She’s a drama queen and she knows it. But we love Stevie Nicks all the more for it. At 65, this hot hippie is still able to hold an audience spell-bound.
It’s the perfect couples night out – with Nicks keeping the mid-life crisis men enthralled and Lindsey Buckingham, a very youthful 62, looking hot in his skinny jeans and leather jacket.
“I think Dublin is the best place to start up again after 47 shows in the US,” says Nicks, and we really believe her.
This could easily be dubbed a Greatest Hits tour – such is the outpouring of chart successes over five decades, with staples, “Gypsy,” “Tusk” and “The Chain” all featuring in a song list of favourites, with just a few gentle nods at more recent recording sessions.
The bizarrely complicated love triangles and trysts the members of Fleetwood Mac engaged in down the years have been played out in public, but neither Buckingham nor Nicks seem able to let it go. In what seems an almost therapeutic sharing with the 13,000-strong sell-out audience, the duo reference the troubles in their past several times over. Could they be wearing the band’s dysfunctional history as a badge of rock honour?
It seems almost distasteful at times — to die-hard fans it’s unnecessary, and to new fans it’s irrelevant. There are rumours of the one missing member of the original line-up – Christine McVie – joining them in London later this week, but one wonders if she’d really want to listen to old coals being raked in public again.
Drama aside, the show had a wonderful feelgood factor – with highlights including Nicks’ dedication of “Landslide” to Guinness master brewer Fergal Murray, and Mick Fleetwood’s frenzied drum solos which seem unwittingly inspired by The Muppets’ Animal.
As the set finishes with “Say Goodbye,” an almost tearful Nicks thanks us for being ‘dream catchers’ and implores us to go out into the night and spread the love – proving she’s still that 70s hippie at heart.
Siobhán Cronin / Irish Examiner / Wednesday, September 24, 2013
Fleetwood Mac perform a pair of satisfying shows in Dublin.
THERE IS a story about a lost Fleetwood Mac demo that ended up on YouTube almost 40 years after it was recorded.
Stevie Nicks found it, showed it to Lindsey Buckingham and they stuck it on an EP. End of. Somehow, Nicks turns this simple anecdote into an epic bedtime story, apologising as a sweaty Buckingham places his hands on his hips and sighs. If the latter is right about there being “a few chapters left in the book of Fleetwood Mac,” they’d be doing well to play “Without You” without the lengthy backstory. Thankfully, it’s one of very few slip-ups in a sublime set from the British-American foursome. This is the Rumours line-up, minus Christine McVie. But Buckingham and friends are keen to explore the various guises of their intricate, colourful history together.
Thrilling
You don’t expect them to dig into 1979’s Tusk. Nor do you expect its experimental leanings to sound better than soft rock beauty “Dreams.” You sense the shake-up in the setlist was down to Buckingham — a thrilling guitarist who also trades under the “artist” title. The British gentlemen in the gang (bassist John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood) are, it seems, just happy to be here. McVie, the group’s backbone, has got the best job in the world. The always-reliable Fleetwood operates from a gorgeous workstation.
And then there’s Stevie Nicks. Just as Lindsey likes to squeeze into his tight jeans and wink at the ladies in the front row, Stevie is also in the mood to remind her followers that she’s still the coolest hippy chick in town. Prancing about with her scarves hanging from her microphone stand, and spinning in the spotlight like a stoned ballerina, you’d never guess she turned 65 this year. An enchanting songstress, her voice remains up to the task, too, not least on “Sara,” and acoustic favourite, “Landslide.”
Refreshed
Again, it’s not all perfect — the new material falls flat and a few moments of self-indulgence creep in. They are, however, in the form of their lives; refreshed, re-engaged and ready for the next round. Buckingham’s breath-taking solo on “I’m So Afraid” is incredible, and a crowd-pleasing, marathon version of “Go Your Own Way” is astounding. A few more chapters? Bring it on.
Chris Wasser / Herald / Monday, September 23, 2013
Through Princess Diana’s ancestor, heir to the throne and legendary rock drummer are sixth cousins three times removed, new research has revealed.
My perfect cousin: Prince William and Mick Fleetwood are related.
Prince William is related to legendary Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood, it was revealed yesterday.
Wills shares the same family tree as rock royalty Mick, aged 66, through an ancestor of his late mum Princess Diana.
The pair are sixth cousins three times removed.
They are connected by Diana’s ninth great-granddad Edward Lascelles who was also Mick’s sixth great grandfather. Lascelles was born in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, around 1702 and died aged 45.
Tonight, supergroup Fleetwood Mac play the first of three sell-out shows in London on their comeback tour of Europe.
Drummer Mick was a founder member of the band in 1967 – but he was not the first person in his family to find musical fame and fortune.
His fourth great grandmother Anne Catley was one of the most popular entertainers in 18th century London, research by family history website Ancestry.co.uk shows.
Anne was born in Tower Hill in 1745 and started singing in local taverns when she was aged ten.
She demanded a nightly performance fee of 40 guineas – equal to £5,000 today – and delighted Georgian society with her stunning good looks, “loose tongue” and working class roots.
Drummer Mick is the son of an RAF fighter pilot.
He was born in Redruth, Cornwall but has lived in the USA since the mid Seventies.
His second great uncle Robert Jenner was High Sheriff of Glamorgan in South Wales in 1827.
Miriam Silverman, Ancestry’s UK content manager, said yesterday: “It seems like Mick Fleetwood was always destined to be famous with both royal and celebrity connections in his family tree.”
Fleetwood Mac singer Christine McVie is expected to return to the stage for the first time since 1998 by making a guest appearance at one of the O2 Arena gigs in London this week.
Tickets for tonight’s show have been selling for up to £297 each as desperate fans hope to see her rejoin the rest of the band which made their classic number one album Rumours.
The 1977 smash hit clocked up global sales of 45 million copies – making it one of the biggest selling albums of all time.
Fiona Sturges hails the legacy of the Mac, a band who have weathered more storms than the Atlantic
Fleetwood Mac may have had their ups and downs but they sure know a thing or two about timing. Last year singer Stevie Nicks told Rolling Stone that 2013 would be “the year of Fleetwood Mac”. And so it has proved. Thirty-six years on from their 40 million-selling album Rumours, a languid, harmony-laden work about heartbreak which now resides in one in six US households, the Mac are back on top.
Since their Seventies heyday the band have been as famous for broken marriages and drug addictions as their music, and only recently has their back catalogue been deemed ripe for reappraisal. Following a series of re-issued LPs, next week their comeback tour rolls into the UK. Meanwhile, a new generation of artists are making known their appreciation. Below some of them explain the band’s appeal and pick their favourite LP from the back catalogue.
Tom McRae, solo artist
Favourite album: Rumours
“I first heard Fleetwood Mac via my older sister’s record collection, at a time when I had no concept of what was cool and what wasn’t. Fleetwood Mac didn’t connect with this country as they did in America. When I was living in LA I would turn the dial on the radio and they would come on five times.
When [1977’s] Rumours came out it was dismissed as AOR, but I think it was cooler than that. It chimed with the demographic and the technology. Where a lot of their contemporaries were playing rough-around-the-edges folk-rock, Fleetwood Mac came up with this pristine sound coupled with incredible songwriting.
Rumours is the Seventies equivalent of Thriller – every song is a potential single. What was going on privately [between warring couples Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, and Christine and John McVie] made it that much more potent. Dylan might have got the poetry of Blood on the Tracks out of divorce, but Fleetwood Mac got all the hits.”
Caitlin Rose, solo artist
Favourite album: Mirage
“If you live in the US songs like ‘Go Your Own Way’ and ‘Don’t Stop’ pop up with regularity. But I really got into Fleetwood Mac when I was 18 or 19. There have been so many eras for the band, from the early years with Peter Green steering the ship through to Rumours and then the dark horse that was Tusk. [1982’s] Mirage is my favourite though, because it’s got ‘That’s Alright’ on it, which I cover at my shows. I know Stevie Nicks’s grandfather was a country guy and this is a straight-up country song performed with real passion. What I love about the band is that all the writers are so different – Christine writes these perfect pop songs, Lindsey does this baroque, cerebral pop, and Stevie has this inward, reflective writing style. On Mirage that all came together.”
Lee Ranaldo, Sonic Youth guitarist/singer in Lee Ranaldo & the Dust
Favourite album: English Rose
Fleetwood Mac are essentially five bands rolled into one. Their songs are so undeniable. There was the Peter Green period, then the pop years and then the experimental period. [1979’s] Tusk was unpopular at the time but I knew a lot of indie bands who were really into it. That album was a bold move for Fleetwood Mac and they deserved a lot of respect for that.
I only saw them play once. It was during the Rumours era, which was the best incarnation to see live, and the show was in upstate New York. The chemistry between the band members was incredible and everyone knew the songs. It was just hit after hit after hit.
Last year my band covered “Albatross” [from their 1969 compilation English Rose], for a Mac tribute album. We chose it partly to avoid Rumours, which obviously everyone was going to go for, and also because it was from their Peter Green era – long before Buckingham, Nicks and Christine McVie – which seems to have passed a lot of people by, but was an important part of the British blues boom. The music was very challenging to play. It’s incredibly soulful and slow and complex and gave us an amazing appreciation for the talent and musicianship in the band at that early period.”
Jeremy Warmsley, multi-instrumentalist, Summer Camp
Favourite album: Tango In The Night
“When I was younger I went through a phase of buying records in charity shops and I picked up a copy of Mirage and fell in love with both it and them. It was the record after Tusk, which was a bit of a disaster, so the band had a lot to prove. I think they felt like they were washed up but Mirage is every bit as good as Rumours.
I also really love Tango in the Night. “Everywhere” was one of the first Mac songs I ever heard and then a friend played it at our wedding, so it has a real emotional resonance. Christine McVie is my favourite of the songwriters. She has an amazing way with melodies. As with Paul McCartney, there’s a real simplicity to what she does. She shows what can be done with a few simple notes. A lot of people used to think Fleetwood Mac were naff, but perhaps that’s the price you pay for making truly universal pop music. I like the fact that the Mac can be cheesy. It’s a sign of a band with its heart on its sleeve.”
Nina Nesbitt, solo artist
Favourite album: Rumours
“I love the passion in Rumours. Every one of those songs was written about other people in the band, which just makes the music so real. I find it hard enough writing about personal stuff and singing it alone on stage. To be up there singing these hugely emotional songs about partners and ex-partners who are there performing alongside you, that’s just crazy. I recently covered ‘Don’t Stop’ for a John Lewis advert. I was determined not to stray too far from the original. Recording it was nerve-racking. All the time I was thinking: ‘Oh God, this is Fleetwood Mac’.”
Fleetwood Mac’s UK and Ireland tour begins on 24 September at the O2, London. Nina Nesbitt’s cover of “Don’t Stop” is released on 30 September. Lee Ranaldo and The Dust’s LP ‘Last Night on Earth’ is released on 8 October. Summer Camp’s self-titled album is out now.
Fiona Sturges / Independent (UK) / Sunday, September 22, 2013
First night: Fleetwood Mac, The 02, Dublin
**** (4 out of 5 stars)
(Deb Hickey)
Three songs into the first European date Fleetwood Mac have played since 2009 comes the first of several magical moments as mad-eyed drummer and ringmaster Mick Fleetwood suddenly hits his monogrammed kit harder to underpin the “loneliness of a heartbeat drives you mad” lyric of the US chart-topper ”Dreams” Stevie Nicks is delivering in her trademark low yearning voice. This perfect marriage of musicians from two different countries united by a common language and purpose is part of what makes the Mac such a compelling concert attraction and must-see act into their fifth decade.
However, the main ingredient remains the soap opera of their intertwined relationships, acknowledged from the off with ”Second Hand News” from 1977’s epochal Rumours, and given a sense of closure with the apposite ”Say Goodbye” at the end. Not many set lists have a narrative arc or the feel of a group therapy session but no band, not even ABBA, have lived their personal lives in public and used this emotional roller-coaster as inspiration like the Mac. Guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, wearing a Ramones-like tight jeans and leather jacket combo, admits as much, talking about “the power of change” before an impassionate solo version of ”Big Love.” He has just been hugged by Nicks after a sublime double whammy of ”Sisters Of The Moon” and ”Sara”, two of four selections from Tusk, the somewhat self-indulgent double set the Mac issued in 1979, since reclaimed by left-field acts like Camper Van Beethoven.
(Deb Hickey)
Nicks has made a specialty of these ethereal, floating ballads, mining the same rich seam from ”Rhiannon” to the Velvet Underground-referencing ”Gypsy,” but they all prove so affecting it would be impossible to pick a favourite or indeed to omit any of them. Their inclusion also illustrates why Nicks has been such a strong influence on Florence Welch and Natasha Khan, aka Bat For Lashes. Her writing remains as distinctive as the gothic, timeless look she fashioned for herself in the mid-seventies and she twirls around the stage — without quite essaying an Irish jig, an impossible feat in the high-heel boots she favours — and drapes herself dramatically in yet another shawl during ”Gold Dust Woman.”
Try as he might, including the dazzling solo which rescues a listing ”I’m So Afraid,” Buckingham knows that Nicks is the star of the show, even as she rambles on while introducing the sweet ”Without You,” the mid-70s demo they recently revisited for a digital download EP. She shoe-horns her own eighties electro hit ”Stand Back” to add pop heft — and a groovy John McVie bassline — to a lengthy, nuanced, contrasting set which closes with the cross-generational audience on its feet for the evergreen ”Go Your Own Way.” Even Fleetwood’s demented drum solo can’t spoil the fun. The mighty Mac are back.
Fleetwood Mac play the 02 in London 24, 25 and 27 September, the LG Arena Birmingham 29 September, the Manchester Arena on the 1 October and the Hydro in Glasgow on the 3 October
Fleetwood Mac played its second show in Dublin, Ireland, on Saturday night — another capacity crowd of 13,000 of the supergroup’s biggest fans. The band did not disappoint, as it treated Irish fans to Lindsey’s blistering guitar solos, Stevie’s classic melodies, and Mick and John’s reliably punchy rhythm section.
Fleetwood Mac heads to London for three high-profile shows at the 02 Arena, where Christine McVie will reunite and perform with the band. According to Mick Fleetwood and Stevie Nicks, McVie is scheduled to be onstage to perform “Don’t Stop” at Wednesday and Friday’s London shows.
Dublin Setlist
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, The Chain, Big Love, Gold Dust Woman, Go Your Own Way (courtesy of The Retro)
The Chain (courtesy of Kieran Ryan)
Tusk (courtesy of chobbesrules)
Sara (courtesy of chobbesrules)
Big Love (courtesy of chobbesrules)
Landslide (courtesy of Nicola Mogerley)
Never Going Back Again (courtesy of Kieran Magee)
Gypsy (courtesy of h0merunh0mer)
Gold Dust Woman (courtesy of Enver Kola)
Go Your Own Way (courtesy of Shane O’Connor)
Don’t Stop (courtesy of Kieran Magee)
Live tweeting
@elisemaartje
Fleetwood mac are about to come on stage. IS THIS WHAT A HEART ATTACK FEELS LIKE
@WalsHotSpurs
Ahh Stevie! #fleetwoodmac at the O2!
Watching Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham sing into the same microphone in a surprisingly edgy set is the musical equivalent of seeing divorced parents back together, says Neil McCormick.
Amidst an absolute thunder of drums, a sleek, racing Formula One bass line and a fuzzed-up guitar attack, a high male and low female voice coalesce in a gorgeous California sunshine harmony to deliver Fleetwood Mac’s key message: “You can never break the chain.”
Apparently not. They’ve been going 45 years in one incarnation or another, yet they still seem quite unlikely, a fundamentally disparate and unstable set of elements forced through sheer popularity to share a stage together with results that may well be greater than the sum of the parts but still teeter on the brink of a kind of explosive disintegration. This long-running soap opera of conflicting personalities and opposing musical styles remains extraordinarily alive and compelling.
Even without the perfect pop songs of Christine McVie (who left the soap at the end of the last century but is rumoured to be returning for a guest appearance at their London concerts this week) and unwilling to draw on nine early albums of blues rock, Fleetwood Mac still seem to comprise at least three groups in one. There’s the British rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, looking all Chas & Dave in waistcoats and flat caps, driving everything along with a propulsive pub rock efficiency. Then there’s Lindsey Buckingham’s new wave art rock energy, hopping up and down on the spot in tight pants and leather jacket as he rips out trippy, echoing guitar parts and sings snappy songs like he’s going to combust if he doesn’t get the words out. Meanwhile Stevie Nicks, the hippie wet dream now looking like a dark folk witch, still waving her scarves about and drawling poetic fantasies in a voice that no longer floats ethereally but cuts and thrusts with the Americana grit of a female Dylan. On paper, this is a combination that shouldn’t work. Yet that sense of hanging together by a thread is part of what lends the old troupers such vitality. This may be the least comfortable excercise in nostalgia I have ever seen and all the better for it.
There is nothing smooth about Fleetwood Mac. Somehow, even after all this time, they don’t have the polish of a west coast harmonic rock machine like The Eagles. Their set is surprisingly gnarly and edgy, constantly being dragged between all these opposing musical poles. Indeed, they seem to delight in contrariness, filling up a nearly three hour set with offbeat selections from the provocatively odd and unloved Tusk and new material from a recent EP, frequently preceded by rambling monologues from Buckingham or Nicks that are longer and more involved than the songs themselves. “If we’re looking a little frazzled it might be because we are a little frazzled,” apologises Nicks, blaming the stresses on it being the first date of a European tour. But actually Fleetwood Mac are a group who are permanently frazzled by the intensity and complexity of their relationships, particularly that of teenage sweethearts Nicks and Buckingham, who still seem to be working out their separation and reconciliation onstage in the longest and most public group therapy session ever. Nicks introduces a new song, Without You, by telling us that “before fame and all the creepiness creeped in there was a really sweet boy and a really sweet girl” but then almost undermines the sentiment by briefly bickering with Buckingham about who said what when. “I always agree with you!” insists Buckingham. “No you don’t!” snorts Nicks.
The crowd love it, of course. When Nicks and Buckingham sing into the same microphone or walk out for encores hand in hand, it is the musical equivalent of seeing divorced parents back together. Their legendary album Rumours and long career of conflict and reconciliation have provided a narrative to parallel relationships in listeners’ lives, only with better melodies, virtuoso playing and even a startlingly impressive drum solo.
The audience delight in the continuing saga of Fleetwood Mac is manifest. What is even more striking is the band’s delight. Indeed, if there is a new development on their first tour in three years it is that they seem to be falling in love again. “There are still chapters left in the Fleetwood Mac book,” enthuses Buckingham. This one is going to run and run.
Neil McCormick / The Telegraph (UK) / Saturday, September 21, 2013
The singer is relieved her tip about the band’s big return has come true, writes Sarah Walters.
(Neal Preston)
‘I TOLD the press last year that 2013 was going to be the year of Fleetwood Mac,” comes the nervous confession of Stevie Nicks, the band’s vocalist and songwriter. “I was just hoping with all my heart that this big statement was gonna come true!”
Certainly, the UK hasn’t made a liar out of Nicks who, at the age of 65, is about to embark on a headline trip around the country’s biggest arenas. Nor, in fact, has the rest of the world: the band’s biggest selling album, 1977’s Rumours, found itself nearing the top of several worldwide charts again this year – adding hundreds of thousands more sales to the 40m copies shifted since its release.
Nicks is still a blonde stunner, and it’s hard to believe she’s preparing to celebrate her 40th year with the group in 2014; in that same year, Fleetwood Mac – completed by Mick Fleetwood (drums), John McVie (bass) and Lindsey Buckingham (vocals, guitar) since the departure of Christine “Perfect” McVie in 1998 – will reach the grand age of 47.
They lost years to drugs, in-fighting and line-up changes, but since the Anglo-American blues-rock band dropped to a four-piece they’ve seemed unstoppable, their international live shows grossing millions at the box office. And that’s, in part, because of the longevity of their back catalogue; Albatross, Go Your Own Way and Nicks-penned Dreams and Rhiannon have endured through musical fads and fashions.
Of course, Nicks has helped her prediction of 2013 success along by stalling the band’s return to the live stage. “It’s just smart to keep us out of the spotlight for three years, she says.
“Everyone went along with it. And now they all know it was really a great idea because we were gone long enough that it was us coming back.”
There was, too, the not-so-small matter of Nick’s own solo album – In Your Dreams, her first in a decade and recorded with The Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart – and accompanying documentary which she felt needed her focus. And then there was personal tragedy; Nicks lost her mother and says the experience rocked her to the core.
“I didn’t go (to the studio). I didn’t want to go,” she recalls. “But it wasn’t just that – I didn’t want to go anywhere. I didn’t leave the house for almost five months.
“And then I got pneumonia. With my pneumonia and my mother’s death I watched the entire first season of Game Of Thrones! That certainly took my mind off everything.”
Nicks is a woman used to resolving her personal problems in public. When her long-term relationship with Buckingham ended, she briefly dated Fleetwood. Love was even in the air with pop legend Prince. “I wanted to work with Prince. And I was smart enough to know that if you start having a relationship with somebody, you’re never gonna work with them; the romantic thing’s gonna take over,” she recalls.
“Prince is such a strange and beautiful guy. But we lived in two different worlds. That’s when I was totally a drug addict and Prince is straight as an arrow.
“He would bring me cough medicine when I was sick and then I’d ask for another spoon of it, and he’d go, ‘I didn’t come here to start you on a new drug!’.”
That wasn’t a battle Nicks wanted either. “You realised that all that recreational/non-addictive [idea] was bull when it started to become more important than music. And it did.
“And heroin’s a lot quicker road to that! It’s gonna become more important than your music, or your acting, or your amazing career that you have ahead of you. You’re just throwing it away.”
It’s not an experience she hopes to repeat – nor could afford to with the demands of her current life.
She has always been a night owl, and although Nicks would be the first to admit that she’ll sit up chatting into the night after the rest of her fellow Fleetwood Mac members have sloped off to bed to beat the jet-lag, she’s putting the reputation of her legendary rock band and award-winning solo career first.
“Honestly, rock bands that are 30 years old would baulk at this schedule and at the amount of songs we’re doing and the length of the show,” she says about the new tour.
“They would go, ‘You are kidding? Two hours and 40 minutes a night?’. When people in Manchester see the show they’re gonna be blown way!”
Fleetwood Mac play the Phones 4U Arena, Manchester, on October 1. Tickets: £50-£125 – phones4uarena.co.uk, 0161 950 5000.
Sarah Walters / Manchester Evening News / Saturday, September 21, 2013
Fleetwood Mac launched the European leg of their 2013 world tour at Dublin’s O2 Arena on Friday night, performing a before a crowd of 13,000 proud Irish fans.
The band hit the stage at about 8:20 p.m. and kept intact the set list that it had used for the North American tour.
Fleetwood Mac will perform another sold-out concert at Dublin’s O2 tomorrow night. The concert set list, videos, live play-by-play tweeting, and all European tour dates appear below.
Fleetwood Mac kicks off the European leg of its 2013 world tour tonight at the O2 in Dublin, Ireland. Concert goers will be treated to a refreshed, two-and-a-half hour set list of Fleetwood Mac classics (“The Chain,” “Dreams,” and “Go Your Own Way”), a sprinkling of new material (“Sad Angel”), and some surprises.
