Showing posts with label Ottawa 10-26-14. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ottawa 10-26-14. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Photos: Fleetwood Mac Live in Ottawa, Canada

Fleetwood Mac Live in Ottawa, ON Canada
October 26, 2014 - Canadian Tire Centre

Photos by Mark Horton
View Gallery (30 images)


Monday, October 27, 2014

Reviews | Photos: Fleetwood Mac Boston, Newark, Chicago, Detroit and Ottawa

Fleetwood Mac back in top form at Boston Garden party
October 25, 2014
by Paul Robicheau
The Improper Bostonian Magazine

Photo by The Improper Bostonian Magazine

When you have a record in your quiver like Rumours, one of the best-selling albums of all time with 45 million copies sold, you can kick off a concert like Fleetwood Mac did Saturday in its second sold-out stop at TD Garden this month. Especially if you have Christine McVie back after a 16-year retirement to join Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham in restoring all three of the lead singers from that 1977 classic.

Hence came the “Keep us together” chorus of opener “The Chain,” one of four straight jukebox-worthy tunes from Rumours, followed by Nicks’ signature 1975 smash “Rhiannon.” Yet beyond the nostalgic joy of having all three voices harmonize those vintage hits, Buckingham then announced a new “profound and prolific chapter” for the band, an allusion to songs reportedly in the works for a comeback album.

But no new songs, solo songs or pre-Buckingham/Nicks songs showed up in Fleetwood Mac’s two-and-a-half hour set, which actually grew stronger as it branched deeper into this quintet’s musical personalities (lengthy banter aside). Pianist McVie, the eldest band member at 71, beamed positivity into edge-of-sappy pop like “Say You Love Me” and “Over My Head.” Nicks tempered her witchy mystique for earthy, resonant delivery even in mid-set “Sisters of the Moon” and “Seven Wonders,” which she admitted wouldn’t have been done if not for its inclusion in the TV series “American Horror Story.” Buckingham hit virtuoso extremes from solo acoustic selections to his stinging, finger-picked guitar climax to “I’m So Afraid” while stoking the rock edge of “Go Your Own Way” with tribal drummer Mick Fleetwood, who fueled the energy of “World Turning” despite his overdone solo bash. Only bassist John McVie, recovering from cancer surgery, played the silent partner.

They all looked good and sounded spot-on musically and vocally, so did they really need three female backup singers, an extra guitarist and an extra keyboardist? “Tusk” was powerful before pre-recorded horns synced to video of the USC Trojan Marching Band that graced the album. Band members seemed in fine spirits as well, complimenting each other left and right, apparently quite sincere and happy about it all. Granted, they’re boosting a lucrative brand, starting with pricey sold-out concert tickets. And they must be in better mental and physical shape than in the cocaine-fueled days that Rumours was made, when relationships (between Buckingham and Nicks as well as the divorcing McVies) were in tatters.

Mac fans (especially many who never caught this full classic lineup) would do well to jump on this bandwagon -- if they can afford a ticket, and perhaps before any new songs arrive for better or worse (Saturday’s main misstep was 1987’s glossy “Little Lies,” set to video of made-up young eyes and lips). Beyond a date this Saturday in Hartford, Conn., the band just added shows into the new year, including the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, R.I. on Jan. 28 and Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun on Feb. 7.

Source: The Improper Bostonian Magazine

Stevie's been wearing the new shawl that was designed for her by Celeste Meyeres (here's a closer look at the shawl). She first wore it in Columbus on October 19th and has had it on for every Rhiannon performance since.


Fleetwood Mac Live in Newark, NJ at Prudential Center
Saturday, October 11, 2014
72 Photos by Yellojkt - View Gallery




Fleetwood Mac Live in Chicago at United Center
Thursday October 2, 2014


Photos by Bobby Talamine

Fleetwood Mac rocks The Palace with help from Detroiter Kid Rock
October 22, 2014
by Michael Ferro
AXS.com

The legendary rock and roll band, Fleetwood Mac, rocked The Palace of Auburn Hills late last week and while the band may not be comprised of any Detroiters or even anyone from the great state of Michigan, that doesn't mean that a famous Motor City resident couldn't jump on stage and lend the group a hand during the Motown stop of Fleetwood Mac's current tour. So that's just what Detroiter Kid Rock did.

Throughout the two-and-a-half hour performance, the band called out to the crowd, with guitarist Lindsey Buckingham dedicating their hit song "Big Love" to Kid Rock. After singer Stevie Nicks again mentioned Kid Rock by name before she sang the Fleetwood Mac favorite "Landslide", Rock finally made his way to the stage to the massive cheer and roar from the crowd. Rock, in his signature trucker hat, came up from behind Nicks and gave her a reverse bear hug.

Last Wednesday night's visit to The Palace for their "On With The Show Tour" was the second trip to the Detroit area in just over a year for the band, but this time they brought around longtime keyboardist Christine McVie to fill out the band, replicating the famous lineup that made the band so popular during the 1970s and 1980s. Last year, McVie did not tour with Fleetwood Mac during their International Tour and has not actually performed live with the band for 16 years, so even for fans who attended last year's show, it was kind of still worth the price of admission.

Nicks joked about the return of McVie, who has not been seen on stage with the group since their 1998 "The Dance Tour", after the band walked out at the beginning to say hello to the crowd: "I guess you did notice there is yet another blonde on the stage. Two blondes are better than one!"

Fleetwood Mac took every advantage of having McVie back in their midst, performing a number of their early hits that McVie took lead on, including "You Make Loving Fun", after which McVie cried out "Thank you, Detroit!" It has been no secret over the last few decades that Fleetwood Mac can get pretty antagonistic with one another, so it was not only refreshing, but a warm sight to see the aging and "peace-loving hippies" make nice long enough to put on a wonderful show.

Throughout the night, the band was helped along by several side musicians and a trio of backup singers to the side, but Fleetwood Mac showcased their finely-tuned talents and everyone, especially Buckingham on guitar, was electric during the skilled performance.

Everyone seemed happy to have McVie back and Buckingham told the massive crowd at one point that her return was "a brand new, beautiful, profound, poetic chapter that will bear much fruit." Who knows just what could be in store the next time the group comes around Detroit?

Source: AXS

Fleetwood Mac Live in Ottawa at Canadian Tire Centre
October 26, 2014
Photos by Scott Penner
View Gallery at Aesthetic Magazine Toronto


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Reviews | Photos: Fleetwood Mac Live in Ottawa October 26, 2014

The Ottawa Sun October 27, 2014
Fleetwood Mac a unifying force
by Aedan Helmer
Ottawa Sun

Photo Gallery

It's in times like these we take great comfort in our great escapes.

Our Friday night football, the emotions pouring off the field and captivating Canadians tuning in from coast-to-coast.

Our Saturday night hockey, with it's stunning show of solidarity in a citywide singalong of O Canada.

And on Sunday, it was time to rock.

It was time for Ottawa to feel good again in the places where we all come together, where we put our arm around the loved one next to us and soak up the good vibrations, and it was an old favourite in Fleetwood Mac providing the soundtrack for this night's singalong.

For a band with such a acrimonious past, their music is a unifying force, and a sold-out Canadian Tire Centre provided the perfect retreat as the unmistakable swagger of The Chain's opening guitar riff washed over the crowd of 18,500.

The band played a similar role of healer on their last major tour, in 2013, where a sold-out Boston concert was one of that city's first major events following the Boston marathon bombing.

Stopping in Ottawa a week later in April, 2013, fans celebrated as the band marked 35 years since their landmark Rumours album, but the party's invitation list was finally intact for Sunday's return engagement, with Christine McVie rejoining the fold and completing the supergroup's classic lineup.

"Two blondes are better than one," quipped Stevie Nicks, who joked about being left lonely as the only blonde on stage "for all these years" since McVie's departure in 1998.

The band seemed to appreciate McVie's presence as much as McVie appreciated being back in the limelight.

She earned a rousing applause for her first venture into the spotlight, seated at the keys for her You Make Loving Fun, Everywhere, and Say You Love Me, reminding fans what an integral contribution she made to the band's phenomenal rule over the charts, and to their undeniable onstage chemistry.

McVie thanked the fans for such a warm welcome back, and turned her thanks to her old bandmates "for giving me a second chance at doing this all over again."

Nicks' best-known showpieces, Dreams and Rhiannon, were played with the same majesty captured on the mega-selling records of the Mac's mid-70s heyday, and while she no longer reaches for the higher registers that lent such an eerie allure to the songs' hooks, her husky alto still held the same power and poise.

Lindsey Buckingham -- who gave his third Ottawa concert in two years following 2012's solo gig at Folkfest and last year's CTC tour stop -- seemed genuine when he said he was "thrilled" to be back.

"Fleetwood Mac is a band that has somehow managed to evolve, to grow through the good times and the bad," he said.

"That's part of what makes us what we are, and at this particular moment, with the return of beautiful Christine, we begin a new chapter a very prolific, poetic, profound chapter in the history of this band."

The ageless frontman whooped it up on Second Hand News, and put his entire essence into a rousing solo rendition of Big Love, which he introduced as a "contemplation on alienation" when it was written for 1987's Tango in the Night -- which saw Buckingham abruptly quit the group on the verge of a world tour -- now saying the song had taken on a different meaning as "a meditation on the power and importance of change."

It was the same sentiment found in the lines of Landslide, with Nicks delivering a starkly beautiful rendering, Buckingham's acoustic providing the only accessory her voice would need, and all voices intertwining beautifully on Never Going Back Again, Little Lies and the impassioned Go Your Own Way.

There may be power in change, but there's also comfort in knowing that sometimes, they stay the same.

Source: Ottawa Sun


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Photos by Freestyle Photography
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Concert review: 
Fleetwood Mac, Christine McVie concert a triumph
by Lynn Saxberg
Ottawa Citizen

Photo Gallery

Fleetwood Mac
Canadian Tire Centre
Sunday, Oct. 26, 2014

With Christine McVie back in the lineup, a revitalized Fleetwood Mac gave a triumphant concert at Canadian Tire Centre on Sunday, delighting a sold-out crowd of 18,500 fans.

The classic-rock legends had been soldiering on for years without McVie, who departed in the late ’90s because of a crippling fear of plane travel. Although they adjusted the music to work well enough without McVie’s mellow voice, her absence was always noted, as we saw when Mac passed through town last year.



This time, the 71-year-old singer-songwriter-instrumentalist took her rightful place alongside her original bandmates, who voiced their appreciation a couple of times during Sunday’s concert.

“Welcome back, Chris,” said singer-songwriter Stevie Nicks, who seemed genuinely happy to share the spotlight. “I told her I was lonely up here without another blonde. Two blondes are better than one.”


When it comes to the Fleetwood Mac catalogue, two female voices sound better than one, too, as McVie’s well-modulated pipes provide a nice counterpart to the emotional edge of Nicks’s voice. What’s more, it was terrific to hear the songs that McVie wrote included in the set list.

After a sturdy version of The Chain to kick off the show, McVie took the lead, lending her rich, buttery voice to the gently soaring You Make Loving Fun. She also played keyboards throughout the concert, and at one point, stepped away from the piano to wield an accordion.  Other highlights of McVie’s contributions include Say You Love Me, Everywhere and Don’t Stop.

Despite the long history of challenging interpersonal relationships among the band members, there was nothing but love displayed on stage.

“On a personal note, I’d like to say thank you for letting me have a second chance at doing this all over again. I love you guys,” said McVie, who’s not usually one to gush.

It was up to Nicks, who occupied centre stage, to create a sense of drama with her arms outstretched and scarves floating around her as she twirled. The 66-year-old singer threw herself into such crowd favourites as Dreams and Rhiannon.

Musically, the band was on fire, thanks in large part to the work of singer-guitarist Lindsey Buckingham. He set the pace by digging into his electric guitar and coming up with some dazzling solos. Anchoring the proceedings was the mighty rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood on drums and John McVie on bass. A trio of backing singers and a couple of additional instrumentalists rounded out the lineup.

The concert lasted close to two-and-a-half hours and was packed with hits, including most of their seminal 1977 release, Rumours, one of the best-selling albums in rock history. Crowd favourites included invigorating versions of Go Your Own Way and Don’t Stop that demonstrated the band’s new energy.

The Ottawa concert was part of the first leg of their On With the Show tour, which Buckingham described as a new chapter for the band.

“At this particular moment for us, with the return of beautiful Christine, we begin a new chapter, a very prolific, profound and poetic chapter in the history of this band,” he said.

Source: The Ottawa Citizen