Christine McVie back after 16 years but Fleetwood Mac is still the Stevie Nicks show
By the time Fleetwood Mac played “Rhiannon,” early on in their two and a half hour long revue at the Air Canada Centre, it was clear that despite the brouhaha over the return of long-time member Christine Mcvie after a 16-year hiatus, it’s still the Stevie Nicks show. Nicks oozes charisma; she can get a crowd excited by waving her arm or doing a little twirl. Every time she sang (and she was singing well) the packed house got out of their seats. No wonder so many fans arrived dressed like her.
Starting with “The Chain,” the Mac played through nearly every song from their bestselling hit-machine Rumours, pulling out “Silver Springs” in the encore with an abundance of ridiculous chime sounds (the band clearly love their synths – why, oh why, did they not bring along a live horn section?).
Not to be outdone by Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham prepared for solo turn “Big Love” by charging up his right hand like a robot before launching into the loudest, most ferocious classical playing imaginable (Buckingham, a ham, admirably never left the stage, though some of his other songs came across as overwrought).
He was at his best was when he loaned his guitar chops in service of Nicks’s vocals on “Landslide,” though everyone had their moments (including Mick Fleetwood’s indulgent drum solo in the encore).
The band say this is a new chapter that will last long and bear fruit, and they’ve got a new album on the way. Time will tell how long those chains will hold.
Sarah Greene / Now Toronto / Sunday, October 19, 2014
