Fleetwood Mac celebrated its long history with a two-and-a-half hour concert at the Palace Wednesday that saw a cameo from hometown rocker Kid Rock.

Yesterday’s gone, as the song goes, but it was a celebration of yesterdays gone at the Palace of Auburn Hills on Wednesday night as Fleetwood Mac hit the stage for a 2½-hour love fest in honor of the return of Christine McVie to the band’s fold after a 16-year absence.

Even Kid Rock got in on the action, hitting the stage midway through the show after Lindsey Buckingham dedicated “Big Love” to the hometown rocker and Stevie Nicks mentioned him during her intro to “Landslide.” As “Landslide” was coming to a close, Rock walked onto the stage — his American Badass trucker hat atop his head — and stood behind Nicks, wrapping his arms around her with a reverse bear hug. That brought the crowd to its feet, as any appearance by Rock tends to do, and jump-started the show for its second half.

No disrespect to Rock (or Nicks), but it was McVie’s night to shine, and she brought a wave of early cheers two songs into the show when she opened “You Make Loving Fun.” “Thank you Detroit!” she exclaimed at the close of the song to a round of applause. The current tour marks her first outing with the band since 1998’s tour behind “The Dance.”

“I guess you did notice there is yet another blonde on the stage,” Nicks said after McVie’s brief hellos. “Two blondes are better than one!” She then asked McVie, “where you been?” but the answer was beside the point. This tour is about the famously contentious band coming back together for one more go-round and fans having one more shot at seeing them back together.

The packed house proved there was plenty of interest in the billing, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers delivered a solid 24-song show of hits and album cuts from its long and winding history. Everyone got a chance to shine, and Buckingham’s searing guitar solo during a towering “I’m So Afraid” was the night’s highlight.

Yet for all the talk about tomorrow and the band’s future — both Buckingham and Mick Fleetwood seemed stoked for the band’s prospects looking forward — it was a nostalgia play through and through. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, and there’s plenty to be said for playing the hits to a receptive audience. “Don’t Stop” came late in the show and while the song’s and the band’s optimistic message still rings, it’s a throwback of a throwback.

Yesterday’s gone, no matter how hard you try to hang on.

ag*****@*********ws.com

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Adam Graham / The Detroit News / Thursday, October 23, 2014

With the return of Christine McVie, band restores its “classic” lineup and plays their greatest hits to a sold-out Air Canada Centre.

* * * (three stars out of five)

If Fleetwood Mac wants to take a victory lap, Fleetwood Mac can take a victory lap.

Another victory lap, I guess. They’re all kinda victory laps if you’ve got a reputation and platinum-plated catalogue of the sort Fleetwood Mac has.

Still, the last time the band passed through Toronto for an Air Canada Centre date in April of 2013, it looked surprisingly vital and revved-up for a pack of greying boomers that one might have been tempted to write off as a nostalgia act. For a band with nothing really left to prove, the Mac behaved like it still had something to prove.

For its current On with the Show tour, Fleetwood Mac has managed to restore itself to the “classic” lineup responsible for such landmark albums as Rumours, Tusk and Tango in the Night with the unexpected return of long-absent member Christine McVie to the fold for the first time since she quit the group — in large part due to a deathly fear of all the flying involved with touring the world in a rock ’n’ roll band — in 1998. This, of course, is a perfect excuse to stuff the set list with all the McVie songs that have been absent from Fleetwood Mac performances during the past 16 years, which made Saturday night’s sold-out performance at the Air Canada Centre a rather more straightforward, greatest-hits-oriented affair than the quintet’s last appearance in this town.

Not that that’s a bad thing. If Fleetwood Mac still wants to go out every night and play Rumours top to bottom, more power to it. A few other albums might have surpassed that megalithic 1977 pop smash in sales over the years since Michael Jackson’s Thriller usurped it as the biggest record of all time 30 years ago, but none of them — not Dark Side of the Moon, not Back in Black, not even Thriller itself — is as relentlessly pillaged, track for track (with the exception of maybe “Oh Daddy,” which I kinda feel sorry for), every single day, by classic-rock radio. Nowadays, though, the band no longer has to bound through “Don’t Stop” while politely ignoring the fact that the woman who wrote it isn’t there, and “You Make Loving Fun” and “Songbird” can resume their rightful, triumphant places in the set list.

McVie’s surprise return is, unfortunately, the sole real surprise the On with the Show production has to offer, at least as it was presented on Saturday night. Her presence onstage might herald a “beautiful, profound and poetic new chapter in the Fleetwood Mac story,” as guitarist/vocalist Lindsey Buckingham put it at one point — indeed, rumour has it he and McVie are already at work on new material — but at the moment it basically appears to be an excuse to take a fond stroll down memory lane.

Which is fine. It’s a nice stroll. McVie ditties like “Say You Love Me,” “Everywhere” and “Little Lies” are now back in circulation alongside such crowd-pleasing Stevie Nicks-sung staples as “Gold Dust Woman,” “Rhiannon,” “Gypsy” and the agelessly lovely “Landslide,” so Saturday’s two-and-a-half-hour show was a more relentless Fleetwood Mac hit parade than we’ve witnessed in years. There wasn’t a lot of room left to stretch out or get weird while dutifully covering all those bases, however. Oddball favourite Tusk got a passing glance in the form of the title track and Buckingham’s fiery “I Know I’m Not Wrong,” while the ace guitarist presided over a nimble-fingered acoustic deconstruction of “Big Love” and a slightly less successful, kinda-draggy remodelling of “Never Going Back Again” to shake off the usual a little bit. A few more drawn-out jams in the form of the late-set sprawler “I’m So Afraid” would have been welcome nonetheless, since it was those moments — the moments when Fleetwood Mac dug into its material enthusiastically and tore it up like a band doing more than just going through the expected motions — that made the group’s last ACC appearance so memorable. This time around, you tended to get exactly what you thought you were gonna get.

It kept the room in good spirits, anyway. And the band, still early into a 68-date tour that will extend well into 2015, seemed genuinely thrilled to be back in action with McVie at the keyboards. Drummer Mick Fleetwood looked positively gleeful, in fact, when he emerged onstage after the encore in a glittery red top hat to proclaim “The Mac is back!” If Fleetwood Mac is happy, we’re happy. These old dogs might have a few new tricks left in ‘em yet.

Ben Rayner / Toronto Star / Sunday October 19, 2014

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

Edgy and energized are an understatement when it comes to describing the sold out audience before Fleetwood Mac made their blockbuster return to Philadelphia in what is known as their “classic configuration.” In every respect this was a classic live event.

Upon their entrance the roar was deafening, joyous and received by the band with a sort of joy usually seen in new acts when they hit their sweet spot. It must have been unworldly for Christine McVie to receive not just the adulation of the audience, but the true over the top joy of her band mates.

They led off with “The Chain,’ the crowd almost lost it and after the song Lindsey Buckingham had a smile you could see from the moon. He looked to his right and nodded to Christine. It was the beginning of a two and one half hour symphony of some of the best the world of music has to offer.

There were so many heart-felt highlights it is hard to render them down to a few, but for me when Lindsey said “ And now we have Christine back.” he didn’t say it he meant it. Nick Fleetwood’s face must have hurt from the wild smile he had the entire night. The thunderous reaction to Stevie Nicks when she twirled and the awe when the lights went out and came back on with McVie sitting at a Grand piano playing “Over My Head.” For me these were moments to remember.

Musically, the vocals don’t have the range they did 30 years ago, however, the character and grit in the voices more than compensated for a note forgotten. What makes any performance stand out is the chemistry amongst the performers along with the alchemy between the group and the audience. They truly turned the night into gold. Lindsey Buckingham stole the show this night with his energy and guitar solo during “I’m So Afraid. ” Couple with his gymnastic ballet, he was awe-inspiring with over 9 minutes of some of the finest finger work you will ever see and or hear.

The visuals really contributed to an amazing night. From the medieval motif shown during “Rhiannon” to the clip of the UCS band during “Tusk,” the colors and imagery were just top-notch.

Fleetwood Mac has already done it all. They have recorded 48 albums, released 76 singles, won Grammy Awards, and been inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, yet they gave us everything they had for almost 3 hours. What they had was magic and they gave us a little of that magic.

Setlist

“The Chain”
“You Make Loving Fun”
“Dreams”
“Second Hand News”
“Rhiannon”
“Everywhere”
“I Know I’m Not Wrong”
“Tusk”
“Sisters Of The Moon”
“Seven Wonders”
“Big Love”
“Landslide”
“Never Going Back Again”
“Over My Head”
“Gypsy”
“Little Lies”
“Gold Dust Woman”
“I’m So Afraid”
“Go Your Own Way”
encore:
“World Turning”
“Don’t Stop”
“Silver Springs”
encore 2:
“Songbird”

I’m a romantic, so I see things through rosy glasses. If you have the chance to see Fleetwood Mac during this tour, do it! Nothing is forever and who knows if the “classic configuration” will come our way again!

Joe S. / iRadioPhilly / Saturday, October 18, 2014

After kicking off a two-and-half-hour tour de force of a concert aptly with “The Chain”’ a song about unbreakable bonds, Lindsey Buckingham beamed and looked to his right.

“And now the beautiful Christine is back,” the vocalist-guitarist said just before Fleetwood Mac delivered “You Make Loving Fun.”

The capacity crowd at the Wells Fargo Center Monday night roared as the band kicked into the tune’s opening notes. The classic configuration of Fleetwood Mac, which will return to the South Philly venue Oct. 29, was back performing in the area for the first time since it played what was known as the Tweeter Center in Camden in September of 1997.

Vocally McVie and her counterpart, the beguiling Stevie Nicks, have to dial it down. The former is 71 and the latter is 66. What they lack in range, they make up for in character.

Fleetwood Mac still has it. It’s just different than it was in ‘97 and especially than it was during the summer of ‘77 when the band’s breakthrough album, Rumours, was ubiquitous.

Fleetwood Mac wowed the enthusiastic crowd with cuts from the emotional Rumours, the second biggest selling album of all-time, and a plethora of other hits.

“Go Your Own Way,” “Rhiannon” and “Landslide” sated the boomers.

Buckingham, the young buck in the band at a mere 65, stole the show. The thin as a rail fingerpicker riveted the crowd with an emotional “Big Love.” His fiery solo and his electric play in general impressed.

“I think he’s been off stage for 30 seconds tonight,” drummer Mick Fleetwood declared.

That’s not much of an exaggeration as the rest of the veteran group took considerable time off during the marathon show. But Buckingham looked like an old school punk pogoing across the stage and grunting, groaning and screaming throughout the night.

McVie, who was MIA since ‘97 due to her fear of flying, was rough around the edges vocally but she’s been out of the game for nearly 20-years.

Nicks and her unique husky voice and subtle gestures made songs such as “Seven Wonders” and “Gold Dust Woman” haunting and compelling. Whenever Nicks would spin like she did a generation ago, fans shrieked.

Fleetwood made like it was 1977 with a wild drum solo.

But it was the hits and the charm of the band that made the night. Nicks, who has always been a great storyteller, often stopped to drop anecdotes. “In the beginning Lindsey and I lived in San Francisco and there was this amazing store (the Velvet Underground) which had incredible clothes and all of the rock and roll women with money shopped there like Janis Joplin and Grace Slick. I remember thinking that when I make it, I’ll shop at that store and I did. If you do believe in your dreams, they can come true.”

The wild success of Fleetwood Mac enables Nicks to shop anywhere and it also gave the band considerable creative freedom to craft some of the most enduring songs from a generation ago.

“We’ve started a new and poetic chapter with Christine,” Buckingham said. “It’ll bear much fruit.”

Ed Condran / The Morning Call / Thursday, October 16, 2014