Boerderij in Zoetermeer - October 17, 2008

Mick Fleetwood Band - Boerderij in Zoetermeer - October 17, 2008

October 19th - Greve, Denmark

The Mick Fleetwood Band - October 19th - Greve, Denmark

Giving people what they want

The Mac are back
Croydon Guardian
Monday 27th October 2008

By Graham Moody »

They may have been in the music industry for more than four decades - but legendary rock group Fleetwood Mac are not quite ready to hang up their instruments just yet.

Next year the four-piece are hitting the road again on another world tour, the first time they will have worked together in four years - and they are even managing to keep the same line-up.

Sixteen different musicians have at some point played parts in the band’s history, but only Mick Fleetwood survives from the original members who first appeared at the Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival in 1967.

“It is sort of like the Rolling Stones or U2,” said Fleetwood, who will be joined on tour by John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.

“They take breaks but keep on coming back and keep going. If people stop watching and enjoying us then we will know they have had enough.”

The tour will be a new experience for the band as they have no plans to release a new album at the same time but will instead concentrate on playing their classics.

“For the first time we are not going to have a new album to go along with the tour so we are just going out to have a lot of fun, it will be totally unique,” said Fleetwood.

“When we do an album we tend to want to play the new stuff and people have to put up with songs they don’t know, this time we are going into our back catalogue and giving people what they want.”

Despite being in his sixties Fleetwood is still full of love for the music industry and is currently touring with his blues band that includes former Mac Rick Vito.

“It is the same thing as if you were talking to BB King or Tony Bennett now,” he said.

“There is a bunch of people that tend to come from my generation of musicians where we started this not to be rich and famous, we started it because we wanted to be playing the music we love.

“We enjoy playing so much that we have been doing four of five gigs a week. Rick is playing his arse off on guitar.

“we have been playing together for a while and we take on some great old Fleetwood Mac stuff I haven’t played for 40 years and then we do some classics or not classics that we just like.”

The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band, Fairfield Halls, Park Lane, November 2, 8pm, £22.50 / £25. Call 020 8688 9291 or visit fairfield.co.uk.

Christine attends Mick Fleetwood's Show

Christine McVie sat behind the Soundboard during Mick's Sold Out Marlowe Theater show in Canterbury on October 25th.

The Mick Fleetwood Band continue their UK tour with only a few dates remaining:

• Oct. 28th - Liverpool, UK Philharmonic Hall
• Oct. 31st - Holmfirth, UK Picturedrome
• Nov. 1st - Ipswich, UK Ipswich Regent Theatre
• Nov. 2nd - Croydon, UK Fairfield
• Nov. 3rd - Saint Albans, UK The Arena

Nicks in Motor City

Stevie performed in Detroit last night... a random show to open the Motor City Casino's venue "Soundboard"... Some clips from last night:

The beat goes on for Mick after 40 years

Yorkshire Post

He was in one of the biggest bands of the '70s, so what's Mick Fleetwood doing in Holmfirth? He talks to Sarah Freeman about growing older, his love of blues and the infamous Brit Awards.

Mick Fleetwood has more than earned his place in musical history.

The driving force behind Fleetwood Mac, the Cornwall born-drummer lived through the excesses of the 1970s, battled drug addiction, survived bankruptcy and having to up sticks to America, and he remains the only original member of the band which has released 50 albums to date.

However, after playing pretty much every stadium going, next week Fleetwood's large 6ft 6ins frame will be occupying a much smaller stage, when he brings his blues band to the Holmfirth Picturedrome.

"I'm a blues man at heart and playing these intimate gigs is a real joy," says the 61-year-old.

"Everything from the Beatles to the current crop of guitar bands have their roots in blues and it was a big part of the Fleetwood Mac legacy.

"There's something about that sound which gets people's feet tapping, it's a real emotional connection. On a tour like this there's not the huge circus which accompanies a Fleetwood Mac gig. It's just four guys in a band playing for other die-hard blues fans."

During his 40 odd years in the business, Fleetwood has had the opportunity to play with the likes of Eric Clapton and BB King, but he gives the impression that as long as he had his drum sticks and an audience he'd be happy.

"When I started out, people played music for the sheer love of it," he says.

"Of course we all wanted to get signed, but that was always seen as a bonus. Now bands have too high expectations and the music industry is a much bigger machine. People are dropped if they don't make it after the first couple of years and to me that doesn't seem right. Bands need time to mature, to experiment, but today they aren't given the time to develop.

"For me and many of the other bands around in the late 1960s and early 1970s, it was never about the money or the lifestyle, it was about getting out there and playing to audiences."

While drumming may have been his true love, he did indulge in the lifestyle which came with fame, squandering thousands on drink and drugs. He admits he never bothered about his finances and, despite earning millions, in the mid-1980s, Fleetwood was declared bankrupt.

"I screwed some things up back then," says.

"I am honest about that side of my life.

"I spent a lot of money on drugs, I went bankrupt and personally things weren't going well. I don't mind talking about it, it's not something I want to cover up, but I do get fed up when that's all people want to talk about. Throughout my life, good times and bad, the one thing which has always been constant is music.

"A lot of other things were affected, but whatever else happened during my journey through life, the music has kept on going."

If Fleetwood became a pin-up for the perils of the music business, he also became a laughing stock after co-hosting the Brit Awards with Samantha Fox back in 1989.

The live show was shambolic, lines were fluffed, guests failed to show up and Fox and Fleetwood looked like an increasingly desperate odd couple.

For the following 18 years the show was pre-recorded.

"It was so not our fault, but it was absolutely crucifying," he says.

"We had rehearsed, we knew our cues, but on the night we were confronted by 300 screaming boy band fans who completely drowned out the people on the walkie talkies.

"I felt really sorry for poor little Samantha, but hey these things happen."

Now living in Hawaii with his second wife, Lynn, and twin six-year-old daughters Ruby and Tessa, life is certainly much calmer than it was back in Fleetwood Mac's heyday.

"I am the happiest I have ever been or at least the most content," says Fleetwood.

"I'm more aware of the need to be involved in my daughters' lives and I'm much more involved with the family than I was before.

"We are all in control of our own destiny, but when you're in the music business, sometimes it's hard not to believe your own hype."

Mick Fleetwood Blues Band, Holmfirth Picturedrome, Oct 31.

Stevie Delux Package This Saturday October 25th

MotorCity Casino Hotel in Detroit is offering Delux Packages for your night at the Casino to see Stevie Nicks "For One Night Only"...

To those going... Have a good time!!

REVIEW: Lindsey Buckingham - Last show of the Gift of Screws Tour... New York City

By: Stephen Rodrick
New York MagazinePhoto by: Michael Meyer

October 20, 2008

Lindsey Buckingham Tears Up, Plays Guitar With One Hand

Lindsey Buckingham is a certain type of Californian. Only seven years younger than Brian Wilson, he never hit the bloat phase, physically or musically. Now 59, he still sports sunken cheekbones and skinny jeans. Wearing a tight, black leather jacket last night at the Nokia, he resembled a louche Roman oracle. His music, particularly his fingerpicking guitar playing, has always been tightly wound, a neurotic style rooted in California’s cocaine-addled seventies. It has never packed the joy of the Beach Boys: Wilson’s orchestral masterpiece is the ecstatic "Good Vibrations;" Buckingham produced the beautiful but accusatory "Tusk."

Bliss eluded Buckingham well into his forties. He brooded over pressure from his occasionally insolvent Fleetwood Mac bandmates to give his best songs to them. His always-interesting, but weak-selling, solo projects were pushed back repeatedly. But that’s all over now. Buckingham is now married with three children. (They're prominently featured in the, yes, joyful video for “It Was You.”) He’s released two excellent solo records in two years, Under the Skin, and the new Gift of the Screws. Last night, he played about half his set from the two albums, tossing just enough Mac hits into the mix to keep the wolves at bay. The new songs center on his ethereal guitar playing and late-in-life serenity. Unlike most "happy" rockers, though, Buckingham has plenty of angst still in the tank. About halfway through the show, he launched into a monologue about the difference between his "big machine" work with Fleetwood Mac and "smaller machine" solo career. He discussed the left brain and the right brain, and the concept of esoterica. This brought a whoop from a fan. Buckingham grinned: "Yeah esoterica!"

Not that he left his arena-rock roots completely behind. His guitar playing ventured into the show-offy — at one point he played with just one hand — and whoever came up with the idea of a five-minute drum solo featuring the drummer playing his head like a coconut needs to be checked back into rehab. Still, Buckingham seemed grateful for the opportunity to play his songs without worrying about Stevie, Christie, John, or Mick. He closed with "Time Precious Time" from Gift of Screws, a lamentation about patience and wasted moments, and perhaps a nod to not being able to watch kids fathered in your fifties grow into adulthood. His guitar playing seemed to disappear into itself. This was the last night of his tour, and by the end of the song Buckingham had tears in his eyes. He mouthed the last word of the song — "remember" — smiled, and walked off into the darkness.

Mick Fleetwood - Johnnie Walker BBC Radio 2 Interview

Johnny Walker - BBC Radio 2
October 19, 2008

Johnnie chats to Mick Fleetwood about his new album and tour with the Mick Fleetwood Blues Band. Plus talks about the Rumours era, the upcoming 2009 Fleetwood Mac Tour.

Interview is approximately 30 minutes, a couple songs thrown in as well, one from the new Mick Fleetwood Live Album - Blue Again.

Interview To download - right click and save.

Stevie and Jimmy...

So when was the last time we saw these two in the same room together??
(City of Hope Gala 10.15.08)


















Gavin Rossdale and Stevie Nicks (City of Hope Gala 10.15.08)

You could be standing next to this man

Spotlight 29 Casino Welcomes Mick Fleetwood for a Weekend of Wining, Dining and Singing

Friday October 17, 2008

COACHELLA, Calif., Oct. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- How often do you get to spend the weekend with a superstar? Now, Spotlight 29 Casino gives you the chance when it welcomes music icon Mick Fleetwood for a weekend of wine, fine dining and a concert like none other.

The fun begins on Friday, November 14 in Spotlight's JEM Steakhouse with the Mick Fleetwood Wine Dinner. This incredible night features a four-star dinner from the famous JEM Steakhouse menu, paired to perfection with wine from the Mick Fleetwood Private Cellars collection.

With only 120 seats available, this truly intimate experience is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to wine and dine with a music legend. The $250 ticket price includes a VIP ticket to Fleetwood's Saturday concert, an autographed bottle of Mike Fleetwood Private Cellars wine and a souvenir photo with Fleetwood. The evening begins at 6 p.m. For paid reservations, call Diane at (760) 775-2853 or Micaela at (760) 775-2880.

continue to full article

Mick Fleetwood - Back to the blues

by Andrew Baldwin
Huddersfield Daily Examiner
October 17, 2008

AT 6ft 6in, Mick Fleetwood has always been head and shoulders above mere mortals.

And now the iconic co-founder of Fleetwood Mac is heading to Holmfirth to celebrate his blues heritage with his new band, The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band.

The band will perform classic original songs like Oh Well, Rattlesnake Shake, Albatross, Black Magic Woman and many more at the Picturedrome on Friday, October 31.

Rick Vito, Lenny Castellanos and Mark Johnstone will join Mick for what promises to be a musical experience that combines 40 years of excellence in blues and rock.

At the age of 61, drummer Mick spends his days in the Hawaiian sunshine.

“I’m coming all the way from paradise to be with you,” he laughs.

“It’s a long way to swim.”

What can we look forward to from the show?

A trib to the Mac’s early days, that’s what, when it drew heavily on American blues music.

“You won’t be hearing Rhiannon or Dreams. This is about my early days. It’s blues with a splattering of rock’n’roll.

“Back in 1968 when Fleetwood Mac started that was the music that we played.”

Rick Vito, veteran bluesman and former Fleetwood Mac vocalist and lead guitarist, is at the front of the group.

“A lot of guys can play the licks but Rick has the tone and that’s so important in real blues,” says Mick.

For tickets and information, visit http://www.picturedrome.net or ring the Picturedrome on 01484 689759.

REVIEW: Lindsey Buckingham Brings His Big Love to Chicago

Photos by BARRY BRECHEISEN

Written by KEN KLOES
Photos by LAUREN MUCH
Lumino Magazine
Thursday, 16 October 2008

October 2nd was a night of many temptations. A much anticipated Vice-presidential debate was playing on the telly, Beck, Alanis Morrisette, and Weezer were in town, the Cubs and Dodgers playoff game were at Wrigley. If that still wasn’t enough, Lindsey Buckingham was playing an intimate show at the House of Blues. The large, but not sold out crowd, made their choice and showed up to see the guitarist of Fleetwood Mac fame confidently display a night of his guitar playing prowess.

On the eve of his 59th birthday, Lindsey and his band took over the stage appropriately opened up with “Great Day,” featuring two guitars seamlessly trading off riffs. Lindsey known for playing his guitar finger style can cover more ground on a fret board than the average guitar player.

Lindsey followed with “Love Runs Deeper,” also from the new album Gift of Screws. The soaring solo resonated off the great acoustics of the venue. Simple notes that rock with passion elicits comparisons to the classic musical mantra from the Fleetwood Mac mega hit “Go Your Own Way.” Many of the songs played tonight were showcased from the new album. Previously Buckingham’s solo work tended to be experimental in nature but this new release contains mostly songs that are easy to grab on to and in turn accessible.

While “Trouble” was playing, if you closed your eyes you could swear that you were at a Fleetwood Mac concert with Christie McVie and Stevie Nicks were singing backup. It was blatantly obvious how much influence Lindsey had on the sound of his former breakout band and intermittent touring mates. All night long easily recognized Mac songs were mixed in with Lindsey’s own pieces keeping the attentive crowd guessing and eager for the next selection.

Mid-concert, while introducing “Big Love,” Lindsey shared a little insight that when he wrote the song most of the people around him were all in screwed up relationships, hurting themselves with drugs and booze in Malibu. It was a volatile time and he was glad to have lived through it and persevere. He now has 3 children with his beautiful wife Kristen, whom he introduced and called out onto the stage.

Always the performer, after finishing yet another well crafted song, Lindsey could be found at the front of the stage hugging his guitar and soaking up the adulation from the enthusiastic and polite middle aged audience. An experienced showman, he knows how to give the people what they came to see. His solos were performed in a trance, emphasizing simple yet powerful riffs packed with passion and musical intensity.

An unexpected highlight of the night was of all things the drum solo, which was entertaining to say the least. Half way through, the percussionist cut his ring finger on the drum he was beating with his bare hands. If you didn’t see him sucking on his finger between beats or showing the drum tech his bleeding appendage you wouldn’t have known that something was amiss. A true performer, he carried on and only bandaged up after he was done.

The show was beginning to take on a special character as they continued with “I’m so Afraid,” featuring an epic solo that had just a hint of Pink Floyd in it. Lindsey held a single note for what seemed like forever…long, intense, passionate…a holy shit moment. Follow that with a goose bump-raising rendition of “Go Your Own Way,” where Lindsey leaned into the front row and let them touch his guitar as he played the signature solo with all he had, now the house was rocking!

The band consisted of Neale Heywood on guitar, Walfredo Reyes who comes from a family of percussionists on drums, and Brett Tuggle, whom Lindsey referred to as the genius of the band, on guitar, bass and keyboards. Lindsey was clearly grateful for the musician’s life he leads and once again proved his commitment and passion to playing music from the depths of his being.

Lindsey Buckingham closed the show with “Time Precious Time,” a mind-blowing finger picking piece that demonstrated yet one more time why this artist is timeless. In the end, no one seemed to be disappointed in the choice of entertainment for the evening.

Stevie Nicks and Jimmy Iovine opened the presentation to Morris

Morris Receives City Of Hope Award
October 16, 2008
Billboard Magazine

By Ann Donahue, L.A.

In a presentation that was both moving and jubilant, Universal Music Group chairman/CEO Doug Morris received the City of Hope Spirit of Life Award Wednesday night (Oct. 14) at a benefit dinner that raised a record $10 million for the Duarte, California-based cancer research and treatment hospital.

Morris and his family donated $1 million of that, in a tribute to longtime City of Hope dinner chair Zach Horowitz, and his father.

"Tonight the heart of this industry is in this big tent - and it's a big heart and a generous heart," Morris said. 1,900 people attended the event, which was held in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica.

Stevie Nicks and Jimmy Iovine opened the presentation to Morris. Nicks recalled a childhood friend who received treatment for leukemia at City of Hope; during the course of treatment the woman realized she was pregnant. "[City of Hope] said to my beautiful friend 'What can we do for you?'" Nicks said. "And she said 'Keep me alive long enough to have this baby.' And they did."

Nicks worked closely with Morris during this trying time in her life and graciously remembered his support. "He listened to me cry on the phone when Robin was dying," she said. "And he made it OK. He made it all OK. That's who our Doug is."

Iovine spoke of Morris's generosity on a professional level. "Doug's mantra has always been that the people who do the job have to get the credit," he says. "He knows no other way."

The entertainment for the evening was billed as the "Doug Morris Motown Revue," a tribute to the 50th anniversary of the founding of Motown. "Few executives these days are true music people," said Berry Gordy. "Doug Morris is one of them."

Another Universal executive with a definite musical bent, Geffen Records chairman Ron Fair, conducted the Universal Orchestra through a set that literally had attendees dancing in the aisles.

The full set list:

Mariah Carey - "I'll Be There" originally by The Jackson Five
Michael McDonald - "Living For The City" originally by Stevie Wonder
Rihanna - "Where Did Our Love Go" originally by The Supremes
Lionel Richie - "Easy" originally by The Commodores
Clique Girlz - "Stop! In The Name Of Love" originally by The Supremes
Erykah Badu - "Mary Jane" originally by Rick James
Maroon 5 - "My Cherie Amour" originally by Stevie Wonder
Lee Ann Womack - "Love Child" originally by The Supremes
Luis Fonsi & David Bisbal - "Overjoyed" originally by Stevie Wonder
Duffy - "I Second That Emotion" originally by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
Keyshia Cole - "Ribbon In The Sky" originally by Stevie Wonder
Jamie Cullum - "Money (That's What I Want)" originally by Barrett Strong
Robin Thicke - "Lately" originally by Stevie Wonder
Steve Nicks - "Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart" originally by The Supremes

The event ended with the Clique Girlz and the audience serenading Morris with a karaoke version of The Chiffon's "Sweet Talkin' Guy."

Nicks Sings a Supremes Song

Stars Raise Nearly 10 Million at Gala

Music stars such as Mariah Carey, Rihanna, Akon, Maroon 5, Stevie Nicks, Lionel Richie, Michael McDonald, Keyshia Cole, Robin Thicke, Duffy, Jamie Cullum, Erykah Badu and others helped City Of Hope celebrate Universal Music Group Chairman & CEO Doug Morris by raising nearly $10 million for cancer research during their annual "Spirit Of Life" gala on Wednesday night in Santa Monica. The event, which honored Morris for his contributions to the community and music industry, shattered fundraising records to make it one of the single largest one-night charity events in California state history.

Stevie Nicks, who Morris signed as a solo act when he ran Atlantic Records, opened the evening with a story about a late friend who was treated at City of Hope. After performances by 13 Universal acts, Nicks cooed the Supremes hit “Love is Like an Itching in My Heart” before an ensemble delivered an a cappella version of “Sweet Talking Guy,” which Morris wrote in the early 1960s.

Gift of Screws Tour Stats

Based on only 7 dates reported so far, Lindsey's Gift of Screws Tour is shaping up to exceed his last tour in terms of averages.

On the 2006/2007 Under The Skin Tour the average attendance based on 35 dates reported was 884. Average capacity was 1,373. Average gross was $35,245. Attendance percentage was 64%.

Current tour stats posted below:

REVIEW: Lindsey Buckingham’s rock ‘n’ roll heart shines in Northampton

Lindsey Buckingham: A Chip Off The Old Fleetwood Mac"
By SHERYL HUNTER
The Courant
October 16, 2008

But for now, as he tours in support of his latest solo effort, the rocking Gift of Screws, Buckingham is playing smaller, more intimate places like the Calvin Theatre in Northampton, Mass., where he performed Tuesday night.

But the size of the venue did not matter to the 60-year-old musician, who admitted during the show that his solo work, while bringing him great satisfaction, has been “more esoteric” than his Mac output and, as a result, has reached fewer ears.

Buckingham turned in a two-hour performance that touched on all stages of his career with an intensity and passion that cemented his status as one of rock’s enduring iconic figures. He and his tight three-piece band played loud and hard, tearing through old classics and also showcasing plenty of material off the new album.

They got the night off to a strong start with two new songs: “Great Day” and “Love Runs Deeper.” During the latter, Buckingham swapped harmonies with guitarist Neale Heywood and guitarist-keyboardist Brett Tuggle.

Two of his biggest solo hits, “Trouble” and “Go Insane,” followed. But it was “Tusk,” with Buckingham’s oddball shrieks and Walfredo Reyes Jr.’s drumming, that brought the first of the evening’s many standing ovations.

Buckingham performed more Fleetwood Mac hits during a three-song solo acoustic set that opened with “Never Going Back Again,” followed by an aggressive version of “Big Love.” He introduced that song by saying it was the last single he recorded with Fleetwood Mac before leaving to “regain my sanity.”

Buckingham frequently dazzled with his guitar technique, a self-taught, finger-picking style capable of unique sounds, whether taking an extended, wailing solo on “I’m So Afraid” or playing the catchy new single “Did You Miss Me.”

The crowd’s loudest cheers were saved for old favorites like the set-closer, “Go Your Own Way,” off the mega-selling “Rumours” album. Buckingham encored with a three-song set that ended with the lovely new “Treason.”

That was supposed to end the night, but Buckingham, acknowledging one fan’s constant pleading, returned to play “Bleed to Love Her.”

------------------------------------------------------------------

Lindsey Buckingham’s rock ‘n’ roll heart shines in Northampton

The Republican Entertainment Desk
By Kevin O'Hare
October 14, 2008
Masslive.com

NORTHAMPTON - Lindsey Buckingham has got his rock ‘n’ roll heart pumping again.

The phenomenally talented guitarist from Fleetwood Mac, released a relatively quiet solo disc called “Under the Skin,” in 2006 and his subsequent tour was colored in some of those more subdued tones.

He’s back with the more rockin’ follow-up, “Gift of Screws” which brought renewed vigor to his performance before a crowd of approximately 800 fans at the Calvin Theatre Tuesday evening.

Prior to 2006, it had been 14 years since Buckingham’s last solo release and he appears to be enjoying the opportunity to do some artistic exploration with these shows before he embarks on a planned reunion with Fleetwood Mac next year.

Backed by a small but superb band which included Neale Heywood on guitar, Brett Tuggle on guitar, bass and keyboards and Walfredo Reyes, Jr. on percussion, Buckingham mixed songs from throughout his solo albums - with an obvious emphasis on the latter pair - as well as mixing in some Fleetwood Mac classics.

Dressed in a black leather jacket, he opened the night with the new album’s drum-thumping “Great Day,” which was co-written by his son Will a couple of years back when Will was all of eight-years-old.

With three guitars soaring and no bass, the band nevertheless delivered a huge sound on the harmony-filled “Love Runs Deeper,” before Buckingham stretched back to 1981 for “Trouble.”

An early highlight was a breathtaking blast through “Go Insane,” which found Tuggle switching between bass and keyboards, before blue lights washed the stage as a moody preamble to a dramatically re-worked version of one of Fleetwood Mac’s biggest hits, “Tusk.”

One of the oddest songs in the 20-song, two hour performance was the title cut from the new album. With its bizarre sound effects and Buckingham screaming a times, it was certainly hard to envision that the song actually can trace its roots back to an Emily Dickinson poem.

Mid-set standouts included “Never Going Back Again,” which found Buckingham playing with the phrasing and the melody; “Big Love,” one of the last songs Buckingham did with Fleetwood Mac before taking a break from the group in the late 1980s “to get my sanity back;” the shimmering “Under the Skin;” and the hook-filled “Did You Miss Me,” which his label has been promoting as the single from the current disc.

While the band was definitely tight, that did not stop the troupe from opening up into some improvisational splendor as during the richly atmospheric “I’m So Afraid,” which started slow and built to a loud, extended, frenzied guitar blast at the end.

As the night wore down, Buckingham and company delivered such familiar fare as Fleetwood Mac’s mega-hit “Go Your Own Way,” from the “Rumours” album, and encores highlighted by “Second Hand News;” the beautiful ballad which closes the new album, “Treason;” and a final, audience request “Bleed to Love Her,” which he played solo acoustic.

Blues legend Mick Fleetwood comes to Croydon's Fairfield

This Is Surrey Today

Star interview:
Blues legend Mick Fleetwood comes to Croydon's Fairfield with his new band
Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Blues legend Mick Fleetwood is best known as one the founders of Fleetwood Mac. He talks to Mark Hill before playing Croydon's Fairfield with his new band.

"Once a blues man, always a blues man," Mick Fleetwood says, calling from the sprawling home in Hawaii he shares with wife Lynn and their twin daughters.

Now one of the world's most iconic musicians, Fleetwood left school at 15 and in 1963 moved to London to pursue a career as a drummer, playing with The Cheynes and John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers.

It was in 1967 with Jeremy Spencer, Bob Brunning, and former Bluesbreakers members John McVie and Peter Green that there became the first incarnation of Fleetwood Mac – the band that went on to sell well over 100 million records. Now he's going back to his blues roots on a tour with his new group The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band and a new live album, Blue Again!

Fleetwood explains how his Blue Band came about. "I put this band together with Rick Vito and two great players, Lenny Castellanos and Mark Johnstone, and it's really a focus of my relationship with Rick Vito who used to stand in the audience looking at Fleetwood Mac playing in Philadelphia where he lived.

"Many years later I met him and totally appreciated his guitar playing and he'd played with all the great players and then I asked him to join Fleetwood Mac. About three years ago, me and Rick struck up our friendship again and got connected with rock and roll gigs here in America, just for fun, and out of that came this."

Fleetwood, 61, says this tour is about going back to where he started with blues-based Fleetwood Mac and will feature some very early Fleetwood Mac songs but not the hits they are best known for.

They had hits such as Albatross, Go Your Own Way, Don't Stop, Dreams, and Everywhere, and Grammy Award-winning album Rumours is one of the biggest-selling albums of all time at more than 30 million copies. The band has seen various members come and go and Fleetwood is the only one to have stayed with the band consistently throughout the years.

Fans can catch Fleetwood Mac touring in 2009 on a greatest hits tour.

"We're still all friends and in contact – absolutely. We're a strange old bunch - we are alive and well and we are going into rehearsals in the new year after I've done this tour with The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band. Fleetwood Mac is going to be going out on the road in the United States in late March of next year.

"I think we've been very open about our personal lives and probably a little foolishly, but it's really because we were in control of our own faculty - we managed ourselves. I managed Fleetwood Mac for a long time, which meant we were all pitching in, controlling our own destiny, and we didn't have some Svengali pumping us up and making us believe what didn't exist. But out of all the trappings of success our music brought to us, it was always about the music and just doing what we wanted to do."

Fleetwood battled with alcohol and cocaine addiction, but has now been clean for many years.

"Everyone takes responsibility for everything they do, but it may not be different from going down your local pub and realising the local car dealer, who's doing really well, is drinking a little much and buying too many drinks for everyone else in the pub. It's pervasive.

"We became aggrandised in this almost mythological storytelling thing that described a generation. I'm not excusing it, I'm just saying what was going on sociologically. The fact we survived is lovely, and a miracle to some extent."

In 1984 he was forced to declare himself bankrupt but denies it was a result of the rock star lifestyle, simply a result of bad business decisions. "I was very entrepreneurial and yes, I lost and made my fortune in real estate and it had relatively little to do with drug addiction. However, I will never live that down.

"Would I change some things in retrospect, in terms of being less selfish, less driven? Yes. I hope I would still do what I needed to do and have a little bit more time for other things and other people including my older daughters. I'm also blessed with two young daughters. I am by no means saying I was an irresponsible parent, because I truly believe I was not. But could I have been better? Absolutely."

So what motivates Fleetwood to keep touring and recording into his 60s?

"I'm a musician, and it's like asking BB King or Eric Clapton or Elton John and you go, 'My God, they're still playing', but it's because we like what we do. We started this to do what we're doing now – which is playing. There's a sense of commitment to being an artist and you're driven to do that and you're not really complete unless you do it.

"Having said that, there are people that are quite happy to be famous, retire and start planting potatoes, and that's fine too.

"There's a reason why Pete Townsend and Roger Daltrey are still playing - we all love to play, and God knows all of us could have retired 20 lives over. It's not about money - it's about what we do and how much we love it."

The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band comes to Fairfield, Croydon on Sunday November 2 at 8pm.

For tickets, priced from £22.50, call 020 8688 9291 or log on to www.fairfield.co.uk

Stevie Tapes TV Show in LA

Stevie Nicks was in LA on Saturday October 11th where she supposedly taped a tv show she's appearing on. The show is rumoured to be Chris Isaak's new talk show on The Bio Channel called "The Chris Isaak Hour". From what I gather they are taping shows now to start airing later this fall or early winter.

Mick Appears on "The One Show"

Mick Fleetwood along with Art Garfunkel were interviewed on "the ONE show" a UK TV show broadcast on the BBC. Mick is out promoting his upcoming live dates in Europe this fall along with his new live blues album "Blue Again".

Mick Fleetwood Blues Band hitting the road

To celebrate the Mick Fleetwood Blues Band hitting the road, the man himself picks his crop of the finest blues tunes harvested straight from the Mississippi delta

Mick Fleetwood is about to hit the road with the Mick Fleetwood Blues Band, returning to the music he made during 1967-1970. "It's the first time I've revisited this period," he says. "It's my boot camp, my training ground really. But the blues has always been part of me whatever I've done - I've never walked away from the blues."

So what better way for him to show off his knowledge than an exclusive
playlist made up entirely of techno-ragga tracks. Only joking, here's
five tracks that have really got the blues ...

Bobby Bland - Turn on Your Love Light
Van Morrison turned me on to this track. I remember him telling me to
listen to this and it blew me away instantly. Bobby Bland's still around and I find this track so inspiring. My template for most songs is "Is this inspiring?" and with the blues it so often is. To me, the blues is an infection. I don't think it's necessarily a melancholy thing, the blues can be really positive and I think I think anyone and everyone can have a place for the blues. It need not always a woeful, sorrowful thing. It's more reflective, it reminds you to feel. And that feeling could be anything, from sadness to joy and inspiration. So long as it triggers a passion, a feeling.

John Lee Hooker - Boom Boom
I listened to this track a lot in the early days of Fleetwood Mac. It was really overplayed in all the blues clubs, all the places on Eel Pie Island. Even clubs not playing the blues would play this track. John Lee Hooker became a friend of mine and I love all of his work. He was truly an icon. He lived the life. I miss him.

Howlin' Wolf - Back Door Man
This song totally became a major influence on my music, and a major influence on a huge number of British bands. In fact, Howlin' Wolf was a real leader among British bands, as proved by the fact Led Zeppelin had a huge hit with a mutant version of this song (Whole Lotta Love).

Otis Rush - Double Trouble
It's a haunting track, and I think Otis had one of the greatest voices on earth. He was a really great guitar player as well. I know he had a huge influence on Peter Green, so he must have had a huge influence on me too. I've actually re-recorded two of Peter Green's instrumentals on a new EP. We've done Supernatural and Albatross, which were pivotal in our career at the time. I think instrumentals are really a lost art nowadays, so it was great to do that.

Bo Diddley - Hey Bo Diddley
Between Buddy Holly and him, they've both had a big influence on my
drumming. It was all about the Bo Diddley beat.

Tour Dates for The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band

• 10/14/08 Bonn, GER Bruckenforum
• 10/15/08 Zurich, SWI Kaufleuten
• 10/17/08 Zoetermeer, NET Boerderij
• 10/18/08 Krefeld, GER Kulturfabrik Krefeld e.V.
• 10/19/08 Greve, DEN Portalen
• 10/21/08 Bremen, GER Glocke
• 10/22/08 Hannover, GER Capitol
• 10/24/08 Peterborough, UK The Broadway
• 10/25/08 Canterbury, UK Marlowe Theatre
• 10/26/08 Southampton, UK The Mayflower
• 10/28/08 Liverpool, UK Philharmonic Hall
• 10/31/08 Holmfirth, UK Picturedrome
• 11/01/08 Ipswich, UK Ipswich Regent Theatre
• 11/02/08 Croydon, UK Fairfield
• 11/03/08 Saint Albans, UK The Arena

Runnin' Down a Dream (2 DVD Disc Set)

"Runnin' Down a Dream: Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers" Critically Acclaimed Peter Bogdanovich Film Available as a Two DVD Disc Set with New Bonus Features on Oct 28th.

BURBANK, Calif., Oct 13, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Warner Bros. Records will release cinema legend Peter Bogdanovich's film Runnin' Down A Dream: Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers as a two-disc DVD, complete with previously unreleased bonus performances, on October 28th. Formally sold as a four-disc package exclusively at Best Buy, this newly released two-disc package of the film will be available everywhere in the U.S. and Canada.

Premiered to unanimous praise at the 2007 New York Film Festival, Runnin' Down A Dream brings Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers full circle, from their humble Gainesville, Florida beginnings to their emotional hometown 30th Anniversary Concert. The film is a vivid portrait of a band that has created a body of work considered one of the richest catalogs in American musical history.
Upon its original release in October 2007, the Houston Chronicle said Runnin' Down A Dream is "destined to be a classic" and the New York Daily News described the film as "a godsend for music lovers." Rolling Stone called the film "rock and roll purity with poetic gravitas."

The two-disc set will contain the entire four-hour film plus three bonus performances.

The Bonus Performances:

1. Too Much Ain't Enough, recorded Live At The Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, December 31, 1978- Santa Monica, CA. Directed by Michael K. Mannes.


2. The Waiting (featuring Eddie Vedder), recorded Live At Pepsi Center, July 3, 2006- Denver, CO. Directed by Michael Drumm and edited by Martyn Atkins and William Bullen.


3. Mystic Eyes (Van Morrison), recorded Live At The Greek Theatre, October 27, 2006- Berkeley, CA. Directed by Adria Petty.
   

The film, two years in the making, features extensive interviews with Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers and the band's fellow musicians, friends, and collaborators past and present. Among the participants are Stevie Nicks, Eddie Vedder, Dave Grohl, Jackson Browne, Roger McGuinn, Dave Stewart, Jeff Lynne, Rick Rubin, Jimmy Lovine, and Johnny Depp. The film includes rare archival footage, much of which has never been seen before. In addition, Runnin' Down A Dream captures Tom Petty with his Traveling Wilburys bandmates, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, George Harrison, and Roy Orbison.

The 4 DVD Disc version that Stevie also appears on is also. This version includes the "30th Anniversary Concert" Tackslist: Listen To Her Heart, Mary Jane's Last Dance, I Won't Back Down, Free Fallin', Saving Grace, I'm A Man, Oh Well, Handle With Care, Stop Draggin' My Heart Around (with Stevie Nicks), I Need To Know (with Stevie Nicks), It's Good To Be King, Down South, Southern Accents, Insider (with Stevie Nicks), Learning To Fly, Don't Come Around Here No More, Runnin' Down A Dream, You Wreck Me, Mystic Eyes, American Girl.

REVIEW: On his own, Lindsey Buckingham’s style still evolving

CONCERT REVIEW:
By Jon Fassnacht
Reading Eagle

For two hours Friday night, the Sovereign Performing Arts Center could have been called Buckingham’s Palace.

Lindsey Buckingham, best known as Fleetwood Mac’s guitarist and male voice, shared a love fest with a fiesty crowd in Reading.

There were standing ovations following nearly every song. Many were moved to stand up and dance in front of their seats. And there was one gentleman who bellowed “We love yoooooooouu!” about 50 times during the evening.

Buckingham recently celebrated his 60th birthday, but he doesn’t look or sound anywhere near that old. His guitar playing continues to evolve, a unique style that melds delicate finger-picking with the amplification and noisy chords of electric guitars.

He and his three-piece backing band are promoting his new album, “Gift of Screws,” a title that Buckingham said isn’t as nasty as it sounds, coming from an Emily Dickinson poem.

He played a healthy selections of songs from the new album, and all of them were very well-received. It was clear that those who attended weren’t there to just to hear some Fleetwood Mac songs.

But Buckingham was more than happy to delve into his more-popular and lucrative gig as one-fifth of one of the most popular bands in history.

About half of the set’s 19 selections were songs Buckingham wrote for and performed with Fleetwood Mac. Save for acoustic renditions of “Never Going Back Again” and “Big Love,” the songs were aggressive, loud and fresh, climaxing during the final three songs of the main set.

“World Turning” started slowly before building to its forceful conclusion, which led to an Alfredo Reyes drum solo, during which he did his best John Bonham/Animal impersonation, playing everything with his hands. “I’m So Afraid” followed, featuring a mammoth Buckingham solo, leading into “Go Your Own Way.”

Buckingham said the group of musicians has been touring together for only a few years.

“As we keep touring, things keep evolving and it just keeps getting better and better for me,” Buckingham said.

The guitarist clearly was enjoying his time here, frequently mugging for the crowd and saying multiple times that he’ll be back.

“We should set up a residency here,” Buckingham said. “The Reading tour.”

PHOTOS: Lindsey Buckingham Birds Eye View of Salt Lake City Show

Seriously, these photos are up there with some of the best live shots taken of Lindsey Buckingham on this tour that I've seen - and quite possibly the last tour as well! Well done!!

View tons more here: Neeta Lind

Stevie Live in Detroit - October 25th - MotorCity Casino

SOUND BOARD Continues Blockbuster Entertainment Lineup with Stevie Nicks on Saturday, October 25th

DETROIT, Oct 10, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- SOUND BOARD, an intimate live entertainment venue at MotorCity Casino Hotel, proudly welcomes legendary Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Stevie Nicks, to complete its opening lineup with a one night only performance on Saturday October 25, 2008 at 8pm.

Ms. Nicks, who is ranked #14 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll, is known for her ethereal visual style and symbolic lyrics. Her enchanting stage presence and signature intensity will undoubtedly provide an unforgettable event as the continuation of the official SOUND BOARD opening weekend.

SOUND BOARD is conveniently located inside the MotorCity Casino Hotel conference center. Unique to the area, the theater was designed as a working musician's theater and is equipped with state-of-the-art digital video and light distribution systems, which include a d&b line array speaker system; DiGiDesign consoles; Hog Lighting Controls and over 40 moving lights. It also features four bars and several private suites that are available to create an unforgettable entertainment event.

Tickets ($125, $100 and $80) go on sale Saturday, October 11th at 10:00 a.m., and may be purchased at all Ticketmaster locations. To charge tickets by phone, call (248) 645-6666.

For more information about MotorCity Casino Hotel or to make a hotel reservation please call 1-866-STAY-MCC or visit http://www.motorcitycasino.com/ .

SOURCE MotorCity Casino Hotel http://www.motorcitycasino.com/

REVIEW: Lindsey Buckingham once again affirmed his guitar hero status - Live in Chicago

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM LIVE 
CHICAGO - OCTOBER 2, 2008 - HOUSE OF BLUES

Paste MagazineBy Joshua Klein
Photos by Laura G

Gift Of Screws is Lindsey Buckingham's second solo album in two years following a nearly 15-year gap, and he didn't shy away from showcasing the new material at the House Of Blues on Thursday night, even if most of the attendees were likely expecting his Fleetwood Mac hits (and even if many minds were perhaps preoccupied by the concurrent Cubs playoff game and VP debates, no doubt to blame for the less-than-capacity crowd).

As leader of Fleetwood Mac, Lindsey Buckingham sold millions of records, but has seen less commercial success on his own. Artistically, though, his solo work has never really struck a wrong note, and all of his records have been exceedingly adventurous. Still, at this point one must assume his cult solo status comes largely by choice: He could easily fit most of his solo tracks to suit Fleetwood Mac, and has in the past. Indeed, much of Gift Of Screws dates back to the time when Fleetwood Mac's Say You Will convinced Buckingham to sideline his solo career and cannibalize several works in progress for the sake of the group.

Still, in a live setting, the likes of "Love Runs Deeper" and the new album's title track proved to be energized rockers with the rough edges left thankfully intact (as much as the control-freak in Buckingham leaves any edges rough). The latter was deliriously unhinged and the former easily on par with past Buckingham pop nuggets such as "Go Insane" and "Trouble," performed that night back-to-back. When Buckingham did dip into the Mac catalog, he chose the unlikely avenue of "Tusk" and "I Know I'm Not Wrong" rather than the most obvious songs-- though he eventually did some of those, too, including "Never Going Back Again" through the crowd-pleasing "World Turning" and "Go Your Own Way."

Throughout the night, Buckingham once again affirmed his guitar hero status, his idiosyncratic finger-picking style one of the many things that set his go-for-broke solos apart from the usual suspects. Though he demonstrated flash to spare, watching him play was akin to watching someone weave, his fingers gracefully dancing across and around the strings with an ease sometimes at odds with the jagged sonic shrapnel coming from his instrument. Buckingham could likely afford to add an extra player or two to the tried-and-true trio that has been accompanying him as of late, but the quartet did remarkably well with his equally composed and crazy arrangements-- frenetic, fussy and just as often beautiful in one fell swoop.

REVIEW: Lindsey Buckingham Live in Chicago - Gift of Screws Tour

Lindsey Buckingham Live in Chicago October 2, 2008
by Vern Hester

Windy City Times

When Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac in 1974, nobody could expect much. Doe-eyed, fresh-faced and hippiefied Buckingham/Nicks had already released an album that went nowhere while the Mac—a British blues band— was seemingly on its last legs. The success of Nicks' witchy Rhiannon caught everyone by surprise but the sleeper 1975 smash Fleetwood Mac prepared no one for the monster 1977 album Rumours. The rest is history ( including breakups, diva attitudes, drugs, divorce, infidelities, booze, jealousy, and an unbroken string of sellout tours and multi-platinum albums ) , but a distinct history nonetheless. In retrospect, no one has had the legs that the Mac has had, and now that Nicks' charm has curdled into schtick it's as plain as day how much Buckingham brought to the table of L.A. rock. After one listen to ‘79's Tusk or his out-there rave-ups on ‘80's Live, it was obvious that the man was a demented wizard or possessed by aliens from another galaxy ... or both.

Part ferocious bluesman, part nutty professor and part post-summer Beach Boy, Buckingham was the wild card that gave the Mac its idyosyncratic flavor and bite. While Nicks kept a higher profile, Buckingham—the other dominant personality in the band and, by far, the most creative—released solo albums of such wayward personality and oddball charisma that he seemed at times, well, nutty. Granted, Go Insane had the clicking heart of Oz's tin man, but Buckingham's studio tinkering took years and could only be called obsessive. ( If the idea of a grown man, albeit a very rich one, tapping out the percussion for a song with two pencils on a box of Kleenex on his bathroom floor with a $20,000 mircrophone dosen't strike you as “obsessive,” I don't know what will. ) As a result, there's a certain closed-in quality on his projects that feels airtight and joyless. A decade of happy matrimony and a brood of his own kids seem to have put some rosiness back in his cheeks and opened up his music by degrees.

His new Gift of Screws, like his four previous solo efforts, is bullish on personality, shot through with a punchy eccentricity, but surprisingly quirk free and emotionally direct. The tone of Screws is a regret-free wistfulness that sounds almost nostalgic. The opener, Great Day, is equal parts syncopated percussion and clenched vocals spiked with jagged guitar blasts. Love Runs Deeper and Gift of Screws have an even bigger assault—there's no way that the Mac could contain this fury. The obvious gem here is Did You Miss Me?—a lilting valentine of such fragmented aching that it sounds like the oncoming of autumn.

Buckingham's packed Oct. 2 show at House of Blues put Screws and all of his music in a different context. Without the safe confines of a cushy studio, Trouble, Did You Miss Me? and Big Love were more plaintive and earthbound. Mac staples Never Going Back Again and World Turning got reworked and turned on their heads—the latter even flipped backwards and almost unrecognizable. A positively fierce Tusk shook the rafters in a way that the Mac never could muster but I'm So Afraid tipped the show in another direction. Buckingham sank into it with a steady conviction, but where the Live version was a weighed-down snarling affair of shrieking pain and fury, his guitar solo here was nimble, fleet and even transcendent. Shorn of its danger and pain, he turned it into something almost hallucinatory and light.

If Buckingham can live through the uber-fame of the Mac's ongoing existence, live a new life and do it without the bitterness and artistic slop that tends to cling to rock megastars, then I guess there's hope for all of us.

REVIEW: Lindsey Buckingham goes beyond the big Mac

Buckingham goes beyond the big Mac
BRAD WHEELER

Globe and Mail
October 8, 2008

"It's often better to be in chains than to be free." - Franz Kafka

"Chain, keep us together" - Stevie Nicks

'Probably I would never make Fleetwood Mac albums at all," says Lindsey Buckingham, before adopting an Al Pacino Godfather III rasp, "but it's like 'You're dragging me back into it.' " The Go Your Own Way singer, in town for a concert last night in Hamilton and a sold-out one this evening at The Music Hall, is speaking of the push and pull between his dual careers as a solo artist and the Fleetwood Mac front man. Or maybe that's not what he's referring to. Because as Buckingham points out, not in any prickly way mind you, he's being asked a good number of Fleetwood Mac questions. "It's okay, though" he says, "you fall back on what you know."

Speaking to the man with regard to his latest solo album, Gift of Screws, it's hard not to think about the band that still occupies a fair bit of his time. Fleetwood Mac, a complicated group of Brit bluesers and So-Cal pop-rockers (including Buckingham's scarf-wearing former lover Stevie Nicks) are regrouping for the first time since 2004, with rehearsals likely to begin early next year for a spring go-round. "We'll see how that goes," Buckingham shrugs, "and we'll probably make another album at some point."

And yes, a few songs from Gift of Screws, unlike 2006's acoustic Under the Skin, have that familiar bouncy Mac style. In fact, three of them (the bluesy Wait for You, The Right Place to Fade and the title track) originate from recording sessions with group namesakes Mick Fleetwood and John McVie in the 1990s. Other material from those sessions ended up on Fleetwood Mac's last album, 2003's Say You Will.

But in addition to the familiar sound of the songs, the lyrics often address the confusing rock-star life that Buckingham led while in a band he first left in 1987. The trickling acoustic Bel Air Rain has the candid reflection, "In my younger days, I was mistaken for a whore/ I guess you can say I lived in shame."

Buckingham, greying but fighting-weight thin at the age of 59, protests (a little bit) that the songs are just generally about success and the pressure to repeat it, but he does admits that Bel Air Rain refers to the stressed post-Rumours period of the late 1970s and 1980s. "They want to put a name brand on you and a set of labels," he explains, referring to record companies. "They want you to adhere to that, and not to go outside of that. That was very clear to me."

Buckingham's artistic reaction to the pressure - we won't go into the pharmaceutical response - was to make Fleetwood Mac's Tusk, an extravagant epic from 1979 that was in many ways a Buckingham solo album. "There were so many things that were exciting me," he says, perking up. "Let's take some risks, let's challenge people." (And, let's rent Dodger Stadium and hire the University of Southern California marching band to play on the title track.) After Tusk, Buckingham eventually began living two musical lives: one, that of the rock icon, for Fleetwood Mac projects; the other, the idiosyncratic cult hero, for his more "esoteric" solo albums. The "big machine" allows for the "little machine" to plug along. "You go through all these things in order to try and walk the line that you want to walk," he says. "With my solo albums, I'm not doing it for somebody else's expectations. You have no expectations of what's going to happen with it, beyond turning it in."

Buckingham is fine with the intermittent tugs from his loose Fleetwood Mac shackles. "It's good," he says, enthusiastically enough. "It's nice to know that that's there." And while he allows that the band members are miles apart in so many conflicting ways, there's something to be said for occasional incompatibility. "There's synergy in diversity."

That kind of mature realization is reflected in Gift of Screws, an album sounding a little like Fleetwood Mac, but from a man wiser for the time without the band. "It's about anybody who ever has to go through that level of success," he says, referring again to Bel Air Rain, "and still try to come out knowing who you are."

REVIEW: Lindsey Buckingham Live in Toronto "Music Hall turns into Buckingham Palace"

Music Hall turns into Buckingham Palace
By JANE STEVENSON
Toronto Sun

Lindsey Buckingham's career is two halves of the same whole.

There's the singer-songwriter-guitarist with the more "commercial venture," as he called legendary rock band Fleetwood Mac last night during a solo show at The Music Hall.

And then there's his more "esoteric, left side of the palette" solo career -- again his words -- whose discography was most recently expanded by the mid-September release of the rock-oriented Gift of Screws, which actually boasts a catchy first single in the form of Did You Miss Me which was included in his set list.

The 59-year-old guitar virtuoso managed to show off both sides of his impressive 35-year-plus career in equal and crowd pleasing measure during a lively two-hour show which saw him backed by a crack three piece of bass-keyboards-guitar (Brett Tuttle), guitar (Neale Heywood) and drums (Alfredo Reyes). Opening with the new songs, Great Day and Love Runs Deeper, Buckingham hit his stride vocally with the older solo tracks, Trouble, and Go Insane, but it was the Fleetwood Mac songs, Tusk (complete with blue strobe lights) and I Know I'm Not Wrong, that really kicked the show up another notch and standing ovation after standing ovation started to come his way.

The singer-guitarist was also an engaging solo performer during a standout acoustic set made up of the beautiful Never Going Back Again, the dramatic Big Love and the intense Shut Us Down.

Often Buckingham stood with his head back, his eyes closed and his mouth wide open while he played, seemingly lost in his own world while he freely exposed his emotions.

As Tuttle described him: "He's a champion of music and a champion of songs."

And when he talked about the tumultuous time in his life that he wrote Big Love, just before he left Fleetwood Mac for a time in the '80s "to get my sanity back," he admitted the lyrics of "looking out for love," have now been put firmly in the past after meeting his wife eleven years ago with whom he now has three kids.

The biggest applause often came for Fleetwood Mac songs like World Turning -- which featured one of the strangest drum solos I've ever seen by the nonetheless talented Reyes -- Come (not a great song but completely elevated by Buckingham's awesome playing), I'm So Afraid, Go Your Own Way and Second Hand News, the last two which saw people finally streaming to the front of the stage to clap and sing along and even touch Buckingham's guitar strings.

And when Buckingham did his long band introductions, it was clear he had a genuine affection for the trio, particularly Heywood who he's known since his "crazy Malibu days."

"I'm having flashbacks of Gary Busey and Nick Nolte -- it's a strange crowd there," joked the slim and youthful looking Buckingham, dressed in a black leather jacket, black shirt, jeans, and black cowboy boots.

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM
The Music Hall
October 8, 2008
Sun Rating: 4 out of 5

Bob and Tom Interview

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM
ON THE BOB AND TOM SHOW
OCTOBER 6, 2008

- 45 MINUTE INTERVIEW

- TWO LIVE TUNES PLAYED

"DID YOU MISS ME" AND "BIG LOVE"

Buckingham Nicks "The Re-Issue Issue. Speaking with Lindsey Buckingham

Old album reissued?
By JANE STEVENSON
Toronto Sun

Anyone who has followed the long musical and personal saga of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks knows that they made an excellent 1973 album, Buckingham Nicks, which was a commercial failure but has since regained cult status.

It was also re-issued in 1976 when the two hit it big after they joined Fleetwood Mac. However, it's never been released on CD, something Buckingham thinks could happen in the next couple of years with a possible tour behind it for the one-time lovers.

"If it is going to happen it would probably happen in the next two, three years," Buckingham said.

"It's sort of a symptom of the fact that the band spends long periods of time apart, that Stevie and I don't talk a lot, that people who are 'the handlers' tend to think that there will be an optimum time to do that that will coincide with a marketing plan."

Does Buckingham, now married with three kids, mean a tour with Nicks to support its CD release?

"That could certainly happen, that would be fun," said Buckingham, currently on his own solo tour and beginning rehearsals in January for a Fleetwood Mac tour.

"Do we have enough material? Yes, we do. It would be its own hook, the two of us up there, it would be this complete circular thing, bringing us back to where we were in 1974, which has a poetry all its own.

"But again, the people who think in terms of marketing are thinking, 'Okay, but we have to do it at a time when we can remaster it and bonus tracks and all of this kind of stuff.' I would just re-release it myself because it is what it is!"

Lindsey Buckingham says the Rumours hitmakers will regroup and tour in 2009

Mac is back
By JANE STEVENSON, SUN MEDIA
Toronto Sun
The Rumours -- pun intended -- are true: The Mac Attack is coming back next year.

Guitarist-singer-songwriter Lindsey Buckingham said that legendary rock group Fleetwood Mac -- with remaining members singer Stevie Nicks, drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie -- will launch a tour in 2009.

"Fleetwood Mac is going to start doing something, rehearsals for some touring, in January, (and) we will probably be out in spring," said Buckingham, 59, in Toronto this week to promote his latest solo record, Gift of Screws (whose title track was inspired by an Emily Dickinson poem), and play a solo show at the Music Hall tonight after last night's gig at Hamilton Place.

'BETTER EXPERIENCE'

"It'll be the four of us and a couple of other additional backup musicians. No one of note."

That means you Sheryl Crow (see sidebar).

Buckingham says a new Fleetwood Mac album would come later -- hopefully. "We're talking about an album but we didn't want to go in cold," he said. "It's been awhile. And in my mind, the mantra really needs to be, 'Let's put any particular musical agenda second to the agenda of trying to enjoy each other as people.'

"And I've known Stevie since I was 16 and we still have some things to work out, and I think that that's the important thing at this point, otherwise, nothing's going to happen. We won't make it to the album otherwise. Let's acknowledge each other's feelings, let's be adults for a change, if that's possible. It may not be, we'll see.

"So if we go in with that attitude and we use the touring as a kind of proving ground and hang time, then I think it'll make an album after that a much better experience."

Strangely enough, Buckingham originally turned in an album named Gift of Screws back in 2001-02 but the record label asked him if they could use most of it for a new Fleetwood Mac album, which turned out to be 2003's Say You Will (it followed the group's last tour -- both sans keyboardist Christine McVie).

"It has been a bit of a pattern of sort of re-grouping and getting ready to do solo work in one form or another and have Fleetwood Mac sort of intervene. That's happened a few times," Buckingham said. "But you know if you're in the band, you gotta be part of the band."

Buckingham sounds positively easy-going within the dynamic of the famously fractious group -- whose various relationship breakups were documented on their landmark 1977 album, Rumours.

'HEALTHY TROUBLEMAKER'

"I'm working on it. I haven't always been," he said. "I've had very definite ideas which to some degree have been, I wouldn't say a thorn in the side, but I've been the healthy troublemaker who keeps things from being too complacent. That would be the way I would see it. Others might categorize it differently."

This time, however, Buckingham saw the rock-oriented Gift of Screws -- the followup to the more acoustic-based 2006 effort, Under the Skin -- through to its fruition with some lyric-writing help from his wife Kristen (Do You Miss Me, Love Runs Deeper) and 10-year-old son, Will (Great Day). The couple also has two daughters, eight-year-old Leelee, and four-year-old Stella.

Still, Fleetwood drums on three tracks and McVie plays bass on two from those much earlier recording sessions.

"This is a completion of a goal which was very specific that I had. And I said to the band, 'Please don't come knocking on my door for at least three years, because what I want to do is put out two albums and tour around both of them.'"