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Sunday, October 25, 2009
REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac at the Dublin O2
Review of Dublin Gig - Saturday Oct 25th.
Review by: RoyMcC
My first exposure to Fleetwood Mac was in the 6th Form Centre at St Philip's GS. A schoolmate was gamely plucking away at Albatross, the bluesy, dreamy instrumental that charted for the band in 1969.
Last night (Saturday) at the O2 in Dublin two of the original members of that band, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie were still laying down the rhythm for the band forty years later. It's gobsmacking isn't it?
Not so for some of those in the audience, each of whom had paid upwards of €80 to see these legends, arguably the greatest band still on the road. Quite probably never to tour again. A steady stream of punters only intent on travelling to and from the bars for a steady supply of fizzy shite lager. Like it was being discontinued tomorrow. And resulting in further disruption as this resulted in the drinkers having to regularly leave their seats for a piss. Turning their backs on some of the most sublime music ever made. Truly it is very sad, the need to have an alchoholic drink before it is considered that one has a night out. Now, I'm no stranger to alchohol but last night made me ashamed.
But that spoilt my evening only slightly. The gig will remain memorable for howevermuch time I have left. The O2 Arena is a magnificent venue and the atmosphere was electric - the audience comprising younger ones who were only stars in the sky in 1969 as well as us greybeards.
They could have performed anything and we would have been pleased. Guitarist Lindsey Buckingham said that, with no album to promote, they had decided just to have fun on this tour and play what the audience wanted. Early on they sung The Chain, long adopted by the BBC for their Formula 1 coverage and happily reinstated now that they have bought back the rights from ITV.
The first of many from the mega-selling Rumours album. Was it just me or did Buckingham appear to falter and compose himself briefly as he spoke about the personal turmoil that the band members were going through at the time and which resulted in such a creative body of work? Go Insane was the first opportunity for Buckingham to really get into the gig and he took it.
Lindsey Buckingham is the focal point of the band. The solid rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie has been the cornerstone of the band for over forty years. But Buckingham is the elemental force and the band would be nowhere without him. His vocals are raw, his guitar work falls short of virtuoso, but by God does he give it his every ounce of energy. And tonight he carried the audience with him and it was fantastic.
Next up was Rhiannon, one from way back and the unutterably lovely Stevie Nicks started to come into her own. Along with Elkie Brooks and Carol Decker, Nicks has long given me the shivers with her voice. Quite incredibly she is now 61 and she still takes the breath away. She has never had a powerful voice (unlike Brooks and Decker) and her contralto now lacks the edge of old. But she is wonderful and no one was going to nitpick on a night such as this.
Nicks performed Sara beautifully, before Buckingham launched into Big Love. Mercifully there was no attempt to replicate the male/female grunting and gasping fadeaway of the original recording - it was all one-sided!
Never Going Back Again, Storms and Say You Love Me followed. Then Nicks picked up Gold Dust Woman from the Rumours album and gave it the full treatment, with a lovely, drawn out ending led by Mick with Nicks bathed in a golden glow from the lights. And immediately followed on by Oh Well - back to the Green/Kirwan days and a faithful rendition by Buckingham.
Now, the Mac are not a band that necessarily have the audience on their feet. They produce well-crafted work and don't go in for rabble-rousing. But as they closed their set everyone was up singing, dancing and rocking along to Go Your Own Way.
And then a surprise. For an encore, rather than belt out another favourite as the audience expected, Mick Fleetwood suddenly took the limelight. The drum solo is a lost art but during World Turning Mick involved us, the rabble, and had us on our feet again. Then a sign-off with another singalong Don't Stop.
At which point the O2 audience, totally wrecked, headed for the exits. But amazingly there was a second encore as the set approached three hours in length and Silver Springs was played to a half-empty auditorium.
Truly the formers lovers and clearly still soulmates Buckingham and Nicks, and the rocks that are Fleetwood and McVie, comprise one of the best blues/rock bands of all time. Their Dublin gig will never be forgotten and the Mac put in a huge effort as if they suspected that they are on borrowed time. We, the audience, had much more than our money's worth. Just a nagging regret that Christine McVie wasn't around with her old mates.
Last night (Saturday) at the O2 in Dublin two of the original members of that band, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie were still laying down the rhythm for the band forty years later. It's gobsmacking isn't it?Not so for some of those in the audience, each of whom had paid upwards of €80 to see these legends, arguably the greatest band still on the road. Quite probably never to tour again. A steady stream of punters only intent on travelling to and from the bars for a steady supply of fizzy shite lager. Like it was being discontinued tomorrow. And resulting in further disruption as this resulted in the drinkers having to regularly leave their seats for a piss. Turning their backs on some of the most sublime music ever made. Truly it is very sad, the need to have an alchoholic drink before it is considered that one has a night out. Now, I'm no stranger to alchohol but last night made me ashamed.
But that spoilt my evening only slightly. The gig will remain memorable for howevermuch time I have left. The O2 Arena is a magnificent venue and the atmosphere was electric - the audience comprising younger ones who were only stars in the sky in 1969 as well as us greybeards.
They could have performed anything and we would have been pleased. Guitarist Lindsey Buckingham said that, with no album to promote, they had decided just to have fun on this tour and play what the audience wanted. Early on they sung The Chain, long adopted by the BBC for their Formula 1 coverage and happily reinstated now that they have bought back the rights from ITV.
The first of many from the mega-selling Rumours album. Was it just me or did Buckingham appear to falter and compose himself briefly as he spoke about the personal turmoil that the band members were going through at the time and which resulted in such a creative body of work? Go Insane was the first opportunity for Buckingham to really get into the gig and he took it.
Lindsey Buckingham is the focal point of the band. The solid rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie has been the cornerstone of the band for over forty years. But Buckingham is the elemental force and the band would be nowhere without him. His vocals are raw, his guitar work falls short of virtuoso, but by God does he give it his every ounce of energy. And tonight he carried the audience with him and it was fantastic.
Next up was Rhiannon, one from way back and the unutterably lovely Stevie Nicks started to come into her own. Along with Elkie Brooks and Carol Decker, Nicks has long given me the shivers with her voice. Quite incredibly she is now 61 and she still takes the breath away. She has never had a powerful voice (unlike Brooks and Decker) and her contralto now lacks the edge of old. But she is wonderful and no one was going to nitpick on a night such as this.
Nicks performed Sara beautifully, before Buckingham launched into Big Love. Mercifully there was no attempt to replicate the male/female grunting and gasping fadeaway of the original recording - it was all one-sided!
Never Going Back Again, Storms and Say You Love Me followed. Then Nicks picked up Gold Dust Woman from the Rumours album and gave it the full treatment, with a lovely, drawn out ending led by Mick with Nicks bathed in a golden glow from the lights. And immediately followed on by Oh Well - back to the Green/Kirwan days and a faithful rendition by Buckingham.
Now, the Mac are not a band that necessarily have the audience on their feet. They produce well-crafted work and don't go in for rabble-rousing. But as they closed their set everyone was up singing, dancing and rocking along to Go Your Own Way.
And then a surprise. For an encore, rather than belt out another favourite as the audience expected, Mick Fleetwood suddenly took the limelight. The drum solo is a lost art but during World Turning Mick involved us, the rabble, and had us on our feet again. Then a sign-off with another singalong Don't Stop.
At which point the O2 audience, totally wrecked, headed for the exits. But amazingly there was a second encore as the set approached three hours in length and Silver Springs was played to a half-empty auditorium.
Truly the formers lovers and clearly still soulmates Buckingham and Nicks, and the rocks that are Fleetwood and McVie, comprise one of the best blues/rock bands of all time. Their Dublin gig will never be forgotten and the Mac put in a huge effort as if they suspected that they are on borrowed time. We, the audience, had much more than our money's worth. Just a nagging regret that Christine McVie wasn't around with her old mates.
(REVIEW) FLEETWOOD MAC GLASGOW "They Keep Going Their Own Way"
(Rated 4/5)
Independent.co.uk
(Page 17 Indendent Life)
Reviewed by David Pollock
To those familiar with their patchwork history, the fact that this current incarnation of Fleetwood Mac has remained stable for a little over a decade is something approaching a miracle.
Guitarist, sometime singer and key songwriter, Lindsey Buckingham, alludes to previous traumas with mention of recording their classic album, Rumours, during which period he and Stevie Nicks were breaking up their relationship: "there were a lot of emotional opposites between us". Yes, there was "aggression" to be worked out during "Second Hand News", but rarely has such spite sounded as joyful as it did here.
Whatever bridges may have been burned during this era and Buckingham's departure from the band following 1987's Tango in the Night have obviously been long since rebuilt. At the end of "Sara", Nicks – a hippyish figure in a changing array of sequinned shawls and dresses, her eyes dreamy and her hair a fresh bottle-blonde – takes Buckingham in a tender embrace of friendship. To applause and camera flashes from the audience, words are whispered between the pair, and it's another moment for the photo album when they emerge holding hands for the encore an hour later.
These two have clearly settled into a lifelong friendship, but many might have noticed the opposite attraction of their musical relationship. While the pair's voices manage a beautifully rootsy combination on duets like "Don't Stop" and particularly a stripped-back acoustic pairing for "Never Going Back Again", their individual contributions are markedly different.
Nicks, spinning gently on the spot, is a folky bohemian, a rustic chanteuse during familiar tracks like "Gypsy", "Rhiannon" and an acoustic "Landslide". While the musical styles of the Janis Joplin-esque "Gold Dust Woman" and "Stand Back"'s alarmingly contemporary electronic keyboard riff are markedly different, Nicks's persona doesn't shift.
Buckingham, on the other hand, is a study in almost manic intensity, particularly when Nicks has walked off to effect another costume change and he's left alone to indulge himself with the stalwart rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. Perhaps over-fond of the extended instrumental, he plays with a serious stare and punctuates each song with whoops and stamps of the feet. It's a little overwrought, but Buckingham conjures a young man's vitality during "Tusk", "Go Your Own Way", "Oh Well" and a truly spine-tingling acoustic take on "Big Love".
For a band who deal in definitively enduring pop classics, there was the odd clunking moment – a dull "Go Insane", Fleetwood's literally barking drum solo during "World Turning". Yet the magic far outweighed these brief lulls, and the drummer's assertion at the end that "we'll see you next time" was a promise we'd like to hold him to.
FLEETWOOD MAC VERY BEST OF ENTERS UK CHARTS AT #6
Fleetwood Mac's 2009 2CD
'The Very Best Of'
charts at number six on The Official UK Top 75 Albums
one position higher then the debut of the 2002/03 single disc release.
The Top Ten:
1. Alexandra Burke – 'Overcome'
2. Michael Buble - 'Crazy Love'
3. Whitney Houston - 'I Look To You'
4. Seasick Steve - 'Man From Another Time'
5. Paolo Nutini – 'Sunny Side Up'
6. Fleetwood Mac - 'The Very Best Of'
7. Spandau Ballet - 'Once More'
8. Chipmunk – 'I Am Chipmunk'
9. Paloma Faith - 'Do You Want The Truth Or Something'
10. Vera Lynn – 'We'll Meet Again: The Very Best Of'
(PHOTOS) FLEETWOOD MAC - Le Zénith
FLEETWOOD MAC LIVE IN PARIS
OCTOBER 17, 2009 LE ZENITH
Photos by: gile811 (Gallery)
or the Slide Show Option
PHOTO SPREAD - FLEETWOOD MAC, GLOBEN - STOCKHOLM 10.10.09
FLEETWOOD MAC - AT GLOBEN
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
OCTOBER 10, 2009
Photos by: Rockphotos.se
Through the main site page, check out many other artist
THIS PAGE IS INSPIRED BY THE STYLE OF STEVIE NICKS (SUNDAY MAGAZINE)
BOHO BELLE
10.25.09
Katie Newton suggests embracing your ‘70s gypsy with a luxurious take on bohemian style
In honour of Fleetwood Mac’s December tour, this page is inspired by the style of Stevie Nicks. With her long blonde hair, husky voice and fondness for flowing chiffon, Nicks fronted the band during its most popular period and went on to become one of the most loved women in music.
She has also, it has to be said, become something of a style icon. Hers is a look that’s a world away from that of the flesh-baring nymphettes in music today, but one that saw her become one of the sex symbols of the ‘70s. Although there are people who have never stopped dressing like their idol, most others ( who are old enough) abandoned the look during the glam ‘80s and minimalist ‘90s.
But now, more than 30 years after the hit album Rumours, chichi boutiques and top-end designers are stocking such garb all over again.
Bear in mind, Nicks’ look is not that hippy-dippy Haight-Ashbury one that Sienna Miller made famous during her Jude Law days. It is instead a much more luxurious take on bohemian style. It’s about texture and layering and exquisite fabrics, teamed with confidence, glossy hair and groomed nails. Parts of Trelise Cooper’s collections are a good place to start, as is Vivienne Westwood’s Anglomania range.
While cheaper items can be thrown in the mix, buying the whole lot from the bargain bin won’t have the desired effect. Quality accessories are a key component, with the hand-crafted luxury of brands like Henry Beguelin particularly apt. Look for textural elements such as fringing, crochet and faux fur to incorporate. And although some crucial elements, like her plumed top hat and teetering platform boots, are missing on this page, I hope to see plenty of examples gracing the New Plymouth crowd come December 19.
MICK FLEETWOOD INTERVIEW IN DUBLIN
By JEROME REILLY
Sunday October 25 2009
Independent
If one band summed up the hedonistic eighties more than any other, it was Fleetwood Mac.
Now founder member Mick Fleetwood admits that it was early to bed on Friday night in Dublin in advance of their two gigs at the 02 Arena.
He's a little shamefaced to say that he had dinner at his hotel with his sister, who travelled over from Cornwall with a mutual friend.
"A lovely quiet evening. The old hedonism sometimes rears its head when I discover I've had too much wine but these days we are all very well- behaved. It's one glass of wine and five glasses of water."
The band has been exploring Dublin.
"Lindsey (Buckingham) loves walking and loves architecture so he was off exploring the city. He seems to always find his way back to the hotel in time for the gig."
The current tour features Buckingham and Stevie Nicks along with the legendary rhythm section of Fleetwood on drums and John McVie on bass.
Despite their best efforts it proved impossible to lure Christine McVie, writer of some of their biggest hits, out of a self-enforced retirement.
"Christine hates flying, which is something of a impediment when it comes to a world tour. We are still all close to Christine and looking forward to catching up with her in London," he says.
But before that there may be another reunion.
Peter Green, the original creative genius behind Fleetwood Mac during their heydey as one of the most influential British blues bands, is playing the Academy on Monday night with his own band.
"Is Peter playing? Brilliant, it's my night off. I would love to go. When I'm not with Fleetwood Mac I have my own little band playing small venues and we play all of the old stuff that Peter created. I'm so glad you told me that," he added.
Last night's gig at the 02 was a sell-out but there are still tickets left for tonight's concert promoted by MCD.
Mick is convinced that there is another album in the band -- possibly next year.
"We are all up for it but Stevie is a little bit reluctant to commit to a time."
"I truly hope we get it together. It's tough committing to a new album. Stevie works incredibly hard and she is the lady of the band.
"We are trying not to really discuss it yet," he added.
REVIEW: My night with Fleetwood Mac - Dublin, Ireland
By: Chris
So here we go again, we want ... well ... to be transported back to the days before kids and mortgages and middle-age spread. And surely none better to take us there than Fleetwood Mac; to those warm summers soundtracked by Stevie Nicks, singing to us from a million miles away.
And it is a promising start - 'Monday Morning','The Chain', 'Dreams' ... . But the setlist is odd, not so much the content - all the big numbers are present - but rather the running order. Stevie sings 'Rhiannon', so Lindsey sings 'Tusk' to a standing ovation. So Stevie follows with 'Sara', which Lindsey tops with a stunning solo take on 'Big Love'. It dawns on me, it's a competition and we are in charge of the clap-o-meter.
In Stevie's mind this is clearly her band. But everyone else in the room knows that the stage belongs to Lindsey Buckingham. His voice is stronger than ever and his guitar technique is jaw-droppingly brilliant. In her head, and truth be told in mine too, Stevie is that sylph like girl from '77 with the lace shawls and high-heel boots. On stage tonight her voice occasionally grates, she fiddles with the control to her earpiece, and she walks around flat-footed in what appear to be a pair of orthopedic shoes. Lindsey Buckingham on the other hand prowls the stage like a raptor, wringing stinging solos from his guitar.
There is much made of the main players' past relationships, and for the encore Stevie and Lindsey come back on stage holding hands. It's like a Broadway show or a daytime soap. It made me want to see a Lindsey Buckingham solo show, or Stevie with an orchestra, or order the vegetarian option ... give me something without the ham.
Don't get me wrong, it's a slick show, it has the songs, it has the musicianship, it just doesn't click. Maybe it's just me. 1977? I guess I'm never going back again. :-)
Note to the O2 Dublin: When I spend €100 on a ticket to see Fleetwood Mac I don't necessarily expect to have Stevie Nicks blow cocaine up my arse during the interval, but nor do I expect to have a restricted view seat. (We complained, they moved us)
THE MICK FLEETWOOD BAND WILL TOUR AUSTALIA IN FEBRUARY, 2010
MICHAEL MCDONALD
&
BOZ SCAGGS
Australia Tour. Feb 2010.
With special guest THE MICK FLEETWOOD BLUES BAND appearing selected dates.
&
BOZ SCAGGS
Australia Tour. Feb 2010.
With special guest THE MICK FLEETWOOD BLUES BAND appearing selected dates.
TICKETS ON SALE 9am WED 4 NOV.
Five-time Grammy Award winner Michael McDonald joins legendary singer songwriter Boz Scaggs to perform all of their greatest hits, along with songs from their latest albums, Soul Speak and Speak Low.
Joining them for selected shows will be the Mick Fleetwood Blues Band, who will be performing a mix of their own original material and Fleetwood Mac songs.
With three music legends sharing the stage, audiences will be thrilled to hear all of their favourite songs from these exceptional artists. However, while the lyrics and the tunes might be familiar, in the hands of McDonald, Scaggs and Fleetwood these songs will be reborn into something intoxicatingly original.
Tickets go on sale 9am Wednesday 4th November and are available through Ticketmaster 136 100 and Ticketek 132 849.
*Special guest The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band will be appearing at the following selected shows:
Saturday February 20 - Sutton Grange Winery, Victoria
Sunday February 21 - Balgownie Estate Vineyard Resort & Spa, Yarra Valley
Friday February 26 - WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong
Saturday February 27 - Riverstage, Brisbane
Full Press Release at AMP
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