REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac Sheffield Arena November 2, 2009

FLEETWOOD MAC LIVE 
SHEFFIELD ARENA - November 2, 2009
By Leeroy
GigJunkie

Fleetwood Mac are one of those classic bands that thrived due to conflict. Much has been said of the marriages, divorces, flings, and admirations within the band but throughout the years the best songs have come from the worst of times. They still would be classed as one of the biggest bands to hit the planet, with Rumours still being one of the top ten selling albums EVER!

So when they announced a reunion the initial rumours (excuse the pun) were that they'd be headlining Glastonbury, this didn't happen much to my dismay. But when a small 6 date UK tour was announced, I was one of the first in line, even at the steep price of £75 for some of the best seats in the house. Although much the tour hasn't quite sold out, there weren't many seats left vacant in the gods at the back of the arena, something a slightly lower price tag would have solved.

The line up of the bands namesake, Mick Fleetwood, fans hero Lindsey Buckingham, almost ever present bassist John McVie, and pin-up and fashion icon for many Stevie Nicks, is the same as the 2004 tour and again missing Christine McVie since leaving the tense world of Mac. Fittingly all four members all came onto stage from seperate directions, leaving a certain doubt as to whether the tension in the band still exists. The first few tracks felt like the band were just getting warmed up, even the track that introduced me to Fleetwood Mac at a young age of Formula One watching, 'The Chain', was as powerful as on record, but felt like they'd not quite gelled everything together. Luckily that was a fear that was quickly resolved a chat to the crowd from Lindsey explaining that the band this time were determined "with no album to promote 'yet'", they were just going "to have fun and play all records that we love and hopefully so do you".

Continue to Gig Junkie for full review

REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac Live in Sheffield - November 2. 2009

Fleetwood Mac Live
Sheffield Arena 2/11/09
Sheffield Telegraph

YOU know a strike's making an impact when one of the world's most famous bands delays its show as a result.

On Monday, outside the Arena, a huge queue snakes around its walls as hundreds complain their tickets haven't arrived.

"The band are delaying their show ten minutes," shouts a member of staff, only to repeat her message ten minutes later.

But the wait's worth it.

Fleetwood Mac – despite vowing they would never play again – play a set of classics, including The Chain, Rhiannon, Go Your Own Way, Don't Stop, Say You Love Me and Sara.

And surprisingly, the band play arguably their biggest hit, The Chain, second.

Delivery is impeccable - the world's most famous bass line sounds bigger and more visceral than its does opening the BBC's F1 coverage.

The line-up includes Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Lesley Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.

Buckingham and Nicks take their perches at the front of the stage, exchanging glances, smiles and even a cuddle throughout the show.

And, remarkably, despite it being 41 years since the Grammy-winning Rumours was released, Nicks' trademark voice – both whisky-laden and ethereal, is superbly unchanged.

At several points throughout the show Nicks disappears behind the stage, emerging wearing a different shawl or a dress.

Her black and deep red floaty costumes reflect the dual-character of her voice – which is are at once other-worldy, earthy and dark.

Buckingham's on form too, elaborating – perhaps a little excessively – on the guitar solo to Go Insane.

He also shines as a soloist, playing intricate acoustic guitar on softer numbers as the band retreat to the back of the stage.

And then, following his lone performances, Buckingham stands at the front of the stage, lapping up the applause – rightly so.

PHOTOS: Fleetwood Mac Unleashed in Birmingham, UK November 3, 2009

FLEETWOOD MAC LIVE IN BIRMINGHAM

November 3, 2009

Photos by: ahisgett (View Gallery)

PHOTOS: Fleetwood Mac Captured in Birmingham

PHOTOS BY: JASON SHELDON

Junction 10 Gallery

FLEETWOOD MAC - "DON'T STOP" DOCUMENTARY COMMENTARY

Fleetwood Mac and a divorce lawyer’s Rumours
MarilynStowe

I watched an incredibly personal interview with the band Fleetwood Mac on the BBC the other night, in advance of their forthcoming British tour. The band members are clearly older and wiser than they were in the late 1970s. They had stories to tell about the emotional turbulence in their lives when arguably they were at the height of their success. It made fascinating viewing for me, a fan who keeps The Very Best Of close by in my bedroom.

I love the music and I love their voices, but I must admit that the words haven’t always made sense to me. I’ve just been conscious that these are world-class artists producing world-class timeless music. Now I understand how their tumultuous lives have contributed so much to their art.

Continue To Marilyn's Blog

(PHOTOS) FLEETWOOD MAC - SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND 11/02/09

FLEETWOOD MAC

SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND

NOVEMBER 2, 2009

Photos by: Scuba Maldives

(Gallery Link)

REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac - Sheffield Arena - Sheffield, UK Nov 2, 2009

By Mike Russell
Sheffield Telegraph

GREATEST hits they promised and greatest hits they delivered - Fleetwood Mac were back last night, thrilling a packed Sheffield Arena.

Five years after they insisted they were calling it a day for good, Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie and Lindsey Buckingham are on tour again playing songs "just for fun" - and fun it most certainly was.

This was a debut appearance in these parts for the band's most famous incarnation, the one which gave the world the mega-selling Rumours, and they came armed with a fantasy setlist designed to thrill any fan.

Bland it wasn't. Freed from its usual F1 home The Chain roared out of the starting blocks, second song in, with power to spare, while a fierce percussion-led Tusk banished any thought that the Mac are simply gentle easy-listening.

Buckingham in particular seemed determined to prove the band aren't ready for their pipe and slippers just yet, giving many of the rockers like Go Insane the big solo guitar god treatment.

With Christine McVie opting out of the current reunion, there's more focus on Nicks, whose voice remains strangely ethereal and other-worldly.

You can't go far wrong with a songbook like the Mac's - highlights included Say You Love Me, Sara, Rhiannon, Gold Dust Woman and the mighty Go Your Own Way.

There was even a nod to the original Peter Green-led version of the band, with a punchy version of Oh Well, which was one of the highlights of the night.

While McVie and Fleetwood remain as tight a rhythm section as ever, it's Buckingham and Nicks who now dominate the band, and they had plenty of references to the band's often tumultous past - a living soap opera as famous as any in pop.

Any flabby moments were soon swept away by yet another big tune. Everyone was up and bopping to encore Don't Stop - and on this form no-one will want them to.

(REVIEW) FLEETWOOD MAC "DON'T STOP" DOCUMENTARY

Review:
Fleetwood Mac - Don't Stop, BBC One
Written by: Adam Sweeting
The Artists Desk

Fleetwood Mac - Don't Stop lacked the caustic edge of the Rock Family Trees film about the band from 1995. That contained some great stuff about the fake Fleetwood Mac launched by their former manager Clifford Davis, true confessions from ex-guitarist Bob Weston about his affair with Mick Fleetwood's wife, and the one about addled guitar hero Peter Green wandering around with pieces of cheese in his hair. But inevitably director Matt O'Casey's new film had the advantage of being able to bring the story up to date, notably in a bittersweet coda reflecting on the still-unbridged chasm between Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.

For all the doggedness of founding father Mick Fleetwood, who increasingly resembles a castaway from a tropical island - funnily enough, he now lives in Hawaii, along with original bassist John McVie - the Mac became the biggest band of their era because of Buckingham and Nicks. Of all the inter-band traumas, theirs was the most spectacular, intense and creative, and it still bites both of them hard to this day.

Nicks, in particular, wasn't pulling any punches. It hurt her when Buckingham wrote "Go Your Own Way" about her, and it still does: "Ladylike, prudish Stevie, which I am, was very offended by him saying 'shacking up is all you want to do', because I was not in any kind of shacking up mood. I was not shacking up with anybody."

By all accounts Buckingham has always been a gifted but bloody difficult band-mate - "one of those people that will go up on the cross to make a point, and die," as Nicks put it - but marriage and children have given him some equilibrium. Yet his history with teenage sweetheart Stevie is still a weeping scab. "Maybe in 10 or 15 years when Lindsey and I are 75, we'll be friends again, when Fleetwood Mac is a distant memory," she said wistfully. But like the Flying Dutchman, maybe the Mac can never stop.

Watch Don't Stop on the BBC iPlayer here.

REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac Live in Sheffield - November 2, 2009 - at Sheffield Arena

FLEETWOOD MAC LIVE IN SHEFFIELD

November 2, 2009

by: Steve Newson Dot Net

Am coming down from an awesome performance by Fleetwood Mac at Sheffield Arena. If you have a chance to go see them I most heartily recommend. Can't sleep yet so I thought I'd record a few thoughts for posterity. 

It was my first time at Sheffield Arena, what a great venue. I much prefer it to the NEC. I managed to trade my two tickets at the back of the arena for 1 ticket just 12 rows from the front plus cash. So had a fantastic view. The only marginal downside was being sat next to the scouser from hell. Clearly short of the odd marble he kept shouting at Lindsey Buckingham to play "Go your own way", which was the last song of the main set, so he kept it up most of the night.

Such minor annoyance could not detract though from the greatness of the Mac. Lindsey Buckingham really is a maestro. I can't think offhand of a better guitarist that I've seen live. Even when he went off into guitar solo heaven he held a meaningful tune that you could not help but tap, sway or dance along to. Contrast that with most solos that show off guitar competency but really aren't musical. Case in point Mick Fleetwood and his drum solo, ok so it proves he can play but I just wanted it to end and them to move onto a song. 

Stevie Nicks was fantastic, she's still got one hell of a voice and together with Buckingham they belted out all the great anthems. 

Mick Fleetwood and John McVie provide a solid backbone to the band and with supporting cast the delivery was faultless. The only missing member of what you might consider the classic Mac line up was Christie McVie. 

I don't know what's happened to the average British concert goer since I last went to a gig, but when did they start all sitting like lemons? You can't go to a live gig like this and not dance! What's the point of shelling out £60 for a ticket if you're not even going to try being moved by the music. If you just want to watch them play competently buy the DVD. Have we lost our soul or is it just good old British stoicism? Have to admit I got up and boogied. Showing my age I guess. 

An electrifying night that will live in my memory for some time to come. 

VOTE NOW! FOR FLEETWOOD MAC AS THE GREATEST SHOW PERFORMED AT MSG

“100 BEST: Vote Down to the Greatest Garden Show of All Time”

FLEETWOOD MAC NOVEMBER, 1979

MADISON SQUARE GARDEN

(2 SHOWS)

Here's how it works:

Each week, you will get the chance to place your vote and advance your favorite artist/musical group from each decade to the next round of the competition! From rock legends Johnny Cash, Led Zeppelin, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac to today's top acts John Mayer, Alicia Keys, The White Stripes and tons more from the '70s, '80s, '90s, and '00s! Stay tuned each week to see what lineup is revealed for the next decade and if your favorite concert made it to the polls!

Fans can vote every day, all day

leading up to the February finale, in which MSG will reveal the WINNER of the the greatest Garden performance of all time!

DEADLINE FOR VOTING THIS

WEEK NOVEMBER 8TH

Click here for more details about the VOTEDOWN
Check out the competition and place your vote for the best Garden show of the '70s:
HERE
This week's vote is for the greatest Garden show of the '70s!

Polls for the '70s decade, Round 1 End on Sunday, November 8th

so get as many votes in as you can NOW!

Also, Feel free to follow MSG on Twitter msgnyc to get up-to-date info.

Images and Select Text Courtesy of MSG

Thanks Sena!

REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac Survived 42 Years of Madness

John Walsh:
Independent.co.uk

'Fleetwood Mac survived 42 years of madness, sex, drugs, failure and success'

I went to see Fleetwood Mac at Wembley Arena and, musically speaking, it was wonderful. The strains of "If You Go Your Own Way" (which Lindsay Buckingham wrote about Stevie Nicks after their stormy relationship came to an end), the passion that Stevie Nicks put into "Sara" (the song she wrote about her best friend, for whom Mick Fleetwood left his wife after he'd ended his affair with Stevie), the tenderness of "You Make Loving Fun" (which the keyboards player Christine McVie wrote in a tribute to the lighting-rigger for whom she conceived a passion when her husband, the bassist John McVie, hit the bottle), [note: that song was not in the setlist] and the final singalong of "Don't Stop" (which Christine wrote after her eight-year marriage packed up,) were inspiring indeed, although my favourite moment was Buckingham's gorgeous solo rendition of "Never Goin' Back Again" (about Stevie's breakdown, after her well-documented cocaine addiction...)

You can try and keep the music separate from Fleetwood Mac's emotional serpentinings, but it wouldn't be so much fun. No beat combo in rock history has had such combustible permutations of personnel, or such terrible luck. They've survived 42 years of madness, drugs, marital bust-ups, sexual rivalry, drink, failure, bankruptcy, wild success, rehab clinics, and a whole gamut of peculiar hairstyle choices. Their heyday was of course 1975, when Fleetwood and the warring McVies signed up Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks and they made Rumours out of their tormented relationships. Many thought it commercial schlock at the time, but the tunes got inside your head and stuck like fishhooks.

So I went to see them at Wembley – and what a weird sight they make these days. Mick Fleetwood, now 62, shiny-pated and white-bearded, whacked the drums like a deranged pirate king, widening his scary eyes until the whites glowed. During an extended solo, he appeared to hold a conversation with the tom-toms. McVie, the inscrutable former tax inspector, wore a white Kangol beret and a black waistcoat. We looked at him and Fleetwood, their grizzled chins and stolid Britishness. "My God," breathed the person beside me, "it's Chas 'n' Dave."

Buckingham, in skinny leather jacket and collarless T-shirt, talked about the band's emotional rollercoaster, struck attitudes and scrubbed his guitar during long solos. It was very much the Lindsey Show. Ms Nicks sang gorgeously in her low contralto and did her twirling-with-a-shawl routine, but sounded emotionally conflicted, like a pissed-off Pollyanna.

They look absurdly different – how did they ever work together? Mick and John, like retired yeoman farmers, relaxing after a hard day's pig-scratching. Lindsey and Stevie, seeming half a generation younger, so Californian, neurotic, theatrical. Buckingham, though an astounding guitarist, seemed prattish and full of himself beside the cool beardies. At the end, he teased the crowd with hints of another album. Mick Fleetwood wasn't bothered about such things. "Look after each other in this crazy world," he told the crowd, with evident emotion, and was rewarded with a mighty cheer – not for being a rock star, for being such an indestructible old (English) buzzard.

***

MICK & LINDSEY (FLEETWOOD MAC) GUESTS ON RADCLIFFE & MACONIE

BBC - Radio 2 (link)

Monday November 9th

Fleetwood Mac's Mick and Lindsey

will be Guests