Monday, September 30, 2013

Reviews: Fleetwood Mac Live in Birmingham "Big personalities and classic songs give fans an evening of pure energy"

Fleetwood Mac Live in Birmingham
Sunday, September 29, 2013 - LG Arena
by Enda Mullen
Birmingham Post

Big personalities and classic songs give fans an evening of pure energy

Fleetwood Mac might be middle of the road musically speaking but the soap opera that’s the story of the band is about as rock ‘n’ roll as it gets.

It’s a saga characterised by battles and broken relationships and the kind of hard living that would put even the most notorious rock star to shame.

The hell-raising might be no more but the love/hate relationship of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham lives on in many of the songs.

And what songs they are too, with the band producing a soundtrack for a whole generation.

This was a concert of epic proportions, 23 songs in total and not far short of three hours from start to finish, with the band on fire as they plundered the riches of their amazing back catalogue.

There was room for a new song in the shape of Sad Angel, which sounded good but didn’t really get the crowd to their feet in the way The Chain, Rhiannon, Tusk and Landslide did.

Given the big personalities and talents of Nicks and Buckingham it would be easy to overlook founder members Mick Fleetwood and John McVie who give the band its beating heart and clearly still relish playing live.

Other musical highlights included Sara, Big Love, Gypsy, Gold Dust Woman and Don’t Stop, although Say Goodbye, while an appropriate song to end on, didn’t offer the kind of rousing finale the show deserved.

After an evening of pure energy and exemplary musicianship that would put many bands half their age to shame Fleetwood Mac signed off with a lingering farewell that made one wonder whether it may be the last time they take to the stage.

Fleetwood Mac, at LG Arena, Birmingham
By Steve Adams 

Rocks greatest soap opera goes on and on...

Forget Downton Abbey, if you wanted Sunday night drama then the LG Arena was the place to be this weekend, as Fleetwood Mac offered another episode in rock’s longest-running soap opera.

The Anglo-US act will forever be remembered for Rumours, one of the greatest and biggest-selling albums of all time, which was inspired by the band members’ dissolving relationships - and for some reason they feel compelled to milk the melodrama at every opportunity.

Singer Stevie Nicks and guitarist-singer Lindsey Buckingham – whose break-up provided by many of the songs on that album - arrived on stage holding hands, turned to face each other during several poignant numbers and even shared a hug during Sara.

It was frankly overkill – as were some of the extended introductions – and detracted from an otherwise excellent show. 

Sara itself was a highlight, and while Nicks can no longer hit the high notes on tunes such as Rhiannon (Buckingham largely did that for her), she remains a captivating performer with a great set of pipes, gloriously exemplified on Landslide, Silver Springs and new – but old – song Without You.

That said, Buckingham was the undoubted star of the show, and while he remains a frustratingly pompous figure – he’s as aware of his talent as we are – there’s no escaping the brilliance of his guitar playing, notably during an extraordinary acoustic rendering of Big Love and electric wig-outs on I’m So Afraid and Go Your Own Way.

The band did just that on this gig – there was no room for a Christine McVie guest slot, as at the London shows – and with material as strong as Tusk, Second Hand News, The Chain and Don’t Stop, come the end no one in the packed house was quite ready for them to Say Goodbye.

Above Photos by Della Wilson (Thanks Della!)








DON'T STOP

GOLD DUST WOMAN

WORLD TURNING (Micks Drum Solo)

Review: Fleetwood Mac Live in London Sept 27 - Uncut

Fleetwood Mac Live in London
September 27, 2013 - The O2 Arena
by Michael Bonner

“Life is good,” reflects Mick Fleetwood. We are over two hours into Fleetwood Mac’s third and final show at the O2, and it has fallen to Fleetwood to introduce his fellow bandmates on stage.

While Fleetwood was talking for the most part about the enduring friendships that exist between the various members of Fleetwood Mac, he could just as easily be surveying the last, remarkable 12 months in the band’s career. This sprawling world tour has been a tremendous success – “We’re doing the best business we’ve done in 20 years,” Lindsey Buckingham recently told Rolling Stone. The 35th anniversary of Rumours earlier this year provided a useful reminder of the band's most successful and notorious period, while the Extended Play EP showcased a clutch of new songs that seem redolent of the Rumours-era sound. Elsewhere, there are the broader cultural threads that have pillowed Fleetwood Mac’s 2013 – the revival of the soft rock aesthetic, and the kind of West Coast vibes evoked on Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories and Haim’s Days Are Gone.

But in many respects Fleetwood Mac are actually a more interesting proposition away from the Rumours material. The reissue a few months ago of the band’s 1969 album, Then Play On was a terrific reminder of the magical guitar interplay between Peter Green and Danny Kirwan. Indeed, while it’s nice enough to watch Christine McVie join her old band for “Don’t Stop”, it would have been more remarkable if Green had strolled on stage to play “The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Prong Crown)”. Tonight, the band’s decision to foreground songs from Tusk is sort-of brave – a great chunk of the audience seem bewildered by this – while the weird tensions between Buckingham's songs and Nicks' is actually quite compelling. To some extent, Buckingham and Nicks might as well be in different bands. Buckingham (who, I should point out, plays without a plectrum) seems to think he’s in some early 80s New Wave band for great chunks of the set, throwing punk rock shapes or shredding; at one point, during the extended coda for "I'm So Afraid", he seems to think he's in the middle of some wonderful, digressive Crazy Horse jam. His introduction to the Tusk section of the show involves a lecture in the merits of art against commerce; he clearly still has an almost neurotic attachment to that particular material, as his need to explain – or, perhaps, defend – it suggests. Later, his acoustic treatment of “Big Love” displays his extraordinary fretwork skills (incidentally, those solo albums are amazing). He and Nicks are gracious with each other – if, say, she’s singing a song, she’ll step back a little from the mic to let him play a solo – it’s slightly formal, a little awkward, you might say. Nicks, meanwhile, doesn’t entirely seem comfortable during the faster Buckingham numbers – she totters visibly during “Not That Funny”. Sounding a little like Edie Falco in The Sopranos when she speaks, and dressed as if she’s going for dinner with Big Edie and Little Edie at Grey Gardens, she seems clearly more comfortable with the soft focus Laurel Canyon Goth of “Rhiannon” and “Gypsy” than Buckingham’s angrier compositions. Her attempt to explain the provenance of the Extended Play track “Without You”, originally written by Nicks in the early Seventies, lasts longer than the song itself.

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Fleetwood Mac Review: Stevie Nicks has, gratifyingly, lost none of her hippy charm, she’s all drippy scarves, butterfly gestures

Fleetwood Mac joined by Christine McVie 02 Arena, final night
by: festivals, food, over forties

One of my earliest music memories is Peter Green singing Need Your Love so Bad, and his composition Green Manalishi (with the two prong crown), which to my pre-teen brain sounded bewilderingly mystical. Strange to now see Fleetwood Mac, in its present form, live in 2013, over 30 years later.
own

Mick Fleetwood and John McVie command the audience’s attention as the band opens with Second Hand News. This position is swiftly usurped by flamboyant performers Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. Nicks and Buckingham: the two former lovers hold the audience’s attention throughout the performance, their body language indicating that drama, tension and chemistry are alive and well. We can only watch and make of it what we will. Lindsey periodically moves to the front of the stage, crouching down with his guitar, to the obvious delight of the fans clustered at his feet.

Stevie Nicks has, gratifyingly, lost none of her hippy charm, she’s all drippy scarves, butterfly gestures and long hair (at 65 – yes, it still looks great). A tanned Lindsey Buckingham looks as if he’s been whisked straight from a California health spa.

Continue to the full review with some great photos

UK and Ireland Send Fleetwood Mac Albums Back Up The Charts

Ireland - September 26, 2013

The after effects of Fleetwood Mac's two shows in Dublin September 20th and 21st are being felt on the Top 100 Albums Chart in Ireland.  Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" moves up the chart this week to No.27 from No.87. "Greatest Hits" moves down to No.83 from No.76 last week and surprisingly "The Dance" re-enters the chart at No.94 in only it's 8th week on the chart.

Top 100 Albums Chart

# 27 (87)  Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
# 83 (76)  Fleetwood Mac - Greatest Hits
# 94 (R/E) Fleetwood Mac - The Dance

UK - October 5, 2013
With 3 shows last week in London leading up to today's UK Chart Update (dated October 5th), Fleetwood Mac have three albums within the Top 100 - two of these are re-entries.

Fleetwood Mac's 4CD Box Set "25 Years - The Chain" re-enters the chart this week at No.22.  "Rumours" moves up to No.53 from No.74 and "The Very Best Of" re-enters the chart at No.87.  On the Digital Top 40 Albums Chart "Rumours" moves up to No.31 from No.78 last week.  On the Catalogue Albums Chart "Rumours" is top 5 sitting at No.5

Top 100 Albums Chart
# 22 (R/E) Fleetwood Mac - 25 Years The Chain [box set]
# 53 (74)   Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
# 87 (R/E) Fleetwood Mac - The Very Best Of

Top 40 Digital Albums Chart
# 31 (78) Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

Top 40 Catalogue Albums Chart
# 5 Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

Scotland  - Oct 5, 2013
In Scotland, "25 Years - The Chain" is back in the Top 40 at No.16 this week while "The Dance" continues to be popular in it's 31st week on the chart moving down to No.18 from No.14 last week.

Top 40 Albums Chart
# 16 (R/E) Fleetwood Mac - 25 Years The Chain [box set]
# 18 (14)   Fleetwood Mac - The Dance

U.S.A. - October 5, 2013
Fleetwood Mac's Starbucks exclusive Opus Collection in it's 3rd week on the US Top 200 moves down to No.125 from No.79 last week. On the Top 200 Current albums chart which are new releases, the album is sitting at No.119.

Top 200 Albums Chart
# 125 (79) Fleetwood Mac - Opus Collection
# 184 (145) Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

Top 200 Current Albums Chart
# 119 (79) Fleetwood Mac - Opus Collection

Australia - September 30, 2013
Top 100 Albums Chart
# 14 (7)     Fleetwood Mac - 25 Years The Chain [box set]
# 78 (71)   Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
# 85 (R/E) Fleetwood Mac - The Very Best Of

Top 50 Catalogue Albums Chart
#  1 (1)  Fleetwood Mac - 25 Years The Chain [box set]
# 19 (11) Fleetwood Mac - Greatest Hits
# 20 (26) Fleetwood Mac - The Very Best Of
# 36 (34) Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

Top 50 Digital Albums Chart
# 33 (22) Fleetwood Mac - Greatest Hits

Top 40 DVD Chart
# 7 (7) Fleetwood Mac - The Dance

New Zealand - Sept 30, 2013
Top 40 Albums Chart
# 5 (5) Fleetwood Mac - 25 Years The Chain

Fleetwood Mac: "If We Were 20 Yrs Old, We'd Wanna Join Our Band!"

This week's NME Digital edition is available... In it Mick Fleetwood and Stevie Nicks speak about Christine's return.

This link at NME has the interview video that provided the text version of the article... If you've seen the video, you've read the article... Nothing new.  If you want the digital version of the mag.. Check out NME


Review: "Old Mac Magic Weaved So Well"... Fleetwood Mac Live in London


Fleetwood Mac – review Sept 24th O2, London

The Guardian
by Kitty Empire
3/5 Stars

They were back – and talking to each other as well. But despite the hits, fine musicianship and Stevie Nicks's array of shawls, there was still one thing missing.

You're looking at your watch, consulting the set list from a recent Fleetwood Mac gig in Dublin and thinking: it has to happen soon. We're running out of songs.

But we're 20-odd tunes into the first of the band's three-night London run and the icing on the cake made of soap has not materialised. We've endured Mick Fleetwood's mammoth drum solo on World Turning, one that has lasted eight minutes at previous stops on this world tour. Tonight it clocks in at four. We've had Don't Stop, one of this outlandishly successful band's most galumphing hits, the song where you assumed It Would Happen. But no. The Mac have gone off, and come back, and Stevie Nicks is trilling Silver Springs, and there is no sign of the return of the second of Fleetwood Mac's two Macs. That Mac is not back.

One of the major draws of these gigs – their first in the UK since 2009 – has been the rumour that Christine McVie might appear as a special guest. The Birmingham melodicist retired from the band in 1998, technically for the second time, citing a fear of flying. Touring with her ex-husband, bassist John McVie, and weariness of the long-running dramas of her band might well have been contributing factors.

But the USP of this umpteenth Fleetwood Mac reunion is that everyone is getting along quite swimmingly. Indeed this Gordian sexual knot of a group have long since put their libidos and coke habits behind them, and tonight are even mining the residues of the chemistry for laughs (and sniffles). Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, the California duo who joined the blues-rock outfit in 1974 and turned it into gold dust, are holding hands, hugging at the end of Sara, and singing at one another. Mick Fleetwood – an increasingly jester-like figure, sitting worryingly near a gong – affectionately clasps hands with Nicks at the end of one song. Their affair in 1977 complicated an already star-crossed love polygon that has defined this band as much as their mellifluous soft rock.

Still, despite all the lovely closure, Christine does not show (although she does the following night). Anyone hoping to hear Little Lies, or the barbed You Make Loving Fun (written about Christine McVie's relationship with the band's lighting guy), or even Hold Me, the band's later-period US hit about another McVie conquest, Dennis Wilson, is going home a little disappointed tonight.

Probably not by much though. This nearly three-hour set is nothing if not generous value, packing in significant swaths of Rumours, the band's most famous album. It has sold something like 40m copies, a figure that, in all likelihood, no one album released in the 21st century will ever match. Its reissue entered the UK charts at No 3 last February. Of its vast riches, Go Your Own Way remains a sulky gem. It ends the band's first set with Buckingham mock-chasing Nicks around the stage and letting the front rows paw at his guitar.

It's salutary to be reminded what a fine player Lindsey Buckingham is. He's lithe and leather-jacketed, full of thoughtful song preambles. Hearing him playing Big Love solo – hollering the words, plucking at his hollow-bodied electric – is one of the unexpected highlights of a set that can sometimes feel like a rewrite of history.

It seems unthinkable now, but there was a time when not everyone thought Fleetwood Mac were cool, or survivors, or ripe for homage by Haim or Florence and the Machine. Indeed, if you were alive in the 1980s, Fleetwood Mac were the grown-ups' music, and as such as attractive as uncooked liver. Mac songs seemed pat, mid-tempo affairs with needless, false harmonies. (They all hated each other!) It wasn't just a question of age – the Rolling Stones were old – it was that Fleetwood Mac's music felt fluffy and smug. At least it did from the vehement hauteur of the spiky, directional 80s.

Now, though, 30 years on, one of their newer songs, Sad Angel, is pacier than you'd imagine. And there is widespread respect for Fleetwood Mac's awkward, angry Tusk album of 1979. Tonight the title track exudes bitterness, evil laughter and deranged keyboard horns: there is nothing pat about it.

Arguably it was Courtney Love who first rehabilitated Fleetwood Mac – or at least Stevie Nicks – thanking "Rhiannon the Welsh Witch" on the sleeve of Hole's Pretty on the Inside album (1991), and often declaring Nicks her hero. At the O2 Nicks recalls being Buckingham's "hippie girlfriend", accepted into the Mac package when Fleetwood hired Buckingham.

She is the sort of woman who paints angels, and wants to set Welsh epic The Mabinogion on the screen with the help of the Game of Thrones creator, but down to earth with it. Tonight her buddy Christine may not be here, but Nicks's throaty husk sounds masterful on Gold Dust Woman. And – living up to billing quite spectacularly – she has a different shawl for nearly every song.

Fleetwood Mac Sept 27th - London
Photos by Muzzy_
Full Gallery






LANDSLIDE:
Dedicated to Christine McVie

RHIANNON: Stevie changed up the ending of Rhiannon a bit during the last show... I thought Friday's performance was exceptionally strong and I really liked what she did with the ending.  

GOLD DUST WOMAN: is still really creepy and eerie at the end when Stevie's voice gets all echoee and she deeply growls into the mic... It's just an awesome song live and this extended version they are doing on this tour is really cool. Most of the video from the last show is posted below.


Friday, September 27, 2013

Photos | Video: Christine McVie's Final Performance With Fleetwood Mac - Live in London 9/27

Fleetwood Mac Live in London
September 27, 2013 - The O2 Arena

Yet one more memorable night!  Big thanks to Fleetwood Mac for another great show... You never disappoint!  And a massive thanks especially to Christine McVie. You've made an extremely large amount of people very happy with your return... Please don't make it another 15 years before we hear from you again with Fleetwood Mac!

Check out Erin Brown's pics from the show... 37 of them in a gallery HERE.


DON'T STOP
THE CHAIN
GO YOUR OWN WAY

London Review 9/25: Love is in the air for return of the Fleetwood Mac

Rock’s greatest soap opera rolled into London this week as Fleetwood Mac began their UK tour with a marathon concert dominated by the hits of the Seventies. Emotional punch was added by the presence of two ex-members who were major players in the Anglo-American group’s chequered history.

For a rollicking encore of Don’t Stop, the band were joined at the O2 Arena by keyboardist Christine McVie — onstage with them for the first time in 15 years.

Earlier, singer Stevie Nicks dedicated a poignant Landslide to original Sixties guitarist Peter Green, who was watching from the wings.

As a generation-spanning audience demonstrated, our love for Fleetwood Mac shows little sign of abating, partly because their biggest hits are still so intertwined with their love lives.


The classic 1977 album Rumours was made amid drug-fuelled excess and personal turmoil, with drummer Mick Fleetwood in the throes of a divorce, the marriage of bassist John and keyboardist Christine McVie on the rocks, and the romance between singer Stevie Nicks and guitarist Lindsey Buckingham in meltdown.

To complicate matters, Nicks and Fleetwood later had their own two-year affair.

As the return, albeit for just one song, of Christine McVie confirmed, everyone is the best of friends these days, although the sexual tensions of old lingered in songs like Don’t Stop (Christine’s kiss-off to John) and Go Your Own Way (Lindsey’s bitter adios to Stevie).

The Buckingham-Nicks relationship was also played out for theatrical effect onstage. The former couple, a formidable creative double-act, hugged each other and slow danced during Sara, and walked on holding hands before the encores. At one point, Lindsey — to loud cheers — gave Stevie a gentlemanly kiss on the hand.

Having played 47 American shows in 2013, the band were perfectly cooked. With McVie and Fleetwood providing a fluent rhythmic backbone, Buckingham drove the show musically, setting the tempo with some impressive  soloing in the Rumours-era opening salvo of Second Hand News, The Chain and Dreams.

But it is Nicks who gives the group their charisma. Teetering around in black stiletto boots, her microphone stand draped in hippy beads and scarves, she was mesmerising on  Rhiannon and Landslide, the latter an acoustic duet with Buckingham.

Alongside the enduring excellence of their songs, it is also the presence of Nicks that connects the band — now all in their 60s — with a younger crowd. Most of the junior members of this audience were female, and it is no coincidence that the new acts most obviously influenced by the group’s classic hooks and harmonies are girl bands like The Pierces and Haim.


Fleetwood Mac’s ongoing appeal also says a lot about the value of experience. From the Stones at Glastonbury to Rod Stewart and Springsteen, many of this year’s best gigs have been played by the veterans, and there was certainly an impressive level of artistry on display here.

As Mick Fleetwood bellowed from his drumkit as the 11 o’clock curfew beckoned: ‘The Mac are back!’ Indeed they are.

The Fleetwood Mac tour  continues tonight at the O2 Arena

By Adrian Thrills


Thursday, September 26, 2013

Photos: Mick Fleetwood and Christine McVie Attend Jenny Boyd Book Launch

Mick Fleetwood along with Christine McVie attend Jenny Boyd's book launch party for "It's Not Only Rock 'N' Roll 
(Sept 26, 2013 MyHotel in Chelsea)






In this exciting, original and inspiring book, 75 of the world's most iconic musicians reveal - many for the first time - their thoughts on creating music. Psychologist Jenny Boyd has probed the minds and souls of these artists and has delved into the drive to create, the importance of nurturing creativity, the role of unconscious influences and the effects of chemicals and drugs on the creative process. Music legend who contributed exclusive interviews include: Eric Clapton George Harrison Julian Lennon Jackson Browne David Crosby Stephen Stills Graham Nash Don Henley Hank Marvin Keith Richards Ravi Shankar Ringo Starr Steve Winwood Mick Fleetwood Stevie Nicks Joni Mitchell.    


Jenny attended Fleetwood Mac's Sept 24th London show and Stevie dedicated "Landslide" to her.

Stevie's quote on the cover: "All creative people should read this book!"

Christine and Mick contributed below...Part of Christine's is particularly interesting... Is she in therapy?

"I'm seeking help to restore that childlike pleasure I found in creating music" - Christine McVie



Lindsey Buckingham nearly blocked last night’s onstage Fleetwood Mac reunion, reveals Stevie Nicks in MOJO

Fleetwood Mac: The Story Behind Christine’s Live Return
Lindsey Buckingham nearly blocked last night’s onstage reunion, reveals Stevie Nicks in MOJO

Mojo Magazine
By Andrew Male

Stevie Nicks has talked to MOJO about Christine McVie’s on-stage return to Fleetwood Mac last night at London’s O2 Arena.

Speaking in an interview to be published in MOJO 241 (UK shelf date October 29) the diminutive Mac singer confirmed that while McVie, who left the group in 1998, has “just returned to do one song” it could have been “a few songs” if it hadn’t been for one particular stumbling block.

“Lindsey [Buckingham] is very funny about that,” Nicks told MOJO’s James McNair. “I think his words were ‘She can’t just come and go’. That’s important to him, but it’s not quite so important to me. Much as Lindsey adores her; and he does – she’s the only one in Fleetwood Mac he was ever willing to listen to – he doesn’t want the first night reviews to be all about Christine’s one song, rather than the set we rehearsed for two months.”

McVie was met with rapturous applause last night when she joined her old band to play keyboards and sing Don’t Stop, and she will be appearing with the group again at their final O2 show tomorrow. But, while the route to the stage hasn’t necessarily been a smooth one, Nicks also added that “it will be wonderful to have her back up there with us. And from there who knows.”

In a candid, funny and emotional interview, Nicks goes on to discuss her childhood, her solo career (“Fleetwood Mac weren’t that impressed”) the “unresolved” aspects of her and Buckingham’s relationship, and the bizarre night she slept on the floor of Prince’s purple kitchen.

... I knew it!  I had a feeling there was something behind Chris only doing one song!  Wish I had of known this earlier today when I passed Lindsey outside of Harrods... I would have asked him about it. (That's him in the green jacket).

I like the way Stevie says "and from there.. who knows"  I think if we as a fan community could somehow make our voices heard - encouraging them to reunite to record again... It just may happen!



New Fleetwood Mac Album up to Stevie Nicks


In a just-published interview with M Music & Musicians, Lindsey Buckingham said, “The way we do things in Fleetwood Mac is always a political mine field. If it’s not Stevie, it’s me—someone is always causing trouble. [laughs] I know Warner Brothers is dying to get an album from us, even though we’re not signed to them anymore. Stevie needs to come to the table with some material. In order to contemplate a new album, she has to want to do it.”


Buckingham went on to say that Nicks’ positive experience making In Your Dreams, her 2012 solo album, complicates the prospects for a new Fleetwood Mac LP. “She had a wonderful experience making that album,” he says. “She hasn’t said this—this is just me—but knowing Stevie, she’s probably thinking, ‘If I have to write five new songs, do I want to give them to Fleetwood Mac?’ And that’s fair enough. I think she’s feeling a bit protective and territorial about the experience she had doing her solo project. And I can totally relate to that.”

Fleetwood Mac is currently on the European leg of their 2013 tour.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Photos | Video: Fleetwood Mac's "Songbird" Christine McVie Returns

Fleetwood Mac Live in London
September 25, 2013 - O2 Arena
Photos by Erin Brown
View Gallery
Christine McVie... Back with The Mac!
You wouldn't think anything special was going to happen... But it did and I'm glad I was there to witness it. This is historical!  The show was great... No different then any other.  You wouldn't even know something big was about to happen.  Stevie dedicated Landslide to Peter Green who was in the audience saying some really nice words about him and thanking him for Fleetwood Mac.

The show progressed as per usual, and right at the end of Mick's intros to the band members they whisked Christine's keyboard up on stage from the side... and Lindsey, Mick and Stevie made some jokes about the commotion that was going on wondering what was up. Lindsey's saying it looks like a very familiar spot. Stevie going over to the keyboard to act as if she was going to play a little something.  The audience started to stir when Mick started his intro by saying "this lady's songs echo throughout Fleetwood Mac's history", calling her "our song bird" then said "without further adieu London, give it up for Miss Christine McVie".

The place went mad as you would expect.  It was so loud!  I was in the upper section and it seemed like in unison that everyone leaped to their feet when Mick said her name. Then they launched into "Don't Stop". Christine sounded great, looked great up there on stage and played the hell out of her keyboard.  In many ways, it looked so normal to see her there playing... but in reality, its been close to 16 years that she's been gone.. After the song they took her keyboard off the stage and all 5 stood in front of Mick's kit, took a bow and Christine left the stage down John's stairs.  She did emerge from the back of the stage for the final bows of the night with the rest of the band, then the show was over.

Amazing ending tonight Fleetwood Mac!!  And THANK YOU Christine for coming back... even if for just one song, it was so cool too see the 5 of them together again.

DON'T STOP
LANDSLIDE (Dedicated to Peter Green)

REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac Live In London ★★★★/5 Stars - The Financial Times

A riveting evening belonged above all to Lindsey Buckingham and his eloquent guitar

Fleetwood Mac, 02 Arena, London – review
By Richard Clayton

After all these years, something still gets Lindsey Buckingham’s goat. Fleetwood Mac’s guitarist and front man tore into “Second Hand News”, barking the words and spitting out the “bams” of the chorus’s vocalese like repeated slaps in the face. Rumours, the gazillion-selling “soft-rock” album that chronicles the band’s – and their generation’s – relationship traumas was given its 35th anniversary reissue in February. There was little soft about this near three-hour show, the first of three nights of controlled catharsis in London.

Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, his former girlfriend and the fans’ erstwhile hippie siren, held hands as they emerged. Their harmonies were on point for “The Chain”, the sound lent a doomy toll and twang like a gothic Creedence Clearwater Revival. When they turned to each other, you couldn’t tell if their deliveries were taunting or imploring. “You know what you lost,” sang Nicks on “Dreams”, the line hanging rueful and accusatory in the air, her voice deeper than in her prime and approaching a Patti Smith-like gravitas. In waistcoats and flat caps, the rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie looked like upscale Wurzels, somewhat baffled by the continuing psychodrama unfolding before them, but grateful for its endlessly fascinating power.


For all their colossal self-importance, Buckingham was right to insist there were “still things to discover” about Fleetwood Mac. Not least how time does or doesn’t heal and, as Nicks would sing on the sore, regretful “Landslide”, “Can I handle the seasons of my life?” The woozy rites of “Rhiannon” seemed more curse than enchantment now. Four songs from Tusk, their “difficult” follow-up to Rumours, were prefaced by a self-justifying but apt lecture from Buckingham about the incompatibility of art and commerce. They were played with a kick-against-the-pricks intensity and when they were done, Nicks gave Buckingham a brief, battle-weary hug.

The mooted guest spot for Christine McVie didn’t materialise. Perhaps that’s for another night. This really was Buckingham’s gig. He doesn’t so much solo as argue his case with his guitar. And it’s a knotty, consuming one at that. Alone and acoustic, “Big Love” was haunted, almost hysterical, as spooked as a wild horse. This was the most extraordinary, and impassioned, part of an evening that was sometimes as arduous as it was enjoyable, if mostly riveting nonetheless. Many people took a comfort break during “Without You”, built up by Nicks as a “lost” classic but rather soppy in the event.

The finale, “Go Your Own Way”, felt like the first unfettered singalong. Yet even this was driven by a dark rhythmic energy that pushed the melody uneasily ahead. The honky-tonk gallop of “Don’t Stop” in the encore was preceded by a preposterous mugging of a drum solo from Fleetwood. When, at the last, someone made a request, he was chastised for “vibe corruption” by Nicks and Buckingham, who wanted to finish on the gentle “Say Goodbye”. In this soap opera, the principals write the script.

Photos by Rune Hellestad

RHIANNON

REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac Live In London ★★★★/5 Stars - The Guardian

A blissful opening hour of punchy self-confidence is undermined by Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham's strange stage intimacy – they need Christine McVie to make it all gel
★★★★/5 Stars

Fleetwood Mac – review
O2 Arena, London

by Michael Hann
The Guardian

Those who have watched just a small selection of the many documentaries about Fleetwood Mac will know their two singer-songwriters, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, don't have a lot to do with each other. In one, Nicks said she'd never even been to her ex's house. But the narrative of the group insists they must forever be remembered as the tragic, star-crossed lovers, and so they are last on stage at the O2, strolling on hand in hand; during Sara they coo choruses to each other, then embrace and slow dance as the song comes to an end.

What makes this forced intimacy even odder is that without the third songwriter, Christine McVie – who seems likely to make a cameo appearance at their next two O2 shows – the dichotomy between the pair's writing is so stark. Buckingham's songs, for all their melodic beauty, are often harsh and angry, and his between-songs banter could have been scripted by a therapist; Nicks's are soft and pillowy, a Laurel Canyon prefiguring of goth, and her chat is rambling and charming.

Nevertheless, for the opening hour, it's blissful – an opening of trio of Second Hand News, The Chain and Dreams is jaw-dropping in its self-confidence. Nicks may no longer be able to reach the high notes of Rhiannon, but the song's construction is sturdy enough to survive the removal of its ornaments. And a one-two punch from the extraordinary 1979 album Tusk is simply jaw-dropping: Not That Funny echoes around the vast room like an invitation to step outside, and Tusk itself is eerie and uneasy and wonderful.

But there's a distinct and rather long sag as the main set winds down – looking down from the top tier, one can see mobile phones being checked on the floor as I'm So Afraid meanders on – and the relief that greets Don't Stop is palpable. It's a victory in the end, but it's a set that would be so much stronger at half an hour shorter.

Review: Fleetwood Mac Live in London "There are quite a few chapters left in the book of Fleetwood Mac,"

Fleetwood Mac, O2 Arena - music review
The Evening Standard
By David Smyth



The four ongoing members of Fleetwood Mac performed for the first time since 2009, with an epic set list drawn from the late Seventies. While Stevie Nicks still possessed a voice that bewitched, Lindsey Buckingham was a fiery leader, thumping his chest to celebrate every new solo accomplished

Though a rumoured reunion with the long-absent Christine McVie did not materialise last night, the four ongoing members of one of rock's most turbulent bands looked like firm friends as Fleetwood Mac played in London for the first time since 2009.

It was all gushing introductions, a long hug for Lindsey Buckingham from Stevie Nicks, much hand-kissing and warm saluting. Given that most of their finest songs come from a period when their various couples were splintering painfully, time really is the great healer.

Most of an epic set list was drawn from that peerless period of the late Seventies when the Americans Nicks and Buckingham arrived to turn the bluesy Brits into superstars — The Chain, Tusk and Go Your Own Way all had energy to burn.

Nicks still possessed a voice that bewitched, especially on the acoustic Landslide. While even the engine room of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie had the occasional break, Buckingham was a fiery leader, thumping his chest to celebrate every new solo accomplished.

"There are quite a few chapters left in the book of Fleetwood Mac," he claimed, airing one likeable new song and a long lost rarity. It's been a fascinating read so far.

SECOND HAND NEWS
THE CHAIN
DREAMS
SAD ANGEL
GO YOUR OWN WAY
BIG LOVE
More Video - Thanks to Kristianlw for the quick uploads
Never Going Back Again | Landslide 

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

REVIEW | PHOTOS | VIDEO: Fleetwood Mac Live in London

Fleetwood Mac Live in London
Photo by: Simone Joyner
September 24, 2013 - O2 Arena

Well, one down... two to go London... Great show tonight Fleetwood Mac!  


Nothing out of the ordinary happened tonight when comparing the show to most of the North American dates. The band was clearly happy to be back playing London.  

Stevie made note that there are two places she deems really important places to play, one of them being MSG in NYC and the other being London.  With that, they got the party started! 

It looked like there were a couple of technical issues causing a couple of extended delays between a couple of songs... Nothing too noticeable, but still noticeable. Lindsey's guitar tech jumped up on stage at one point and ran over to him... Don't know what that was about. One noticeable design change on stage. During Landslide and Big Love they got rid of that drop down drape and now their images are projected on the big screen behind them which I think is a lot better and utilizes that screen to show the band members larger than life a lot earlier then waiting for practically the end of the show. 

Stevie whipped out the new boots she's been sporting on this leg during Stand Back, and they were on until the end of the show... She was her usual hilarious self during the "Without You" intro.  It was still long, but she didn't go into the part where she thanks Mick, John and Lindsey for taking her along. It'll be interesting on the nights Christine is there to see what she says.  And speaking of Christine... You all know by now she wasn't there tonight, but what would be even more perfect (see that) then having Christine there for just "Don't Stop", wouldn't it be cool if she partook in "World Turning" and also did the keys on "Silvery Springs".  All the songs are in a row in the overall set - with the intros mixed in there as well... I think that would be a cool segment of the show.... Looking forward to see if they really play this up and how they treat her re-appearing with the band.

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TOUR BOOKS
FINALLY they have a tour book!  And it looks great!  ! (15 pounds) Neal Preston did all the photography.  The book is all photos, with the only writing being the tour credits at the end.  Its basically the size of a calendar, big and square.




Fleetwood Mac The O2 Arena, London
By Will Hodgkinson
The Times

Thirty-six years after Rumours became the soundtrack to the age of divorce, four of the five people that made it are reliving their personal dramas once more. With their soft rock masterpiece from 1977, Fleetwood Mac articulated the new rules of relationships, capturing the reality of affairs, tensions, betrayals and break-ups and selling over 40 million
copies in the process.

They also documented their own reality. Singer Stevie Nicks was splitting up from guitarist Lindsay Buckingham, songwriter Christine and bassist John McVie were getting divorced, drummer Mick Fleetwood was stuck in the middle, and they dealt with it all in the best way Seventies rock stars in Los Angeles could: by taking huge amounts of cocaine. Now all but Christine McVie have come back for more. Without the cocaine.

Buckingham said that Rumours “brought out the voyeur in everyone”. It also spoke to millions: the emotional truth of the music jumped out of the grooves. Judging by the hordes filling a packed O2 arena, it still does. Floaty scarves hung from Nicks’ microphone, but beyond that the stage was bare: fitting for a concert dedicated to an album defined by its simplicity.

Nicks channelled her inner hippy witch in a black sequinned ensemble, emerging from the shadows to launch into Second Hand News, one of the many songs on Rumours expressing the bitterness of being a cast-off lover. Then it was time for The Chain, the most starkly autobiographical song about the love tangle, its irresistibly simple beat sounding as fresh as ever.

After all these years, it was strange to watch Nicks singing Dreams as Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac’s resident tortured artist and the subject of the song’s words, played guitar next to her. Fleetwood, cocooned behind an enormous drum kit, looked, with his flat cap, black tights and lolling tongue, like a cockney jester on day release.

“Every time we come back together it’s different . . . it appears there are still a few chapters left in the story of Fleetwood Mac,” said Buckingham, before giving the audience their cue to rush to the bar: a new number. In the event, Sad Angel was a pretty decent slice of California rock, and Nicks followed it up with Rhiannon, her song about a Welsh witch that put her on the map. Her throaty delivery was perfect for the song’s combination of spooky mystery and Top 40 appeal.

Buckingham gave himself a metaphorical pat on the back when he introduced a few songs from Tusk, the non-commercial follow-up toRumours and very much his album.

“I’d like to have been a fly on the wall when Warner Brothers first heard Tusk,” he chuckled, before celebrating his uncompromising genius by singing It’s Not That Funny.

“That electric crazy attraction between Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks never dies,” Nicks said recently. Whether Buckingham, married with kids, would agree with her is debatable, but the pair did play a touching, tender version of Landslide together. Buckingham managed to silence the arena with a solo acoustic rendition of Never Going Back Again.

As a testament to the power of mainstream rock, it was hard to beat. And after Fleetwood played a drum solo while muttering something unintelligible, the band launched into Don’t Stop, proving there is nothing more powerful than a perfect song.

GO YOUR OWN WAY

DREAMS


REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac Live in Dublin. "Nicks keeping the mid-life crisis men enthralled"

By Siobhán Cronin

She’s a drama queen and she knows it. But we love Stevie Nicks all the more for it. At 65, this hot hippie is still able to hold an audience spell-bound. 

It’s the perfect couples night out – with Nicks keeping the mid-life crisis men enthralled and Lindsey Buckingham, a very youthful 62, looking hot in his skinny jeans and leather jacket. 

“I think Dublin is the best place to start up again after 47 shows in the US,” says Nicks, and we really believe her. 

This could easily be dubbed a Greatest Hits tour – such is the outpouring of chart successes over five decades, with staples, ‘Gypsy’, ‘Tusk’ and ‘The Chain’ all featuring in a song list of favourites, with just a few gentle nods at more recent recording sessions. 

The bizarrely complicated love triangles and trysts the members of Fleetwood Mac engaged in down the years have been played out in public, but neither Buckingham nor Nicks seem able to let it go. In what seems an almost therapeutic sharing with the 13,000-strong sell-out audience, the duo reference the troubles in their past several times over. Could they be wearing the band’s dysfunctional history as a badge of rock honour? 

Win one of 10 double passes to see Fleetwood Mac at A Day On The Green in Geelong, Australia

Win one of 10 double passes to see Fleetwood Mac at A Day On The Green in Geelong, Australia on November, 30th.

To celebrate their new gloss GT Magazine, the Geelong Advertiser is giving you the chance to win one of ten silver reserve double passes, valued at $300 each.

For your chance to win, pick up the Geelong Advertiser on Saturday, 28 September.

Fleetwood Mac’s “Then Play On” Remastered 4 Decades Later with the original U.K. tracking list

Some might find it hard to believe that before their success with albums such as Rumours and Tusk, Fleetwood Mac was actually a blues rock band formed by guitarist Peter Green in 1967. Fleetwood Mac’s third album, Then Play On, is often considered by many to be their best effort when Green was in the band. The album is also the last the band would make with Green, as he left the band a year after the album’s release in 1970. Now in 2013, the album has been reissued and remastered with the original U.K. tracking list and segues.

Full Review at The Crown


Turns out Mick Fleetwood is Royalty after all

Prince William and Fleetwood Mac star Mick Fleetwood are COUSINS through Princess Diana's ancestor

Are we surprised?

Full story at the Mirror




Lindsey Buckingham Talks Music... with Malcolm Gerrie on "Talks Music" #FleetwoodMac

Ray Davies, Nile Rodgers and Lindsey Buckingham will be among the guests on a new Sky Arts music show hosted by Malcolm Gerrie.

Talks Music will launch on the channel at 9pm on November 4 and run for 10 weeks.

Talks Music takes an in depth look at key artists who have shaped modern music and shows them in a previously unseen light.  Each week legendary music-TV broadcaster and producer Malcolm Gerrie, whose extensive credits include The Tube, The Brit Awards and The White Room, will be joined by a legendary guest for an exclusive hour-long interview.

They will talk to Gerrie about their music, craft, passions and inspirations, explaining how they write, perform, and survive the pressures of being a popular music star. …Talks Music will feature a diverse mix of artists from different decades and different music genres who have all helped turn the pages of music history.

The series is directed by Jeff Wurtz, the acclaimed director and producer of the series Inside the Actors Studio. …Talks Music will be filmed live in front of a studio audience consisting of music students and fans that are looking for insights and inspirations in order to start their own music careers. Gerrie and his guest take questions from the floor giving the audience members a once in a lifetime opportunity to interact with their music idol.

Talks Music not only has a phenomenal pedigree it’s going to be the  must watch series for Sky Arts viewers who love music icons.”

Malcolm Gerrie, Executive Producer and Host adds “When Sky Arts asked me if I’d like to change my day job and talk to some of the coolest artists on the planet…in front of the camera not behind…I was pretty gobsmacked! The whole experience of talking music to some of my personal music heroes has been a labour of love and I’m delighted that Talks Music will be part of a channel so committed to music and musicians.”

Music Week
Sky Arts