Friday, February 27, 2009

FLEETWOOD MAC - Best Rock Show

The backstage drama in this 40-year-old band is enough to fill several books, and it already has (personally, I can't wait for the pull-no-punches Lindsey Buckingham autobiography). The back-and-forth between Buckingham and Stevie Nicks is why this band is making fans pay through the nose to see them play the hits one more time, but don't underestimate the power of the Mick Fleetwood-John McVie rhythm section. Still, the "retired" Christine McVie is much missed, and here's hoping they acknowledge founding guitarist Peter Green by resurrecting "Oh, Well" or some other '60s blues-rock gem.

Wednesday/Thursday - March 5/6 at the Allstate Arena, 6920 N. Mannheim Rd., Rosemont, IL

Tickets:$149.50, $79.50, $49.50;
Phone: 312-559-1212

Greg Kot
Chicago Tribune

FLEETWOOD MAC UNRESOLVED ISSUES


Fleetwood Mac heads out on Greatest Hits Tour
with unresolved issues

Thursday, February 26, 2009
By Scott Mervis, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Stevie and Lindsey Speak to the Post Gazette (Short Audio Segment of this interview)


In 1975, British blues-rock band Fleetwood Mac, already troubled with legal battles and internal breakups, went into the free-agent market and hired on the attractive young L.A. singer-songwriter duo of Buckingham Nicks. The result: one of the greatest hit machines and perhaps the greatest running soap opera in pop music history.

Forget "Behind the Music." When you have two sets of ex-lovers on stage, it's the stuff of a miniseries.

Thirty-four years later, as Fleetwood Mac prepares for the "Unleashed" greatest hits tour, you get the feeling maybe they should keep a good group therapist, perhaps that guy who helped Metallica, on the speed dial.

Not even a minute into an interview with Lindsey Buckingham, the volatile singer-guitarist is referring to things that "maybe got left hanging" and the tour being as exciting "as much on a personal level as anything else."

"Personal level" has little to do with how anyone gets along with the jovial chaps who hold down the rhythm section -- founding Brits Mick Fleetwood and John McVie -- and everything to do with the harmony between Buckingham and former flame and quintessential pop diva Stevie Nicks.

It will all begin at the Mellon Arena, where Fleetwood Mac makes its home for several days of rehearsal this week before the 15-city tour begins there on Sunday.

Go Your Own Way

"Unleashed" is the first reunion of Fleetwood Mac since the band finished the marathon "Say 
Yo
u Will" tour in 2004. After that run, the band members sat down for a meeting in which, according to Buckingham, "I sort of said very methodically to the group, 'Don't come knocking on my door for X amount of time' with the intention of doing two solo albums in relatively short order and touring behind them."


Nicks, in a separate phone interview, notes that Buckingham said, " 'I need two to three years.' And for me that's fine, 'cause I have a whole 'nother world that keeps right on going with or 
without Fleetwood Mac." She can go play "Edge of Seventeen" anywhere. "But the rest of the people in Fleetwood Mac really don't. So for them that's like big. Like, 'HOW many years?' It was kind of a thing where we had to sit and go, 'OK, he needs to do this.' "

Buckingham squeezed out two solo albums, his first since 1992's "Out of the Cradle" (released after he quit Fleetwood Mac in '87). The first one, 2006's "Under the Skin," was a big departure from the band with delicate fingerpicking, whispered vocals and hazy melodies that had been left too long in the sun.

"No lead, really, no bass or drums, and it was really about one or two guitars being the basis for a whole track," Buckingham says.

"Gift of Screws," which came out in September, rocked a lot more and included songs like "Love Runs Deeper" that could very well have been Fleetwood Mac hits. Fleetwood and McVie even played on the album.


"People will say, 'What constitutes a band song vs. a solo song?' " Buckingham says, "and I always say part of it is just what you're doing at the time. If you're involved in a band thing, then the material will shape itself into being band material or possibility the group mentality will be what the group is receptive to. Having said that, I was more into doing some approaches that were more particular to me as a solo artist."

Of course, it's worth noting that Fleetwood Mac wasn't exactly risk-averse, "Tusk" -- with the USC Trojan marching band tromping through -- being the living proof.

"Yeah, we did [experiment]," Buckingham says. "Not always at everyone's comfort level. In the wake of 'Rumours,' I guess I was the culprit behind 'Tusk.' That was a big experiment, which proved itself to be successful years later. I think at the time there was a bit of a backlash from the record company and certainly from the band. We've done our share of chance-taking. You find yourself in a situation that can only be described as a 'big machine.' Once you have a level of commercial success, you have a lot of forces out there that want you to repeat those formulas for not necessarily the right reasons -- only for the reasons of generating income -- and if you forget who you are, you can certainly paint yourself into a corner over a period of time and have nowhere to go creatively. And you have to kind of reject all of that and try to listen to your inner voice as much as possible and follow it whenever you can. So I've done a pretty job of navigating that line. It's been a little convoluted, but ... still here!"

Buckingham says when the "big machine" came calling last month, he still wanted to put the finishing touches on the solo work with another leg of "Gift of Screws" shows. "It was a little hard to let go of because, obviously, the whole solo thing is more a labor of love in its own way."

Buckingham's solo venture leaves Fleetwood Mac no choice but to embark on a greatest hits tour, but the foursome is putting the best possible face on it, making it sound as if it's what they always wanted to do.

"It's exciting to us," Nicks says, "because we're not trying to shove new songs down people's throats. As much as we love new material, every time you do a new tour you can only do two or three new songs, because the audience is out there going, 'You know what, we're delighted that you're still writing, but you can't be taking out our favorite songs to put in your favorite new songs.' And this is something we learned a long time ago. This time we're not doing any new stuff. We're doing 'Stand Back' and Lindsey's doing one of his songs -- that's really the only things coming out from our solo work. When you look at the set, it's jam packed. It's two hours and 20 minutes and it's starting in 1975 and just working all the way up."

Buckingham says you could make a case for some of the songs on his solo records being ripe for a Fleetwood Mac workout on stage, but that he's aware of the politics of such lobbying. Pointing to the "Say You Will" tour, the first without Christine McVie, he says, "I had that much more room to be a guy up on stage, just to be who I am. And we were reflecting portions of ['Say You Will'], which had quite a bit of edge to it in places. I think we came off that tour with Stevie feeling quite uncomfortable with what that was. I think there was talk then about the next time we went out 
we needed to just play more of the body of work. So I haven't brought up any songs from solo work to do and, quite honestly, those albums, I think, are not something anyone else in the band has listened to."

Really?! They haven't heard his solo records?

"You'd be surprised," he says.

The other woman

The rumor circulating early last year was that the next time Fleetwood Mac hit the road, holding down the Christine McVie slot would be none other than Sheryl Crow, who helped produce Nicks' last solo album, 2001's "Trouble in Shangri-La."

Obviously, that would have turned the Fleetwood Mac dynamic somewhat upside-down, but in the end, it wasn't meant to be. Crow had to miss a Fleetwood Mac studio session, due, quite symbolically, to a Mother's Day affair and told the band she would have to pass.

Says Nicks, "I gave Sheryl a long lecture and said, 'Listen, honey, you just adopted a new baby, you just came through breast cancer, you survived Lance Armstrong, to come into Fleetwood Mac right now where we are going on a tour that could go on for a 135 shows. ... You can't say I 
need a month off with my baby, because you're not going to get it, because nobody gets time off in Fleetwood Mac. Once you're in the Mac, it's like being in the army ...' So I said to her, 'As Stevie Nicks, who loves to sing with you, I would say I'd be very disappointed. But as your friend, you're making the right decision.' She passed on Fleetwood Mac. Everybody thinks we passed on her."

Christine McVie, who was married to John McVie from 1968 to 1976, remains a much tougher loss for the band, her having written and sung -- in a pure, beautiful voice -- such hits as "Over My Head," "Don't Stop," "You Make Loving Fun" and "Say You Love Me." The 65-year-old British singer hasn't worked with Mac since the reunion for "The Dance" in 1997 and the band's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction a year later.


"We never wanted Christine to leave," Nicks says. "We wanted Christine to change her mind. But what happened was, Christine had been keeping big secrets from us all the many years. She was afraid to fly. Because she's such a tough old bird, she never let us know. And she was having panic attacks about it. She was really having a hard time with the traveling, and they say when people get older, you get more claustrophobic and more sensitive, and I think you really do. And so it hit Chris, and she was like, 'I don't want to do it anymore.' And it's not that she didn't want to come on stage, not that she didn't want to do music anymore. She just didn't want to tour."

Fleetwood Mac has three backup singers to help with the high harmonies -- and Buckingham and Nicks are already a vocal powerhouse themselves -- but Stevie says there are intangibles Christine McVie brought to the group that can't be replaced.

"The horrible thing, which breaks our heart, is just Christine herself. Her personality, her crazy English self. She was a buffer between all of us. She was definitely a buffer between me and Lindsey, and she would be the one to say -- [imitating a chirpy British accent] 'You guys are all being stupid!' She'd be like 'Break it up, break it up!' "

By all accounts, there are times in Fleetwood Mac when a buffer is needed between Buckingham and Nicks, who were romantically entangled from 1972 until the tumultuous making of "Rumours" four years later.

"Lindsey and me are the problem children," Nicks says.

But the relationship has changed a lot in the past 10 years, with Buckingham becoming husband to photographer Kristen Messner and dad to their three children: a 10-year-old boy, and girls 8 and 4.

"He lives in girl land now," Nicks says. "He lives in ballet land and girls basketball team land, very girly, so how could you not soften up when you're surrounded by women? And when you have two little girls you also have two little girls and all their friends. So he's been in that world for the last four years. And it has softened him, and instead of treating me like his miserable ex-girlfriend, he's treating me more like a difficult but loved daughter. And I like it just fine, because he is softer and much more understanding of me and what I do. And he doesn't get mad at me. I yell out something and he lets it go. He's more the Lindsey he was when I first met him. So it's delightful for me because I'm kind of getting to see the man I cared about so much all those many years ago again almost come back."

And he's not throwing guitars at her, as he famously did on stage once.

"He's not throwing anything at me," Nicks says, with a laugh. "And it's almost like it would be ridiculous, you know what I mean? We are 59 and 60. We were 16 and 17 when we met. We have both looked at each other the last couple months when we've been talking about this, going, 'We met each other when we were 16 and 17, we need to make peace before we die.' "

Asked whether he's softened with fatherhood, Buckingham concedes.

"I think that's probably true. During the time Fleetwood Mac was making albums and after Stevie and I had broken up, and I was still having to produce for her, and make hits for her, we never had gotten any closure. We just had to kind of seal everything off; everyone was living in their own states of denial. Not only had there not been closure, but there hadn't been a lot of fairness in the way things worked out, nor had there been a lot of honesty. And so I'm certain that having children and getting to that point, I don't feel so embattled in my life in general. These things, they just happen in their own time."

So when they get up on stage Sunday night and do a song like "Go Your Own Way," is it a good deal less emotionally charged than it would have been 30 years ago?

"I think that we've done them so many times," Buckingham says. "Even when we were writing these songs, they didn't necessarily feel as personal or autobiographical I guess as they ended up appearing to be. We just get up there and have a good time. It's all been said and done and scrutinized to death, really, so we just get up there and we play. And I don't think we think about it so much on an emotional level. Or I don't, anyway."

WDVE INTERVIEW WITH MICK FLEETWOOD

Mick Fleetwood interview on
102.5 WDVE Rocks
in Pittsburgh, PA 2/26/09

FLEETWOOD MAC IN ONE INCARNATION OR ANOTHER

By Ed Symkus
GateHouse News Service
Norwichbulletin.com

Fleetwood Mac, in one incarnation or another, has been making music — first it was straight blues, now it’s pop-rock — since 1967. 

They started off playing in dark and dingy London clubs and, throughout the late-’70s and early-’80s, they packed the largest arenas in the world.

Their current three-month tour of North America marks the first time they’ve performed together in five years. They visit the TD Banknorth Garden on March 11, in support of their new “best of” album, “Unleashed.”

All four members of the band recently took part in a telephone conference call. Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham were in chatty moods; John McVie took on the role of silent partner.

The tour marks the first time since the band’s rise to prominence in the’70s that they’ve gone on the road without an album of new material; they’ll only be playing tunes from their fat catalogue of hits. But that doesn’t mean they’re through recording.

“This is a refreshing thing to do in terms of selecting a lot of really emotively connected songs to the audience,” says drummer Fleetwood of only playing the hits. “But there have been discussions for sure that we would love to make some more music. I think it’s sort of down to the biorhythms of how everyone is feeling and what’s appropriate. We have [solo] careers and families and different perspectives from what it would have been you know 20, 30 years ago. So I think the consensus is that we would love to be challenged to go out and do something with some new songs in a couple of years. My heart says I believe that will happen.”

Singer Nicks and guitarist Buckingham, who have done separate solo albums and tours over the years, are looking forward to the reunion for both personal and professional reasons.

“Solo work and Fleetwood Mac is a really great thing to be able to go back and forth to because you can do your solo work and then you can do Fleetwood Mac,” says Nicks. “ And then you can go back to your solo work and then you can do Fleetwood Mac. We’ve been apart for four years. Now we’re back together and we’re having a blast.”

Buckingham feels that not having to present new material and try to win audiences over on a first listening is a wonderful thing.

“It kind of frees you up to enjoy each other a little bit more as people,” he says. “The mantra is really more ‘let’s just have a good time,’ and we can value the friendships and the history that underpins this whole experience that we’ve had over the years. I think because of that we are actually able to just look at the body of work and choose from that. And then you know just have a little bit more fun with it than we would normally be able to have.”

Though no set lists have been put together yet, Fleetwood reveals that they’ll certainly be playing what he calls the obvious ones: “Go Your Own Way,” “Don’t Stop,” “Dreams.”

“But then we are finding songs as we go along that we feel are special songs that maybe aren’t considered the massive, massive hits but are truly emotionally connected to Fleetwood Mac,” he says, without naming them. “I feel really confident that we’re going to surprise the audience in some ways. I think that we’re going to make the audience identify with songs that they know. And we’ve had fun really re-sculpting certain segments of the show, which will remain secret until you see us.”

Buckingham is also keeping secrets, of sorts. Asked if there are any songs he wishes he didn’t have to play ever again, he first dodges the question, saying, “You know, we really have a body of music that we’ve been lucky enough to have become part of the fabric of the music culture.”

Then he gives in — but doesn’t name any songs — and says, “Certainly there is a challenge of being on the road in terms of the repetition. It’s almost the inverse of the challenge of being in the studio where you’re trying to pull stops out of the air; the challenge on the road is trying to keep things fresh night after night. But you know that’s part of being a professional and it’s also a part of being in a band where you’ve been together a long time and you can keep finding new things for those songs to mean to you personally and to share. It’s just part and parcel of what we do: to go out and recreate those same songs.”

The always outspoken Nicks, asked if she can believe she’s still singing in a rock band after all of these years, casually mentions, without prompting, that she recently turned 60. She follows that with a reminiscence of her first days with the band.

“When I joined Fleetwood Mac, I was 28,” she says. “I went on one tour with just my normal street clothes. I just threw my stuff in my suitcase and we left on like a three-month thing. We went to El Paso, Texas, to do a show, and I tried to put on a dress but unbeknownst to me I had gained five pounds. So the dress didn’t fit. I was screaming and I sat down and I started to draw an outfit. And I said to myself, ‘I’m going to have a uniform. My uniform is going to be such that I can wear it today at 28 and I can still wear it at 60. I’m going to wear the same skirt, the same little top, the same platform boots and some little jacket, and that’s going to be it. And I’m still going to be able to wear this at 60 because it’s not going to be so flamboyant that it can’t be worked with a little bit, and unless I weighed 300 pounds, I’ll still be able to wear this when I’m you know into my 60s. So, yes, I can believe it.”

Suite Deal - Fleetwood Mac in Los Angeles (Staples Center)

A Suite Deal - Fleetwood Mac at the Los Angeles STAPLES Center

Hi, Fleetwood Mac fans,

Our school is running an auction to raise funds at the moment and one of the big ticket items on offer is this: a luxury suite, tickets for 12 and 5 VIP parking passes for Fleetwood Mac at the Staples Center in LA, May 28th 2009.

The value of the auction is $5000 but bidding is starting at $1500. This is the first time we've tried an online auction and so we're just feeling our way and trying to think of any way we can to let people who might be interested in some of our bigger items know about them. That way, fans can bid and likely get a great bargain, and the school gains too.

Our school in Monica Ros School in Ojai, CA, and this is our annual art auction to raise funds for the coming year. 

This is really a great deal for 12 Fleetwood Mac fans to get the top luxury suite at the Staples Center at a far reduced price. 

Bidding starts at $1500 but there is a Buy It Now option too for $4000.

Please do check it out!

Thanks for your time.

S Zahringer (parent volunteer)
Monica Ros School
Ojai, CA

Item Information:
  • Estimated Value $5,000.00
  • Buy Now Price $4,000.00
  • Item Number 164
Item Description

You'll be treated to the best luxury suite in the house. This primo STAPLES Center suite is located on the first level, center court. You'll receive 12 tickets and 5 VIP parking passes.

Special Instructions:
  • Concert is Thursday, May 28, 2009, at 8:00 p.m.
  • Place your bids here
  • Online Close Mar. 5, 2009 8:59 AM PST
  • Opening Bid $1,500.00

Thursday, February 26, 2009

MICK FLEETWOOD KFOG INTERVIEW (3/26/09)

Mick Fleetwood was a Guest on the KFOG Morning Show today (2/26) in San Francisco 

Mick spoke about the upcoming Fleetwood Mac Unleashed Tour - The Rumours Reissue Boxset and how relaxed and excited the band is to get back out on the road for the first time without a new album to promote.

The interview includes the early Fleetwood Mac track "Black Magic Woman" and "I Don't Want To Know" from the Rumours album.

Complete Interview Segment is approximately 15 minutes in length.

DOWNLOAD NOW

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

SNEAK PEEK CLIPS OF STEVIE WITH CHRIS ISAAK

Stevie Nicks will be on the March 5th episode of Chris Isaaks new show" The Chris Isaak Hour" which debuts on Thursday February 26th on The Bio Channel.

Sneak Peek Preview Clips From Stevie's appearance:


First Meeting With Christine McVie and the Christine McVie Diamond that she's wearing.

THE CURSE OF FLEETWOOD MAC HAS TURNED INTO A BLESSING

FLEETWOOD MAC UNLEASHES HITS
Pittsburghlive.com
By Rege Behe, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, February 25, 2009

There's no new album, nor is Christine McVie onboard. No obvious reason for Fleetwood Mac to tour, unless you count a forthcoming re-release of "Rumours," the 1977 album that sold more than 30 million units.

There is the likelihood that "Fleetwood Mac Unleashed: Hits Tour 2009," which begins Sunday at the Mellon Arena, will be a blockbuster, playing to capacity crowds in the United States and Canada.

Yet Fleetwood Mac never has been a band of mercenaries, merely cashing in on their popularity. For the four current members of the band -- Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie and Stevie Nicks -- this tour is attractive because they aren't promoting new material.

"Some bands -- which is fine -- go around doing this year after year, year in, year out," Fleetwood, 61, said during a recent teleconference, "and, understandably, people love to hear songs they're familiar with. So having said that, that's a whole new experience for us as a band, presenting the very best we feel we can get on board and do."

"What it does is it kind of frees you up to enjoy each other a little bit more as people," said Buckingham, 59. "And the mantra is really more 'let's just have a good time' and value the friendships and the history that really underpins this whole experience that we've had over these years."

Since Peter Green started the band in 1967, Fleetwood Mac has emerged in various incarnations, starting as a blues-based outfit with a penchant for psychedelia. Christine McVie galvanized the sound, adding melody. Californian Bob Welch would further abet the transition from blues to pop, and his work on songs such as "Hypnotized" gave the band its first widespread exposure in the U.S. during the early 1970s.

When Nicks and Buckingham joined the group in 1975, the band's direction was irrevocably set. The taut and spare, just drums and bass, guitar and piano, became larger than life by way of its omnipresence in pop culture. The songs "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow" and "Go Your Own Way" became standards, even mantras, for the masses.

Fleetwood, who, along with John McVie, 63, has witnessed and been part of every Fleetwood Mac lineup, said the revolving door that was the band ended up being a benefit.

"It's still about individuals experiencing and giving their individual thing without being totally swallowed by Fleetwood Mac," Fleetwood said. "And I think the nature of that is all because we changed so much through the years, and that ethic ... is always about pushing forward and changing and keeping it fresh.

"So I think the curse of Fleetwood Mac has turned into a final blessing over the years, that, creatively, we were able to hold our audience. Obviously, the band ... that's on the phone right now became the band that had the worldwide acceptance of it."

That said, Christine McVie -- arguably the strongest singer in the group's history -- is missed. Nicks noted that she still feels the absence of McVie, who has not toured with the band since 1998.

"I miss Christine everyday because she was my best buddy," said Nicks, 62. "She was my best friend. I probably spent more time on the road with Fleetwood Mac than anywhere, so I've spent more time with these people than I've spent with my own family. So the loss of Christine as one of my best girlfriends was horrific for me. But she's been gone a long, long time now. ... There's not a day goes by that I don't wish she'd call up and say, 'I'm back.' But she's not going to. We've all kind of accepted that."

A few years ago, the band made an overture to Sheryl Crow, who has toured with Nicks, to replace Christine McVie. Nicks admitted she initially thought Crow might provide a buffer between her and Buckingham. But Crow, after a few rehearsals, felt she could not continue.

Nicks agreed, telling her, "'You have survived breast cancer and Lance Armstrong. I don't think this is the right thing for you, Sheryl.'"

Nor was adding Crow the right way to approach any disagreements, perceived or real.

"The fact is that if Lindsey and I can't work out our problems by ourselves, we might as well throw in the towel," Nicks said. "So that's what we are currently trying to do, is work out our problems. And, certainly, another person could not do that for us."

The disintegrating relationships that fueled the album "Rumours" -- Buckingham and Nicks parted, and the McVies filed for divorce -- became part of the album's appeal as fans parsed the meanings behind the songs "Second Hand News" or "Never Going Back Again."

Buckingham -- who called the band "a group of great contradictions ... the members don't necessarily have any business of being in a band together because the range of personalities is disparate" -- did not think "Rumours" was autobiographical. For him, the songs were written in a "generic vein"; only with feedback did he realize how the songs reflected the band's disharmony.

"The whole idea of the tabloidism of that, the musical soap opera aspect of that, I think to some degree was revealed to us by our audience after the fact," Buckingham said. "The meaning of my songs, I can only say that they have shifted slightly in the same way that the meaning of the band has shifted. ...

"You tend to just sort of see the irony in the songs, and you tend to see, maybe, the heroicism, a little bit, that we possessed. We saw that we had this destiny, and we saw we had to rise above the personal difficulties. And we saw that the music could actually have redemptive power for us and could be a symbol of that to other people."

Tickets are still available for the two Rosemont shows

Fleetwood Mac is back with a setlist of favorites
By Eric Heisig | Daily Herald Correspondent

Reunion tours can be seen a few different ways.

On one hand, a big-name reunion can be counted on to fill a concert hall with fans who are paying to hear the hits and only the hits - not some obscure b-side from the single nobody bought.

On the hand, it's tempting to see a reunion tour as a shameless cash-in on past accomplishments, giving the band a chance to say, "Hey, look what we did. It's been a while, but we did it!"

Fleetwood Mac ends up somewhere in the middle.

The band comes to the Allstate Arena Thursday, March 5, and Friday, March 6, on the third stop of its "Unleashed: Hits Tour 2009."

Touring for the first time since 2004, Fleetwood Mac also is hitting the road for the first time without a new album. Instead, the band will be hyping a soon-to-be-released box set of 1977's acclaimed "Rumours." In short, the group is putting out a new-old record (which has a lot of its greatest hits) and touring behind it.

"We're so happy to get back out on the road, perform everyone's favorite songs and see our fans," band members said in a press statement.

Formed in 1967, Fleetwood Mac started off as a blues combo with drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie in the lineup. Christine McVie soon came on board, but the "Unleashed" setlist stands to be post-1975, when singer Stevie Nicks and guitarist/singer Lindsay Buckingham joined the band.

The group was falling apart as its music was taking off. John and Christine McVie's marriage broke up and Nicks and Buckingham split as "Rumours" was being recorded, giving emotional weight to titles like "Go Your Own Way" and "Second Hand News."

Keyboardist and vocalist Christine McVie decided to stop touring years ago, and the "Unleashed" tour is no exception. For a short time, there was talk of Sheryl Crow joining the tour to fill McVie's spot, but that never materialized. For now, it will be Fleetwood, Buckingham, Nicks and John McVie.

Tickets are still available for the two Rosemont shows. Concert promoter Live Nation has reported being impressed with the numbers and has added a second leg to the tour.

Tickets at the Allstate Arena range from $49.50 to $149.50, and while that's a bit pricey for the best seats, it's much lower than, say, The Rolling Stones or Madonna.

Since most of Fleetwood Mac's hits come from the 1970s, expect to hear plenty of songs from "Fleetwood Mac," "Rumours" and "Tusk."

Still, the band has a slew of albums and fine music to choose from. Later hits such as 1982's "Gypsy" or 1988's "Everywhere" would be great additions to the setlist, as would material from Lindsay Buckingham's strong recent solo output. But again, this is a greatest-hits tour, and that's what most fans will be paying to see.

Is it OK to simply hear favorites like "Don't Stop," "Go Your Own Way" and "Landslide?" If it is, then you should be in the audience, hanging on to every word.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL

Rumours persist that Fleetwood Mac will be making an appearance at this years Glostonbury Festival.  This isn't the first time this has popped up, so maybe there's some truth to it.

All this according to....

efestivals.co.uk
it's more than Rumours
Fleetwood Mac for Glastonbury Festival?
Tuesday 24th February 2009

eFestivals believes that Fleetwood Mac will be making an appearance at this year's Glastonbury Festival.

The British/American rock band which formed in 1967 are putting together a 'Fleetwood Mac Unleashed: Hits Tour 2009', and it's more than a rumour that the dates will include an appearance at the Festival in Pilton, Somerset. The tour will feature the band's greatest hits, rather than their latest material, and will coincide with a new CD/DVD version of their classic album 'Rumours' which contains previously unreleased tracks and footage.

eFestivals is unsure which day they will be appearing, but one of our sources says that Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks, and company will be playing on the Saturday.

Tickets for Glastonbury Festival held for five full days from Wednesday 24th until Sunday 28th June 2009 at Worthy Farm, Pilton, Somerset have already sold out months before the event.

Although the full line-up for this year's Festival has not yet been announced, to see who might be playing take a look at the eFestivals' Glastonbury 2009 rumours.


Also: Digitalspy

THE CHAIN IS BACK AS F1 THEME TUNE

F1 Returns to BBC Television For The First Time in 12 Years
Fleetwood Mac's The Chain is Back as BBC F1 Theme Tune


Forget - with due deference to David Coulthard and Murray Walker - the presenters.

The bombshell news is that the return of Formula One coverage to the BBC will also bring the return of the best, the most evocative, the most spine-tingling piece of theme music in the sporting world.

Yes, Fleetwood Mac's The Chain is back, and while Coulthard, the venerable Walker and their colleagues will all be welcome on our screens, there cannot be a petrolhead in the land who is not already humming those opening notes in anticipation.

All together now: Dum, da da da, da da da da da dum....

MICK ON KFOG MORNING SHOW

Mick Fleetwood will be in KFOG's morning show this Thursday February 26th at 7:45am.  They will speak to Mick and give away some Fleetwood Mac tickets.

Update to Warner Bros. Store for Stevie's Soundstage

Warner Bros. updated the order page at the Warner Bros store for Stevie's Soundstage Sessions Live In Chicago DVD/CD.

Also, a larger view of
the new cover.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Chris Isaak Hour Trailer

Trailer for The Chris Isaak Hour
Stevie appears in many clips:

See the clip in the Stevie Video Wall in
the right hand side margin -->

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Guitar Techs at Fleetwood Mac's Tour Rehearsals

Schroeder Guitars with Fleetwood Mac guitar techs
At Fleetwood Mac rehearsal at Sony Studios. 

(From left) Roy Kelley, Neale Heywood's guitar tech, is holdin the Schroeder Tweedburst Radio Lane; Stan LaMendola, Lindsey Buckingham's guitar tech, is examining the back for Ryan Merkley's Schroeder Chopper, Kurt (on the right) looks on. He is Brett Tuggle's Guitar tech. The very tip of Neale's Monk guitar is in the foreground.


At Fleetwood Mac rehearsal at Sony Studios. (From left) Neale Heywood, guitarist with Fleetwood Mac, playing his Schroeder Chopper model, Stan LaMendola, Lindsey Buckingham's guitar tech, playing the Schroeder Radio Lane that will be going on tour with them in March. Right is Roy Kelly, Neale's guitar tech, playing the Schroeder Tour Guitar.


Jason Schroeder of Schroeder Guitars has been working with Neale Heywood of Fleetwood Mac to get him some guitars for the upcoming tour that begins in March. Here are a few pics

Note:  Lindsey Buckingham can be seen in the background of one of the photos.

Friday, February 20, 2009

SOUNDSTAGE PRE-ORDER, NEW COVER, INCLUDES LITHOGRAPH

NEW COVER INCLUDES LITHOGRAPH
SIGNED BY STEVIE NICKS

A little something in the mailbox today from Warner Brothers.  Aside from being surprised that I received something from the record company, there are a couple of other perplexing things to note about this announcement:

  • What is up with this new fantastic, different cover art, if in fact it is a change in cover art??  It's perfect!!  It's nothing like what Amazon is showing and has been showing for the last six months.
  • The other thing is that this announcement suggests that there are new STUDIO versions of classics on the CD???  Isn't this supposed to be a live album?  In any case there's a link to order directly from Warner Bros.  You are ordering both the DVD and the CD.  The package (If you are part of the handful that order) will include the signed lithograph from Stevie.
Here's the announcement:

Tune in to PBS tonight and pre-order the new CD/DVD now!
This stunning HDTV, Dolby Stereo performance, captures a radiant Stevie Nicks in her first filmed solo performance since 1987, Airing tonight and throughout the weekend. Check your local PBS affiliate at the following for airdates and times.

Stevie's epic Soundstage Sessions concert in Chicago!

The DVD features over 2 hours of stunning footage from this legendary concert! The CD includes brand new studio versions of classics like "Stand Back", "Sara", "Landslide" and MANY, MANY MORE! The first handful to order this STEVIE NICKS LIMITED EDITION CD/DVD SET will receive a lithograph personally signed by Stevie Nicks! Click HERE to Pre-Order now!

And again... Here's the trailer:




CHRIS ISAAK HOUR (STEVIE PREVIEW)

Stevie appears right at the beginning of this Chris Isaak interview on Good Day LA in a clip from his upcoming Bio Channel show "The Chris Isaak Hour".  

The Chris Isaak Hour debuts on The Bio Channel February 26th.





FLEETWOOD MAC'S INTERNAL HARMONY

Group finds internal harmony on latest tour


By Alan Sculley
Post-Tribune correspondent

As a band that's been perhaps as famous for its internal romantic entanglements and conflicts as for its music, it qualifies as news to hear the the mood in Fleetwood Mac is quite sunny as the opening date of the band's spring/summer tour approaches.

But that seemed to be the exact case, as the four band members -- guitarist/singer Lindsey Buckingham, singer Stevie Nicks, drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie fielded questions during a mid-February teleconference interview.

"As far as just the personalities have been going, to everybody, not just me and Lindsey, everybody has been getting along great," Nicks said, when asked how rehearsals had been going. "Everybody has been very kind to each other this time around, and when it's going like that, it's a pleasure."

A work in progress

The fact is that even though the Buckingham/Nicks split (as well as the divorce of John McVie and keyboardist/singer Christine McVie) are 30-plus years in the rear view mirror, the personal dynamics within Fleetwood Mac remain, as Buckingham put it, a work in progress.

And one of the main goals for the current tour is to find and maintain some internal harmony that wasn't always present when Fleetwood Mac toured behind its 2003 CD, "Say You Will."

"We did not succeed as well as we could have the last time we did an album and did a tour together," said Buckingham, who is now happily married. "We did not succeed as well as we could have on kind of an interpersonal level. (So) that (means) there was something to shoot for (on the new tour) that was a little higher."

Missing member

The band members didn't offer specifics about what caused tensions four years ago, but one issue was the absence of Christine McVie, who retired and bowed out of the group a decade ago.

This left Nicks as the only woman in Fleetwood Mac. Unhappy with that dynamic, Nicks spoke of wanting to possibly find a woman to take McVie's place in the band.

And in 2007, rumors surfaced that Sheryl Crow -- a good friend who had produced Nicks' 2001 solo CD, "Trouble In Shangri-La -- was going to join Fleetwood Mac, at least for the 2009 tour.

The band said nothing was ever set in stone with Crow, and in this interview Nicks explained what happened.

"Just to put the Sheryl Crow thing in a nutshell quickly, in fact we rented a studio and we hired a crew and we were ready to go in," Nicks said. "We called her and we needed her to come for three or four days to just play. It was Mother's Day and she had invited all, you know, 300 people in her family there. It was her first Mother's Day as a mom, and she could not do it. And at that point she said I'm going to have to pass. I said I think you're making the right decision. You have a new baby. You have survived breast cancer and Lance Armstrong. I don't think this is the right thing for you, Sheryl. So that's what happened with Sheryl Crow, and she is still our friend and I still adore her."

With Crow out of the picture, the group -- Nicks included -- settled on remaining a foursome. And Nicks now says that she is perfectly comfortable with the structure of the band.

"You have to understand I've been the only girl in Fleetwood Mac now since 1998," Nicks said. "And it's 2009, so I'm used to it now. I miss Christine every day because she was my best buddy. She was my best friend. … So the loss of Christine as one of my best girlfriends was horrific for me. But she's been gone a long, long time now."

Unleashed hits

One thing that should help make life easier in Fleetwood Mac this year is the nature of the tour. Called the "Unleashed" tour, it marks the first time the group has gone on tour without having a new album -- or at least new songs -- to promote and bring into its set.

Buckingham said concentrating on playing the band's greatest hits gives the tour an entirely different dynamic.

"What it does is it kind of frees you up to enjoy each other a little bit more as people," he said. "So it takes a little pressure off not having to kind of reinvent anything this particular time. I think because of that we are actually able to just look at the body of work and choose (the hits) from that and then just have a little bit more fun with it than we would normally be able to have when you're trying to sort of work out new stuff for the first time, (and) also integrate it into that body of work and have it all (work together)."

After this tour winds up, new studio album is possible, although the band members aren't guaranteeing this will happen.

"I think the feeling is and the consensus is that we would love to be challenged to go out and do, in a couple of years, something with some new songs," Fleetwood said. "I for one would love to see it happen and we have had loose discussions about doing that."

If you go:

What:? Fleetwood Mac
When: 8 p.m., March 5 and 6
Where: Allstate Arena, 6920 N. Mannheim Road, Rosemont, Ill.
Tickets: $149.50, $79.50, $49.50
Information: (847) 635-6601 or www.allstatearena.com

Truth In Advertising


Last week, Billboard magazine ran an interview with Fleetwood Mac members Mick Fleetwood and Lindsey Buckingham on their Web site, where both expressed pleasure with not supporting any new material on their current tour.

Their stateside jaunt is appropriately titled "Fleetwood Mac Unleashed: Hits Tour 2009," which, at worst, gives Fleetwood, Buckingham, John McVie and Stevie Nicks means of income in this harsh economy.

And it appears to be working. Only one show originally was scheduled for their Chicagoland stop at Allstate Arena, but popular demand resulted in an added second show.

At this juncture in their career, it's fine for the veteran rockers to coast solely on their past. The Buckingham-Nicks configuration's debut with the band will be 35 years old next year with their biggest-selling effort, "Rumours," past the three-decade mark.

The band released its last original effort in the classic lineup, "Tango in the Night," in 1987, and cemented its place as a classic rock act a decade after that with the mega-selling live set "The Dance."

Christine McVie, the third cog alongside Buckingham and Nicks in the Mac's hitmaking songwriting machine, retired from the band after the lucrative "Dance," leaving the remaining foursome on its own with 2003's "Say You Will."

While the album sold respectably, the big treat for the fans -- and the band's accountants -- was the Brinks-backing world tour in support of it, loaded to the gills with their classic-rock standards.

The aforementioned Billboard interview, though, indicated new music from the Mac was forthcoming in the near future. But the masses will, by and large, pine for the band's mid-1970s to "Tango"-era chestnuts over the new material. This has, with only few exceptions, become the�rule of thumb�that classic-rock veterans must face in their elder days, for better or worse.

Fleetwood Mac, 8 p.m. March 5 and 6, Allstate Arena, 6920 Manheim Rd., Rosemont. $49.50-$149.50. FYI: (847) 635-6601 or allstatearena.com

Two Divas Named Lindsey and Stevie

Fleetwood Mac '09
Nostalgia, cash and a tale of two divas named
Stevie and Lindsey

by Greg Kot

As the relationship between Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham goes, so goes Fleetwood Mac.

The band, formed as a British blues-rock outfit in 1967, has a history that reads like a soap-opera script. Band members have literally gone crazy. Some have gone AWOL. Others have slept with one another. Marriages were broken. More than 73 million records have been sold. And still the quarrels continue. Even a 2004 tour that raked in $22 million ended in acrimony, with a fed-up Nicks saying she was through and Buckingham returning to his solo career.

But now, on the eve of another Mac tour, the biggest problem facing Nicks is a sore arm. While being interviewed, she mentions that a physical therapist is working her over. “I strained my right arm doing arm curls, which I never do, so I’m trying to get it back so I can comfortably and enjoyably play tambourine.”
Such are the rigors of being a multimillionaire icon in a band that defined mainstream pop in the ‘70s. Mac is commanding as much as $149.50 per ticket (plus service charges) for a national tour that includes two concerts March 5-6 at the Allstate Arena. They promise few surprise; just a show with more than two hours of greatest hits --- just the way their fans presumably like it. “The songs we’re playing are the tapestry of not only our fans’ lives but our own lives,” Nicks says.

Buckingham has long detested the idea of doing a nostalgia tour, but he says he’s “just trying to ride the machine.” Part of Mac’s on-off existence the last three decades has been due to Buckingham’s creative restlessness; he’s maintained a solo career defined by adventurous albums in between Mac projects. As one of the band’s primary songwriters as well as its producer and arranger, Buckingham is first among equals, and his word goes a long way in determining Mac’s fortunes. This time, he agreed to do a hits tour to promote a box-set release of the band’s best-selling 1977 “Rumours” album.
“There’s still a push-pull inside me that says I need to redefine myself creatively, but I did two solo albums in the last three years, so it allowed me to feel a little more relaxed about doing something like this,” he says. “I am very consciously going into this not wanting to drive anyone in the band crazy if I can help it --- and sometimes it doesn’t take a lot for me to do that. My priority is working on the interaction within the band, especially between me and Stevie. I’m doing a tour that the industry and the listeners and the rest of the band want, and maybe sow some seeds of stability for once.”

That sounds like a man compromising his artistic instincts in the name of peace, harmony and cash. Buckingham laughs.

“Why am I doing this? It’s a good question… let me see, why am I doing this? Well, we’ll probably make a ton of money, and that’ll make everything a bit easier. But the other reason is that there’s unfinished business with Fleetwood Mac. Stevie left the last tour saying she wasn’t going to do this again, and that’s not right. It’s been a difficult road, we’ve been through a lot, and I want to see it play out and come out the other side in a bit better place than we were last time.”

Mac’s last tour followed the release of a 2003 studio album, “Say You Will.” That’s where the troubles began. Buckingham had interrupted his solo work to make the album with Mac, and brought finished songs into the recording session. Christine McVie had retired from the music business, leaving Buckingham and the founding rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie to focus on Nicks’ songs. Buckingham and Nicks already had a long, fractured history; they were former lovers and old tensions would resurface whenever new conflicts emerged.

“It felt weird, working for nine months in a Bel Air mansion on just my songs,” Nicks says of the Los Angeles recording sessions. “It started to grate on everyone. It started to grate on Lindsey. It ended up not being our happiest album. Then we went on tour, and it was just a continuation of something that had already gone off track.”

Nicks says the departure of Christine McVie had a huge impact on band chemistry: “She was the voice of reason.” Nicks hunted for another female foil after the tour ended. “I vowed not to do it again unless we had another person who could act as a buffer,” she says. She recruited Sheryl Crow, but the singer backed out when she realized how big the commitment would be.

“She just had a baby, and once you’re in Fleetwood Mac, you don’t have a life of your own,” Nicks says. “It’s like joining the National Guard and being deployed to Iraq in two weeks.”

Well, no, it isn’t, actually. But melodrama is as much a part of Fleetwood Mac as hit songs.

Nicks says she agreed to hit the road with Buckingham and risk opening up old wounds again because she sensed a change in her old sparring partner. “He has little girls who are 8 and 4 years old, plus a wife, and he has been living in girl land since coming off the road in 2005. It’s softened him up. Instead of treating me as a miserable ex-girlfriend, he’s looking at me more like a beloved daughter. He’s been very nice and loving to me. This is the guy that I met and fell in love with when I was 17, and I hope it stays that way. No one could come in and make peace between us. Lindsey and I had to.”

Buckingham says if they pull off the tour without any meltdowns, there may be yet one more Fleetwood Mac studio album down the road. But he makes no promises. He has left the band in the past, and he says he will again if he feels things are growing stagnant.

“We all want this to work,” he says, “but there are only 45 dates scheduled. I’m sure there are people in back rooms somewhere talking about more dates in America and elsewhere in the world, but nothing is in the books, nothing has been agreed to. In this band, it’s best not to plan too far in advance.”

Fleetwood Mac's revolving door: A timeline
  • 1967: Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac forms in England with Mick Fleetwood on drums, John McVie on bass, Jeremy Spencer and later Danny Kirwan on guitars.
  • 1970: Green leaves group amid drug problems; he later drops out of music altogether.
  • 1971: Spencer leaves in middle of a tour to join a religious cult. Band reassembles around Christine Perfect (who marries John McVie) and Bob Welch.
  • 1975: Welch exits, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham join.
  • 1976: Christine and John McVie divorce, Buckingham and Nicks separate, yet recording for “Rumours” continues.
  • 1987: Nicks is treated for chemical dependency, Buckingham quits on eve of tour, and is replaced by Billy Burnette and Rick Vito.
  • 1991: Vito quits.
  • 1993: Nicks and Burnette exit, replaced by Dave Mason and Bekka Bramlett.
  • 1995: Mac disbands after “Time” album stiffs.
  • 1996-97: The “Rumours” era lineup reunites for a live album and tour.
  • 2003: Christine McVie retires, but rest of “Rumours” lineup records “Say You Will,” first studio album in 15 years.
  • 2009: Once more on the road, this time with “Rumours” box set as marketing hook.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

STEVIE NICKS LIMITED EDITION CD/DVD SET

Stevie's epic Soundstage Sessions
concert in Chicago!

The DVD features over 2 hours of stunning footage from this legendary concert! 

The CD includes brand new versions of classics like "Stand Back", "Sara", "Landslide" and MANY, MANY MORE! The first handful to order this STEVIE NICKS LIMITED EDITION CD/DVD SET will receive a lithograph personally signed by Stevie Nicks! Click HERE to Pre-Order now!

Info courtesty of the nicksfix

ROLLINGSTONE Q&A WITH STEVIE NICKS

Fleetwood Mac's singer on their new tour, turning 60 and making mixtapes

By Austin Scaggs
Rollingstone Magazine

"It still gives me goose bumps, and it still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up," says Stevie Nicks, who is eagerly anticipating the first Fleetwood Mac tour in five years, which kicks off on March 1st in Pittsburgh. And later in the month, Nicks is releasing a DVD, Live in Chicago, and a concert CD, The Soundstage Sessions. With her dog barking in the background, Nicks checks in from her home in Los Angeles: "We still feel like Fleetwood Mac have a lot to give to the world. In this time of trouble and turmoil, I think the world needs Fleetwood Mac."

What's the latest from the Mac rehearsals?

I don't want to give the set list away, but it's pretty exciting. The fact that we haven't been on tour since 2004 makes every song sound fresh. It's just bang, bang, bang- all fantastic songs. We always start with the staples: "Go Your Own Way," "Gold Dust Woman," "Rhiannon" and "Dreams." We will play one song we've never done at all. If I were going to see Fleetwood Mac, this is definitely the set I'd want to see. It's like a big steam locomotive that doesn't stop until
 we walk offstage.

How are you getting along with Lindsey Buckingham?

When Lindsey and I aren't getting along, nobody's getting along. We haven't had one disagreement since we started rehearsing. And instead of treating me like his miserable old ex, he's treating me like his difficult but beloved older daughter. He's been very sweet.

How often do you speak with Christine McVie?

We check in with each other, but we can't hang out, because she lives in England, and she won't fly. The only time I've seen Chris since 1998 was when we did three nights in London in 2003. I miss her every day. But we've all finally started to accept that nothing could make Chris go back out on the road.

Last May you turned 60. How do you feel about that?

I don't feel any different at 60 than I felt at 50. Age is a state of mind. You can either get old or not get old.

On the "Live in Chicago" DVD you're joined by Vanessa Carlton on a couple of songs. What other artists of her generation do you mentor?

I love Vanessa - I feel like she's an adopted child, in a way. And Michelle Branch and I had dinner the night before last. I have a lot of information for all of these women. I should do a "Dear Stevie" column in Rolling Stone. When Mariah Carey was going through her craziness a few years ago, I wrote her a long letter telling her how everybody else is crazy - not her. I saw her recently, and she told me she keeps the letter with her jewelry! I love that.

What's wrong with the record business today?

The internet has destroyed it. I miss buying an album and lying on the floor for three days and going over it with a magnifying glass. I still go to the record store and spend hours there and buy a big bag of CDs. I don't have a computer of a cellphone, because I don't want to be that available to anybody. I'm all about mystery. Little girls think it's necessary to put all their business on MySpace and Facebook, and I think it's a shame.

You've always made mix-tapes on cassette. Do you still do that?

That's how I do it. Cassettes sound so much better. And I'm deaf as a doornail, so I like to crank my little boombox.

What songs are worthy of a Stevie Nicks mixtape?

I was just in Hawaii, and I made a mix called "Lahaina Twilight." It's got songs by the Goo Goo Dolls, Jackson Browne, Sting, Coldplay, Tom Petty, the Fray, Snow Patrol.

What albums do you love in their entirety?

I don't, usually. In the beginning, I was inspired by songwriters like Jackson Browne, David Crosby, the Eagles, Neil Young, Buffalo Springfiled - those are the people I learned from. And I probably listed to Joni Mitchell's For the Roses, Blue and Court and Spark a hundred million times. But now, I can't listen to a whole album unless it's a Fleetwood Mac record, where I made sure that every song is spectacular. Sequencing is my forte. I sequenced Rumours. Lindsey doesn't like to admit it, but he will admit it.

Last year, Sheryl Crow claimed that she would be part of the 2009 Fleetwood Mac tour, but Buckingham later denied it. What really happened?

It was absolutely discussed and she was absolutely invited to join. The reason was because I missed Christine [McVie] so much, and I wanted another woman in the band - it's hard to be in the boys' club. I explained to Sheryl what it was like to be in the group - that it's all-encompassing. Like, on 2003's Say You Will tour, we went out expecting to do 40 shows, and it turned into 135 shows. So Sheryl called me and said, "I'll have to pass." As Stevie Nicks, I was disappointed. As her friend, I told her she made the right decision. Sheryl Crow passed on Fleetwood Mac - I want that out there.

What are the origins of your patented onstage twirl?

A lot of ballet and a lot of dance. I wanted to be a ballerina, but I realized I was not going to be Pavlova, so I became a rock singer instead.