INSIDERS SUGGEST STADIUMS OF UP TO 70,000 FOR FLEETWOOD MAC/EAGLES

Fleetwood Mac & The Eagles Eyeing Joint Summer Stadium Tour

By: Howie Edelson

KBSRadio.ca

Promoters are pitching a joint Fleetwood Mac/Eagles Sumner tour of stadium and arenas to venue operators and promoters across the U.S., according to livedaily.com. The site reports that "the double bill is being considered for a combination of single nights in baseball and football stadiums and multiple nights in arenas." No dates have been announced, but industry insiders are suggesting that the show will undoubtedly pack stadiums of up to 70,000 at every venue the tour plays. So far there's been no word as to when an announcement will be made.

Throughout their '70s heyday, the groups'kept up a friendly rivalry while vying for the top spot as California's hottest rock band. Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles have only played on the same bill twice -- on July 25th, 1976, in Foxboro, Massachusetts at Schaefer Stadium; and on January 12th, 1998 when both bands performed at New York;'s Waldorf Astoria for their respective inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Don Henley and Stevie Nicks were romantically linked back in the late '70s, and scored a 1981 Top Ten hit with their duet "Leather And Lace." The pair went on to tour with each other in 2005. Henley shed some light on his deep friendship with Nicks: "We go back a long way. We don't see very much of each other these days. I mean, she's got her life and I've got mine, and there's certainly nothing going on here on a romantic level. But we're friends. We feel like we've been through a lot of the same things in our careers."

Nicks was asked how, after so many years as a working unit, Fleetwood Mac is able to still deliver at the top of their game with each new road trek: "It stays fresh because we never stop playing. Y'know, basically what we are is entertainers. Even if this band had never made it big, we'd be playing all the clubs, we'd be playing all the clubs in Europe, we'd be still doing that because what we really are is entertainers. So when we go onstage -- we're performers. We're performance artists, that's what we do. So it isn't a question of keeping it fresh because it's what we love. We don't basically have anything else to do."

Fleetwood Mac performed last night (December 16th) in Boondall, Australia.

The Eagles will play their first-ever shows at L.A.'s Hollywood Bowl on March 16th, 17th, and 20th.

REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac Live in Brisbane "Fleetwood’s wearing well"

FLEETWOOD MAC
Brisbane Entertainment Centre Review:
By: Noel Mengel
The Courier Mail

FLEETWOOD Mac have survived bustups, missing band members, messy affairs and complete musical makeovers in their 40-year career.

They aren’t letting a little thing like a year spent on the road slow them down either.

The band played the first of two Brisbane Entertainment Centre shows last night, playing for 2½ hours and packing the set with songs from their Fleetwood Mac, Rumours and Tusk albums.

It’s an odd mix but the contrasts are what made them strong: the two veterans of the British blues boom, with Stevie Nicks’s ethereal spirit contrasting with Lindsey Buckingham’s intensity.

Sadly keyboard player Christine McVie has retired and her songs are missed, while Mick Fleetwood is returning in February with his blues band to play tunes from the band’s pre-1975 history, mostly absent here.

The format isn’t much altered from their set at the same venue five years ago, with room for solo excursions, plus loads of Buckingham’s guitar solos.

Somethings you expect: Stevie in black, Lindsey lean in leather jacket, John McVie in his cap.

Some things are a surprise: the aggression that Buckingham brings to songs like The Chain, Nick’s exquisite delivery of Landslide. Plus, they can always kick the show into high gear anytime they want to drop the big bombs, songs like, Rhiannon, Sara, and Go Your Own Way.

As Buckingham explained, there were a lot of emotional opposites in songs like Second Hand News.

The old hurts that produced songs like that might be way in the past, but the songs themselves have weathered well.

Fleetwood Mac play the Brisbane Entertainment Centre again tonight.

PHOTOS: Fleetwood Mac Live at Boondall - Brisbane

Fleetwood Mac Live @ Boondall

December 15, 2009
Photos by: Triple M 104.5

REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac "THE MAC'S BACK" Brisbane, AU - NIGHT #1

The Mac's back
By: JOSHUA HOEY
Photo Gallery
WAToday

The BBC comedy The Mighty Boosh has a running joke about Fleetwood Mac's 1979 album Tusk.

And while the capacity Brisbane Entertainment Centre crowd last night was not treated to the full length of the album "in its entirety, with the pauses, as Lindsey Buckingham intended it to be heard", they did go wild for the album's title track.

The song's strange syncopations and tribal drum rhythms produced an impassioned and enthusiastic response among the crowd that was characteristic of last night's performance.

This reviewer has never seen a more rapturous Brisbane crowd.

Each song was followed by an almost overwhelming roar of applause, shouting, and cheering, and by the end of the night standing ovations had become commonplace.

Fleetwood Mac's Unleashed tour promised a two hour celebration of all the band's greatest hits.

It was exactly what fans were hoping for, and it was exactly what they got.

The band performed some of their lesser-known tracks, but classics like The Chain, Dreams, Rhiannon, Sara, Landslide, Go Your Own Way, Don't Stop and Everywhere dominated the set list.

Mick Fleetwood's recognition of Lindsey Buckingham as the band's "maestro" was apt - the lead guitarist's solo performance of Big Love roused the entire arena, impressive considering he performed it on a classical six-string guitar.

As is to be expected from a seasoned performer, Buckingham has consummate control of his craft, easily modulating between tender, mournful picking, and unimpeded, raw aggression.

But, the true star of the night was always going to be Stevie Nicks.

The band's frontwoman, dressed in her trademark shawls and gypsy dresses, enraptured fans with her performance.

Shouts of adoration and support for Nicks could be heard throughout the show.

At times Nicks slightly adapted the melodies of some tracks, but her iconic voice, with it's dark, melancholic timbre, was as powerful and compelling as ever.

Often revival tours have a certain haggard, worn atmosphere, but there was nothing of the sort at last nights performance.

And calling the tour a "revival" isn't really accurate anyway - Fleetwood Mac have never been in the need of rejuvenation.

They are, simply put, one of the greatest rock groups performing today.

PLATFORM SEATING OVER LAKE AT BOWL OF BROOKLANDS REVEALED

Gearing up for grandstand view
By MATT RILKOFF
Taranaki Daily News

THE six-year-olds of New Plymouth’s Frankley School had mixed opinions of the temporary seating platform installed for the first time over the Bowl of Brooklands lake yesterday.

Work on the much-debated platform began on Monday and should be mostly finished by today.

It adds more than 1000 premium-priced seats to the Bowl’s capacity and will be used at the weekend’s two Fleetwood Mac concerts.

Tickets on the platform cost $320 and Poppy Johnson, 6, reckoned it looked cool.

She particularly liked the light brown plastic seats, which have been used at various venues around the North Island before finding a home here.

Sophie Dempster, 6, also thought the platform looked ‘‘nice’’ but did not know who Fleetwood Mac was and neither did Harry Clegg, 6, who had other things on his mind anyway.

‘‘My friend Cooper is an alien and his parents are too and they have a spaceship under their trampoline,’’ he said, despite Sophia Longstaff, 6, telling him Cooper’s parents had just been joking.

Tina Johnson, mother of Poppy, said she was pleased with the look of the platform though suspected she was one of the few.

‘‘They think it’s against the whole spirit of the Bowl. I think it is a good way to stop the silly buggers jumping in the water and getting electrocuted,’’ she said.

Neale Kendall, the man overseeing the installation of the platform, said his company Acrow Ltd had put in temporary seating in all sorts of venues around the North Island.

However, putting them in over a lake was a first.

‘‘The boys brought up waders, had their tetanus shots, got the insect repellent and sunscreen. This is a job we didn’t want to take lightly.

‘‘We are the last link in the chain and if it doesn’t go right, unfortunately it’s my head on the block. Saying that, I’m very confident it will be OK,’’ he said.

Work on removing the platform will begin on Monday.

Brookland’s Zoo is closing at noon on Saturday and all of Sunday this weekend.

‘‘Pedestrian and vehicle traffic will be restricted before the concerts start so the zoo will be closed as well,’’ zoo spokeswoman Eve Cozzi said.

Public vehicles must be out of the zoo’s carpark by noon on Saturday to enable the Bowl’s setup to be finished by the time entry to the venue’s holding areas open at 5pm.

PHOTOS: Fleetwood Mac Live in Paris October 17, 2009

FLEETWOOD MAC LIVE IN PARIS

OCTOBER 17, 2009 - LE ZENITH

Photos by: Daniel Froidevaux

Gallery | Slideshow

LIGHT PANEL THICKNESS... AM I SEEING THINGS?

Has anyone else noticed that the panels that hang above the band during their shows in Australia are considerably thinner then the ones used in the US and presumably Europe?

Check the thickness of the panels in these shots taken in Brisbane last night (especially the first photo) to the ones used in the US (last photo). I'm sure they were downsized for transport purposes to Australia/New Zealand - trying to minimize expenses. Doesn't appear to change the effect they have.  Just something I noticed.... Or am I seeing things?

Photo by: helenamich

Photos by: BeechamMotors

US Version:

UP A SPOT IN NEW ZEALAND...

FLEETWOOD MAC'S "THE VERY BEST OF" is up a spot this week on New Zealand's Top 40 Albums Chart for the week ending December 14, 2009.

New Zealand Chart Run for the 2009 version.
NOV 16, 2009 - #9
NOV 23, 2009 - #7
NOV 30, 2009 - #7
DEC 7, 2009 - #12
DEC 14, 2009 - #11

62 Comments on this story and counting.... Fleetwood Mac in Perth

Fleetwood Mac don't disappoint at Members Equity Stadium concert

Tons of feedback/reviews on Jay Hanna's review of Fleetwood Mac in Perth this past Friday... 62 Comments and counting... and probably 98% positive...

Funniest concert synopsis? I walked out, bloody lip-syncers...

Check them out here