Lindsey Buckingham nearly blocked last night’s onstage reunion, reveals Stevie Nicks in MOJO scoop.
Stevie Nicks has talked to MOJO about Christine McVie’s on-stage return to Fleetwood Mac last night at London’s O2 Arena.
Speaking in an interview to be published in MOJO 241 (UK shelf date October 29) the diminutive Mac singer confirmed that while McVie, who left the group in 1998, has “just returned to do one song” it could have been “a few songs” if it hadn’t been for one particular stumbling block.
“I think Lindsey’s words were ‘She can’t just come and go’.”
“Lindsey [Buckingham] is very funny about that,” Nicks told MOJO’s James McNair. “I think his words were ‘She can’t just come and go’. That’s important to him, but it’s not quite so important to me. Much as Lindsey adores her; and he does – she’s the only one in Fleetwood Mac he was ever willing to listen to – he doesn’t want the first night reviews to be all about Christine’s one song, rather than the set we rehearsed for two months.”
McVie was met with rapturous applause last night when she joined her old band to play keyboards and sing Don’t Stop, and she will be appearing with the group again at their final O2 show tomorrow. But, while the route to the stage hasn’t necessarily been a smooth one, Nicks also added that “it will be wonderful to have her back up there with us. And from there who knows.”
In a candid, funny and emotional interview, Nicks goes on to discuss her childhood, her solo career (“Fleetwood Mac weren’t that impressed”) the “unresolved” aspects of her and Buckingham’s relationship, and the bizarre night she slept on the floor of Prince’s purple kitchen.
Adrian Thrills gives his review as band tour Britain.
(Brian Rasic / Rex)
Rock’s greatest soap opera rolled into London this week as Fleetwood Mac began their UK tour with a marathon concert dominated by the hits of the Seventies. Emotional punch was added by the presence of two ex-members who were major players in the Anglo-American group’s chequered history.
For a rollicking encore of “Don’t Stop,” the band were joined at the O2 Arena by keyboardist Christine McVie — onstage with them for the first time in 15 years.
Earlier, singer Stevie Nicks dedicated a poignant “Landslide” to original Sixties guitarist Peter Green, who was watching from the wings.
As a generation-spanning audience demonstrated, our love for Fleetwood Mac shows little sign of abating, partly because their biggest hits are still so intertwined with their love lives.
The classic 1977 album Rumours was made amid drug-fuelled excess and personal turmoil, with drummer Mick Fleetwood in the throes of a divorce, the marriage of bassist John and keyboardist Christine McVie on the rocks, and the romance between singer Stevie Nicks and guitarist Lindsey Buckingham in meltdown. To complicate matters, Nicks and Fleetwood later had their own two-year affair.
As the return, albeit for just one song, of Christine McVie confirmed, everyone is the best of friends these days, although the sexual tensions of old lingered in songs like “Don’t Stop” (Christine’s kiss-off to John) and “Go Your Own Way” (Lindsey’s bitter adios to Stevie).
The Buckingham-Nicks relationship was also played out for theatrical effect onstage. The former couple, a formidable creative double-act, hugged each other and slow danced during “Sara,” and walked on holding hands before the encores. At one point, Lindsey — to loud cheers — gave Stevie a gentlemanly kiss on the hand.
Having played 47 American shows in 2013, the band were perfectly cooked. With McVie and Fleetwood providing a fluent rhythmic backbone, Buckingham drove the show musically, setting the tempo with some impressive soloing in the Rumours-era opening salvo of “Second Hand News,” “The Chain” and “Dreams.”
But it is Nicks who gives the group their charisma. Teetering around in black stiletto boots, her microphone stand draped in hippy beads and scarves, she was mesmerising on “Rhiannon” and “Landslide,” the latter an acoustic duet with Buckingham.
Alongside the enduring excellence of their songs, it is also the presence of Nicks that connects the band — now all in their 60s — with a younger crowd. Most of the junior members of this audience were female, and it is no coincidence that the new acts most obviously influenced by the group’s classic hooks and harmonies are girl bands like The Pierces and Haim.
Fleetwood Mac’s ongoing appeal also says a lot about the value of experience. From the Stones at Glastonbury to Rod Stewart and Springsteen, many of this year’s best gigs have been played by the veterans, and there was certainly an impressive level of artistry on display here.
As Mick Fleetwood bellowed from his drumkit as the 11 o’clock curfew beckoned: ‘The Mac are back!’ Indeed they are.
The Fleetwood Mac tour continues tonight at the O2 Arena (ticketmaster.co.uk)
Adrian Thrills / Daily Mail / Friday, September 27, 2013
They were back — and talking to each other as well. But despite the hits, fine musicianship and Stevie Nicks’s array of shawls, there was still one thing missing
O2, London
Tuesday, 24 September 2013
*** 3 out of 5 stars
You’re looking at your watch, consulting the set list from a recent Fleetwood Mac gig in Dublin and thinking: it has to happen soon. We’re running out of songs.
But we’re 20-odd tunes into the first of the band’s three-night London run and the icing on the cake made of soap has not materialised. We’ve endured Mick Fleetwood’s mammoth drum solo on World Turning, one that has lasted eight minutes at previous stops on this world tour. Tonight it clocks in at four. We’ve had Don’t Stop, one of this outlandishly successful band’s most galumphing hits, the song where you assumed It Would Happen. But no. The Mac have gone off, and come back, and Stevie Nicks is trilling Silver Springs, and there is no sign of the return of the second of Fleetwood Mac’s two Macs. That Mac is not back.
One of the major draws of these gigs — their first in the UK since 2009 — has been the rumour that Christine McVie might appear as a special guest. The Birmingham melodicist retired from the band in 1998, technically for the second time, citing a fear of flying. Touring with her ex-husband, bassist John McVie, and weariness of the long-running dramas of her band might well have been contributing factors.
But the USP of this umpteenth Fleetwood Mac reunion is that everyone is getting along quite swimmingly. Indeed this Gordian sexual knot of a group have long since put their libidos and coke habits behind them, and tonight are even mining the residues of the chemistry for laughs (and sniffles). Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, the California duo who joined the blues-rock outfit in 1974 and turned it into gold dust, are holding hands, hugging at the end of Sara, and singing at one another. Mick Fleetwood — an increasingly jester-like figure, sitting worryingly near a gong — affectionately clasps hands with Nicks at the end of one song. Their affair in 1977 complicated an already star-crossed love polygon that has defined this band as much as their mellifluous soft rock.
Still, despite all the lovely closure, Christine does not show (although she does the following night). Anyone hoping to hear Little Lies, or the barbed You Make Loving Fun (written about Christine McVie’s relationship with the band’s lighting guy), or even Hold Me, the band’s later-period US hit about another McVie conquest, Dennis Wilson, is going home a little disappointed tonight.
Probably not by much though. This nearly three-hour set is nothing if not generous value, packing in significant swaths of Rumours, the band’s most famous album. It has sold something like 40m copies, a figure that, in all likelihood, no one album released in the 21st century will ever match. Its reissue entered the UK charts at No 3 last February. Of its vast riches, Go Your Own Way remains a sulky gem. It ends the band’s first set with Buckingham mock-chasing Nicks around the stage and letting the front rows paw at his guitar.
It’s salutary to be reminded what a fine player Lindsey Buckingham is. He’s lithe and leather-jacketed, full of thoughtful song preambles. Hearing him playing Big Love solo — hollering the words, plucking at his hollow-bodied electric — is one of the unexpected highlights of a set that can sometimes feel like a rewrite of history.
It seems unthinkable now, but there was a time when not everyone thought Fleetwood Mac were cool, or survivors, or ripe for homage by Haim or Florence and the Machine. Indeed, if you were alive in the 1980s, Fleetwood Mac were the grown-ups’ music, and as such as attractive as uncooked liver. Mac songs seemed pat, mid-tempo affairs with needless, false harmonies. (They all hated each other!) It wasn’t just a question of age — the Rolling Stones were old — it was that Fleetwood Mac’s music felt fluffy and smug. At least it did from the vehement hauteur of the spiky, directional 80s.
Now, though, 30 years on, one of their newer songs, Sad Angel, is pacier than you’d imagine. And there is widespread respect for Fleetwood Mac’s awkward, angry Tusk album of 1979. Tonight the title track exudes bitterness, evil laughter and deranged keyboard horns: there is nothing pat about it.
Arguably it was Courtney Love who first rehabilitated Fleetwood Mac — or at least Stevie Nicks — thanking “Rhiannon the Welsh Witch” on the sleeve of Hole’s Pretty on the Inside album (1991), and often declaring Nicks her hero. At the O2 Nicks recalls being Buckingham’s “hippie girlfriend”, accepted into the Mac package when Fleetwood hired Buckingham.
She is the sort of woman who paints angels, and wants to set Welsh epic The Mabinogion on the screen with the help of the Game of Thrones creator, but down to earth with it. Tonight her buddy Christine may not be here, but Nicks’s throaty husk sounds masterful on Gold Dust Woman. And — living up to billing quite spectacularly — she has a different shawl for nearly every song.
Kitty Empire / The Guardian / Saturday, September 28, 2013
The legendary keyboardist, singer-songwriter reunites with Fleetwood Mac for ‘Don’t Stop,’ fans on Twitter break the news to the world.
(Nic Phillips)
On Wednesday, Fleetwood Mac performed in concert for the second consecutive night at London’s O2 Arena. The sold-out, high-profile show featured celebrities in the audience, such as model Kate Moss, and the return to the stage of beloved, former Mac member Christine McVie. The keyboardist and singer-songwriter, who left Fleetwood Mac in 1998, played with the band during the first encore for one song, “Don’t Stop,” the smash hit that McVie wrote for Rumours. When McVie appeared on the stage, the nearly-15,000 attendees cheered with sheer joy and admiration, as if they had been reunited with an estranged loved one. Similarly, Twitter erupted with excitement as fans quickly tweeted about McVie’s surprise appearance.
Christine McVie will perform again with Fleetwood Mac at Friday night’s third and final show at London’s O2 Arena. McVie will perform again with Fleetwood Mac at Friday night’s concert.
The band also welcomed the return of founding Fleetwood Mac member, blues guitarist Peter Green, who was in the audience at tonight’s show. Stevie dedicated “Landslide” to Green, which earned crowd approval.
Videos from the show, additional concert photography, links to media articles, and the live tweeting log appear below.
Watch ‘Don’t Stop’ with Christine McVie
Sideviews (courtesy of antronoid & cdparky1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bmHQ_7x_tg
Frontview (courtesy of Alistair Tant, ribbled, & Michelle van der Heide)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P18GvoshmWw
Stage right view (courtesy of steveatgigs & Tim Ricketts)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJPhM5oQepw
Second Hand News (courtesy of cdparky1)
The Chain – partial (courtesy of Tim Ricketts)
Dreams (courtesy of Michelle van der Heide)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeibIwxVNWk
Dreams (courtesy of stegair)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQIBZd4R4ts
Rhiannon (courtesy of Michelle van der Heide)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSciaxznVtE
Not That Funny – partial (courtesy of Tim Ricketts)
Tusk (courtesy of steveatgigs)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTqzsYqXtWU
Sisters of the Moon (courtesy of Michelle van der Heide)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GBv4RAjnbk
Big Love (courtesy of stegair)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN0IfrNgw48
Landside (courtesy of steveatgigs)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7nJ9O39Vcs
Never Going Back Again (courtesy of steveatgigs)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jfn-2e1I3yY
Without You – intro (courtesy of Tim Ricketts)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB1y-1TivLo
Without You – partial (courtesy of Tim Ricketts)
Eyes of the World – partial (courtesy of Tim Ricketts)
I’m So Afraid – partial (courtesy of Tim Ricketts)
Stand Back – partial (courtesy of Tim Ricketts)
Go Your Own Way (courtesy of Michelle van der Heide)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEX3CB6O_3I
Silver Springs (courtesy of stegair)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrACXARrW0E
London set list
London set list
Live Tweeting from London
@Ella_McKee
FLEETWOOD mac @The_O2 AMAZINGGGGGGG! SO excited!!!
Expand
@handleyg
Fleetwood Mac! Wow. Been waiting 30 years for this!
@niponravel
They’ve just played Dreams and I have shed tear #Fleetwoodmac
@CouttsUKCIO
#Fleetwood Mac the full “Bill Clinton” line up never bettered in London now !
@Tamara_Beckwith
Electric @ #Fleetwoodmac #stevienicks #O2 – just beyond!!! So spoiling!! Legends xx @ O2
@bettsybabezz
10 years later and Fleetwood Mac are still making good music ❤️ #fav
@Tadders
Just heard Fleetwood Mac do The Chain. AMAZING.
@glenrowe
watching fleetwood mac & track 2 was “the chain”… it cant get any better can it? #blownaway
@Xfm_Lliana
The Chain has killed me! Best break up song ever?? #fleetwoodmac
@CordzNFFW
New material at a Fleetwood Mac concert is a fantastic excuse for a piss #asgoodasitmaybe
@LizzieHowis
I just met Kate Moss at a Fleetwood Mac concert. My life is complete
@ShannonBedford
I have just heard Fleetwood Mac perform one of my favorite songs of all time – Dreams. Thank you so much @emmabarney #mademynight
@marr_simon
#fleetwoodmac launch into ‘Rhiannon’. Men and women gush and sigh, and then yell along with dear old Stevie
@bellaklaine
this is precisely what I hoped for. stevie nicks in a sequinned cloak belting out rhiannon. literally overwhelmed. #fleetwoodmac
@bellaklaine
that and mick looming behind his drums, waistcoated and neckerchiefed. £160 and worth every drop #fleetwoodmac
@TonySlackShot
24 hrs ago I was miserable and not going to see Fleetwood Mac. Now I’m watching them in the O2. Can’t believe it!!!!! = )
@AndrewCastle63
#fleetwoodmac at the #O2. Loving it….I’m the youngest here!
@SiTrill
Tusk just fecking rocked! #FleetwoodMac
@DustPR
Stevie Nicks has still got it #fleetwoodmac
@marr_simon
Lindsey Biuckingham delivers highlight of set so far with solo ‘Lookin out for Love’ #fleetwoodmac #O2
@niponravel
Acoustic version of Big Love by Lindsey Buckingham. Guitar genius! Love Lindsey #Fleetwoodmac #lindseybuckingham
@lynseyshev
Stevie just dedicated landslide to Peter Green. He’s in the audience. I almost cried #fleetwoodmac
@julieetchitv
Stevie Nicks sublime #FleetwoodMac
@fatsanj
Beautiful dedication by Stevie Nicks of Landslide to Peter Green who is watching tonight’s @fleetwoodmac show.
@platinumbl0ndie
Ah Peter Green is at the Fleetwood Mac concert tonight and Stevie dedicated Landslide to him. So cool.
@matteveritt
Lindsey and Stevie just had a little hug. Nearly lost it @fleetwoodmac
@hamiltonsean
At Fleetwood Mac. Nicks and Buckingham must have a bet on to tell most boring anecdote. It’s 1-1.
@DinaHenry001
Fabulous night watching Fleetwood Mac at the O2
@GouldThomas
Fabulous #fleetwoodmac at 02 reminding us all of the power of the tambourine #class
@AlsoKevinKelly
The thought that Christine McVie could be back on stage with @fleetwoodmac tonight makes me so, so happy.
@simon_AEGlive
Lindsey Buckingham – probably one of the best guitarists I have ever seen live. #fleetwoodmac #theo2…
A blissful opening hour of punchy self-confidence is undermined by Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham’s strange stage intimacy – they need Christine McVie to make it all gel.
(Angela Lubrano / Livepix)
O2 Arena, London * * * * (4 out of 5 stars)
Those who have watched just a small selection of the many documentaries about Fleetwood Mac will know their two singer-songwriters, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, don’t have a lot to do with each other. In one, Nicks said she’d never even been to her ex’s house. But the narrative of the group insists they must forever be remembered as the tragic, star-crossed lovers, and so they are last on stage at the O2, strolling on hand in hand; during Sara they coo choruses to each other, then embrace and slow dance as the song comes to an end.
What makes this forced intimacy even odder is that without the third songwriter, Christine McVie – who seems likely to make a cameo appearance at their next two O2 shows – the dichotomy between the pair’s writing is so stark. Buckingham’s songs, for all their melodic beauty, are often harsh and angry, and his between-songs banter could have been scripted by a therapist; Nicks’s are soft and pillowy, a Laurel Canyon prefiguring of goth, and her chat is rambling and charming.
Nevertheless, for the opening hour, it’s blissful – an opening of trio of “Second Hand News,” “The Chain” and “Dreams” is jaw-dropping in its self-confidence. Nicks may no longer be able to reach the high notes of “Rhiannon,” but the song’s construction is sturdy enough to survive the removal of its ornaments. And a one-two punch from the extraordinary 1979 album Tusk is simply jaw-dropping: “Not That Funny” echoes around the vast room like an invitation to step outside, and Tusk itself is eerie and uneasy and wonderful.
But there’s a distinct and rather long sag as the main set winds down – looking down from the top tier, one can see mobile phones being checked on the floor as “I’m So Afraid” meanders on – and the relief that greets “Don’t Stop” is palpable. It’s a victory in the end, but it’s a set that would be so much stronger at half an hour shorter.
• Did you catch this show – or any other recently? Tell us about it using #gdnreview
Michael Hann / The Guardian (UK) / Wednesday, September 25, 2013
The four ongoing members of Fleetwood Mac performed for the first time since 2009, with an epic set list drawn from the late Seventies. While Stevie Nicks still possessed a voice that bewitched, Lindsey Buckingham was a fiery leader, thumping his chest to celebrate every new solo accomplished
(Brian Rasic)
Critic Rating * * * * (4 out of 5 stars) Reader Rating * * * * (4 out of 5 stars)
Though a rumoured reunion with the long-absent Christine McVie did not materialise last night, the four ongoing members of one of rock’s most turbulent bands looked like firm friends as Fleetwood Mac played in London for the first time since 2009.
It was all gushing introductions, a long hug for Lindsey Buckingham from Stevie Nicks, much hand-kissing and warm saluting. Given that most of their finest songs come from a period when their various couples were splintering painfully, time really is the great healer.
Most of an epic set list was drawn from that peerless period of the late Seventies when the Americans Nicks and Buckingham arrived to turn the bluesy Brits into superstars — The Chain, Tusk and Go Your Own Way all had energy to burn.
Nicks still possessed a voice that bewitched, especially on the acoustic Landslide. While even the engine room of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie had the occasional break, Buckingham was a fiery leader, thumping his chest to celebrate every new solo accomplished.
“There are quite a few chapters left in the book of Fleetwood Mac,” he claimed, airing one likeable new song and a long lost rarity. It’s been a fascinating read so far.
Also tonight and Friday, O2 Arena, SE10 (0844 824 4824, the02.co.uk)
David Smyth / Evening Standard (UK) / Wednesday, September 25, 2013
After all these years, something still gets Lindsey Buckingham’s goat. Fleetwood Mac’s guitarist and front man tore into “Second Hand News,” barking the words and spitting out the “bams” of the chorus’s vocalese like repeated slaps in the face. Rumours, the gazillion-selling “soft-rock” album that chronicles the band’s – and their generation’s – relationship traumas was given its 35th anniversary reissue in February. There was little soft about this near three-hour show, the first of three nights of controlled catharsis in London.
Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, his former girlfriend and the fans’ erstwhile hippie siren, held hands as they emerged. Their harmonies were on point for “The Chain,” the sound lent a doomy toll and twang like a gothic Creedence Clearwater Revival. When they turned to each other, you couldn’t tell if their deliveries were taunting or imploring. “You know what you lost,” sang Nicks on “Dreams,” the line hanging rueful and accusatory in the air, her voice deeper than in her prime and approaching a Patti Smith-like gravitas. In waistcoats and flat caps, the rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie looked like upscale Wurzels, somewhat baffled by the continuing psychodrama unfolding before them, but grateful for its endlessly fascinating power.
For all their colossal self-importance, Buckingham was right to insist there were “still things to discover” about Fleetwood Mac. Not least how time does or doesn’t heal and, as Nicks would sing on the sore, regretful “Landslide,” “Can I handle the seasons of my life?” The woozy rites of “Rhiannon” seemed more curse than enchantment now. Four songs from Tusk, their “difficult” follow-up to Rumours, were prefaced by a self-justifying but apt lecture from Buckingham about the incompatibility of art and commerce. They were played with a kick-against-the-pricks intensity and when they were done, Nicks gave Buckingham a brief, battle-weary hug.
The mooted guest spot for Christine McVie didn’t materialise. Perhaps that’s for another night. This really was Buckingham’s gig. He doesn’t so much solo as argue his case with his guitar. And it’s a knotty, consuming one at that. Alone and acoustic, “Big Love” was haunted, almost hysterical, as spooked as a wild horse. This was the most extraordinary, and impassioned, part of an evening that was sometimes as arduous as it was enjoyable, if mostly riveting nonetheless. Many people took a comfort break during “Without You,” built up by Nicks as a “lost” classic but rather soppy in the event.
The finale, “Go Your Own Way,” felt like the first unfettered sing-a-long. Yet even this was driven by a dark rhythmic energy that pushed the melody uneasily ahead. The honky-tonk gallop of “Don’t Stop” in the encore was preceded by a preposterous mugging of a drum solo from Fleetwood. When, at the last, someone made a request, he was chastised for “vibe corruption” by Nicks and Buckingham, who wanted to finish on the gentle “Say Goodbye.” In this soap opera, the principals write the script.
Thirty-six years after Rumours became the soundtrack to the age of divorce, four of the five people that made it are reliving their personal dramas once more. With their soft rock masterpiece from 1977, Fleetwood Mac articulated the new rules of relationships, capturing the reality of affairs, tensions, betrayals and break-ups and selling over 40 million copies in the process.
They also documented their own reality. Singer Stevie Nicks was splitting up from guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, songwriter Christine and bassist John McVie were getting divorced, drummer Mick Fleetwood was stuck in the middle, and they dealt with it all in the best way Seventies rock stars in Los Angeles could: by taking huge amounts of cocaine. Now all but Christine McVie have come back for more. Without the cocaine.
Buckingham said that Rumours “brought out the voyeur in everyone”. It also spoke to millions: the emotional truth of the music jumped out of the grooves. Judging by the hordes filling a packed O2 arena, it still does. Floaty scarves hung from Nicks’ microphone, but beyond that the stage was bare: fitting for a concert dedicated to an album defined by its simplicity.
Nicks channelled her inner hippy witch in a black sequinned ensemble, emerging from the shadows to launch into Second Hand News, one of the many songs on Rumours expressing the bitterness of being a cast-off lover. Then it was time for The Chain, the most starkly autobiographical song about the love tangle, its irresistibly simple beat sounding as fresh as ever.
After all these years, it was strange to watch Nicks singing Dreams as Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac’s resident tortured artist and the subject of the song’s words, played guitar next to her. Fleetwood, cocooned behind an enormous drum kit, looked, with his flat cap, black tights and lolling tongue, like a cockney jester on day release.
“Every time we come back together it’s different . . . it appears there are still a few chapters left in the story of Fleetwood Mac,” said Buckingham, before giving the audience their cue to rush to the bar: a new number. In the event, Sad Angel was a pretty decent slice of California rock, and Nicks followed it up with Rhiannon, her song about a Welsh witch that put her on the map. Her throaty delivery was perfect for the song’s combination of spooky mystery and Top 40 appeal.
Buckingham gave himself a metaphorical pat on the back when he introduced a few songs from Tusk, the non-commercial follow-up to Rumours and very much his album.
“I’d like to have been a fly on the wall when Warner Brothers first heard Tusk,” he chuckled, before celebrating his uncompromising genius by singing It’s Not That Funny.
“That electric crazy attraction between Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks never dies,” Nicks said recently. Whether Buckingham, married with kids, would agree with her is debatable, but the pair did play a touching, tender version of Landslide together. Buckingham managed to silence the arena with a solo acoustic rendition of Never Going Back Again.
As a testament to the power of mainstream rock, it was hard to beat. And after Fleetwood played a drum solo while muttering something unintelligible, the band launched into Don’t Stop, proving there is nothing more powerful than a perfect song.
Expert views on the best of the performing arts, Times2, page 11
Will Hodgkinson / The Times (UK) / Wednesday, September 24, 2013
Fleetwood Mac performed the first of three sold-out shows at London’s O2 Arena. The band had the nearly 15,000 concert attendees on their feet by the end of the show, as they danced and sang along to the chorus of “Go Your Own Way.”
Stevie dedicated “Landslide” to Jenny Boyd, Mick Fleetwood’s first wife.
The next two shows in London are highly anticipated for the return of former member Christine McVie, who is scheduled to perform with the band during “Don’t Stop.” McVie retired from the band in 1998 for simpler life in Kent, an area southeast of London.
London Setlist (Night 1)
Second Hand News
The Chain
Dreams
Sad Angel
Rhiannon
Not That Funny
Tusk
Sisters of the Moon
Sara
Big Love
Landslide
Never Going Back Again
Without You
Gypsy
Eyes of the World
Gold Dust Woman
I’m So Afraid
Stand Back
Go Your Own Way
World Turning
Don’t Stop
Silver Springs
Say Goodbye
Videos
Second Hand News (courtesy of kristianlw)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49uhQNfMIlM
The Chain (courtesy of kristianlw)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6CzYVUoAYs
Dreams (courtesy of kristianlw)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jwlTXhNakA
Sad Angel (courtesy of kristianlw)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8Yma6nVQjE
Rhiannon – partial (courtesy of ticketstublife)
Tusk (courtesy of Steven Lister)
Tusk – partial (courtesy of missloopyloo69)
Sisters of the Moon (courtesy of carolinetillyann)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUt2iBUR-TA
Sara (courtesy of Steven Lister)
Big Love (courtesy of ticketstublife)
Big Love (courtesy of kristianlw)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bARj88P-hOk
Landslide (courtesy of kristianlw)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiZmjdQYny8
Gypsy (courtesy of kristianlw)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiAt8z4b1fM
Eyes of the World (courtesy of kristianlw)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPHGj9XmvZg
Gold Dust Woman (courtesy of Steven Lister)
Go Your Own Way (courtesy of kristianlw)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDEksmGNFSE
Go Your Own Way (courtesy of Flash Productions FM)
Don’t Stop (courtesy of MsMonkeybird)
Live Tweeting
@TonsOfShillings
I’m having a better night than all of you. I’m watching Fleetwood Mac
@OurEventsNI
FLEETWOOD MAC @The02Arena #London INCREDIBLE!!!! #fleetwoodmac
@KarenBiggs4
@ Fleetwood Mac @ O2. Stevia Nicks is an icon of survival and gorgeous with it.
@VictoriaBelfast
FLEETWOOD MAC @The02Arena OMG! #London #fleetwoodmac
@KTGingeLondon
@fleetwoodmac are rocking out @The_O2!!
@cla1re24
@fleetwoodmac are rocking the O2
@laurz_m
Everyone still waiting for Christine’s appearance…#fleetwoodmac
@adamdowling
Fulfilling one of life’s ambitions on Friday – seeing @fleetwoodmac at @The_O2 !!!! #3days #biglove
@KBanbury
Every woman in this arena wishes they were Stevie right now #o2 #fleetwoodmac
@nomio1
Amazing!!! 🙂 #fleetwood mac pic.twitter.com/0cltuGdHu0
@catherinedarby
Loving Mick Fleetwood and John McVie along with Buckingham/Nicks’ narrative. But oh for Christine McVie and Songbird #fleetwoodmac
@MarkSkunkAnansi
Fleetwood Mac words fail me. Utterly stunning.
@Joe_Dromey
I’ve seen entire gigs that have been shorter than a Fleetwood Mac solo
@lekatieox
FLEETWOOD MAC STOP IT U ARE TOO GOOD
@kerrymoyles
It’s always nice to be the youngest at a gig. #fleetwoodmac
@longfellow159
Some gigs you never want to end #FleetwoodMac
@kennyrushygod
You Can Go Your Own Way utterly completely brilliant! #fleetwoodmac #o2arena
@Peyypeyy
Fleetwood Mac is that shit man
@ThunderOTL
Gold Dust Woman blew my mind! Lindsay and Stevie stealing the show at the O2! #fleetwoodmac
@ReesHitchcock
Mick Fleetwood does looks a little bit like Uncle Albert…#fleetwoodmac
@Dorianlynskey
Seeing Fleetwood Mac for the first time. Drives home what an oddly intense band they are without Christine McVie’s leavening influence.
@catherinedarby
Mick Fleetwood IS the living legend on drums #fleetwoodmac
@JHRebecca
Mic Fleetwood interactive DRUM SOLO #waaaaaahhhh #fleetwoodmac BOOM!!!!
@davidrsmyth
it’s a fact that more music journalists die from self-inflicted injuries while watching drum solos than anything else #FleetwoodMac
Rock legends don’t come much bigger or more iconic than the Mac, and these shows look set to be typically historic. But what can fans expect from the most anticipated tour of 2013?
From rumours about Rumours, the return of Christine McVie, a hit-packed set list, celebrities and specials guests, here are 12 very special reasons to get excited at Fleetwood Mac playing live in London.
1. Christine McVie – She’s back in the Mac! Despite Stevie Nicks claiming that they were ‘never, ever, ever getting back together’, the reunion was confirmed earlier this year, with drummer Mick Fleetwood telling Gigwise: “I think she’s going to come and do the last two shows in London. It’s going to be great – Christine’s music is so much part of Fleetwood Mac. She’s been gone now for many, many years and she’s like my sister.”
2. Hits – When the band’s tour reached Dublin last week, they delighted fans with an epic, career-spanning 23 song set that packed in all of the fan favourites. Prepare to lose your mind to ‘The Chain’, ‘Dreams’, Rhiannon’, ‘Tusk’, ‘Don’t Stop’, ‘Go Your Own Way’ and many, many, many more.
3. All generations – Unlike some ‘classic’ bands, it won’t all be older people trying to relive their youth. Fleetwood Mac manage to appeal to everyone, so expect to see a complete mix of people – from children to grandparents.
4. The famous chemistry – The onstage tension between Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks is a thing of legend. From the way they hug at the end of ‘Sara’ to Stevie turning her back on Lindsey during the ‘shacking up’ line in ‘Go Your Own Way’, the history between the two of them only serves to add an extra-special magic to the songs.
5. Lots of love for Rumours: The tour happens to coincide with the re-release of the famous Rumours, which could lead to more songs than usual from the ’76 album. Stevie said to Rolling Stone, “There are a lot of songs on Rumours that are in the set no matter what. I think what will happen is we’ll end up talking about it onstage. Most of those songs are in our set anyway. We’ll just end up telling stories and talking about how these things happen. It’s always fun to share that with your audience.”
6. Eight minute drum solo – Last time of touring, Mick Fleetwood chose to perform an eight minute drum solo that teetered on the balance of brilliant and insane. As one reviewer put it, “This was a refreshingly spontaneous moment, including mostly incomprehensible calls from the drummer to the audience, ‘Are you blah blah blah?’”
7. Stevie Nicks solo material: The band dropped in the Nicks’ solo track ‘Stand Back’ at their Dublin show, and with her new LP In Your Dreams out soon, the band could well delight London with a couple more songs.
8. Stevie Nicks’ trademark twirls – Google ‘Stevie Nicks twirl’ and there are tons of results. Stevie’s trademark twirl is a thing to behold – and we doubt we’ll ever know how she manages that without seemingly ever getting dizzy. Witchcraft?!
9. Something different – Stevie Nicks told The Guardian, “This is going to be a very different tour. The audience is going to see a very different Fleetwood Mac up there – we talked about how we really need to appreciate what we have and who we are and how far we’ve come.” So who knows what you could see – although there’s no doubt that whatever it is, it’ll be worth it.
10. Celebrities – Yup, prepare to get celeb-spotting for those famous few that managed to swag a free ticket. The Mac’s recent US tour attracted the likes of Nicole Richie and Jennifer Aniston. The least we can hope for in London is Fleetwood superfan Jeremy Clarkson.
11. Special guests? It’s pure speculation, but here’s hoping that the Mac ‘do a Rolling Stones’ and invite a special guest or two on stage. Heaven knows there must be a long line of artists queuing up to perform with them. Notably, The Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart (pictured with the band here) recently worked with Nicks on her latest studio LP. Maybe he’ll come along?
12. A taste of what’s to come? Fear not, this may not be the last we’ve seen of The Mac. When asked if we can expect to see them at UK festivals next summer, Mick Fleetwood replied: “I hope so, I would love that. This has been a tough year on the road, but having said that, the boys in the band are hoping that our lady will think kindly about doing a few of the festivals.”
Andrew Trendell / Gigwise (UK) / Tuesday, September 24, 2013
1. Christine McVie – She’s back in the Mac! Despite Stevie Nicks claiming that they were ‘never, ever, ever getting back together’, the reunion was confirmed earlier this year, with drummer Mick Fleetwood telling Gigwise: “I think she’s going to come and do the last two shows in London. It’s going to be great – Christine’s music is so much part of Fleetwood Mac. She’s been gone now for many, many years and she’s like my sister.”
5. Lots of love for Rumours: The tour happens to coincide with the re-release of the famous Rumours, which could lead to more songs than usual from the ’76 album. Stevie said to Rolling Stone, “There are a lot of songs on Rumours that are in the set no matter what. I think what will happen is we’ll end up talking about it onstage. Most of those songs are in our set anyway. We’ll just end up telling stories and talking about how these things happen. It’s always fun to share that with your audience.”
8. Stevie Nicks’ trademark twirls – Google ‘Stevie Nicks twirl’ and there are tons of results. Stevie’s trademark twirl is a thing to behold – and we doubt we’ll ever know how she manages that without seemingly ever getting dizzy. Witchcraft?!