Once the band hit the big time, she kept right on penning hits: "You Make Loving Fun," "Think About Me," "Hold Me," "Say You Love Me." (Her album cuts were just as good.)

I'll have my review of this show in Saturday's paper, but I'll give you the short version here: Fleetwood Mac is always something great to behold, but I missed Christine McVie like a jeweled ring I'd dropped down the drain. I want her back, badly, and I'll bet her former bandmates do, too. 

Note: Mick Fleetwood has recently been indicating to fans during the Meet and Greets on the Fleetwood Mac Tour that Christine will likely make an appearance on stage in London during The Mac's 3 sold out shows... When asked if she'll be doing all 3 he indicated likely just one, but wouldn't confirm which show.