Sunday, October 19, 2014

Review: Fleetwood Mac play like they have something to prove ★★★ stars out of 4

With the return of Christine McVie, band restores its "classic" lineup and plays their greatest hits to a sold-out Air Canada Centre.

Fleetwood Mac Live in Toront - October 18, 2014
By: Ben Rayner
The Star


If Fleetwood Mac wants to take a victory lap, Fleetwood Mac can take a victory lap.

Another victory lap, I guess. They’re all kinda victory laps if you’ve got a reputation and platinum-plated catalogue of the sort Fleetwood Mac has.

Still, the last time the band passed through Toronto for an Air Canada Centre date in April of 2013, it looked surprisingly vital and revved-up for a pack of greying boomers that one might have been tempted to write off as a nostalgia act. For a band with nothing really left to prove, the Mac behaved like it still had something to prove.

For its current On with the Show tour, Fleetwood Mac has managed to restore itself to the “classic” lineup responsible for such landmark albums as Rumours, Tusk and Tango in the Night with the unexpected return of long-absent member Christine McVie to the fold for the first time since she quit the group — in large part due to a deathly fear of all the flying involved with touring the world in a rock ’n’ roll band — in 1998. This, of course, is a perfect excuse to stuff the set list with all the McVie songs that have been absent from Fleetwood Mac performances during the past 16 years, which made Saturday night’s sold-out performance at the Air Canada Centre a rather more straightforward, greatest-hits-oriented affair than the quintet’s last appearance in this town.

Not that that’s a bad thing. If Fleetwood Mac still wants to go out every night and play Rumours top to bottom, more power to it. A few other albums might have surpassed that megalithic 1977 pop smash in sales over the years since Michael Jackson’s Thriller usurped it as the biggest record of all time 30 years ago, but none of them — not Dark Side of the Moon, not Back in Black, not even Thriller itself — is as relentlessly pillaged, track for track (with the exception of maybe “Oh Daddy,” which I kinda feel sorry for), every single day, by classic-rock radio. Nowadays, though, the band no longer has to bound through “Don’t Stop” while politely ignoring the fact that the woman who wrote it isn’t there, and “You Make Loving Fun” and “Songbird” can resume their rightful, triumphant places in the set list.

McVie’s surprise return is, unfortunately, the sole real surprise the On with the Show production has to offer, at least as it was presented on Saturday night. Her presence onstage might herald a “beautiful, profound and poetic new chapter in the Fleetwood Mac story,” as guitarist/vocalist Lindsey Buckingham put it at one point — indeed, rumour has it he and McVie are already at work on new material — but at the moment it basically appears to be an excuse to take a fond stroll down memory lane.

Which is fine. It’s a nice stroll. McVie ditties like “Say You Love Me,” “Everywhere” and “Little Lies” are now back in circulation alongside such crowd-pleasing Stevie Nicks-sung staples as “Gold Dust Woman,” “Rhiannon,” “Gypsy” and the agelessly lovely “Landslide,” so Saturday’s two-and-a-half-hour show was a more relentless Fleetwood Mac hit parade than we’ve witnessed in years. There wasn’t a lot of room left to stretch out or get weird while dutifully covering all those bases, however. Oddball favourite Tusk got a passing glance in the form of the title track and Buckingham’s fiery “I Know I’m Not Wrong,” while the ace guitarist presided over a nimble-fingered acoustic deconstruction of “Big Love” and a slightly less successful, kinda-draggy remodelling of “Never Going Back Again” to shake off the usual a little bit. A few more drawn-out jams in the form of the late-set sprawler “I’m So Afraid” would have been welcome nonetheless, since it was those moments — the moments when Fleetwood Mac dug into its material enthusiastically and tore it up like a band doing more than just going through the expected motions — that made the group’s last ACC appearance so memorable. This time around, you tended to get exactly what you thought you were gonna get.

It kept the room in good spirits, anyway. And the band, still early into a 68-date tour that will extend well into 2015, seemed genuinely thrilled to be back in action with McVie at the keyboards. Drummer Mick Fleetwood looked positively gleeful, in fact, when he emerged onstage after the encore in a glittery red top hat to proclaim “The Mac is back!” If Fleetwood Mac is happy, we’re happy. These old dogs might have a few new tricks left in ‘em yet.

The Star

SO AFRAID

Chart Update: Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks

U.S.A. - October 25
As previously reported... here are the US Album charts for the charts dated October 25th.

BILLBOARD TOP 200 ALBUMS CHART
#     7 (NEW) Stevie Nicks - 24 Karat Gold - Songs From The Vault
#   83 (164)    Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
# 121 (177)    Fleetwood Mac - Greatest Hits
# 148 (175)    Fleetwood Mac - The Very Best Of

TOP 15 VINYL ALBUMS CHART
# 5 (NEW) Stevie Nicks - 24 Karat Gold - Songs From The Vault

TOP 25 INTERNET ALBUMS
# 3 (NEW) Stevie Nicks - 24 Karat Gold - Songs From The Vault

TOP 25 ROCK ALBUMS CHART
# 3  (NEW) Stevie Nicks - 24 Karat Gold - Songs From The Vault

TOP 25 DIGITAL ALBUMS CHART
# 10 (New) Stevie Nicks - 24 Karat Gold - Songs From The Vault

TOP 50 CATALOGUE ALBUMS CHART
#   4 (30)   Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
# 12 (36)   Fleetwood Mac - Greatest Hits
# 22 (34)   Fleetwood Mac - The Very Best Of
# 50 (R/E) Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac

CANADA - October 25, 2014
TOP 100 ALBUMS CHART
# 29 (NEW) Stevie Nicks - 24 Karat Gold - Songs From The Vault

UK - October 25, 2014
As with most veteran artists, the second week drop on all the album charts is usually substantial and in Stevie's case 24 Karat Gold is not exception with the album dropping to No.56 after debuting at No.14 last week.  Scotland, Austalia and Ireland are showing pretty much the same type of results.

TOP 100 ALBUMS CHART
# 56 (14) Stevie Nicks - 24 Karat Gold - Songs From The Vault
# 90 (95) Fleetwood Mac - The very Best Of

SCOTLAND - October 25, 2014
TOP 40 ALBUMS CHART
# 40 (12) Stevie Nicks - 24 Karat Gold - Songs From The Vault

AUSTRALIA - October 20, 2014
TOP 100 ALBUMS CHART
# 51 (16)  Stevie Nicks - 24 Karat Gold - Songs From The Vault

TOP 50 CATALOGUE ALBUMS CHART
# 29 (25) Fleetwood Mac - Greatest Hits

TOP 50 DIGITAL ALBUMS CHART
#48 (R/E) Fleetwood Mac - Greatest Hits

IRELAND - October 16, 2014
TOP 100 ALBUMS CHART
# 59 (15) Stevie Nicks - 24 Karat Gold - Songs From The Vault
# 61 (57) Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

GERMANY - October 17, 2014
New on the German top 100 this week - Stevie's album debuts at No.79

TOP 100 ALBUMS CHART
# 69 (NEW)  Stevie Nicks - 24 Karat Gold - Songs From The Vault

BELGIUM - October 18, 2014
TOP 200 ALBUMS CHART
# 136 (144)  Stevie Nicks - 24 Karat Gold - Songs From The Vault


REVIEW: ★★★★ stars out of 5 Stevie Nicks 24 Karat Gold - Songs From the Vault

Stevie Nicks. 24 Karat Gold - Songs From the Vault
by Mark Orton
Otago Daily Times

For all the guys who fantasised about being with her and the girls who wanted to be her, Stevie Nicks is back to her best with an album of new tracks that could have been plucked from the '70s and '80s.

After the theft of demos from her house, Nicks put Dave Stewart in the producer's chair and with a host of rock legends reworked the previously unheard tracks.

24 Karat Gold is so laden with gems it seems absurd only to hear them now.

Stewart stays faithful to a hazy vibe synonymous with Nicks' sultry huskiness, as Stevie reels back her years of romantic misfortune.

Listen to Stevie Nicks talk about "Carousel" the one song included on the album that wasn't a previously written / archived demo. It was written by Vanessa Carlton and Stevie explains why she included it on the album.


STEVIE NICKS "24 KARAT GOLD - SONGS FROM THE VAULT"
Out Now! Order from Stevienicksofficial.com

Review | Photos | Video: Fleetwood Mac Live in Toronto October 18, 2014

FLEETWOOD MAC LIVE IN TORONTO
OCTOBER 18, 2014
AIR CANADA CENTRE

Fleetwood Mac return to Toronto on February 3, 2015... Presale tickets go on sale tomorrow Oct 23rd at Ticketmaster. Password: GREATSEATS

 

Above Photos by Steve Russell - Toronto Star Photographer

Photos by Rock Xposure - View Gallery











Fleetwood Mac heavy on nostalgia at ACC
By Jane Stevenson
Toronto Sun

TORONTO - It truly was the return of The Mac at the Air Canada Centre on Saturday night.

Fleetwood Mac’s most successful mid-’70s-and-onward lineup arrived at the arena with major anticipation given singer-keyboardist Christine McVie is touring again with the British-American rock band after a 16-year absence from the road.

“Imagine what it feels like for me to be given this second chance,” said the 71-year-old McVie as she played alongside ex-husband-bassist John McVie, drummer Mick Fleetwood, singer Stevie Nicks and singer-guitarist Lindsey Buckingham on a slick-looking stage with an eye-popping video screen and accompanying visuals.

The nostalgia-heavy night, which stretched a marathon two-and-a-half hours and two encores, appropriately began with The Chain, the first of nine songs performed from Rumours, the band’s 1977 juggernaut album that has sold 45 million copies worldwide and counting.

It is the only song on that disc, recorded as McVie’s marriage and Nicks and Buckingham’s relationship fell apart, written by all five members.

And when McVie took over on lead vocals for the second Rumours song, You Make Loving Fun, the crowd roared its approval, warmly welcoming her back.

“So Christine, where have you been?” joked Nicks, 66, who appeared thrilled, along with the rest of the group rounded out by two backing musicians and three backup singers, to have her on stage with them.

Buckingham, 65, later referred to McVie’s return “as a new chapter in the saga of Fleetwood Mac.” Other Rumours cuts that went down well included the Nicks-sung Dreams and Gold Dust Woman (the latter complete with gold shawl and interpretive dance moves) and the Buckingham-led Second Hand News and Go Your Own Way.

Holding up well too were tunes from 1975’s self-titled Fleetwood Mac disc, also known as The White Album, most significantly Nicks’ Welsh witch ode Rhiannon, which saw her perform the first of a handful of her signature twirls, and the gorgeous Landslide, along with the McVie-sung Say You Love Me and Buckingham’s I’m So Afraid during which he practically vibrated as he played.

McVie also pointed out she wrote another tune, Over My Head from that disc, when she was still married to John.

“Do you remember that John?” she said to the 68-year-old McVie, who battled cancer in 2013 leading to the group cancelling their Australian and New Zealand dates.

On the minus side, the title track from 1979’s double album Tusk was good if not great - I would have preferred a real marching band to the one pictured on the video screen - and some of the evening’s lighter fare like Sisters Of the Moon, Seven Wonders (with a Nicks dedication to American Horror Story which she appeared on last season), and Silver Springs, could have been edited out to make for a tighter set which dragged a bit in the middle and towards the end.

I’ve also never been able to hear Don’t Stop the same way again without thinking about its use by Bill Clinton for his first presidential campaign in 1992.

Of all the Fleetwood Mac members, Buckingham was the most wonderfully intense although the 67-year-old Fleetwood came a close second with his wild drum solo during World Turning pronouncing afterwards: “My head is on fire!” Buckingham blew kisses after some virtuoso playing on I Know I’m Not Wrong, also from Tusk, shouted and grunted during Big Love from 1987’s Tango In The Night, and made a major musical meal out of the Rumours track Never Going Back Again.

Otherwise, it seemed as if no time had passed between McVie and the rest of her Fleetwood Mac mates as she also took over on lead vocals for Everywhere and Little Lies, both from Tango In The Night, and the gorgeous show ending Songbird from Rumours.

Nicks’ Gypsy, from 1982’s Mirage, was preceded by a story about how she went shopping for clothes in the Janis Joplin and Grace Slick-frequented San Francisco store, The Velvet Underground, and had a premonition, as a 22-year-old, that “something big was coming.” That “something big” was Fleetwood Mac, which Buckingham Nicks (as the duo were then called), would soon join and the rest, as they say, is history.

Fleetwood Mac at the ACC
Christine McVie back after 16 years but Fleetwood Mac is still the Stevie Nicks show
By Sarah Greene

NowToronto.com

By the time Fleetwood Mac played Rhiannon, early on in their two and a half hour long revue at the Air Canada Centre, it was clear that despite the brouhaha over the return of long-time member Christine Mcvie after a 16-year hiatus, it’s still the Stevie Nicks show. Nicks oozes charisma; and can get a crowd excited by waving her arm or doing a little twirl. Every time she sang (and she was singing well) the packed house got out of their seats. No wonder so many fans arrived dressed like her.

Starting with The Chain, the Mac played through nearly every song from their bestselling hit-machine Rumours, pulling out Silver Springs in the encore with an abundance of ridiculous chime sounds (the band clearly love their synths – why, oh why, did they not bring along a live horn section?).

Not to be outdone by Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham prepared for solo turn Big Love by charging up his right hand like a robot before launching into the loudest, most ferocious classical playing imaginable (Buckingham, a ham, admirably never left the stage, though some of his other songs came across as overwrought).

He was at his best when he loaned his guitar chops in service of Nicks’s vocals on Landslide, though everyone had their moments (including Mick Fleetwood’s indulgent drum solo in the encore).

The band say this is a new chapter that will last long and bear fruit, and they’ve got a new album on the way. Time will tell how long those chains will hold. 

Stevie backstage with Marilyn Dennis



Photos by John Barrett - Fleetwood Mac The Today Show Oct 9, 2014

Fleetwood Mac The Today Show
October 9, 2014 - New York City

Photos by John Barrett
View Gallery


Saturday, October 18, 2014

Sometimes not even 80 percent of a band’s classic lineup is enough to recapture the magic

By Patrick Berkery
The Philadelphia Inquirer

That was seen in Fleetwood Mac’s sporadic tours and limited recorded output after longtime singer-songwriter and keyboardist Christine McVie retired in 1998. Now, after 16 years in the English countryside, McVie, 71, is back with the Mac for the “On With the Show” tour, which played a sold-out Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday. The tour returns to the Wells Fargo Center on Oct. 29 and plays Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall on Jan. 24.

McVie brought a feel-good balance to Stevie Nicks’ witchy ways and Lindsey Buckingham’s tightly coiled guitar heroics, in front of the masterful rhythm section of drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie. Christine McVie was in fine voice throughout the 24-song, 21/ 2- hour show.

To paraphrase another titan of 1970s rock, Fleetwood Mac ain’t had that spirit here since, oh, 1998.

There would be no show without Buckingham (clad in the tightest jeans you’re ever likely to see on a 65-year-old) and Nicks (dressed in all black and heels). But with Christine McVie’s return, all was balanced, making it feel like the Mac was truly back.

Mc back in the Mac Rockers’ blossom on star return

by Ed Power
Irish Independent Oct 18, 2014
Weekend Review Magazine
Irish Independent
Weekend Review Magazine

When Christine McVie rejoined Fleetwood Mac for the first time since the late 1990s, it was a reminder a great band is more than the sum of its parts, writes Ed Power.

In September 2013, Fleetwood Mac gathered backstage at Dublin’s O2 arena. Several hours later the multimillion-selling soft rockers were to perform the first of two sold-out shows at the 14,000 capacity venue. But Ireland wasn’t on their minds at that moment. Instead, the group were tentatively renewing acquaintances with Christine McVie, the dulcet-voiced keyboard player who had authored some of their biggest hits before leaving the band — fleeing it, really — in 1997.

Nerves were in the air. McVie had barely spoken to the rest of the lineup in the intervening decade and a half. Now, after a gruelling divorce and a spell of depression, she was contemplating a comeback. She’d flown to Dublin to rehearse, with a view to joining Fleetwood Mac on stage in London later in the tour. Deep within the concrete labyrinth that constitutes the O2’s backstage area, the tension was palpable: would the old chemistry still endure? What of old enmities? Fleetwood Mac’s history was notoriously fractious. Was the band broken, impossible to repair?

Fleetwood Mac reunites in Toronto tonight, Mick talks about his photography

TORONTO CONCERT

Toronto Sun

As legendary band Fleetwood Mac reunites in Toronto tonight, Mick talks about his photography.

This is a bunch of people trying to make it work. This is for sure a special moment for this band....

Two weeks ago, in a phone interview from New York, Mick Fleetwood could not hide his disappointment. The dismay was not with the Fleetwood Mac reunion show there. These have been hugely gratifying love-fests, (the first full-member tour by the band since 1997 hits Toronto Saturday night). Rather, Fleetwood-the-nature photographer was chagrined at being as yet unable to capture on film the anticipated glory of leaves changing colour. “I went running through Central Park and the leaves haven't changed at all,” the 67-year-old Fleetwood Mac drummer complained. “Maybe one or two trees. I know it happens very quickly, almost overnight. Boom. It is beautiful and I hope to get some shots up there in Canada.” Fleetwood, who lives on the island of Maui these days, is using the tour partly as a coming-out party for gallery showings of his hand-painted original photos, including one at Toronto's Liss Gallery.

“I've had these shows in Maui for years, some hotels have them in their lobbies, and people there have a fond level of appreciation. The outside world really doesn't know much about it,” said Fleetwood.

“So this is me, putting my nuts on the line. It's exciting. I suppose there'll be some reviews. And I'll know if everybody thinks it's just a bunch of s--- or not. I'm hoping that's not the case.”

In an ironic way, his photography is tied into the history of Fleetwood Mac.

“I got my first nonsnap camera in 1968 just after the band had formed. I do remember that John McVie had a very grand camera. John is quietly a very good photographer. And the urge to get a decent camera was based on if-he's-got-oneI-want-one, more than art at the time.”

Interestingly, Fleetwood doesn't exhibit behind-the-scenes pictures of the band itself.

“That is funny, and I've never thought much about that. Stevie (Nicks) has ... a Polaroid show in New York while we're here ... And that is very much her road stuff she took. Mine is very detached from anything to do with what I do.”

Over time, photography began to gratify Fleetwood in ways music didn't.

“...I've been in a band for nearly 50 years, surrounded by incredibly talented people — part of the support team, by nature of my being a percussionist.

“Photography is the nearest thing to me writing a song and taking responsibility. I don't get that in Fleetwood Mac. I was not the songwriter. I was the band gatekeeper.”

Gatekeeper/peacemaker/negotiator is a role Fleetwood takes seriously.

He was not usually directly involved in the various feuds, romantic entanglements and complications that have plagued the band over the years. And he was instrumental in luring Christine McVie back into the fold, after 17 years away. Fleetwood, who is releasing a new autobiography entitled Play On (October 28th), doesn't necessarily feel past bad blood is best forgotten. “Getting older puts things in perspective that were not in perspective. That's a better approach than shoving it all under the matt ... “Y'know what? Look at us. A bunch of crazy people, often quite dysfunctional, horribly in love, which led to things that have sometimes been hard to handle.

“It's not just business. This is a bunch of people trying to make it work. This is for sure a special moment for this band...”

Friday, October 17, 2014

Audio Interview: Lindsey Buckingham joins Andy Greenwald to discuss 40 years of Fleetwood Mac

Andy Greenwald - Lindsey Buckingham
Lindsey Buckingham joins Andy Greenwald to discuss 40 years of Fleetwood Mac, his insatiable solo career, and the band's current world tour.

Interview conducted post Madison Square Garden shows Oct 6/7th, 2014