Fleetwood Mac

Imagine my joy when my uber cool teenage son began to share my love of Fleetwood Mac. I’d been a fan since my teens, Rumours one of those albums that I would listen to again and again, knowing which song came next and singing the opening refrain before it had a chance to start. (Supertramp’s Breakfast in America was another one.) I struggled with Tusk though, how could they change their style so? I would listen to it every so often just in case I was missing something, but sadly I wasn’t. As the years went on and new ways of finding music opened up to me, I discovered their Fleetwood Mac album and some of the songs on it matched the brilliance of the ones on Rumours. And then came Stevie’s solo career. Her vocals belted out on every track, none of your long drum solos there.
Fast forward to my mum days and my son Ethan, usually interested in whole genres of music of which I’d never heard, began listening to Rumours. It was around this time that I discovered my favourite Fleetwood Mac song - Silver Springs. How had this eluded me?
Ethan loved it too and I particularly enjoyed belting out the line “You’ll never get away from the sound of the woman that loves you” at him and laughing at my own joke.
I found a clip on YouTube that we watch again and again of Stevie Nicks singing Wild Heart backstage while she’s having her make up done. Check it out. I dare the hairs on your arm not to stand on end.
So it came to pass, that I promised Ethan that if Fleetwood Mac were ever to play in London, I would take him. When the tickets were released for the Wembley Concert, I balked at the price - especially as I would have to fork out for his as well. But a promise is a promise and in the words of a famous author : “If not now, when?”. I mean, I’m not getting any younger and Stevie sure ain’t. How long can these guys keep performing. I coughed up and we counted the sleeps.
When I heard that The Pretenders were the support band, I was delighted. Surely Ethan would be too, I mean, who doesn’t know “Brass in Pocket” and “Back on the Chain Gang”?
Ethan doesn’t. So I’m not such a brilliant parent after all.
The doors opened at 5 and we arrived at Wembley Stadium about an hour later, deciding to find our seats first and then go and check out the drink situation. Ouch again, but what the hell and I left Ethan in the queue with my bank card while I went to the loo. At this point I had noticed the lack of food outlets and I must admit I’m never totally relaxed when I don’t know where my next meal is coming from. However, we drank our beer water, chatting amiably, so very excited about seeing Stevie. I wondered where she was staying. Maybe the Elstree Village which is where the Big Brother contestants used to stay when they got booted out (in one of the Deck rooms, of course). Probably not. She’s a bit of a diva, our Steamy, more likely taken over the whole of the Ritz.
With no ado whatsoever, The Pretenders came on and bashed out song after song. Chrissie didn’t seem to mind that the stadium was ⅔ empty and people were talking amongst themselves. I’d described her to Ethan as the ultimate rock chick and she did not let me down - even wearing the tight jeans and capped sleeved t-shirts that I’d told him about. Not bad for 67, strummed and strutted like a good ‘un she did, with not an ounce of a bingo wing in sight.
Hit after hit, the base was too loud but we didn’t care a scrap. We were there for Stevie.
After their set we had another break for a wee and some more beer water (£.6.50 a pint. Nobody forced me to buy it, I know). I was hungry though and decided to get a “felafel dog” and a bag of crisps - more for the satiation value than the Epicurean. We took a queue each and liaised by phone. The queues were very long, but bands of such epic status usually stroll on hours after they’re meant to. There was a quick “oh no, where’s my bank card” scare (Ethan, had it) and ...what was that sound? Somebody was playing the opening bars of Chains (you know, the motor racing one) on their radio.
It was quite loud.
Oh no. The show’s started.
It’s Fleetwood Mac, I’ve paid almost a week’s wages.
But what about supper?
I rang Ethan and yelled: “Forget the food, son. Meet you back in the stadium.”
We got back and somewhere about a mile away in the distance was Stevie Nicks and her band singing their little hearts out. Tis true that we could hardly make them out. Tis also true that the sound quality wasn’t amazing. But we didn’t care. We rocked and rolled, danced and pranced this time drinking our beers from plastic bottles. I’d filled Ethan in on the personnel stuff. I told him that Lindsay had looked at Stevie the wrong way and had been sent packing, replaced by the guy from the band that sings “Weather With You”. I also told him there would be some boring bits where they played tracks from their very early line up. I know my shit and sure enough World Turning came on and we went for another toilet break. When we got back, Mick Fleetwood was still drumming away and Ethan also noticed Stevie’s absence. “She’s probably gone for a little nap,” he said.
At this point I should confess that this was not my first Fleetwood Mac or Stevie Nicks concert. I’d seen them both as a band and with Stevie on her own. It was the eighties and she kept going off stage and coming back in different witchy and twirly outfits. This time, if my eyes serve me correctly, her only concession to this was one of those shrug things over her shoulders.
I missed Lindsay Buckingham. He’s got a distinctive voice and his on and off stage pantomime with Stevie always fascinated me. Neil Finn did a great job though and they even gave him his own spot where he got to sing “Don’t Dream It’s Over” (which incidentally Paul Young nicked. Keep up.)
I turned to look at Ethan and he was swaying happily singing “hey now, hey now”. This almost made him for him not knowing “Don’t Get Me Wrong” earlier.
Incidentally, I must apologise to Christine McVie. She is a wonderful singer in her own right. She seems to take it in good spirits that Stevie gets most of the attention, but they have probably had some right old ding dongs in the past. Her voice is deep and melodic and I hope I’m as cool as her when I’m 75.
More songs from Rumours, a few from Tango in the Night, some slows ones where the phone torches came out and then lastly the wonderful Go Your Own Way. For the encore Stevie sang Free Falling as a tribute to her buddy Tom Petty and they finished off with Don’t Stop.
On our way out we saw someone in a t-shirt that I would love to have but could only wear indoors. Hers didn’t have the stars but I will put them in.
STEVIE
F**KING
NICKS
It took a long time to get on the train, but there was still somewhere open when I got to Canons Park at 10.50 and I got chips.
What an evening.

Monday 22nd June. The O2. Fleetwood Mac. A bit of trepidation tonight. Have we got decent seats in the vast dome that is the O2, are the Mac on song, swallowed their many and varied differences and will we get back to Waterloo for the last train. Not to spoil the tension but it’s a yes, yes and thrice yes.
Me and my wife, sounds weird to say that again, venture off down the Jubilee line with all the other middle aged ex rockers to see the hottest ticket in town. We rub shoulders with Heidi from the Sugababes, ahhh pause for a quiet moment to myself, and then it’s ready for the show.
The Walker ticket machine works its magic and though we are at the back on the floor we are on the second row of a raised platform so we can see across those who paid significantly more than us for pretty much the same view.
I won’t rehearse the tempestuous story of the Mac as its too long and too complicated but suffice to say they have all being either married, engaged or romantically involved with each other for the past forty years. Christine McVie has re-joined the band after a 16 year absence and the circle is once again complete. It all somehow works and that tension has led to some of the greatest pop songs ever written in those decades.
Set opener ‘The Chain’ starts the show as it means to go on. The rhythm section of Mick and John are solid and relentless and don’t let up throughout the show and provide a flawless platform for the front three to build on.
There’s clearly some deal between the Christine, Stevie Nicks and Lyndsey Buckingham that they all have an equal quota of their own songs to get through and in the main that works albeit the latter two can slightly cross the line into self-indulgence.
The set hasn’t changed over the ninety odd shows in this tour and draws heavily from Fleetwood Mac and Rumours. All the hits are there, the vocals are spot on especially Christine’s who I think I have been guilty of under estimating in the past. The same is true of Lyndsey Buckingham’s guitar playing; often understated he can rock out with the very best with a unique open strumming style that I’ve not seen before.
The highlight for me is the three song acoustic segment which starts with just Lyndsey singing an emotional ‘Big Love’ (slightly spoilt by some existential monologue preamble) and then joined by Stevie for a spine tingling ‘Landslide’ which brought the lump to throat, hairs on end and tears in eye moment. Sublime.
It’s a slick two and a half hour show and forty years later they still have it. Unnecessary Mick Fleetwood drum solo and a low key although perfectly delivered final encore of ‘Songbird’ aside it was the perfect show. A swift exit and we’re home by midnight.

Hello,
It was a great night filled to the rafters! I feel as much as I did enjoy it, there was a couple of things that need to be aired, I am sure I was not the only one.
No offence intended here so please note this.
I came to see Fleetwood Mac, Yes I do like Neil Finn’s music and it was a thrill to see and hear him playing, I am also aware that nowadays, it’s the thing with bands that they have members from other top bands play with them as members of the group or share the time and advertise that they are both playing on stage basically sharing so they have the invited one open for them, yes that is feat. But this was not the case. Neil Finn was playing and singing with them, Neil also payed and sung at least three of his top hits even that I did not mind! But what I did mind was we were all sitting there for 20 mins or more waiting for them to come out and start, The tickets said( Show starts 8:00pm SHARP! ) so we could have been listening to Neil Finn play his 3 songs and more for the 20 mins. That’s not all! Stevie Nicks I am well aware this group may be aging and probably can’t cope with singing and playing for two hours straight like they used to but why wasn’t Stevie singing all her own songs or only actually singing some of the song while the blonde one was singing most of it for her, am I missing something here? I understand if there was a reason for this but the other one doesn’t even sound anything like Stevie, this was disappointing. Couldn’t believe even after they came on 20 mins late they only sang one song for encore never even gave us our 20minutes back! Bit mean really considering those who spent $a considerable amount of money to go and hear their band play. We all sat there only one or two songs did we all join in with and after all that they didn’t even play “TUSK” I thought they would have at least finished with this one, nup waited all night to hear it, so feel a tad let down to put it politely! I hope they take this on board and do something about it for Melbourne! I doubt they will be back as that’s why I put myself out to go this time. If they did I wouldn’t bother again to be honest had great seats here too!

I am a huge fan of Fleetwood Mac, regardless of the exact lineup, as long as the core is there, and for me, the core is the rhythm section, bass and drums. John and Mick are like a machine and are definitely in the Top Ten Rhythm Sections in rock, past and future.

I have liked them with Peter Green and Jeff Spencer, with Christine, and with Stevie and Lindsey. The thing that has tied all of these iterations together has really been Mick Fleetwood. He is a machine, I think of him sort of as a steam locomotive.

Because he is so tall, when he starts up, sometimes there is an inperceptable lag, and he plays his snare primarily behind the beat, laid back big time, but once he is rolling, that size imparts inertia (1st Law of Motion, 2nd half) and smoothness in his playing, grooving on the top with perfect timing. Also some drummers just drum, boom pop boom pop, standard rock and blues beats, but Fleetwood plays parts.

Few do this, and they are usually considered to be among the greats, Watts, Starr, Helm, Pocaro, Collins, think about it. Then there is one other thing great drummers do(and musicians in general), AND THIS IS THE HARDEST, THEY KNOW WHEN NOT TO PLAY, including playing fewer fills.

All that I have said is not meant to discount the fact that FM was lucky enough to bring together several of the greatest voices in music history. Also they were all very unique, character voices, unique, which is what I love in a voice, but it
means that that singer may be VERY hard to replace. If they weren't, they would not
be unique.

I have written too much, but my last point is, if a band needs to replace a "unique singer", most times, I think they should let the new singer be themselves, otherwise it probably won't work, if they are lucky and may even sound corny, fake, bad. FM has made this mistake a couple of times in later years, but they are still on 90% of the time, and at their level, that is something.

Fleetwood Mac were a little before my time. Having formed in 1967 as a British blues band, Mick Fleetwood had already seen the complete transformation of personal and sound by the time I was born. In fact, up until recently, I thought the Buckingham-Nicks line-up represented the original Fleetwood Mac. As it turns out, Rumours was actually their eleventh album…and it beat me into this world by exactly four days. That was an amazing time for Fleetwood Mac as a band, but it was also a tumultuous time for its members. There are almost as many stories and documentaries about the drug-fueled, incestuous nature of the band as there are songs by the band, so I won’t delve too deep into those right now, but I will say that Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood are shining examples of ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’.

- See more at: http://ilistensoyoudonthaveto.com/2015/04/03/fleetwood-mac-pepsi-center-04-01-15/#sthash.tZUzkIAN.dpuf

I didn't realize how much we were missing until Christine opened her mouth. With the first note of her voice it hit me instantly that she is the soulful heart of the band's sound. Having seen the show on their last tour and seven more going back to 1971 the band is like a fist of five when all together. To me being a seasoned Fleetwood Mac fan, I rightfully acknowledge Mic and John as the leaders accompanied by gifted talent. The Lindsey and Stevie duo was added chemistry similar to John and Christine which made for Mic to be the beat of a chemist. They still turn on the enthusiasm of us older folks as well as introduce themselves to the young just as they did in the beginning. No doubt they have built themselves into one of the top artists to entertain the world with their work, pleasing many and fulfilling their heavenly expectations and purpose they were united for. Thanks FM.

One of the best concerts that I've ever attended; and I've been to many a concert over the years.I couldn't see an empty seat in the house and that's almost 20,000 fans who sang along with the band. Stevie Nicks was truly outstanding as were ALL the band members. Words cannot describe the quality of this band and the excitement among fans. Fleetwood Mac's show lasted ninety minutes and that was ninety minutes of pure adrenaline and electricity. A tribute to Tommy Petty with the bands cover of, 'FREE FALLING' was both appropriate and had 20,000 singing along. 'Go YOUR OWN WAY,'brought down the house, along with any number of songs from their catalog. Never mind the absence of Lindsey Buckingham,it made little if any difference at all. This performance was worth every penny and then some. One will NOT want to miss this joy of a concert!

Someone on facebook asked me "they sound good? or like old rockers?"... This is my response and review here - "They sounded great ...Stevie may avoid a couple of the top notes here and there, but they have girls backing her up. She's still the same amazing, mystical creature she's always been. Lindsey's guitar playing is better than ever and a total spectacle (and he knows it.. lol ). Christine's return brings the band's distinctive harmonies back, not to mention 6 songs which I can't imagine them doing without her. They're so happy all be together through it all that the mutual respect is palpable as they've all put their dramas behind them for the greater good. They brought the house down with "Go Your Own Way" before the first encore. .. What an arsenal of songs they throw at you.. just an amazing show!"

To tell the truth, before the evening started I was more excited at the prospect of seeing Chryssie Hynde and The Pretenders again (they didn’t disappoint, and she continues to inspire - I was mystified as to why more folk didn’t turn up sooner - this was a support act truly worth catching). On reflection, as good as they were, the main event was to follow. And how.

From the opening chords of The Chain, the greatest songs (with the exception of Sara - how come?) were crafted, as fresh as if it was 30, 40, 50 (any advance?) years ago. A treat to see Neil Finn join the band, and delirium almost set in when he duetted Don’t Dream It’s Over with Stevie Nicks. She kidded us - how to follow such a song, she teased - then gave a perfect version of Landslide. Delirious, delicious, delighted.

In 1977 when I was 18 years old, one of my singing idols was Stevie Nicks and the band Fleetwood Mac. Singing was and is a passion of mine. I joined a rock n' roll band and sang for many years. My husband was the lead guitarist in the band. Our band did not get a break even though we worked hard, starved, and struggled through our passions. My husband and I went to the Fleetwood Mac Concert at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, BC, on Saturday April 4th, 2015. It was the original band including Christine McVie. The show was fantastic. We were not disappointed. They sang and played exactly how I imagined they would when I was 18 years old. We had a blast. We will never forget that night and were thrilled to have seen, in our opinion, one of the best bands there is.