Fleetwood Mac started off the new month with a concert at Manchester Arena on Tuesday night. Playing to a capacity crowd, Fleetwood Mac delighted fans with another solid performance. Fans reacted to the show, tweeting comments like “amazing,” “phenomenal gig,” and “musical magic.”

The tour moves northwest to the city of Glasgow (located approximately three hours from Manchester), where Fleetwood Mac will perform at the Hydro on Thursday night.

Videos

The Chain (courtesy of Tom M)

Dreams (courtesy of Chris Greenwood)

Rhiannon (courtesy of Tom M)

Tusk (courtesy of Tom M)

Sara (courtesy of Tom M)

Big Love (courtesy of Tom M)

Landslide (courtesy of Chris Greenwood

Gypsy (courtesy of TheGenesis1960)

Gold Dust Woman (courtesy of Tom M)

I’m So Afraid (courtesy of SW5268)

Go Your Own Way (courtesy of Tom M)

World Turning (courtesy of Tom M)

Don’t Stop (courtesy of Tom M)

Live Tweeting

Stevie Nicks @ManchesterArena . Wow. Just wow. #fleetwoodmac

— jmdawson (@jaynedawsonyep) October 1, 2013

https://twitter.com/SushiCutie/status/385125477821997056

New material! #fleetwoodmac

— Joe Bateman (@JoeBateman89) October 1, 2013

#Rhiannon #fleetwoodmac manchester pic.twitter.com/gpUeoQszNA

— Mike Thirsk (@mikethirsk) October 1, 2013

Buckingham's on Fire #fleetwoodmac @ Phones 4u Arena http://t.co/800oJWA5wf

— Matt Burgon (@Mr_Burgon) October 1, 2013

Friggin amazeballs #fleetwoodmac

— Jemma Twist (@jemmatwist) October 1, 2013

https://twitter.com/1878Tblythe/status/385148288246505472
https://twitter.com/TrendsManc/status/385148599153078272

Brilliant #FleetwoodMac @Phones4uArena Manchester. 40 years on and still incredible pic.twitter.com/Esyv5OHPTs

— Chris Hawkins (@chris_hawkins) October 1, 2013

#goyourownway…….. Bloody EPIC!! #fleetwoodmac

— Mike Thirsk (@mikethirsk) October 1, 2013

https://twitter.com/AmyBigRed/status/385153448834269184

Fucking love Stevie nicks #fleetwoodmac

— Tom Wilkinson (@tomlwilko) October 1, 2013

Fucking phenomenal gig. #FleetwoodMac

— Hal (@TheBozDog) October 1, 2013

Well that was absolutely unbelievable! A story of love and life explained through musical magic! So glad I got to see them! #fleetwoodmac

— Ben Bottomley (@Ben_Bottomley_) October 1, 2013

Felt the love in the room tonight for sure #fleetwoodmac

— LouiseLouise (@LouiiseChanel) October 1, 2013

https://twitter.com/MattKPhillips/status/385161776985550849
https://twitter.com/Be1t0n/status/385162271456256000
https://twitter.com/steveperci/status/385163987333439488

Stevie Nicks rocks!!! OMG fleetwood mac you were amazing!!! Lyndsey Buckingham can't half play that guitar, incredible. #fleetwoodmac

— Shelly Woods (@ShellyWoods86) October 1, 2013

just saw some of the best musicians ever…their combined age must be at least 150…take heed XFactor wannabes #fleetwoodmac #themacisback

— Kathryn (@kaitlindl85) October 1, 2013

https://twitter.com/sarahe397/status/385168829288312832
https://twitter.com/stephtyrrell/status/385169204259086337

Absolutely fantastic gig by #fleetwoodmac at the MEN Arena tonight. Lindsey Buckingham was on fire tonight. Brilliant guitarist

— Neil Jellis (@borderfish) October 1, 2013

Blown away by #FleetwoodMac in Manchester tonight. Lindsey Buckingham's guitar playing simply unbelievable. And Stevie can still sing 🙂

— Sue Beesley (@suebeesley) October 1, 2013

https://twitter.com/Jay__O_o/status/385190807000842242

Manchester setlist

01. Second Hand News	13. Without You
02. The Chain	14. Gypsy
03. Dreams	15. Eyes of the World
04. Sad Angel	16. Gold Dust Woman
05. Rhiannon	17. I’m So Afraid
06. Not That Funny	18. Stand Back
07. Tusk	19. Go Your Own Way
08. Sisters of the Moon	20. World Turning
09. Sara	21. Don’t Stop
10. Big Love	22. Silver Springs
11. Landslide	23. Say Goodbye
12. Never Going Back Again

European tour dates

20 Sep	O2 Dublin	Dublin, Ireland
21 Sep	O2 Dublin	Dublin, Ireland
24 Sep	O2 Arena	London, Great Britain
25 Sep	O2 Arena	London, Great Britain
27 Sep	O2 Arena	London, Great Britain
29 Sep	LG Arena	Birmingham, Great Britain
01 Oct	Manchester Arena	Manchester, Great Britain
03 Oct	Hydro	Glasgow, Great Britain
06 Oct	Lanxess Arena	Cologne, Germany
07 Oct	Ziggo Dome	Amsterdam, Netherlands
09 Oct	Sport Palais	Antwerp, Belguim
11 Oct	Percy	Paris, France
13 Oct	Hallenstadion	Zurich, Switzerland
14 Oct	Schleyerhalle	Stuttgart, Germany
16 Oct	O2 World	Berlin, Germany
18 Oct	Jyske Bank Boxen	Herning, Denmark
20 Oct	Oslo Spektrum	Oslo, Norway
23 Oct	Globen	Stockholm, Sweden
26 Oct	Ziggo Dome	Amsterdam, Netherlands

The invincible Fleetwood Mac are back… and the kids think they’re alright

In the Reynolds Girls’ 1989 single “I’d Rather Jack”, a peculiar moment of year zero militancy in the catalogue of hitmakers Stock Aitken Waterman, the teenage siblings insisted, “I’d rather jack than Fleetwood Mac,” the band being a conveniently rhyming example of the kind of middle-aged millionaire has-beens that the rave generation allegedly had no time for. Who needs them? We have Yazz now!

But 24 years later, as Fleetwood Mac approach the UK leg of their latest world tour, their influence is, to quote one of their most infectious songs, everywhere. Their audiophile fanaticism was a touchstone for Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories. Last year, the indie tribute album Just Tell Me That You Want Me featured the likes of MGMT and Tame Impala. Mumford & Sons recently closed their massive London show with a massed-rendition of “The Chain”. Hot Chip even perform a dance floor version of “Everywhere”, proving once and for all that jacking and Fleetwood Mac-ing aren’t mutually exclusive. If the whispers are true and Fleetwood Mac headline Glastonbury next year, their status as twentysomethings’ new favourite classic rockers will be confirmed.

If only the Reynolds Girls had done their research they would have realised that Fleetwood Mac are unkillable. Their Wikipedia page reads like a Russian novel, with new characters popping up before exiting in grim circumstances, including mental illness, alcoholism, adultery and a religious cult. By the time they absorbed romantically involved duo Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks in 1975 in a kind of last-ditch corporate merger, the band had lost seven members, with only the rock-solid rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie -weathering the perpetual storm.

The new vinyl box set 1969-1972 (Rhino) shines light on their underrated output during the difficult years, but it’s the classic 1975-1987 line-up that has acquired mythic status. For the first time since the Beatles, a band had three distinct singer-songwriters at the top of their game. Christine McVie sang the airy love songs with crystalline precision and the same pragmatism that led her to retire from touring in 1997; Nicks was a husky SoCal mystic, tougher than her swirly wardrobe suggested; and Buckingham was the thorny alpha male.

Famously, everyone was breaking up with everyone else while making 1977’s Rumours, which quickly went platinum at the height of the United States’ divorce revolution, selling over 40 million copies to date worldwide. On one level it’s a painstakingly crafted soft-rock fantasy, glowing with sunshine and money, but uncomfortable emotions are constantly gnawing and jabbing away at the music’s flawless surface pleasures. It has the firepower of a greatest-hits collection and the coherence of a concept album. Each song seems to be talking to, or about, all the others in a he-said-she-said echo chamber.

Rumours may sound escapist but in the lyrics there’s no escape, especially for the band. How strange it must be, 36 years later, for them to perform “The Chain” (“I can still hear you saying you would never break the chain”), or for Buckingham to hear Nicks sing “Silver Springs”: “You’ll never get away from the sound of the woman that loves you.” Apart from Christine, they’re all still handcuffed to these songs about old betrayals, and to each other. Critics are fond of 1979’s disjointed Tusk, and the white-powder Fleetwood Mac because it was weirder and it flopped, but Rumours aced the trickier task of making emotional poison taste like nectar. That’s why young musicians still flock to it, enthralled and envious. Punk rock, with which it coincided, is easy to emulate now but a copy-in-every-home colossus that contains fierce emotional truths? That’s hard.

I suspect San Fernando sibling trio Haim are heartily sick of Fleetwood Mac comparisons by now, but they haven’t exactly gone out of their way to defuse them. However, there’s nothing slavish or trite about their wonderful upcoming debut album Haim (Polydor). I’m only now emerging from a year-long addiction to the single “Don’t Save Me”, a treasure chest of delicious moments: the way lead singer Danielle Haim stutters “Ta-ta-take me back”, the warm solidarity of the chorus harmonies, the unresolved agitation in the drums. Clearly a Michael Jackson fan, Danielle often treats her voice like it’s part of the rhythm section, snatching at certain words, turning syllables into beats, bouncing off the earthier vocals of her sisters, Alana and Este.

It’s a diverse record, suggesting Eighties Nile Rodgers (“If I Could Change Your Mind”), West Coast Kate Bush (“Running If You Call My Name”) and Queens Of The Stone Age wrestling with R&B (“My Song 5”). The unifying threads are an attention to sonic detail and a spirit of toughness in the face of disappointment. Imagine Stevie Nicks delivering the opening taunt from “Forever”: “Hey you! Remember me? Remember love?” Haim’s songs are so agile and enjoyable that you almost don’t notice their pain. Nicks’ prediction that “2013 is going to be the year of -Fleetwood Mac” has been proved correct. It could be for Haim, too.

Lynskey’s List

Loving…

…the folksy mystery of Goldfrapp’s Tales Of Us (Mute). Goodbye dance floor, hello forests.

Welcoming…

…the return of Manic Street Preachers with the bleak and beautiful midlife ruminations of Rewind The Film (Columbia).

Wondering…

…how the improbable alliance of Elvis Costello and the Roots spawned an album as darkly persuasive as Wise Up Ghost (Blue Note).

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Dorian Lynskey / GQ (UK) / October 2013

It was Buckingham’s Palace on Friday night at The O2…

Rating: ★★★★☆

My tickets were booked 228 days before the gig. The first two shows having sold out within 10 minutes, it was lucky that an extra date was released that afternoon. These O2 gigs were highly sought-after and it was a privilege to be there. The question that loomed for all concerned was how well could they perform together 36 years after the release of their iconic Rumours album. The 2013/14 world tour coincided with a spate of band reunions. The Rolling Stones headlining that list, with mixed, but generally favourable reviews, most notably at this year’s Glastonbury. Would the FM band be a landslide success? Oh yes.

After a 20 minute delay, the band played in excess of two and a half hours including two encores, running right up to the 11pm curfew imposed by the venue.

The atmosphere was relatively muted for the opening number Second Hand News but the 15,000 strong audience soon warmed up to the opening riff of The Chain, which soon followed.

Lindsey Buckingham stole the vast majority of the limelight with an awesome all-round solo contribution on Big Love, which received one of many of the standing ovations across the night. As well as his excellent distinctive vocals, still powerful and nimble despite the passing of the years, stunning guitar solos were not in short-supply either and at one point I caught myself with my mouth hanging open.

Buckingham and Stevie Nicks often provided stories or explanations behind their songs. Nicks described the possible motivations for the rest of the band in take them in to the Fleetwood fold suggesting it was the way the vocalists formed triangular harmonies but thought the whole time Lindsey was thinking ‘well actually they really need a new lead guitarist, not sure why they need a cleaning lady’. They also had a quick kiss onstage quite early on, this was welcomed by whistles and cat-calls from the fans.

That ‘cleaning lady’ also maintained her superb vocals. While singing in a lower register than the Golden Years (which often threw me on the openings some of their most famous tracks) it meant that many songs had obviously been specially rearranged or redesigned. This was refreshing and made it more appealing as a live event. Nicks also sang a poem of hers that she had repeatedly lost and found, but which finally made it to the North Greenwich stage.

Go Your Own Way rocked the house as everyone clapped and chanted along to the classic chorus. The arena lights went up for this song and you could see all the fellow audience members which fed the collective enthusiasm and euphoria back into the crowd’s response.

A special word here for Mick Fleetwood on drums. Following World Turning he launched into a crazed off-the wall solo performance, playing up to the crowd for what felt like 10 minutes. Again, I was rather mesmerised so perhaps someone will know how long it actually was… He spent much of it not looking at his drums and shouting into the camera over his shoulder which projected his mad-eyed thrash onto the large screen backing the stage.

The wonderful Christine McVie made a special appearance for two encores. She rejoined the band on-stage for a crowd-pleasing Don’t Stop performance in the first, with an angelic rendition of Silver Springs and a final Sad Goodbye to end the second and close the night out. These were beautiful and showcased her part in Fleetwood Mac perfectly, but left a small part of me lamenting the absence of Little Lies and Everywhere, two of her other signature tunes.

The quality of the arena’s sound system was very high. This was the third date at the former Millennium Dome, therefore it may have benefited from some tweaks discovered in previous nights. The lighting and use of the big screens was inventive… artful (an eclipse of the sun doubling as an eye’s pupil and iris was a personal highlight) and interesting backgrounds (Windows screensaver-esque, think kaleidoscopes and symmetrical phasing patterns) were mixed in with extra large close ups of individual performers. The best use shown by a monotone, isolated shot of Lindsey Buckingham through Big Love allowing even those at the back see the hand-speed involved in his guitar master-class.

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George Meixner / WhatCulture! (UK) / Monday, September 30, 2013

On September 23, Stevie hosted the UK radio show Absolute Radio Icons and shared the stories behind some of her most popular songs. The selections were “Edge of Seventeen,” “Rhiannon,” “Dreams,” “Gypsy,” “Gold Dust Woman,” “Seven Wonders,” and “Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dream).”

Listen to the entire show below

As the legendary band hit the UK, Stevie Nicks and Mick Fleetwood tell Jenny Stevens how they got Christine McVie out of retirement — and why the Mac are still relevant as ever.

It’s been 35 years since Fleetwood Mac’s seminal album Rumours was released, setting in amber the band’s place in rock ‘n’ roll history. But as they prepare to play their first gigs in the UK in four years this week, Fleetwood Mac have never been more relevant. It’s impossible not to feel the impact their formula of heart-trodden lyrics swathed in glossy soft rock is still having on the music scene. Last year, Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo, J Mascis, MGMT, Tame Impala and Lykke Li were all lining up to appear on a Mac tribute album. Haim frequently drop “Oh Well” into their sets, and Mumford & Sons regularly close theirs with “The Chain.”

This week, for the first time since she left in 1998, the group’s former vocalist Christine McVie — who penned Mac classics, including “Don’t Stop” and “Songbird” — will come out of retirement to perform one song with her former band at London’s O2 Arena. It’s the first time the full Rumours line-up have performed together in 15 years, but not for lack of trying on the band’s part. Stevie Nicks and Mick Fleetwood tell NME they had been asking her to appear with them onstage for years, but had hit what felt like a permanent brick wall. Now, she finally feels it’s the right time to come back to the fold, albeit temporarily.

“We would have loved for her to come and appear any time she wanted but she really didn’t want to,” says Nicks. “But now she’s said, ‘I’ll do it, I’m here and you’re here.’ She has an apartment here in London… It’s great. I mean that’s how it was since 1975 — it’s always been me and her, so you know, when she left, it was really a terrible loss. So it’s really wonderful. To have her back is like having your sister come back to you. So even if it’s only for one song it’s still great.”

“Glastonbury? I’d love to do it. 2014 may be the year” —Stevie Nicks

The impetus, says Fleetwood, came back in March when Christine visited his home in Hawaii to jam on some blues tracks with him and Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, which ended up with her singing “Don’t Stop” onstage at the island’s Maui Arts & Cultural Center. “I promised Chris I’d never ask her to ever do anything, including joining Fleetwood Mac again, and I’ve honoured that,” Fleetwood says. “She came up to my house and we were just rehearsing some blues stuff with Steven Tyler and having some fun, and the next morning Steven said, ‘Do you wanna come up and sing some blues?’ She said, ‘No, I don’t do that anymore — I’m done.’ The next morning there was phone call and it was Christine. I said, ‘Morning, Chris’ and she said, ‘I’ve been thinking, would you want me to come and sing?’ and I said, ‘Are you kidding sweetheart?!’ And she did. She came and sang three or four songs with my blues band. I like to think [she agreed to the London show] ‘cos she walked on that stage in Maui! The sun got to her!”

Rumours has sold over 40 million records since its release and is one of the top-selling albums of all time. It was recorded in 1976, mostly at the Record Plant in Sausalito, California, but the soap opera around the album’s recording is almost as well-played as the 1977 record itself. Drummer Mick Fleetwood had just discovered his wife was having an affair with his best friend; bassist John McVie and Christine broke up after eight years of marriage; and Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham’s relationship was hitting rock bottom — all played out under a dusting of cocaine addiction. That heartbreak and hurt became the core of the album, padded by languid pop melodies that are still soundtracking house parties three decades later. It’s those raw, timeless emotions that still connect with fans, says Nicks. “Sometimes I’ll just put Rumours on, put on headphones and I’ll listen to it and I’ll go, ‘Wow, boy, if I was 20 years old right now I’d wanna join that band ‘cos it sounds to me really real and really young and really now.’”

Fleetwood agrees, describing the album as a “personal document” of “nightmare to tragedy to love affairs, which in truth is like much of life itself. I think we’ve now come out the other end where people enjoy exploring that and also identify with it. We were vulnerable like a lot of people are.”

With the band readying themselves for three sell-out nights in London this week that started on Tuesday (September 24), followed by dates in Manchester and Birmingham, Fleetwood says that it’s only since he’s got older himself that he realizes how important the band’s legacy really is. “In years gone by everything was so razzmatazz, and you’re young and you don’t give a shit. Now, when you realize that the whole tour has sold out and people your age and younger — and older people — are still loving what you do, it wakes you up. It’s like we did something that was worth a damn and that makes you feel good.”

There’s still one thing Fleetwood Mac have left to check off — and that’s a headline slot at Glastonbury. Whispers are rife that 2014 could be the year they make their debut on the Pyramid Stage, but the band remain coy. “Oh, I’d love to do it,” says Nicks. “But loving to do it and doing it are two different things. I’ve watched Glastonbury on TV so I know what it is and I know it’s a really big festival and it would be really fun to do…”

So is 2014 the year? “Yeah, yeah — maybe!”

Famous Mac fans

What the music world has said about Fleetwood Mac

Bat for Lashes
“I was brought up on a lot of Fleetwood Mac — my mum and I used to sing ‘Gypsy’ and ‘Rhiannon’ in the car. I think without even realizing it I few on those influences. [Stevie Nicks is] a sassy little firecracker. Her vision of femininity is very mystical. She makes me feel good about being a woman.”

Colin Greenwood, Radiohead
“Well, I try to tell everyone I’m a complete fan of Fleetwood Mac. Our manager introduced me to them years ago. I love the Peter Green era — it’s sort of psychedelic folk blues. Just the way it was recorded, with the drums, the dry drums with the percussion in the background.”

Jeremy Warmsley, Summer Camp
“A lot of their songs sound really breezy and poppy but when you actually listen to the words there’s this real core of darkness — especially on Rumours, where Stevie and Lindsey were literally breaking up while recording the album. That idea of smuggling in these evil thoughts under the cover of a happy pop song is something we’re always trying to do.”

Bethany Cosentino, Best Coast
“My mom was a huge, huge Fleetwood Mac fan. She dressed like Stevie Nicks when she was in her twenties. I spend hours on the internet looking at pictures of her, but I don’t necessarily dress up as much as she did. I would lose my mind [if I met her].”

NME interview with Mick Fleetwood & Stevie Nicks

[quicktime]https://stevienicks.info/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/2013-0917-nme-interview.mp4[/quicktime]

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Jenny Stevens / NME, Upfront / Saturday, September 28, 2013

Click on the above image or this link to purchase the digital edition.

Tickets for next week’s gig at the Hydro are being sold online for up to 10 times their face value.

Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks on stageFleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks on stage

GREEDY fans are raking in huge profits by selling their tickets for next week’s Fleetwood Mac gig in Glasgow at almost 10 times the price.

The band, celebrating the 36th anniversary of the release of their classic album Rumours, play the new SSE Hydro venue on Thursday.

The face value for tickets is £45-£125 but some fans are offering theirs for sale online at up to £1000 – more than it costs to see the band play Vegas later this year.

On Ticketmaster site Get Me In, which describes itself as a safe and secure marketplace for sales, Row Z tickets were available yesterday for £1100.

Over at Stub Hub, run by eBay, £125 tickets had been bid up to £343.86, while on Viagogo, tickets were priced between £249.99 and £699.

Meanwhile, Viagogo also had tickets to see Stevie Nicks and Co at the famed MGM Grand Garden Arena Hotel in Las Vegas from only £91.44.

Kirsten McAlonan, communications manager at the Hydro, said: “It’s nice to be compared to Vegas but, unfortunately, secondary ticketing is something we have no control over.

“Our best suggestion to fans is to make sure that they register with www.thehydro.com for access to our presale tickets for all upcoming gigs.”

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Beverly Lyons / Daily Record & Sunday Mail / Monday, September 30, 2013

Lindsey Buckingham says a new Fleetwood Mac album could only happen if Stevie Nicks wants it to — and he can understand why she wouldn’t.

The band are currently touring the UK and Europe. Former member Christine McVie made a guest appearance in London on Wednesday. She’s expected to do the same again tonight.

But the chances of the remaining band members making another full-length record may be reduced after Nicks enjoyed making her 2012 solo album In Your Dreams.

Buckingham tells M Music & Musicians: “She had a wonderful experience making that album. She hasn’t said this — this is just me — but, knowing Stevie, she’s probably thinking, ‘If I have to write five new songs, do I want to give them to Fleetwood Mac?’

“I think she’s feeling a bit protective and territorial about the experience she had doing her solo project. And I can totally relate to that.”

Mac have endured notoriously difficult internal relationships over the years, and guitarist Buckingham says it’s still the case up to a point.

“The way we do things is always a political minefield,” he reflects. “If it’s not Stevie, it’s me; someone is always causing trouble.

“I know Warner Brothers is dying to get an album from us, even though we’re not signed to them anymore. Stevie needs to come to the table with some material.

“In order to contemplate a new album, she has to want to do it.”

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Martin Kielty / Classic Rock / Friday, September 27, 2013