REVIEW Lindsey Buckingham Live in Washington, DC October 19, 2018

Lindsey Buckingham at National Theatre
“We love you, Lindsey!”

“Fleetwood who!?

“I’ll have all your babies!”

Check out the photo gallery at OnTapOnline

Although Lindsey Buckingham’s show at the Warner Theatre on October 19 wasn’t quite sold out, those in attendance showered love and support for Fleetwood Mac’s former singer, songwriter and lead guitarist extraordinaire. Performing songs from a catalog going back 35 years, both from solo work as well as his days with Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham turned in a stellar and moving performance.

The concert opened quickly with “Don’t Look Down,” “Go Insane” and “Surrender in the Rain.” But soon enough, Buckingham addressed the matter on everybody’s mind: his recent, and untimely, ousting from Fleetwood Mac, saying slyly “one of the reasons” for this tour was because Warner Brothers had asked him to put together a compilation of his solo work.

“Although I’ve never been one to look back, this was an opportunity to examine a body of work that’s stood up pretty well, and perform some songs we’ve never done live.”

Most fans are now well aware of the controversial and acrimonious aspects of Buckingham’s departure from his former band, but he was in a generous and contemplative mood, saying the situation should be viewed with compassion.

For the man who wrote, arguably, the angriest break-up song ever, “Go Your Own Way,” I found Buckingham’s philosophical attitude revealing, and something to aspire to. Addressing the break-up early on may also have been Buckingham’s way of getting the “unpleasantness,” out of the way so we could concentrate on the music.

After years of performing, Buckingham is an expert at pacing a concert. The first third of the 22-song set was generally fast-paced, up-tempo material culminating with the mega-hit, “Trouble,” from his 1981 debut solo album Law and Order.

The concert’s middle section began with a few solo acoustic numbers before seguing back to lesser known, quirkier pop tunes, including the evening’s first Fleetwood Mac songs.

The slower music demonstrated the breadth and width of Buckingham’s songwriting abilities. Contrasting light melody “Slow Dancing,” with the stunning, deep and dark “Street of Dreams,” the artist’s songwriting mastery was obvious.

“Tusk,” signaled the final third of the performance, its heavy percussion urging the audience to its feet. The Fleetwood Mac slow-burner “I’m So Afraid,” climaxed in a jaw-dropping Buckingham guitar solo. He has a truly unique guitar playing style that uses a combination of finger picking and strumming to perform his solos, a technique that affords incredible range, versatility and intensity.

The finale, “Go Your Own Way,” with its incredible guitar solo, was the one song many of us, including me, was there to hear, and it was awesome.

The three-song encore began with “Turn it On,” followed by a stunning “Down on Rodeo.” The surprise, spontaneous final encore, a sublime “Rockaway Blind,” was performed solo acoustic for a “few friends” in the crowd. After profusely thanking the audience, as he’d done repeatedly throughout the night, Buckingham was finished, and the adoring audience went home, deliriously happy. Photos/write-up: Mark Caicedo - OnTapOnline

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live in St. Paul, MN October 22, 2018

Fleetwood Mac soldiers through St. Paul concert without guitarist Lindsey Buckingham

The Hall of Famers were revitalized by two new replacements. 

By Jon Bream Star Tribune

The elephant wasn’t in the room but you sensed his presence all night long anyway.

No, guitarist/singer/producer Lindsey Buckingham got kicked out of Fleetwood Mac this year, but it was obvious who was getting under Stevie Nicks’ skin when she came out of her trippy, enigmatic dance during “Gold Dust Woman” Monday night at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

She approached the microphone again, tugged tightly at her spangly gold shawl and started purging in song from deep inside her psyche: “You can’t save me now. You did this to me. You can’t fix me. You can’t fake me out. You can’t save me. You can’t blame me. You can’t change me. You can’t do it.”

Talk about shattering your illusions of Fleetwood Mac.

Fleetwood Mac without Lindsey Buckingham is sort of like the Twins without Joe Mauer. He’s been there forever, right? The band, like the baseball team and Mauer, existed before Buckingham joined in 1975 and still carries on without him.

In their 10th show since booting Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac took a while to find its footing. Oddly enough, it was a cover that sparked Nicks and the rest of the band. Neil Finn, who along with Mike Campbell has replaced Buckingham, was reprising his hit from Split Enz, “I Got You,” and Nicks was relishing vocalizing as if she was in her Los Angeles mansion singing along to MTV in 1982.

Then it was time for “Rhiannon,” perhaps the Steviest of Nicks songs, and she became Stevie Nicks, all bewitching mystery, dangling scarves, shiny beads and mesmerizing vocals. Her voice was clear, she seemed focused and, for a rarity in Fleetwood Mac, relaxed. Refreshed, too.

Nicks and the band — the veterans range in age from 70 to 75 — seemed revitalized by the addition of Finn and Campbell of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, who represent guitarists No. 11 and 12 in Fleetwood Mac’s long history. (No, the unofficial record for replacements in one band is held by Spinal Tap’s drum seat. Google it.)

The new players helped to open up the Big Mac catalog, which, of course, dates back to the band’s beginning in 1967 in England. That gave Campbell, 68, an underappreciated guitarist in his Petty days, an opportunity to exercise his blues vocabulary, painting “Black Magic Woman” with a heavier brush than Carlos Santana used on his famous cover version and turning “Oh Well” into something swell if you welcome a Led Zeppelin feel.

The crowd of nearly 14,000 was thrilled to hear Campbell’s signature work on Petty’s “Free Fallin,” which featured the liberating lead vocals of Nicks, the world’s biggest Petty fan. New Zealand’s Finn, 60, who has a Paul McCartney vibe about him, did a lovely understated reading of “Don’t Dream It’s Over,” the 1986 hit by his other band, Crowded House. With his assertive tenor, he was a good surrogate for Buckingham’s vocals on such Mac favorites as “Second Hand News” and “Go Your Own Way.”

His acoustic guitar was all the reassurance Nicks needed to turn “Landslide” — her reflections about the fear of moving on from a relationship because, as she sings, she’d built her life around him — into one of the highlights of the 140-minute concert. As she has often done in the Twin Cities, she dedicated the song to her “one and only husband,” Kim Anderson, who was in attendance with his girlfriend of 30 years. “Minneapolis, St. Paul — quite a place in my heart forever,” she proclaimed as the fans cheered loud and long.

Always a crowd favorite, this tune seemed to have new resonance on this night. It was so obvious that she’s moved on from the elephant in the room.

Full show

Fleetwood Mac Announce 3 New Dates - London, Dublin and Berlin

Fleetwood Mac Announce 3 New Dates:

Legendary, GRAMMY-award winning band Fleetwood Mac announce a European tour, set to kick off in June with three exclusive performances currently announced in London, Dublin and Berlin. Produced by Live Nation, the tour will feature the newly announced line-up of Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Stevie Nicks, and Christine McVie along with newcomers Mike Campbell and Neil Finn.

Tickets for the tour will go on-sale to the general public starting on Friday, October 26th at 9am local time. A complete Fleetwood Mac itinerary listing all tour dates follows this release. For further information, please visit www.fleetwoodmac.com.

A limited number of LaneOne VIP Packages will also be available, including amazing seats with premium benefits such as transportation, preferred entrance and more. LaneOne premium VIP packages are available here: LaneOne

Lindsey Buckingham Performs Rockaway Blind by Request in Washington, DC

Lindsey Buckingham Live in Washington, DC
October 19, 2018

Rockaway Blind... First time performed on this tour... By special request :)  So cool!!

REVIEW and VIDEO Fleetwood Mac Live in St. Louis October 20, 2018

Fleetwood Mac is back, delivering Buckingham-free show at Enterprise Center
By Kevin C. Johnson
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Photo Tim Vizer - View more HERE

Once the members of Fleetwood Mac realized it would take two players to replace one Lindsey Buckingham, did they question whether moving forward made any sense?

That question was ultimately answered when the classic band played the Enterprise Center on Saturday night in front of 13,400 fans, many likely wondering how Fleetwood Mac would pull off a Buckingham-free tour with Neil Finn and Mike Campbell as newcomers to the fold.

As we all know, Buckingham was a key singer, songwriter and guitarist with the band as far back as the ’70s, but parted ways early this year over touring conflicts (reportedly everyone was ready to go out on the current tour except for Buckingham, so they went without him).

It has been messy ever since, resulting in Buckingham filing a lawsuit against the band over $12 million in lost touring wages.

Touring without Buckingham is a punch to the gut not only to Buckingham but to fans who want their Fleetwood Mac intact.

“The Mac is definitely back,” drummer Mick Fleetwood said at one point. And it’s true though different from before.

During band introductions, Mick Fleetwood said Campbell (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) and Finn (Crowded House, Split Enz) had their own stories to tell before joining “this crazy band,” and gave them time to show who they are, within the context of Fleetwood Mac and on their own.

Opening with “The Chain,” the combination of Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, John McVie, Campbell and Finn felt tentative initially. It was hard to tell how this would all play out. “Little Lies” and “Dreams” were safe second and third song choices with Christine McVie and Nicks on lead, respectively.

The first real test came with the Buckingham-penned “Second Hand News,” on which Finn assumed lead and to his credit pretty much nailed it. And with that was the realization the new Fleetwood Mac isn’t a bad thing, but rather a different thing. And maybe a shake-up is necessary at times to bring new elements into an old thing.

It was smooth sailing from there, as the band performed expected staples such as “Say You Love Me,” “Go Your Own Way,” “Everywhere,” “Rhiannon,” “Gold Dust Woman,” giving Nicks and Christine McVie their required moments to shine. But there were also a few surprises, and songs unique to Finn and Campbell.

Among the moments that could have happened only with this version of Fleetwood Mac were Campbell augmenting a version of “Gypsy,” Finn on a cover of Split Enz “I Got You” (perhaps not so much a big deal) and more memorably, the cover of Crowded House’s “Don’t Dream It’s Over” showcasing Finn, and Nicks and Finn on “Landslide.”

Finn blended with Christine McVie on “Tell Me All the Things You Do” and with Nicks and Christine McVie on “World Turning.” The latter included an enthusiastic super extended drum solo from Mick Fleetwood as the other players left the stage, with plenty of screaming call-and-response between him and the crowd.

One nice inclusion was Nicks singing lead on “Black Magic Woman,” which was a Fleetwood Mac song before it was a Santana song. If in name only, outside of “Gypsy,” is there a song with a title better suited to her? The song culminated with Christine McVie and Campbell jamming on piano and guitar with her, respectively.

The concert fell on the occasion of what would have been Petty’s 68th birthday, marked here by “Free Fallin” with Nicks on lead, which opened the encore (Fleetwood Mac has actually been playing the song all month on tour). Petty’s wasn’t the only birthday celebrated.There was also a quick nod to Chuck Berry, who would have been 92 on Oct. 18, with Campbell offering a few quick licks of “Johnny B. Goode” before going into “Oh Well.”

Mick Fleetwood addressed the crowd at the end of the show, a St. Louis backdrop behind him, and thanked fans for support and encouraged them to be kind to each other.

Videos at the link below

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live in Kansas City, MO October 18, 2018

Divorce is no stranger to Fleetwood Mac. The band, founded more than 50 years ago as a British blues ensemble, has survived an inordinate amount of personnel changes and internal turmoil yet remains an unfailing success as an arena band and the object of affection among fans from among at least three generations.

Thursday night, the latest version of Fleetwood Mac visited the Sprint Center.  A crowd in excess of 13,000 attended, knowing from the moment they purchased tickets that one of the band’s most beloved and elemental members had been fired: chief mastermind, Lindsey Buckingham.

Photos by Sprint Center

Back in April, the band announced they’d parted ways with the guitarist/songwriter. Lawyers have since gotten involved and lawsuits have been filed—just more nastiness within a band renowned for estrangements, departures, and internal acrimony.

Nonetheless, the tour, as usual, went on. The band hired two absolute ringers to fill Buckingham’s large shoes: Mike Campbell, lead guitar slinger for the late Tom Petty’s band, the Heartbreakers; and Neil Finn, ace singer-songwriter and guitarist from New Zealand best known for his time in the bands Crowded House and Split Enz.

Despite those top-shelf additions, there was much consternation over how this version of Fleetwood Mac would survive Buckingham’s second departure (he went on “hiatus” from 1987-97).

The answer: just fine, though something definitely was missing.

This six-piece version of Fleetwood Mac (Finn, Campbell, Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, and founders John McVie and Mick Fleetwood) was fortified with plenty of backup help: two backup vocalists, a percussionist (perched amid a large drum kit aside Fleetwood), plus a keyboardist and third guitarist, both of whom also delivered vocal harmonies, adding luster and heft to nearly every song.

Buckingham’s absence would not affect the set list much, a point made evident from the very first song, The Chain, a classic from the blockbuster Rumors album that is usually commandeered vocally by Buckingham. Not this time, though, and his absence seemed to matter little to the big, rowdy crowd, which sang along with gusto.

From there, they bounced about from one hit to another: Little Lies, a porcelain pop hit from Christine McVie, to Dreams, a career-defining Nicks song, to Second Hand News, a Buckingham number that Finn handled vocally and which includes the line, “Someone has taken my place.” Zing No 1.

Then Christine McVie delivered an on-point version of Say You Love Me, a timeless and perfect pop hit from the Fleetwood Mac album, now 43 years old. It’s worth noting that there were plenty of fans in attendance who were half the age of that album, even younger. This band keeps growing fans.

One of the points of this tour, evidently, is to honor the Fleetwood Mac heritage and brand by visiting albums and songs that pre-date the Buckingham-Nicks days. So Nicks led the band through a rendition of Black Magic Woman, a song made famous by the band Santana but written and first recorded by Fleetwood Mac alum Peter Green in 1968.

Campbell had no trouble re-creating Carlos Santana’s leads on guitar, and Nicks’ vocals were fine, but this exercise seemed unnecessary: a group with so many hits in its warehouse turning into a cover band playing a classic-rock radio staple.

The rendition of the Danny Kerwin song Tell Me All The Things You Do, a lively but inconsequential rock-blues number, was equally as unsatisfying. Furthermore, they played nothing off the brilliant Tusk album—Buckingham’s crown achievement–which was a significant disappointment.

They gave Finn a couple of big moments in the spotlight that paid off. First, he and Nicks performed the Split Enz new wave classic I Got You. Later, after a gracious introduction from Fleetwood, he serenaded the crowd, with some help from Nicks, with Don’t Dream It’s Over, a Crowded House number that, somewhat surprisingly, prompted a healthy sing-along.

Things got too jammy a few times. Fleetwood’s drum solo during World Turning, as it has for decades, went on too long. And Campbell passed the vocal test during Oh Well, another Peter Green classic, but the prolonged, bluesy instrumental revived memories of jam-band incidents at the Wakarusa Festival

Nicks, still a rock-star heroine, delivered a few of the evening’s biggest and most memorable moments: Rhiannon, Gypsy and Landside, which never fails to turn a bustling arena crowd into a campfire sing-along choir.

They brought the first set to a rip-roaring close with four blockbusters: Monday Morning, which Finn handled with ease, as if he’d written it himself; You Make Loving Fun, another Christine McVie pop tart; Gold Dust Woman, which was appended by an instrumental jam that went on too long; and then, depending on your perspective, a moment of blasphemy or bliss: Finn and Nicks barnstorming through Go Your Own Way, the definitive Buckingham-Nicks breakup song.

As emotional as that was, that was just a warm-up for what ensued. For the first encore, Nicks, stepped up and sang one of Petty’s biggest hits, Free Fallin’. As the crowd roared back the chorus, the video screen behind the band broadcast portraits of Petty with Campbell, other Heartbreakers and Nicks. So bittersweet.

They followed that with another Rumors blockbuster, Don’t Stop, which could easily be interpreted as a missive to Buckingham’s absence: Yesterday’s gone; don’t you look back.

There was no misinterpreting the closer, however: a lesser-known Christine McVie song from the Time album that she performed with Nicks called All Over Again. It’s an elegy for a fractured romance, a declaration that all was over, but there were no regrets: “I have to let you go” but “in spite of the heartaches … I’d do it all over again.”

It ended the evening perfectly. For amid all the prevailing joy and warm reconnections to longtime favorite songs, there was also in the air a wistful sense that something profound was missing, but life was moving on.

SETLIST
The Chain; Little Lies; Dreams; Second Hand News; Say You Love Me; Black Magic Woman; Everywhere; I Got You; Rhiannon; Tell Me All The Things You Do; World Turning; Gypsy; Oh Well; Don’t Dream It’s Over; Landslide; Isn’t It Midnight; Monday Morning; You Make Loving Fun; Gold Dust Woman; Go Your Own Way. Encore: Free Fallin’; Don’t Stop; All Over Again.

Side note: Gypy was added to the set, Hypnotized and Storms still out.

by TIMOTHY FINN
InKansasCity.com

Videos at the link below

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Live in Indianapolis, IN October 16, 2018

Review: Fleetwood Mac at Bankers Life
Iconic band impresses with Buckingham-less lineup
by Seth Johnson
Music Editor Nuvo.net

Photo Gallery
by Haley Ward

Few bands have a history as interesting as Fleetwood Mac.

The band’s current tour marks yet another chapter of intrigue, as Lindsey Buckingham is no longer in the lineup. In his absence, Fleetwood Mac is digging back into their 50-year-old catalog with the help of Mike Campbell on guitar and Neil Finn on rhythm guitar/vocals. Together, the star-studded pairing did a more than adequate job of filling in for Buckingham at their show in Indy, while also adding a bit of their own flavor to the band’s age-old classics.

Fleetwood Mac stopped by Bankers Life Fieldhouse for the seventh show of their current Buckingham-less tour on Tuesday, Oct. 16. The band kicked things off with a bang, opening the set with the 1977 Rumours standby “The Chain.” This was followed by their ‘80s-tastic single “Little Lies” and the eternal Rumours hit “Dreams.”

Throughout the set, Fleetwood Mac intermingled some older Peter Green-era material into the mix. This was capped off with “Black Magic Woman,” with Stevie Nicks mentioning how Fleetwood Mac was the real band responsible for the rock ’n’ roll staple. Another Peter Green-inspired highlight included a raucous rendition of 1969’s “Oh Well,” with Campbell excitedly leading the way on vocals and guitar for the song. This decision from the band made perfect sense, being that Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were also known for covering the Fleetwood Mac throwback from time to time.

Over the course of the evening, Fleetwood Mac made sure to honor the past work of both of Campbell and Finn. In Finn’s case, this included covers of “Don’t Dream It’s Over” by Crowded House and “I Got You” by Split Enz. As for Campbell, Nicks led the band in a tear-jerking cover of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ “Free Fallin’,” as images of Petty showed on the big screen.

To close out the evening, McVie and Nicks sang the 1995 Fleetwood Mac song “All Over Again” in unison. After the whole band had taken its final bow, drummer Mick Fleetwood stuck around to thank fans one final time. Before sending them off into the streets of Downtown Indy, the always-exuberant Fleetwood urged the remains crowd to be kind to one another in the “increasingly strange world we seem to be living in.”

The message was delightful to hear and one that would have certainly made Tom Petty himself proud.