REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac Performance Takes Cynics by Surprise - Dublin

FLEETWOOD MAC LIVE IN DUBLIN

By John Meagher

Friday October 30 2009

Independent.ie

They may have been on the road to make yet more millions off their old songs, but Fleetwood Mac put in a performance at The O2 last weekend that took cynics such as me by surprise.

For two-and-a-half hours Stevie Nicks, a remarkably youthful looking Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie played with an enthusiasm and verve to appease anyone grumbling over the high price of tickets.

Hearing Nicks sing their finest song, Sara, was especially lovely as was the obvious joy Buckingham derived from the middle aged folk in the front rows.

What wasn't nearly so pleasant was having two loudmouth gentlemen in the row behind, both of whom were incapable of keeping their mouths shut during the performance and utterly oblivious to the furious glances of those around them. The situation was made all the worse by their cretinous friend from Cork who came over to them several times to crack schoolyard, homophobic jokes about his county's hurling goalkeeper Dónal Óg Cusack.

If any of you three laminate-wearing buffoons are reading this, stay away the next time someone offers you a freebie -- and give the tickets to someone who would really appreciate them.

Photos: Fleetwood Mac Live in Rotterdam

FLEETWOOD MAC

ROTTERDAM (AHOY) 10.15.09

Photos by: Markus.Presser (Gallery)

PHOTOS: Fleetwood Mac Live in Manchester at MEN Arena Oct 27, 2009

Manchester, UK MEN Arena 10.27.09

Photos by: Ian (Gallery)

REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac - Manchester, UK October 27, 2009

FLEETWOOD MAC 
at MEN Arena 27/10/09

It's a funny thing about Fleetwood Mac, when I hear them I'm instantly transported to a fantasy 1970s that most likely never even existed and it's all what I imagine it was like based on stuff I've seen on TV. I'm pretty sure I'm to young to actually remember Rumours when it was originally released, so just why it has such an effect is beyond me. But I like it.

I'm not a huge Fleetwood Mac fan, and I'd never seen them live before but when I heard they were touring again I decided to get myself some tickets and check it out. The current line up is the same as the Rumours line up, but sadly minus Christine McVie and they're not promoting any new material so I knew it would basically be a greatest hits package, which suited me.

Continue to The Morningstar for the full review/pictures

REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac Live in Manchester "The Guardian"

Fleetwood Mac Live 

Manchester Arena - October 27, 2009

By Dave Simpson

The Guardian

"This band have a complex emotional history," begins guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, hinting at Fleetwood Mac's rollercoaster of bedhopping, cocaine, mental illness and religious cults, which is almost as famous as their music. While the antics (and some members) have been lost to the years, the music, particularly 1977's mega-selling Rumours, still defines AOR cool and inspires current acts, not least Bat for Lashes.

Without a new album to promote, the Mac are choosing songs for "fun": nothing from 2003's underwhelming Say You Will, but rather a fantasy setlist from their ravishing back catalogue. After a tumultuous The Chain, a hallucinatory Dreams and a wistful Gypsy, the band charge into Rhiannon, Sara and a drumming-led Tusk. It feels like seeing off an army only to face bigger cannons coming over the hill.

The songs don't sound exactly as they did. With leather-jacketed Buckingham – the band's Clash fan – seemingly on a mission to prove the band remain relevant, the AOR sheen has been stripped away to reveal the emotional turmoil and even anger that inspired them. The delicate counterpoint is the ethereal Stevie Nicks, whose dulcet tones cast a spell. The hug between her and lost-love Buckingham might be scripted, but it nonetheless seems as poignant as Landslide's lyrics about "getting older".

In two and a half hours, there isn't a dull moment. Highlights are a dark Gold Dust Woman and a Buckingham guitar rampage, delivered to a standing ovation. Fans of the Mac's 1960s blues-rock incarnation are sent into raptures when the band pile into Oh Well, so electrifying it could power a small town. As an exultant Mick Fleetwood puts it: "The Mac are back!"

(PHOTOS) FLEETWOOD MAC - MANCHESTER MEN ARENA 10.27.09

FLEETWOOD MAC

MANCHESTER, UK - 10.27.09

A few shots by: PJ

(Gallery)

REVIEW and PHOTOS: Fleetwood Mac Live in Manchester, UK

FLEETWOOD MAC LIVE

MANCHESTER, UK - October 27, 2009

REVIEW AND PHOTOS

IORR.ORG

Photos by: SimonN

BBC 1 THIS SUNDAY.... FLEETWOOD MAC "DON'T STOP" DOCUMENTARY

What's on the box this week?
'Fleetwood Mac: Don't Stop' 
(BBC 1, Sunday)
Meathchronicle.ie

Almost everything that ever happens to a rock band has happened to Fleetwood Mac. One of the greatest and most enduring acts in popular music, they began in the 1960s and can still sell out stadiums in 2009, surviving countless personnel changes and inter-band meltdowns.

Featuring new interviews with Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, this documentary delves deep into the heart of the band, tracing the relationships, turmoil and changes and unwinding the complex love story between Nicks and former partner Buckingham.

Now, Fleetwood, McVie, Buckingham and Nicks are back onstage together, singing the songs that were fuelled by their 1970s relationships and their fall-out. Together they are Fleetwood Mac, one of the biggest names in rock. But it still hurts.

(PHOTOS) FLEETWOOD MAC - MANCHESTER UK

Fleetwood Mac 

MEN Arena, 

Manchester, UK

27th October 2009.

Photos by: Phil Lee 

(gallery)

FLEETWOOD MAC "TUSK" 30th ANNIVERSARY INTERVIEW WITH STEVIE & LINDSEY

IN THE STUDIO

The Story's Behind History's Greatest Rock Bands

UPCOMING INTERVIEWS

Fleetwood Mac

Tusk (30th Anniversary)

Week of November 2nd

With guests Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks

In The Studio with Redbeard

The weekly hour-long "rockumentary" features in-depth exclusive interviews with the superstar musicians who have created the greatest albums in rock & roll history. Now in its 21st year, In The Studio is syndicated each week to over 85 U.S. cities & distributed by Radio K & G of New York City. In The Studio is a Barbarosa Ltd. Production by veteran Dallas-based radio personality Redbeard.

(REVIEW) FLEETWOOD MAC - GLASGOW

FLEETWOOD MAC REVIEW
SECC, Glasgow, Thu 22 Oct 2009
by: Amber Baxter
List.co.uk

Most bands go through their fair share of drama. Some have inter-band relationships of a non-platonic nature, a few manage to forge successful careers at the top of the charts, even fewer manage to amass a back catalogue that spans decades.

Fleetwood Mac have done all this and more. Their personal history is as compelling as it comes, and alongside this they have scored hit after hit. They’re a songwriting arms factory that has produced lethal pop weapons such as 'Gypsy', 'Second Hand News' and 'Gold Dust Woman' - and they’re back.

It’s in the pursuit of showcasing these classic songs that four-fifths of the most commercially successful combination of Fleetwood Mac take to the stage at the SECC.

Without Christine McVie, vocal duties are left to Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham meaning McVie’s musical contributions are omitted, so no 'Little Lies', no 'Songbird' and no 'Everywhere', this doesn’t put a damper on the evening though, as there’s still plenty to keep everyone happy.

Early renditions of 'Monday Morning' and 'The Chain' from their second and most tempestuously recorded album Rumours, along with Buckingham’s words on the making of the album itself, warms up the sold out arena crowd nicely. ‘We were going through such emotional turmoil,’ Buckingham recounts. Thankfully, going by tonight’s onstage comradeship, with Buckingham and Nicks holding hands and singing to each other, all this seems to be in the past.

Highlights include Buckingham’s solo acoustic rendition of 'Big Love' which showcases his technical ability as a guitarist, Nicks' faultless performance of 'Landslide' and pre-encore set finisher 'Go Your Own Way', which easily commands the biggest applause of the night.

After thanking the rest of the band, Mick Fleetwood delivers one of the most confusing drum solos ever in encore opener 'Worlds Turning' by shouting in a Scottish accent and (what sounds like) rapping in a Jamaican accent.

Closing the set with a few too many words, Fleetwood thanks the crowd, which is a sweet, if slightly drawn out touch.

He can be forgiven though - if I’d been feeding and nurturing the cash cow that is Fleetwood Mac so successfully for forty years, I’d be looking to milk it too.

PHOTOS: Fleetwood Mac M.E.N. Arena Manchester October 27, 2009

FLEETWOOD MAC LIVE

MANCHESTER, UK - October 27, 2009

Photos by: Pastapaul

Silver Springs was dropped as the final encore (for those keeping track)