Review: Fleetwood Mac Live in Saskatoon Nov 12, 2014

New prolific, profound chapter for Mac
By Cam Fuller, The StarPhoenix
Photos by Gord Waldner - View Gallery

About 10,000 people showed up to watch iconic Fleetwood Mac perform in Saskatoon at SaskTel Centre, November 12, 2014

Not that they needed it but Fleetwood Mac got a kind of do-over after their last appearance here only 18 months ago.

That show, in the same venue, was a full-on, fully fulfilling rock show that found the legendary band still playing with commitment and zeal. But it did come with an asterisk in the form of the absent Christine McVie. At the time, it was too much to hope that she'd rejoin her band mates.

But clearly, fear of flying can be beaten, and it was the band's best-loved lineup that inhabited SaskTel Centre on Wednesday: McVie, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie.

The set list was extensive and, if you think about the millions those songs have earned their creators, expensive - 20 plus massive hits that have become part of the cultural fabric without going out of style.

The Chain opened the show fittingly, since the links are again joined. The sound was full and percussive with forceful vocals by Buckingham (and he was just warming up). The big thrill here though was that iconic bass riff by John near the end. The strings sounded thick as fingers, the fathoms deep notes thumping in your chest.

The fans were sure to welcome Christine back with warm applause when she started singing You Make Loving Fun. Later she expresses her thanks for "a rare chance to do this twice."

With the missing link back, Stevie Nicks seemed more relaxed and into it.

"We don't get to do snow very often so this is pretty cool," she said after doing Dreams.

Review - The StarPhoenix Nov 13, 2014

After a stirring, fast Second Hand News it was clear this band was in fantastic form. Almost every song was made to be special - Tusk was almost scary and positively demented. Frequent nature scenes on the huge backdrop added mood to songs like Rhiannon. Not to be overlooked were the two backing players and three backup singers. Even the ballads had guts and drive.

This was no nostalgia act, Buckingham hinted, saying a new, prolific and profound chapter has begun. It's a big claim but hard to dispute.

Mac is back.

The band has seen its share of drama but that's what you get with strong personalities. The payoff comes when everyone is pulling in the same direction. The concert seemed to concentrate that passion and let it fly, whether it was Fleetwood's god of thunder drumming on Gold Dust Woman or Buckingham's furious strumming on the very cool I Know I'm Not Wrong. And with post-deadline landmarks still to pass, whether it was Go Your Own Way or Don't Stop, the well travelled road of this band seems to extend into the horizon.

Fleetwood Mac Never Sounded Better

Fleetwood Mac Live in Winnipeg
MTS Centre - November 10, 2014

by Scott Taylor
mytoba.ca

Concert reviews never seem to capture the quality of a rock show. They don’t capture the intensity or the response of the crowd. Concert reviews are often beautifully written and sometimes technically snobby, but they never seem to grab your ass like the band does.

Monday night at MTS Centre, Fleetwood Mac returned to Winnipeg and had about as much fun as any group of 20-year-old rock stars could possibly have. Considering that Lindsay Buckingham is 65, Stevie Nicks is 67, Mick Fleetwood is 68, John McVie is 69 and that hot blonde keyboardist/songbird, Christine McVie, is 71 says, quite clearly, that you are NEVER too old.

I’ve been to dozens of rock shows, but few have been as technically sound or as joyfully performed as Fleetwood Mac’s return to the ‘Peg as the original band on Monday night. They weren’t perfect, but they were damn close and the full house — and it was jam-packed to the rafters — nearly wet its collective self.

Now, I know this sounds a little hyperbolic, but hang with me for a second. These people are not young. They started touring a month ago and they are on tour until February. There are 68 dates in the On With the Show Tour. If they were going to take a night off, a Monday night in Winnipeg would be a good choice. Like, who’d ever know, right? Play a few hits and get on the bus. The rubes in central Canada would never suspect anything.

But they didn’t take the night off. They played for 2 ½ hours and they nailed it. From the opening song, The Chain, until an absolute killer rendition of Don’t Stop, they tore the roof off the place.

I know, it surprised me, too. In fact, the people around me were generally jaw-dropped. Fleetwood Mac has been doing this together for 40 years, it can’t be new or fun or shockingly good. But it was. It was 10 times better than I expected and 100 times better than my 29-year-old companion expected.

Continue to the full review

Say You Love Me
Rhiannon

Everywhere
Gypsy
You Make Loving Fun
Don't Stop

Review: 'Last night belonged without question to Christine McVie'

Fleetwood Mac proves triumphant at MTS Centre
Winnipeg, MB - November 10, 2014
By Nigel Moore
Metro

The chain has kept them together, after all these years. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees Fleetwood Mac – the classic 1970s lineup of five – thrilled many baby boomers on a date night yesterday, as the band’s On With The Show tour triumphantly landed at the MTS Centre for a 2½-hour concert.

The mischievous 6’6” drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and his band co-founder, bassist John McVie (hence the Mac’s name), Lindsey Buckingham (guitars and vocals) and Stevie Nicks (vocals), who both joined back in ’75, and the returning songbird, Christine McVie (keyboards and vocals): five distinct personalities who have somehow stayed together and made it work, going on almost four decades. Buckingham came back after quitting for several years in the late ‘80s, but last night belonged without question to Christine McVie, who is touring for the first time in 16 years after a hiatus brought on by her fear of flying.

Photos: David Lipnowski
VIEW GALLERY

Fleetwood Mac opened with “The Chain” from Rumours (1977), silencing any doubts they’re still a ferocious rock band. The follow-up song was Christine McVie’s “You Make Loving Fun”, which got a roar of approval from the audience to welcome her back. “Thank you for giving me a second chance; you don’t often get that,” she said before “Everywhere” from 1987’s Tango in the Night. Still sounds great, by the way.

Many came to see Stevie Nicks, whose sexy, raspy voice on “Dreams”, followed shortly by “Rhiannon”, doesn’t quite soar as it once did, but has gained a smoky quality that she makes work. Nicks can still twirl the heck out of a shawl and, at times, when she was dancing she looked eerily like her 20-something self, shimmying under her black top hat.

Buckingham led the band in an explosive “Tusk”, the title track from their 1979 double LP, which sounded surprisingly current and vital, then a heavy version of “Sisters of the Moon” from the same album – a damn cool song that Nicks really sold on vocals.

Mid-way through their set, the Mac stripped it down for a few self-indulgent acoustic numbers that slowed things down a bit too much. Nicks took the stage for a truly gorgeous “Landslide”…she is “getting older too,” but the gypsy hasn’t lost any of her mystery, nor magic. There were a few other, shall we say, less-than-exhilarating parts of the show. The worst offender was Buckingham, whose solos – one in particular that seemed to go on forever (another beer, anyone?) – were clearly appreciated most by the notoriously egotistical guitarist himself. But still, seeing him sing “Go Your Own Way”, the mother of all bitter break-up songs, with Nicks some 37 years after their split is still a blast.

Fleetwood left his gigantic drum kit in the back of the stage for a smaller one up front. Watching him play in person, you can see he’s a fluid, effortlessly powerful drummer. His trademark fills put the punctuations on his status as one of rock’s greatest drummers. Later for the encore, his extended drum solo within “World Turning” from Fleetwood Mac (1975) was both awe-inspiring and hilarious, as only Fleetwood himself can be.

Meanwhile, apart from a couple of short bass breaks, John McVie hung back near the drums and made almost no impression on stage. He could have been mistaken for a session player, which is probably just as he likes it.

Review | Photos: Fleetwood Mac Live in Winnipeg

Fleetwood Mac's terrific live show more than just Rumours
By: Jen Zoratti
Winnipeg Free Press
MTS Centre
November 11, 2014

Photos above: John Woods - View Gallery

Fleetwood Mac is easily one of the most rock ’n’ roll bands in rock ’n’ roll.

From the cocaine binges to the in-fighting to the affairs to the cults (founding member Jeremy Spencer left to join one in 1971) to the extravagant contracts (Nicks and McVie reportedly wanted their hotel rooms freshly painted in specific colours before they arrived), the band has the kind of history rock biographers dream of.

Dishy drama aside, Fleetwood Mac is also responsible for one of the best-selling albums of all time — 1977’s landmark Rumours — and a catalogue of enduring classics. And then, of course, Fleetwood Mac also has Stevie Nicks — that quintessential blonde California girl in her shawls and fringes, who inspired a thousand imitators with both her songwriting prowess and her iconic image.

It’s easy to get romantic about Fleetwood Mac, whose current (and aptly titled) On with the Show tour rolled into the MTS Centre on Monday night, the band’s second show in Winnipeg in less than two years. As Jada Yuan wrote in a Vulture profile of Nicks, "you don’t come to one of their shows just for the music; you come to watch them masochistically stare down their past before a live audience." The history onstage is palpable.

And with Christine McVie back in the band rounding out the most famous Mac lineup of Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Nicks, Monday night’s show felt even more significant.

After opening with The Chain — which boasted a blistering Buckingham solo; the man is ageless — Christine was given a warm welcome back when she took over the mic for You Make Loving Fun. "Welcome Winnipeg! And welcome back Chris!" Nicks shouted before launching into Dreams.

As one would expect, the sprawling two-and-a-half-hour show was mostly a greatest hits package; if you came to hear Rumours in nearly its entirety, you were rewarded — the band played everything but Oh Daddy and I Don’t Want to Know.

Much-loved McVie songs — such as Everywhere, Say You Love Me and Over My Head — are also obviously back in rotation this time out, which was another treat; it’s been 16 years since we’ve heard Christine’s fine-wine pipes live. (She quit the band in ’98, apparently due to a crippling fear of flying.) And she delivered; her presence made the performances feel more "complete," to borrow a word from Mick Fleetwood.

She might not be able to reach the heights she used to, but Nicks’ voice has also gotten deeper and richer with age, as evidenced on Rhiannon, a purring Sisters of the Moon and, later on in the night, show-stopping performances of Landslide and the ever-haunting Gold Dust Woman. The latter, in particular, will go down as one of the year’s best concert moments. She sent shivers down this reviewer’s spine.

If Stevie Nicks, twirling in her shawls and her ribbon-festooned tambourine, is a rock ’n’ roll goddess, then Buckingham is a bona fide guitar god. I Know I’m Not Wrong — with the guitarist turning in a positively punk rock performance — was an early set highlight, as was the driving Tusk. An arresting solo-acoustic reading of Big Love — from 1987’s Tango in the Night — was a stunning reminder of what an agile guitarist he is. It’s a bit of a shame that he wasn’t given more room to stretch out on more extended jams; the solo on I’m So Afraid was a scorcher.

The energy barely waned over the course of what was a marathon show, but it never felt like it. A boisterous Little Lies had the folks in the first few rows on the floor dancing their hearts out. Main set closer Go Your Own Way — with Nicks in her top hat — was similarly resplendent.

The band returned for a sizzling four-song encore that included World Turning (which, like last time, featured a pummelling Fleetwood drum solo), a bouncy Don’t Stop, Silver Springs — written for Lindsey, according to Mac lore — and, fittingly, closed with a spare, stripped-down version Christine McVie’s lovely Songbird.

Maybe Buckingham was right when he said this was the start of a new chapter for Fleetwood Mac earlier in the night. This isn’t a mere nostalgia act. This is a band renewed.

Photo by Sarah Taylor | Chrisd.ca - VIEW GALLERY

Fleetwood Mac Announce Europe/UK Dates Through May - June 2015

MAY 2015
May 27 - The O2, London
May 28 - The O2, London

JUNE 2015
June 01 - Ziggo Dome, Amsterdam
June 04 - Lanxess Arena, Cologne
June 06 - Sportspaleis, Antwerp
June 08 - Genting Arena, Birmingham
June 12 - Manchester Arena, Manchester
June 16 - SSE Hydro, Glasgow
June 20 - 3Arena, Dublin
June 30 - First Direct Arena, Leeds

- 02 Priority Ticket Pre-sale begins Nov 12th at 9:00 AM (for London, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds)
- Live Nation Pre-sale begins Nov 13th at 9:00 AM (UK Dates only)
- Tickets go on general sale Friday November 14th at 9:00 AM.

Ticket will be available either with Ticketmaster or Livenation

There are a lot of spaces between dates so there will either be multiple shows in certain places added or more dates announced.

Fleetwood Mac will announce a new UK tour on Monday (November 10th) 9am

Mick Fleetwood says Fleetwood Mac will tour the UK next summer, but rules out headlining Glastonbury

Fleetwood Mac will announce a new UK tour on Monday (November 10th), but drummer Mick Fleetwood has ruled out the band headlining next summer's Glastonbury Festival.

The band are in the midst of a huge US tour, their first with Christine McVie since 1997 and look set to announce a new batch of UK dates for next summer.

Fleetwood Mac will be touring through May and June in 2015, the full dossier will be announced on Monday. 

The Mac are back. Fleetwood Mac return with Christine McVie after a 16 year absence. Announcement, Monday at 9am. pic.twitter.com/QWli4rlQcl
— Live Nation UK (@LiveNationUK) November 7, 2014

Fleetwood Mac drummer tells Salon new "Rumours" stories, reflects on Stevie Nicks affair, shares regrets

Mick Fleetwood on “Rumours”-era excess: “I’m damn lucky I never killed anyone!”

Photo: Chris Pizzello

EXCLUSIVE: Fleetwood Mac drummer tells Salon new "Rumours" stories, reflects on Stevie Nicks affair, shares regrets

By David Daley
Salon.com

The Mick Fleetwood pictured on the back of his new memoir, “Play On: Now, Then and Fleetwood Mac,” looks fabulously content. This is the rock star as elegant dandy, stylish in tails, draped in an accent of gold jewelry, a trim white beard. It’s an advertisement for the good life, if not living right.

Crazy, isn’t it? Because the Fleetwood on the cover has a wicked gleam in his eye, as he peers out from under a rakish hat, hair down around his shoulders. This is the Fleetwood of the mid-t0-late ’70s, the drummer whose band was re-energized by the arrival of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, who recorded 1975′s “Fleetwood Mac” with “white powder peeling off the walls of every room” in the studio.

But the madness was only beginning: The relationships of Buckingham and Nicks, along with John and Christine McVie, were unraveling amidst angst, affairs and mountains of cocaine. “Rumours” chronicled the dissolution of it all, selling tens of millions of albums worldwide. They were among the biggest bands in the world, and they lived every moment of it to the extreme. “The drugs of course were plentiful,” Fleetwood writes, “and we partook of the finest Peruvian flake quite a bit, both to numb the pain and to find the energy to persevere.”

Even grander extravagance followed, and I don’t just mean “Tusk.” Their contracts required fleets of limos to be available on demand. Nicks and McVie wanted their hotel rooms freshly painted in specific colors before they arrived; Nicks also required a white piano. Cocaine was measured out to the entire touring party after the show — “everyone who lined up got their packet” — at a specific announced time in each city. “It was fabulously expensive, wonderful and sometimes depraved,” he admits.

The hits, of course, have fueled presidential campaigns and never gone away. Even the albums you think you know are studded with gems. The albums get discovered and rediscovered and continue to influence new generations. (Note to anyone in high school, or ahem, later than that, who I made of fun for loving them, from behind the righteousness of my Smiths shirt: Sorry about that!) And the five-piece band from those iconic albums is now back together and touring into next year — Fleetwood calls it a “victory lap” in the book, so you might check it out while you can — but he also reveals that the band is working on new material.

All of this, of course, is the stuff of great rock memoir, and “Play On” doesn’t hold back on the stories behind the songs or the dramas on the road and in the studio. Fleetwood is also deeply reflective on the relationships he sacrificed to the band, whether as a father, a husband or a son. We talked last week in New York. There was only 20 minutes and he gives long answers. The interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Continue to the full interview at Salon.com

BBC INTERVIEWS: Mick Fleetwood "Play On: Now Than and Fleetwood Mac"

MICK FLEETWOOD INTERVIEWS

5 Interviews from this past week in London with Mick promoting his new book
 "Play On: Now, Then And Fleetwood Mac

Photo Gallery: BBC Radio 4 Loose Ends with
Mick Fleetwood, Matt Berry, Imtiaz Dharker, Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford, GoGo Penguin

BBC RADIO 4 
Loose Ends - November 11, 2014

Listen on-line

BBC RADIO OXFORD
Howard Bentham
Friday, November 5, 2014
Listen on-line (advance to the 42:13 min mark)

BBC RADIO SCOTLAND

MacAulay and Co - November 5, 2014

Listen on-line (advance to the 54:00 min mark)

BBC RADIO 6

Radcliffe and Maconie - November 5, 2014

Listen below or at BBC Radio 6

BBC RADIO 2
The Chris Evans Breakfast show - Friday, November 7, 2014
Listen on-line (advance to the 1:40 min mark)

Sunday Concert Series with Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks

Sunday, November 9th 2:25 PM ET
(Repeats Mon, Nov 10th 4:30 AM ET)
Stevie Nicks - Live in Chicago

A radiant Stevie Nicks captivates in her first solo performance to be filmed since 1987. Clad in her trademark look of high heels and lace, she elegantly showcases her vocal abilities with stunning performances of her best, along with carefully chosen covers for a comprehensive career retrospective.

Sunday, November 9th 3:25 PM ET

Rock Legends: Fleetwood Mac

Rock Legends features archive material, music videos "Dreams" and "Landslide" to detail the storied career of Fleetwood Mac.

Sunday, November 9th 3:55 PM ET

Fleetwood Mac, Live In Boston

Mick, John, Lindsey and Stevie unite for a passionate evening playing hits from Say You Will, as well as "Go Your Own Way", "Dreams" and "Don't Stop". The combination of harmonious delivery and purposeful melodies show why they will always remain a classic. Other hits include "Rhiannon" and "Landslide".

In an eye-popping new memoir, Fleetwood Mac's leader reveals the true epic scale of their debauchery

The rock star who snorted a line of cocaine 7 miles long! In an eye-popping new memoir, Fleetwood Mac's leader reveals the true epic scale of their debauchery... 

By Tom Leonard
The Daily Mail

The Daily Mail - November 7, 2014

Fleetwood Mac were sitting around stoned in the studio one night with one of their engineers when they set about solving an arithmetic problem that had been niggling at them.

How much cocaine, they wondered, had drummer Mick Fleetwood put up his nose? Working on the premise he had taken an eighth of an ounce every day for 20 years, the sound engineer calculated that if you laid out the drug in a single snortable line, it would stretch for seven miles.

Rock ’n’ roll is full of such apocryphal stories, but as Fleetwood admits in a candid new memoir, this one is completely true. But then, this is the band that in 1977 gave the world Rumours, one of the best-selling albums ever, and almost died in the process.

Though they appeared deceptively inoffensive, with their hippy-ish outfits and gentle, melodic hits such as Don’t Stop, Little Lies and Go Your Own Way, when it came to decadence and over-indulgence, Fleetwood Mac made the Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin look like a Salvation Army band.

Video: Stevie Nicks Talks New Album '24 Karat Gold" and touring solo

Stevie Nicks Talks to Access Hollywood about her new album '24 Karat Gold – Songs From The Vault' saying she will eventually tour behind this album indicating she has a little over a year left with Fleetwood Mac, which would put her into Nov/Dec, 2015 - so 2016 would seem to be the year Stevie goes solo. 

STEVIE NICKS "24 KARAT GOLD - SONGS FROM THE VAULT"

Out Now! Order from Stevienicksofficial.com

'As for a new Fleetwood Mac album, Mick is optimistic"

FLEETWOOD MAC LEGEND MICK FLEETWOOD: THE 5 BEST DRUMMERS EVER
And he talks about the Fleetwood Mac tour and his secret dream of being in the Rolling Stones.

By James Joiner
Esquire.com

It's safe to say that Mick Fleetwood, drummer and founding member Fleetwood Mac, with 47 years of rock stardom under his belt, has stories to share. And so he does in his new autobiography Play On, an intimate trip through memories that also double as an inside guide to one of the most influential periods and bands in music history, as told by one of its most pivotal figures. It's all there. And now that Fleetwood Mac are back together touring, it's all relevant again.

"With Christine McVie coming back, we're all intact, so it's really thought-provoking. I probably won't properly digest it all until six months into this phase, but in real time it's amazing. She's so happy to be doing what she's doing, and she's a really great influence on all of us. She's like a little kid. Not that we're all jaded and don't like doing this, but it does step up the action a bit. Stevie [Nicks] is overjoyed. She says on stage, 'I've missed having another blonde in the band.' So it's all good. You know, we'll have to be really stupid or try really hard to fuck this one up.

"All joking aside, it's truly amazing. The relationship with our audience has never been shabby. It's fair to say this particular band, maybe more than quite a lot of other bands, there's a lot of personal storytelling that people feel very connected to outside of the music. It's like performance art, it's really profound, and that's what we're in right now, which you can have no complaint about."

As for a new Fleetwood Mac album, Mick is optimistic. Surprisingly so.

"We have a whole lot of material from Lindsey [Buckingham] and me and John [McVie] from the last two and a half years, and also Christine, when she came to LA a little while ago. We have a whole bunch of tracks. We're hoping... We don't really know how it's going to be placed. My hope is, of course, that it becomes a full-fledged Fleetwood Mac offering. There's really not much time now, this tour is unfolding as we speak, but my heart tells me that, within the next couple of years or less, there will be a really, really cool Fleetwood Mac album. And that's certainly my hope."

Until then, we asked Mick Fleetwood to share and talk about the drummers who have inspired him throughout his career. 

Continue at Esquire for the full article