Monday, November 02, 2009

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


BBC - Radio 2 (link)
Monday November 9th
Fleetwood Mac's Mick and Lindsey
will be Guests

REVIEW: FLEETWOOD MAC LIVE IN LONDON... "The Band were in implausibly good form"

Fleetwood Mac, Wembley Arena, London
Financial Times
By Ludovic Hunter-Tilney
4/5 STARS

Expectations for a sedate night of heritage rock from a group of sexagenarians notorious for living well but unwisely were shattered as soon as Fleetwood Mac struck up “Monday Morning”. The 1975 track sounded vibrant and crisp, with Mick Fleetwood hammering his kit and Lindsey Buckingham giving some Springsteen-style welly to the vocal. The band were in implausibly good form.

The “Unleashed” world tour is their first get-together in five years. The songs mainly dated from the band’s 1970s heyday, when the Brit blues outfit founded by Fleetwood and John McVie in 1960s London morphed into Anglo-Californian soft-rockers with the addition of Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.

It wasn’t quite the return of the full Rumours-era line-up: McVie’s keyboardist ex-wife Christine was missing, having quit touring in the 1990s. The surviving foursome showed no scars of their turbulent past, an epic tale of excess encompassing drugs, drink, chaotic romantic affairs and Spinal Tap-style follies.

The grey-bearded, pony-tailed Fleetwood, clad eccentrically in black knee-breeches and red court shoes, with a trademark pair of wooden balls dangling from his belt in the style of a mysterious fertility symbol, played with an antic gleam in his eyes: Prospero with a pair of drum sticks. His flat-cap-wearing sidekick McVie was rock-solid on bass, giving tracks such as “The Chain” bite beneath the irresistible West Coast harmonies.

Nicks, “our lady of Fleetwood Mac”, as Fleetwood introduced her, suffered from a low mix on “Dreams” but this was soon rectified. Her look combined rock-chick leather boots and floaty outfits that flowed poetically around her, stirred by a wind machine and her slow, swirling dance moves. Yet there was nothing mystical about her vocals, which had the powerful nasal twang of a country-rock grande dame.

Buckingham led from the front, barking out vocals and playing scorching guitar solos, such as the virtuoso axe heroics at the climax of “I’m So Afraid”. His whoops and “Yee-aahs!” were pure arena-rock ham. No wonder there was no stage scenery – Buckingham would have chewed it up. Yet his performance was tight as a spring. There was nothing bloated about this group of rock survivors.

MICK FLEETWOOD (FLEETWOOD MAC) DIRECTOR SPEAKS ABOUT VIDEO

MICK FLEETWOOD AS IVAN THE TERRIBLE
Bel Air Artist Stephen Verona

Picture of the Week #49 "Mick Fleetwood as Ivan the Terrible" Los Angeles, California 1983 Signed and Stamped.

After abandoning producing and directing Music Videos in 1972 to focus on features, I couldn't resist when asked in 1983 to produce & direct Mick Fleetwood. I consider him the best drummer in rock and roll. And, though he doesn't sing or compose I found it challenging to come up with a subject matter for the video.

Continue at Bel Air Artist Stephen Verona's blog for the rest

FLEETWOOD MAC 30th Anniversary "TUSK" with LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM AND STEVIE NICKS

Fleetwood Mac "Tusk" 30th Anniversary
with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks
This Sunday, November 8th - WKTG
Listen Live Sunday Morning at 9am.
I believe this station is broadcasting out of Madisonville, Kentucky, USA

To listen to a preview of the show... Check out inthestudio.net

REVIEW: Stevie Nicks emerged like a gothic fairy - Live in London

FLEETWOOD MAC, WEMBLEY ARENA, LONDON
By Gary Nicks
Daily Star

FLEETWOOD Mac could have retired gracefully years ago knowing their place in rock history is assured.

But they keep coming back for more - and can still conjure up the same magic that made them megastars in their 1970s heydey.

From the moment Stevie Nicks emerged like a gothic fairy, you knew it was going to be business as usual.

The band may have a combined age of 251 years, but they deliver their timeless hits like the grand masters of soft rock they truly are.

With no new material to promote, their Unleashed world tour is all about serving up bucketloads of classic tracks for fans.

And they really are plundering their back catalogue going way back to when they formed as a blues-rock outfit in 1967.

From Peter Green's charging Oh Well through to the synth pop 80s of Tango in the Night, it’s all there in a packed two and a half hour set.

The hair may be greying and the vocals sometimes strained, but that didn't seem to matter.

Crowd favourites were always going to be tunes from their self-titled 1975 album and their career-defining 1977 album Rumours.

Don't Stop and Go Your Own Way had the seated arena on its feet and air guitaring, while the slower Landslide and Sara rekindled the band's trademark dreamy atmospherics.

The biggest cheers went to foot-stomping anthem The Chain.

Frontman Lindsey Buckingham strutted around the stage like his ego was still about to burst.

The guy is a clearly a six-string genius, but it was like he was trying to be cooler than your dad on a wedding dancefloor.

Bassist John McVie and Mick Fleetwood, the founding members, were steady as ever (and bizarrely looking like Chas & Dave with flatcaps and waistcoats.)

But what a shame the line-up lacked Christine McVie, who quit years ago, meaning no more of those lovely harmonies with Stevie.

Mick was barmy, grunting like a mad man in his solos and emerging from behind the drums with spiny red shoes brighter than Dorothy's.

They all - apart from John - gave mini-speeches about surviving in one of the world's biggest bands.

Lindsey thanked fans and reminded us: "You know, we have a convoluted and emotional history."

It's ok, we know Lindsey, and that's what makes Fleetwood Mac still being together that much more alluring.

THREE FLEETWOOD MAC DOCUMENTARIES ON THIS WEEK - BBC FOUR


Triple
FLEETWOOD MAC
Feature
this Friday and Saturday
November 6/7th

Friday:
21:00 - Fleetwood Mac - Don't Stop Documentary
22:00 - Rock Family Trees - Documentary

Saturday:
00:45 - Peter Green: Man of the World - Documentary
02:25 - Fleetwood Mac - Don't Stop - Documentary