MICK Fleetwood loves Australia so much he is visiting twice this Summer
Patrick Donovan
TheAge.com
Over the next two nights, his band Fleetwood Mac will perform hits such as Go your Own Way, Don't Stop, Rhiannon, Gypsy and Tusk before sell-out crowds at Rod Laver Arena.
He will return seven weeks later with the Fleetwood Mac Blues Band to play at country wineries with Boz Scaggs and the Doobie Brothers' Michael McDonald. While only one song - 1967's Oh Well - is likely to feature on both tours, he says the blues band is his way of paying homage to the originators who started the band with him 40 years ago.
''Over my career I've been called a pop star and a rock star, yet in my inner heart, I will always be part blues man,'' says Fleetwood. ''On my journey from blues to a life of rock'n'roll, I've always remembered where I started.''
This week's shows, says Fleetwood, will feature a different set list to its last tour in 2004. Recent lists lean heavily on the classic 1977 Rumours and 1979 Tusk albums, as well as solo songs from members Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.
''This tour will be different because we always usually play new songs - it's always fine and people bear with it - but this time around we don't have a new album,'' he says from his home in Maui, Hawaii. ''After 40 years of being who you are, it's cool to be less selfish. The crowds are loving it because they are emotionally connected to every single song.'' His return trip will be more of a show for blues purists.
''It will be for more of a boutique tour, but I think people will have a lot of fun playing songs like Oh Well, Albatross and Shake your Money Maker - all of the great old stuff that started Fleetwood Mac.''
Fleetwood Mac play Rod Laver Arena tonight and tomorrow. The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band play Sutton Grange Winery, Victoria, on Saturday, February 20, and Balgownie Estate Vineyard Resort & Spa, Yarra Valley, on February 21.
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